The Oregon men’s and women’s track and field teams will send a quintet of athletes to Fayetteville, Ark., for the weekend.
The Ducks accepted five invitations to the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Randal Tyson Track Center.
Seniors Adam Kriz and Samie Parker will represent the men’s team in the weight throw and 60-meter dash, respectively. Redshirt seniors Becky Holliday and Niki McEwen will also travel to the two-day meet to compete in the women’s pole vault, along with junior Kirsten Riley.
Kriz enters the competition ranked 15th nationally with a season best of 67 feet, 7 inches in the 35-pound weight throw. The Toledo native will make his NCAA indoor debut, and is ranked second of the Pacific-10 Conference entries.
“It’s a compliment to be invited,” Kriz said. “I’m going to go out and try to have fun and see where I stack up. I have nothing to lose.”
Parker will be on familiar ground as he returns to the championship meet. The Long Beach, Calif., native claimed Oregon’s first indoor All-American sprint honor last year in the 60-meter dash.
Parker ran 6.66 seconds in taking fourth last year, and has clocked a time as fast as 6.71 this season. He currently stands in a two-way tie for 13th nationally and is the only conference qualifier.
Holliday and McEwen will rival for the top spot in the pole vault as the two Duck seniors rank second and third on the national list, respectively. Holliday has posted a mark of 14-1 3/4, an improvement from her mark at last year’s championship of 13-7 3/4.
McEwen trails her teammate by half an inch at 14-1 1/4. Riley will join the squad in her NCAA debut after scoring a personal best of 13-3 1/2 in last weekend’s provisional qualifier.
“I expected to qualify, but it’s still really exciting to find out for sure,” Riley said. “I’ve been over 13 feet much more in practice this year compared to last year, so I knew it was coming, and the good thing is that there’s still more there.”
In 2002, the men posted a best-ever ninth-place team finish whereas the women took 46th overall. Parker, Holliday and McEwen all return a year stronger, faster and higher to lead Oregon to the top.