Skipper moves on in the pole vault
Senior Tommy Skipper capped an up-and-down day for the Oregon men at the opening day of the NCAA Championships in Sacramento, Calif. by advancing to Friday’s pole vault final.
Javelin thrower Ryan Brandel and sprinter Marcus Dillon also moved on. Brandel placed fifth in the prelims with a throw of 226-5.
The Ducks’ trophy hopes took a hit when senior hammer thrower Brian Richotte placed 13th and failed to move on by nine inches.
Also not advancing were the 4x100m relay and freshman long jumper Ashton Eaton.
Today the Ducks will send Michael McGrath and A.J. Acosta to the line in the prelims of the 1,500m and the 4x400m relay team.
Junior Galen Rupp and sophomore Shadrack Kiptoo-Biwott will compete in the first running final of the championships, the 10,000m.
Three women advance in Sacramento
All the favorites advanced for the Oregon women on day one of the NCAA Championships.
Duck senior Britney Henry qualified for the hammer throw finals with her sixth place finish in Wednesday’s preliminaries and Rebekah Noble won her heat of the 800m.
In the last track event of the night, Nicole Blood moved on to Friday’s 5,000m final.
In today’s events, national-leader Rachel Yurkovich and Ashley McCrea will compete in the prelims of the javelin, while Noble will run in the semifinals and freshman Keara Sammons will toe the line for the 10,000m final.