Britney Henry had looked at Saturday’s Oregon Twilight as a warm-up for the championship portion of the Oregon season, but with one throw she made it a record-tying afternoon.
On her second throw, Henry tied the Oregon school record of 221 feet, 7 inches.
“It did feel like a good throw,” Henry said. “I wasn’t expecting it to be that far. I’ve been in the teens so I just wanted to come out here and get a good series … it’s very encouraging to go out and throw 220 and be in the 20s.”
Henry had a challenging field of 2005 NCAA Champion Loree Smith, Bethany Hart, Jen Leatherman, former UCLA coach and Duck volunteer coach Cari Soong and former Duck Brittany Hinchcliffe. Henry’s mark barely beat out Smith, who topped out at 221-5.
“It’s great having this type of competition,” Henry said. “When they come out here and have big throws, it tends to bring out big throws in yourself. It was great to have Bethany Hart and Loree Smith and Jen Leatherman here. Those are great athletes, and I’m sure I’ll be seeing them at USA’s and in my post-collegiate career.”
Henry’s first four throws went farther than 213-04 and then she fouled her last two throws. She said she tweaked her back on her third throw, but continued to compete to get the extra work in before the Pacific-10 Conference Championships next weekend at Stanford.
Javelin thrower Rachel Yurkovich placed second to Kim Kreiner with a throw of 185-11.
“I was having a little bit of trouble, a little bit of frustrating practices. This is not the time to have problems so I just buckled down,” Yurkovich said. “I felt good all day and had a feeling I was going to do good and I did.”
Rebekah Noble had a quality challenger in the 800-meter race in 2004 Olympian Nicole Teter. Teter, who’s missed the last two-plus seasons with injuries, completed the race after serving as the rabbit, or pace-setter, in an earlier race this season. Former Oregon athlete Sara Schaaf filled the role of rabbit on Saturday.
After Schaaf stepped off, Teter held a large lead on Noble and fellow Oregon runner Zoe Buckman. Teter won in 2 minutes, 3.09 seconds. Noble placed second with a time of 2:03.94 and Buckman followed in third with 2:07.72.
“You’ve got to start somewhere, and 2:03 is a strong start, so I’m really excited. It was a lot of fun,” Teter said.
Noble said she thought she might have had the kick to win, but came up short.
“Just to be that close to her and to be running with her, is actually just amazing,” Noble said.
Leah Worthen ran the 400-meter hurdles for the first time since the Oregon Invitational. In that race, she was tripped up on one of the final hurdles and ended the race in ninth place in 1:04.28. This time, she won the race with a personal-best time of 1:02.81, but was upset with the way she hit a couple hurdles.
“The first time I ran, I felt great, I was excited,” Worthen said. “I didn’t have anything to think about. I didn’t have any expectations. This time I was a lot more antsy before the race and I think it showed. I went out stuttering and hitting hurdles, and it’s pretty bizarre that I actually finished that race after how poorly I ran it.”
Worthen knocked over the last hurdle and skidded to the finish line. Typically, Worthen runs the open 400, but in an effort to help score more points at Pac-10s and secure a regional mark, she’s giving the hurdles a try.
“I wasn’t focused,” Worthen said. “My steps were off and probably a little fatigue. I’m still not used to having a hurdle in front of me when I run so I think that had something to do with it.”
Worthen must now earn her regional qualifying time in next weekend’s Pac-10 Championships. Her sister Alison, a promising track athlete from Marshfield High, came to watch Worthen Saturday afternoon.
“I’m not happy with it,” Worthen said of her time. “I really wanted a regional qualifying (time) before I went to Pac-10s next week, but I’ll get it next week. That was just a really bad race for me.”
In other Oregon events, Ashley Bridenbeck earned first place in the 100 meters in 12.20. Emily Gillespie and Jasmine Kelly tied for first in the high jump at 5-5 3/4. Tara Rhein secured her regional qualifying mark in the pole vault with a fourth-place finish at 12-5 1/2. [email protected]