Ashley McCrea can rest easy.
The javelin thrower performs in the large shadow of Rachel Yurkovich, a star-studded sophomore who’s already set two personal marks this season and owns the Oregon record with her throw of 189-feet, 11-inches.
McCrea, a North Bend native, sees Yurkovich setting records and thinks, why not her too?
“It lets me know … that it’s possible. It can be done,” McCrea said. “You hear about it. You never actually get to see it, but with Rachel I get to have a mentor right here.”
The javelin throwers have another chance to set records this Saturday in the Pepsi Team Invitational at Hayward Field. Kansas State, Oregon, USC and Washington will compete with events starting at 11:40 a.m. with the women’s javelin.
Yurkovich made a five-foot, five-inch personal best improvement two weeks ago in the Arizona State Invitational with a first-place toss of 189-11. McCrea followed close behind with a second-place finish and a 10-foot improvement in her personal best of 166-8.
“I’m a visual learner, so it’s really good, actually, because she is really good technically so I can watch her and then do the same thing,” McCrea said.
It’s been a relief for McCrea this season, who says she slumped last season. She’s already notched her regional qualifier of 152-3 in the Oregon Preview and surpassed the regional qualifying standard of 142-6.
Saturday marks the first time teams will count points. Oregon won the Pepsi Team Invitational last year, beating out Penn State by four points, 203 to 199, in the meet that also included Washington and Boise State.
“It’s one thing to just compete by yourself, but it’s another when you can score points for your team,” thrower Britney Henry said. “So this is a good indicator of what can happen at the Pac-10 Championship.”
It’s going to be a new experience for freshman sprinter Keshia Baker, who looked up times for the other teams to compare herself to, but will see the competition for the first time in person Saturday.
The Sacramento native and junior transfer Kavina Hall have pushed each other in what has been a busy start to the outdoor season. She did five events in the Oregon Preview and finished seventh in the 200 in the Arizona State Invitational two weeks ago.
“Everything’s been fine,” Baker said. “I thought it was going to be a really drastic change coming from high school to college, but my coaches have been really good, so everything has been pretty good.”
Rebekah Noble is planning to run the 1,500, 4×400 relay and possibly the 800. Last weekend, Noble set a personal record in the 1,500 with a time of 4:17.49, an improvement of 7.06 seconds over her previous best of 4:24.43.
Much has changed for the NCAA champion in the 800 in her second year in an Oregon uniform.
“Way more fit, way more relaxed in my training,” Noble said. “Everything has been going so much better this last year.”
Pole-vaulter Emily Enders says she’s ready for the challenge, including a strong group of pole-vaulters from Washington. Enders is tied with freshman Eniko Eros for the top Oregon mark this season of 12-5.5.
“I’m happy with how things are going,” Enders said. “I think I’m really motivated going into this meet.”
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