University redshirt senior Becky Holliday posted an NCAA automatic qualifying mark and nearly a foot season best Friday to break the school pole vault record by a half-inch in the opening day of the Mountain Pacific Championships at the Nampa Sports Center in Nampa, Idaho.
A Sparks, Nev., native, Holliday opened the afternoon at a mark near her previous season best of 13-2 1/4 and, after a third-attempt clearance, had less trouble with subsequent heights and eventually finished second overall with a mark of 14-1 3/4 behind NCAA record holder Amy Linnen of Arizona.
“Becky rolled the dice by starting at a height a fraction higher than she had cleared all year,” women’s head coach Tom Heinonen said. “But it paid off. After she made that, she got on a roll and jumped great at every height after that.”
In Saturday’s action, seniors Adam Kriz, Foluso Akinradewo and Janette Davis led the Ducks.
Kriz improved his chances for an NCAA Championships invite with a 1 foot, 2 3/4-inch personal best in the weight throw (second, 67-7), and trailed only UCLA’s Dan Ames (first, 67-9 1/2). Kriz’s mark may rank him top 10 nationally next week on the national qualifying list since last week’s eighth-place mark was 67-2 1/4. Normally, a minimum of 15 throwers are invited to the collegiate finale, scheduled for March 14-15 in Fayetteville, Ark., with only two more weekends to qualify.
A Toledo, Ore., native, Kriz made his NCAA Championships outdoor debut in 2002 in the hammer throw after earning an invite based on his winning mark and personal best from last year’s Pac-10 finale.
— from staff and wire reports
