Numerous Oregon women’s track and field athletes have weathered the bulk of the season with thoughts of team points and regional qualifying marks lingering in their heads.
Attempting to score those points and record those marks takes a certain amount of pain, and those who are willing to endure it see the results.
“I’m always hurting,” Oregon multi-
event athlete Lauryn Jordan said after
practice Tuesday.
A member of the athletic medical staff treated Jordan’s sore left shin in the
Bowerman Building immediately after
her Tuesday workout, only two days after she returned from the Pacific-10 Conference Multi-Event Championships.
Even without winning an individual discipline, Jordan captured 5,299 points at UCLA, a personal record and regional qualifying mark, to take fourth place in the heptathlon.
“She had a great competition over the two days,” Oregon assistant coach Rock Light said. “In every single event except for one, she had a lifetime best.”
But that’s not good enough for Jordan.
“I won’t be happy unless it takes me to
nationals,” the junior said.
Some of Jordan’s teammates are still just trying to get over the headaches that come with the pressure of trying to achieve regional qualifying marks. This weekend, they will also have to compete for team points at the Pac-10 Championships.
“I definitely want to do well for the team,” senior jumper Maegan Traver said, “but I also want to get a qualifying mark.”
However, Light said those two goals should not be competing for athletes’ mind space.
“Regionals is an opportunity for you to compete in front of the home crowd and get into the NCAA Championships,” Light said. “That is secondary to the task at hand, which is scoring points for the team. I don’t want (regional qualifying marks) in their thought process. They will be a by-product of competing well.”
Traver believes that if she lands a jump with enough distance to be rewarded points then the measurement will exceed her personal record and the regional qualifying standard simultaneously.
“If I score, my qualifying mark will pretty much be there,” Traver said. “Coach knows what he’s talking about.”
Oregon senior Rachael Kriz Wallace will have as much, if not more, to think about this weekend after dislocating her hip in the high jump at the Oregon Twilight.
Kriz Wallace vowed that no injury would hold her back from competing in what could be the final meet of her collegiate career. Light said Kriz Wallace had a productive practice earlier this week and he is expecting her to compete in the
Pac-10s this weekend.
“Whether I’m completely healed or not, I’m going,” she said after sustaining her injury last Saturday. “And if it’s my last hoorah, then it’s my last hoorah.”

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