Going into Saturday’s quadrangular meet in Lincoln, Neb., Oregon was ranked ninth in the nation by www.team-power.org, one spot behind Kansas State and four ahead of host Nebraska.
So much for the rankings.
Behind a solid overall effort, the Ducks finished second at the Quad, only flip-flopped with their Midwestern foes. Head coach Tom Heinonen’s squad amassed 160 1/2 points on the day, far behind Nebraska’s 230, but ahead of Kansas State’s 134 1/2.
Wyoming placed fourth on the day with 106 points. The Cowboys took first only once in an individual event, with Kim Demers crossing the finish line first in the 400 hurdles.
The Ducks did not surprise anyone in the meet. But they did meet expectations.
Three women — sophomore Annette Mosey and juniors Alicia Snyder-Carlson and Becky Holliday — were golden for the Ducks, taking first in their respective events. Overall, Oregon finished with four second-place finishes and seven third-places finishes.
“It was good to see new competition, and I liked how our athletes handled themselves,” Heinonen said. “We had a few things go really well, and I think we’re on the brink of a lot of better things with Janette (Davis), while we saw good things from our vaulters and throwers and Annette.”
Davis and Mosey paced Oregon’s track portion of the day, with Davis placing fourth in the 200. However, more importantly, her time of 24.64 was good enough to earn the junior a Pacific-10 Conference qualifying mark.
Furthering her day, Davis took third in the 400 (54.32), only .01 slower than her personal best. She now has two Pacific-10 Conference qualifying marks, as she earned one in the 400 at the season’s first outdoor meet at Hayward Field in late March.
Continuing Oregon’s strong day in the track portion, Mosey earned a personal best and qualified for the Pac-10 Championships with a first-place finish in the 800 run. Her time of 2:10.55 was more than two seconds ahead of Nebraska’s Liz Vacek.
Freshman Laura Harmon finished up Oregon’s dominance in the 800, finishing third (2:13.03).
But it doesn’t end there. Snyder-Carlson also earned a personal best and Pac-10 qualifying mark with a win in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. The junior joins Carrie Zografos, making two Oregon athletes to qualify in the event.
The Ducks, ranked ninth in the nation, were a balanced squad entering Nebraska. The track squad may have turned a few heads, but the field team didn’t surprise.
They are just that good.
At least the javelin throwers are. However, they weren’t good enough to take first in the event, just good enough to get spots two through five.
First went to Kansas State’s Kendra Wecker. The Wildcat threw for a mark of 179-9, an NCAA automatic, and good enough for second place in the nation. Her throw pushes Oregon sophomore Sarah Malone to third after she placed fourth at the quad.
Wecker leads Malone by seven inches on the national list.
Freshman Roslyn Lundeen may have stolen the show for Oregon. Coming back from an elbow injury, the Victoria, British Columbia, native threw a distance of 163-6
— second in the event.
“Roslyn threw great off a short approach since she hasn’t thrown for weeks,” Heinonen said.
Lundeen was followed by junior Charyl Weingarten, Malone and freshman Elisa Crumley — all four earning NCAA provisional marks. It is the second time this season that all four have done so at the same meet.
Finally, two Oregon stars made their appearances and didn’t disappoint in Lincoln.
Holliday, the No. 2 pole vaulter in the nation, still was not able to hit the 14-5 mark — which would be a personal best for the junior
— but did clear 14-0, a height good enough to garner an NCAA automatic. However, she has already gained that honor multiple times this season.
“Becky … had good jumps at 14-5,” Heinonen said, despite her misses at the height.
Junior Mary Etter had another one of her busy days, competing in the shot put, discus and hammer. She upped her personal best in the discus by 11 inches (176-8), jumping back into the top 10 nationally, which was good enough to place second in Nebraska.
She took fourth in the shot and followed that up with a 10th place finish in the hammer.
Heinonen was not entirely impressed with Oregon’s results at the Quad, but nevertheless, was happy with the team’s effort.
“Overall, it was a long, long meet with huge gaps, but we had a few really encouraging marks down the stretch to end on a positive note,” he said.