The first national champion was crowned for the Oregon Ducks on a tumultuous, tempestuous Friday afternoon at Hayward Field.
A crowd of 11,172 persevered through continued rain and winds as the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships team race grew tighter. The Duck women ended the day with 16 points, two back of Iowa State and six back of Southern Illinois, but with only six events scored. The Duck men have yet to get on the board – Kansas and Texas A&M sit atop the men’s standings with 18 points apiece – despite missing opportunities Friday to do so.
The first event of the day was the highly anticipated decathlon, and Oregon’s Ashton Eaton did not disappoint. The senior clocked a 10.37-second 100-meter dash to win the first event of the day and clocked a 46.28-second 400-meter dash to win the last event. The senior from Bend’s 400m time was a collegiate and meet record for a decathlon leg, and his event-leading 4,500 first-day points were a collegiate record and personal best.
Where Eaton finished, Brianne Theisen took over. The junior from Humboldt, Saskatchewan, began her day with a win in the long jump, leaping a multi-event personal-best 20 feet, 1/4 inch to regain the competition lead. Two events later, she emerged from the 800 meters (in second place, to Maryland’s Kiani Profit) the national champion, setting a new personal best with 6,094 points.
“The only disappointment that I had was that I was six points short of 6,100,” Theisen said. “But if you told me we’d have this weather, I wouldn’t think I’d be able to get 6,000. I’m really happy overall.”
Rain and wind once again covered the track in the middle-distance races, but Oregon got through intact, save one. Senior Zoe Buckman, sixth (4:19.02) in the second heat of the women’s 1,500 meters, was unable to qualify on time; teammate Alex Kosinski (4:15.67) salvaged a time-qualifying spot in the first heat. Freshman Jordan Hasay held on in the second heat for a third-place finish (4:17.90) and an automatic spot.
The Oregon men saw A.J. Acosta win the second heat of the 1,500 meters (3:40.95), with Andrew Wheating (3:44.99) and Matthew Centrowitz (3:41.27) placing third in the first and second heats, respectively, to advance.
After the men’s javelin competition, all three might need to score big. Senior Cyrus Hostetler, who held the nation’s top mark heading into NCAAs, failed to advance out of the first heat of the javelin final, along with teammate Alex Wolff. Both throwers endured steady rain but could not come up with qualifying throws.
“We just got a little bit of bad luck. I was kind of thinking that the rain might be good for the Oregon javelin throwers, but it was really tough,” Hostetler said. “It’s probably the biggest disappointing meet of my career.”
Sophomore Luke Puskedra attempted to give the men’s team a late spark by running with race leader – and eventual winner – Sam Chelanga of Liberty in the men’s 10,000 meters. Eventually, Puskedra tired and the main race pack quickly enveloped him; he finished 14th.
In the 4×400-meter relay, the Duck women (3:33.51) fought off Auburn (3:34.71) down the stretch to win the first heat and automatically qualify for the finals. The mile relay is the last official event of the meet, and the score may be in doubt up to that point.
“Overall, it was pretty good. I think they tried to trap me, but I pulled my way out,” said sophomore Amber Purvis, who ran the second leg for Oregon. “We had a pretty hard heat today. Saturday’s going to be even harder. Especially because we’re Oregon – everybody wants to beat us.”
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Theisen’s championship, Eaton’s record start mark day two of NCAAs
Daily Emerald
June 10, 2010
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