The Pacific-10 Championships offered the conference another look at Oregon’s multitalented collection of throwers.
Britney Henry earned first place in the hammer throw and Rachel Yurkovich did likewise in the javelin last weekend at Stanford. The titles gave Oregon 60 all-time conference titles in the Pac-10 and NorPac league combined since 1983.
Henry’s win culminates a busy couple of weeks for the senior, who is a Washington native but came to Oregon by way of Southeast Louisiana and LSU.
She kicked off the competition with a throw of 209-feet, 11-inches. Henry followed that mark with her best mark of the day at 216-8. On the third throw, she unleashed a throw of 214-7 and ended the preliminaries in first place. Henry advanced to the finals, where she had throws of 204-10 and 216-2 with a foul in between.
“Overall, I was pretty consistent with my marks and was happy with that,” Henry said in a media release. “Coming in I wanted to focus on myself and not my competition. I didn’t want to play mind games and try to respond to what others did. I knew that if my technique was right in the ring, the hammer would go far.”
USC’s Eva Orban pulled within two inches of taking the lead with her first throw of the finals at 217-8. She threw a near identical mark on her fifth throw and threw 216-11 on her sixth.
Henry was one of many Oregon athletes who expressed enthusiasm for competing at Angell Field.
“I like the ring at Stanford – my PR came here. It’s a little faster than Hayward Field,” she said. “A little extra speed always seems to help. I have confidence coming that I could win if I stuck with my technique. It’s easy to get too amped up or too scared before this meet, so I had to keep calm as possible and focus on myself.”
Yurkovich’s win came more smoothly and with less suspense. She launched her farthest throw of the day on her first attempt at 169-2. She upped her daily best to 174-11 with her third throw and then had marks of 173-11 and 173-4 in the final. Stanford’s Dani Maier was a distant second with her best toss of 160-11. Home sweet home
The Oregon track and field teams have this weekend off before returning to Hayward Field Friday-Saturday, May 25-26 for the NCAA West Regional Championships. Quality college athletes from Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Washington are going to compete for top-five individual and top-three relay event finishes. Athletes that meet that objective will earn invitations to the NCAA Outdoor Championships, Wednesday through Saturday, June 6-9 in Sacramento, Calif.
On the Sunday after the championships, May 27, Hayward Field will play host to the Road to Eugene ’08 meet – the second such meet after the first one was held Aug. 8, 2006. The meet is set to run from 2 to 4 p.m. with 15 events scheduled. Top American post-collegians and select international talent are expected to participate. The meet is another event leading up to the 2008 Olympic Trials in Eugene.
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Pac-10 victories display strong season for throwers
Daily Emerald
May 15, 2007
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