By the time 2 p.m. Saturday rolled around, the Oregon women’s track team had everything kicked into full gear: five events in the bag and five personal victories for the Ducks.
After the rocket start, junior Abby Andrus had a comeback victory in the 100 hurdles on a sour stomach and senior Eri Macdonald ran a 63-second last lap of the 800 meters to secure the victory.
All en route to an Oregon team victory. The Ducks had 204 points in the Pepsi Invitational, while second-place Minnesota had 172. And Oregon made it look easy from the start, when sophomore Roslyn Lundeen improved her season best to win on the last throw of the javelin.
“The win is obviously nice and I’m just happy to be in one piece,” said Lundeen, who nursed injuries early in the season.
“It seems like our kids competed with a lot of heart,” Oregon head coach Tom Heinonen said. “They knew it was competitive, and they reacted by being competitive and putting lots of good marks on the board. This is our best meet of the season by far.”
Oregon’s throwing arsenal continued in usual fashion. After Lundeen’s season best, senior Jordan Sauvage hit 185 feet in the hammer to secure the win and nine points for Oregon.
Senior Mary Etter followed suit with a victory in the discus by throwing 176 feet, more than six feet past her previous season best. Etter also went on to finish second in the shot put behind Minnesota’s Alean Frawley.
“It’s about time,” Etter said of finally throwing past 170 feet in competition. “I’m kind of tweaking things in my forearm. There will be no problem getting 180 if I get that stuff down.”
The pole vault was the fourth victory of the five that proved no different than usual on Oregon’s part. Washington’s Kate Soma was the only competitor who had a mark close to that of any Duck. Soma had a rough day as she could not clear 12-11 1/2 on her third attempt.
After Soma was out, Oregon seniors Nike McEwen and Becky Holliday were left to pace one another. The duo eased their way over 13-5 1/4 and then 13-11 1/4. McEwen then missed all attempts at 14-3 1/4.
Holliday cleared her second attempt of 14-3 1/4 but missed all three chances at 14-6 1/4, which would have allowed her to break her own school record.
“I wasn’t technically sound and I have to make every jump as perfect as I can,” Holliday said of her final attempts. “I’m excited to be over 14. I want to be consistent over that.”
Also in the jumps, senior Amanda Brown hit 19-4 1/4 to win the long jump, with Andrus following in second at 18-2 1/2. Senior Jenny Brogdon tied Colorado’s Anna Magle at 5-7 in the high jump but had fewer misses to take the victory.
In the triple jump, Minnesota’s Shani Marks soared to a mark of 44-10 1/4, the top jump in the college ranks this year. Marks also passed the Gopher school record by more than a foot.
On the oval, the 400 and 800 were Oregon’s final victories of the afternoon. Senior Janette Davis hit a personal best of 54.11 in her first competition in the 400 this outdoor season.
Macdonald out-sprinted Washington rival Courtney Inman in the final stretch of the 800 to win at 2:07.40. The time for Macdonald was a five-second improvement of her season best and the fifth fastest time in the NCAA this outdoor season.
“I’ve been really bad this season until now,” Macdonald said. “My strategy was to stay with Courtney and my job was to not let her get too far ahead.”
In front of 4,579 fans, the women earned 13 regional marks and 16 Pacific-10 Conference qualifying marks in just the second meet held at Hayward Field this season.
In the final team results, Washington finished in third with 149 points and Colorado took fourth at 100.
After a successful weekend at home, Oregon will now set it sights on the Mt. San Antonio College Relays, which begin Wednesday in Walnut, Calif.