Oregon's Yurkovich, Noble Score All-America Honors

The javelin continues to shine as one of UO’s top events historically and has featured a program best four national titles and 25 All-America honors.

Photo: goducks.com

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - University of Oregon sophomores Rachel Yurkovich and Rebekah Noble claimed their second straight All-America outdoor honors Saturday in the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, hosted at Hornet Stadium on the Sacramento State University campus.

Overall in the team races, Oregon finished 10th on the men’s side with 20 points – its sixth top-15 finish the past seven years – and the UO women placed 27th with nine points.

Individually in the women’s javelin, Yurkovich placed fifth with a throw of 170-0 (51.83) and raised Oregon’s streak of All-America honors in the event to seven straight years and its ninth honor overall in that span.

The Newberg Ore., native opened the day with a mark of 160-5 (48.90m), then followed with throws of 154-7 (47.12m) and 163-11 (49.97m) in the prelims. In the final, she fouled her fourth and sixth attempts and threw her daily best on her fifth try.

“I came in trying to focus on working on the little things that would keep me from throwing far, and I did pretty well at those, but overall I didn’t quite have it,” Yurkovich said. “Between throws, I tried to psyche myself up and try to throw with my heart. I gave it my all but couldn’t quite get it to work the way I wanted to.”

On Wednesday, Yurkovich advanced to the 12-woman final and needed only one throw – a mark of 162-8 – and ranked fifth in the 27-woman field.

Yurkovich entered the competition as the top seed thanks to her Pac-10 record from late April (189-11) that also ranks her top 10 all-time among collegians (fourth) and Americans (fourth). In recent weeks, she added her second Pac-10 and West Regional titles (174-11 / 178-9) and overall this season also topped her preseason best (179-10) in the Oregon Twilight (185-11).

Earlier this year, she also made an indelible mark on various all-time lists and ranks fourth among both collegians and Americans with this season’s 189-11 personal best, and was also previously unbeaten vs. collegians in ‘07

The javelin continues to shine as one of UO’s top events historically and has featured a program best four national titles and 25 All-America honors, including a pair of recent top-three honors by Sarah Malone in 2005 (second) and ’04 (third). Last year, Yurkovich took seventh in her NCAA debut (165-2) and ranked fifth on the U.S. list with her then best of 179-10.

Overall in the event Saturday, Purdue senior Lindsey Blaine – the ninth seed before the event with a previous season best of 170-10 – won by two feet, six inches (182-3 (55.56m)). The meet’s second and third seeds - UTEP senior Erma Gene Evans and Georgia senior Krista Woodward – ultimately finished in those same exact positions with marks of 179-9 and 174-8.

On the track, Noble claimed her fourth All-America honor in the women’s 800m (2:04.79) in one of the fastest collegiate races ever and featured an amazing four runners under 2:02.00 and seven runners under 2:03.00.

California junior and top seed Alysia Johnson won the event (1:59.29) in an exciting stretch run over Michigan senior Katie Erdman (second, 1:59.35), Minnesota sophomore Heather Dorniden (third, 2:01.05) and UTEP senior Fatimoh Muhammed (fourth, 2:01.89).

Johnson took the race out and led much of the 57-second first lap and and never relinquished the lead as Erdman ran just behind at her side and almost passed her in the final meters. Noble – cognizant of the torrid opening pace, stayed near the back of the pack in the hot sunny late morning conditions. However, the all-star field never came back and she ran in her final position virtually the whole race.

Noble advanced to Saturday’s final based on her efforts in Thursday’s semifinal (third-heat, 2:04.02) and Wednesday’s preliminary (first-heat, 2:06.05) rounds.

Before the meet, Noble was seeded fifth nationally in the event and earned her NCAA invitation two weeks ago in the West Regional (second, 2:04.95). Also in the second half of the season, she broke 2:04.00 twice in the regular season in the Oregon Invitational (first, 2:03.22) and Oregon Twilight (second, 2:03.94), but then missed the Pac-10 Championships.

Noble made her fourth NCAA appearance in the 800m Saturday and was the event runner-up indoors in 2006 and ’07 (2:05.72 / 2:04.70) and the NCAA champion outdoors in ’06 (2:02.07) – and the latter time ranks her fourth all-time for UO.

Altogether, Oregon has claimed 10 outdoor All-America honors in the 800m, including wins by Noble, Leann Warren in 1981 and Claudette Groenendaal in ’85.

Overall in the men’s team race, meet favorite Florida State defended its title with 54 points and edged LSU (second, 48), Auburn (third, 34) and Tennessee (fourth, 30 1/2). Other teams in the top 10 included USC (fifth, 27), North Carolina (sixth, 26), Louisville and Wisconsin (seventh-tie, 22), UCLA (ninth, 21) and Oregon (10th 20).

On the women’s side, Arizona State also validated its top seed status and racked up 60 points to beat LSU (second, 53), Michigan (third, 36) and Texas A&M (fourth, 34). Other teams in the top 10 included UCLA (fifth, 30), Texas (sixth, 29), USC (seventh, 27), California (eighth, 26), Georgia (ninth, 24) and Stanford (10th, 23).

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