Oregon`s Noble & Rupp Speed to MPSF Wins

Noble’s mark eclipsed the NCAA automatic standard (2:05.20) – a time that only six other runners had met in ’07 before this weekend.

Rebekah Noble won the 800m (2:04.92) and was .49 seconds under the previous meet record. Photo: goducks.com

SEATTLE - The University of Oregon track and field teams added two school records, two wins, and seven NCAA qualifying marks Saturday in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation second and final day action hosted by the University of Washington in the Dempsey Indoor Center.

In the women’s 800m, returning NCAA outdoor champion and sophomore Rebekah Noble moved to lead just before the bell lap on the 307-meter UW track and raced away from her competition to win by .72 seconds over California All-American Alysia Johnson (second, 2:05.63).

The Spokane, Wash., native Noble scored a 3.50-second season best and was just off her indoor personal best (2:04.72) that came on the same track in January 2006.

Noble’s mark also eclipsed the NCAA automatic standard (2:05.20) – a time that only six other runners had met in ’07 before this weekend.

“I ran pretty fast last night so that gave me some extra confidence coming in,” Noble said. “The race went the way we thought it might, and before it started to slow, I decided to take the lead so we could still be on pace for an automatic qualifying time. I knew I was ready to run fast – workouts had been going great – and I feel stronger and faster than I did at this point last year.”

Also in the women’s 800m Saturday, junior Kasey Harwood followed in 14th place (2:14.63) with a .67-second season best.

In the meet finale, the 4x400m relay, Noble came back to run a high 53-second split on the second leg as the quartet of junior Kavina Hall, Noble, sophomore Leah Worthen and freshman Keshia Baker finished second in their third school record of the season (3:37.64) behind Arizona State (first, 3:36.34).

The Ducks’ previous school record - 3:38.92 – came two weekends ago in the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark., and also met the 3:40.00 qualifying standard.

Going into this weekend, only 14 teams had run faster than the Ducks did Saturday on the NCAA qualifying list.

The night before on Friday evening, Noble also collaborated on the Ducks’ distance medley relay that won with a strong NCAA provisional mark (11:18.29) and included a sub-2:04.00-second 800m split.

In other distance action Saturday, freshman Nicole Blood clocked the team’s 3,000m season best in her collegiate event debut (fifth, 9:29.87), and her NCAA provisional time met the 9:34.00 qualifying standard.

Other Ducks in the race included sophomore Zoe Nelson (ninth, personal best 9:47.41) and freshman Lauren Zaludek (14th, collegiate debut 10:04.91).

In the 400m, redshirt junior Irie Searcy dropped her season best by 1.33 seconds and finished sixth overall (56.17) – five places better than her finish in ’06 – and her time moved her to fifth all-time for UO.

In the field events, redshirt senior Lauryn Jordan made her triple jump season debut (sixth, 39-9 3/4).

UO’s third-best indoor triple jumper of all-time was only 3/4 inches off her indoor personal best (39-10 1/2) from 2006.

Other second-day results included senior Dana Buchanan (mile, ninth, 4:57.67) and freshman Eniko Eros (high jump, eighth-tie, 5-3 3/4).

Overall in the team race, Arizona State won the team championship with 135 points ahead of Stanford (second, 96), California (third, 79), Washington (fourth, 74 1/2), Arizona (fifth, 73 1/2), Washington State (sixth, 72), Oregon (seventh, 65 1/2), UCLA (eighth, 40 1/2), Long Beach State (ninth, 15) and UC Irvine (10th, 8).

On the men’s side, sophomore Galen Rupp surged away from the field in the 3,000m in the final 1/3 of the race to win by over a second (7:54.19) over Arizona’s Obed Mutanya (second, 7:55.24) and California’s Giliat Ghebray (third, 7:56.51).

The Portland, Ore., native’s school record moved him up two spots on UO’s all-time list past former All-Americans Steve Fein (7:54.26, 1999) and Eric Logsdon (second, 7:54.29, 2005), and improved on his personal best from 2006 (7:54.90).

Rupp’s NCAA provisional time was just off the NCAA automatic standard (7:54.00), and will likely garner an NCAA return for the four-time All-American and may even put him top-five nationally on the national rankings since only three runners had run faster before this weekend.

UO also received 3,000m season bests and NCAA provisional clockings from A.J. Acosta (seventh, 8:02.80) and sophomore Scott Wall (eighth, 8:02.86) who ran 1.91- and 10.93-second personal bests, respectively, and also ducked under the 8:05.00 provisional standard.

Not far behind, redshirt sophomore Chris Winter (13th, 8:13.06) was only .36 seconds off his season best.

In the mile, junior Michael McGrath ran his second NCAA provisional time of the year and finished second in a .15-second season best (4:02.97), behind Washington’s Austin Abbott (first, 4:02.82).

Other Ducks that narrowly missed the NCAA provisional standard (4:04.00) in the race included freshman Andrew Wheating (sixth, 4:05.62) and redshirt sophomore James Withers (seventh, season best 4:05.67).

In the 800 meters, junior A.J. Casteel ran a nearly two-second personal best (sixth, 1:51.33), and challenged for a spot on UO’s all-time list, and was just off the fifth position held by former Duck All-American Shannon Lemora (1:51.3, 1992).

Duck freshman Ryan Waite also ranked top-10 in the event final Saturday with his .68-second personal best (10th, 1:52.82).

In the sprints, freshman sprinter Chad Barlow ran a .30-second personal best in the 400m (second, 47.82), and finished second overall behind Arizona State All-American Domenik Peterson (first, 47.59).

Barlow’s time moved him closer to UO’s fifth-best 400m mark of all-time, held by Travis Anderson (47.50, 2004).

UO’s other entry in the event, junior Marcus Dillon ran the fastest time of the day, but was disqualified for a lane violation at the cut-in zone.

Junior Phil Alexander, Barlow, Dillon and Eaton came back in the meet’s finale, the 4x400m relay, with a .01-second season best and their second NCAA provisional mark and sub-3:10.00 time of the season (second, 3:09.91).

On the straightaway, UO’s third-fastest 60m sprinter of all-time, sophomore Jonathan Stewart tied the second-fastest time of his career in the event final (fifth, 6.92), and was only .04 seconds off his personal best from Friday’s prelims (6.88).

In the 60m hurdles, sophomore Walter Thurmond III claimed his highest finish in the Mountain Pacific Championships (third, 8.10) and improved two places on his event debut in ’06 (sixth).

The West Covina, Calif., native ran a .02-second personal best of 8.04 in Friday’s prelims to improve on his fifth-best mark in school history.

Sophomore high jumper A.J. O’Connell added eighth place (6-5 1/2 (1.97m)) with his second-highest mark of the indoor campaign, and was just shy of his season best of 6-6 3/4 (2.00m) from his last trip to Seattle two weeks ago.

Also in the field, senior David Moore tied for 10th in the pole vault (15-11 3/4), followed by freshman Colin Witter-Tilton (13th, 15-5 3/4), while redshirt sophomore Mark Lewis added 12th in the shot put (53-8 1/2).

In the men’s heptathlon, freshman Ashton Eaton clocked a .20-second season best of 8.31 in the 60m hurdles, then no-heighted in the pole vault and withdrew from the competition.

Fellow frosh Marshall Ackley ran 9.72 in the hurdles, then also withdrew after Saturday’s first event.

The duo entered the day ranked third (3,152) and 11th (2,241) overall after first-day personal best scores Friday in the two-day competition.

Washington won the men’s team crown with109 points, over Arizona (second, 89), Oregon (third, 86), Stanford (fourth, 79 1/2), Arizona State (fifth, 79), California (sixth, 64), Washington State (seventh, 63 1/2), Long Beach State (eighth, 50) and UCLA (ninth, 35).

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