Saturday was a different scenario from your usual Oregon women’s track and field meet.
The sprints and hurdles were run on the backstretch because of unforgiving winds.
The field events did not draw the usual enthusiasm and applause, because of a minor cancellation of the pole vault and no Oregon competitors in the javelin.
And the oval was the scene of personal bests, heartbreak and the highlight of the afternoon.
From senior Eri Macdonald’s seventh place finish in the 800 meters to freshman Nicole Feest’s 25-second personal best in the 5,000, the Oregon Invitational provided a bit of everything.
“I, honestly, so didn’t expect this,” Feest said of her 16 minute, 57 second finish, which earned her a regional qualifying mark. “I felt pretty comfortable and I tried to stay calm. I underestimated myself because I did not expect to do so well.”
“She is so tough,” Oregon head coach Tom Heinonen said. “When she knew she had to run at the stage where most people start to slow down at about six laps, she attacked and left the group and struck out on her own. She’s a tiger, she really is.”
Senior Carrie Zografos made her 5,000 debut after a hip injury delayed her return. Zografos’ time of 17:01.93 left her seconds shy of the regional qualifying mark of 17 minutes.
“I really wanted to get regionals, but it’s so good to be back,” Zografos said. “I didn’t know what to expect. This was hard; it was mentally hard to stay focused.”
Zografos will run the 5,000 at the Pacific-10 conference meet and expects to qualify for regionals and dip under the 17 minute mark.
Yet despite some heartache the competition allowed for personal bests to pop out all over the track. Senior Janette Davis broke the 54-second barrier in the 400 for the first time.
Davis ran a personal best and won in 53.87 seconds. The senior from Medford also earned a spot as Oregon’s fourth-fastest all-time in the event.
“In this weather, I just gave it to God and did the best I can do,” Davis said. “I always have the potential but finally put it all together. I just had to run my race.”
Davis now sets her sights at 53.3, which would be third all-time at Oregon. She hoped to run that mark Saturday, but expectations changed after the winds picked up.
After Davis raised the bar, others
followed suit.
Senior Heather Murtaugh hit a .23-second personal best in a second place finish in the 200 meters. Murtaugh fell short to Montana States Lacy Hinzpeter by a mere .01 of a second.
“It felt so good,” Murtaugh said of her snapshot finish in the 200. “Every race I’ve been improving and I was so relaxed and got out well.”
To round out the personal records, senior Alicia Snyder-Carlson improved 10 seconds in the steeplechase. Even after starting the race with the leader, Northern Arizona’s Ida Nilsson who won in 10:05.90, the Hawaii native finished in 10:57.72, earning an NCAA regional mark.
“She didn’t have any idea what she was doing; she went out with Nilsson, who’s run 9:49,” Heinonen said. “She got the mark and she hasn’t practiced any of this. She hung in there.”
In competition off the track, the Ducks didn’t fare nearly as well.
In the hammer, Oregon’s top finisher was junior Jill Hoxmeier in eighth. Senior Jordan Sauvage failed to make the final round cut as her mark was 36 feet shy of her personal best.
Redshirt senior Niki McEwen won the pole vault at 13 feet, 1 1/2 inches, rather disappointing for someone who has jumped 14-1 1/4 this season. Redshirt senior Becky Holliday no-heighted after spraining an ankle in warm-ups and missing her initial jump at 13-1 1/2.
Oregon had no competitors in Saturday’s javelin competition. Assistant coach Sally Harmon made the decision to pull sophomores Elisa Crumley and Roslyn Lundeen to save them for next week’s Oregon Twilight.
The Ducks walked away with some mild heartache but also huge personal bests. Oregon’s track athletes were not about to let the weather stop them whereas the field events were spoiled.
“A good share of the day was ruined by the weather,” Heinonen said. “You got to know how to compete. You got to compete when the weather is crummy and I thought we did a really good job of that.”