Though the NCAA Championships have passed, UO track and field athletes are still proving with their performances in the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships that some of the best young talent in the world resides in Track Town. Ducks have given strong performances in both the junior and open divisions of the championships, held this year at Michael A. Carroll Stadium on the campus of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis in Indianapolis.
In a story becoming familiar to Track Town faithful, distance running phenom Galen Rupp finished second in the men’s open-division 10,000m race. The junior ran the race in 28:23.31 and finished less than eight seconds behind Abdi Abdirahman, who is the top runner in the event in the United States so far this year. Nike runner Dathan Ritzenheim finished third.
With the second-place finish this weekend and his collegiate record-setting run at Stanford in April, Rupp becomes eligible for the World Championships. He is the 14th Duck distance runner to become World Championship eligible since the meet was founded in 1983. The meet is hosted this year in Osaka, Japan from August 25 to September 2.
Duck runners Nicole Blood, Ashton Eaton and Kenny Klotz all finished in the top three of their events. Eaton was actually leading the junior-level decathlon after the first day and posted the best scores from the second day in the 110m hurdles, discus and pole vault. Though Eaton finished third, his 7,155 points from the event is a personal best. Eaton also finished second in the men’s long jump.
Blood won the women’s junior 3,000m event by a staggering ten seconds, finishing in 9:27.81. Though that pace was good enough to win with a cushion, it was still three seconds off of her personal best. She previously won the junior 5,000m event in 2005. She was slated to compete in that event but did not start.
Klotz found success, winning the 10,000m run a day after finishing second in the 5,000m event. The freshman finished five seconds adrift to win the 10,000m the day after finishing a second behind in the 5,000m, a fitting end to a season when he was the fastest Oregon freshman in both events.
Also on the track, A.J. Acosta defended his 1,500m title after being the fastest Duck in that event and qualifying for both the Pacific-10 Conference and NCAA Championships at that distance. Acosta won the race last year before coming to Oregon, and was victorious this year over another incoming Duck – Matthew Centrowitz, who he finished .01 seconds ahead of in the event.
In the field events, Rachel Yurkovich was the highest-placed Duck, finishing sixth in the women’s open javelin throw. Her throw of 170-05 was almost 25 feet short of the winning distance and also almost 20 feet off of her season and personal best of 189-11. Sophomore Ashley McCrea also competed and finished 16th in the event.
Tommy Skipper, after winning his fifth NCAA title less than a month ago, could manage only a seventh place finish in the senior pole vault. Though he reached 18-4 1/2 as his best mark, he missed all three attempts to clear the mark at 18-8 1/4.
Hammer thrower Britney Henry finished eighth in the senior event, her best ever performance in a USA Championship. After a successful season that saw her tie the Oregon school record, win the Pac-10 and finish in the top six in both the NCAA West Regional and the NCAA Championship, her strong finish – second amongst collegiates in the senior division – is a nice end to the season.
Throwers Ryan Brandel and Brian Richotte struggled in the senior division. Hammer thrower Brian Richotte fouled all three of his attempts, and javelin thrower Ryan Brandel finished in 17th.
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