Oregon Track Teams Heat Up Outdoor Season in Desert

Last weekend, the Ducks kicked off their outdoor season at home in the Oregon Preview and scored 15 wins.

Sophomore Lucy Cridland led UO in the discus last weekend in the Oregon Preview (third, 140-11). Photo: goducks.com

EUGENE - After they wrap up final exams this week, the University of Oregon track and field teams head to the Arizona State Invitational, Friday-Saturday, at ASU, while a trio of multi-event newcomers will compete in the Jim Click Multi-Events, Thursday-Friday at the University of Arizona.

Oregon’s Tempe-bound travel contingent is composed of its sprints, jumps, throws and multi-events unit, and features four All-Americans, senior hammer throwers Britney Henry and Brian Richotte, junior sprinter Irie Searcy and sophomore javelin thrower Rachel Yurkovich, and another NCAA veteran in senior pole vaulter Emily Enders.

Three new multi-event athletes -- freshmen decathletes Ashton Eaton and William Pua’a and heptathlete Erin Funkhouser -- will make their season event debuts in a pair of Oregon’s most decorated events historically.

Looking ahead, UO’s distance runners will compete the following weekend in the Stanford Invitational, Fri.-Sat., March 30th-31st in Stanford, Calif.

Last weekend, the Ducks kicked off their outdoor season at home in the Oregon Preview (3/17) and scored 15 wins (6W, 9M), 10 regional qualifying marks (5W, 5M) and meet records courtesy of Yurkovich (PR 184-6) and sophomore Rebekah Noble (2:04.70) in front of a meet record crowd (5,699).

Other noteworthy marks from the men’s team were turned in by senior Ryan Brandel (javelin, first, 213-2), redshirt junior Michael McGrath (1,500m, first, 3:44.25) and redshirt sophomore Mark Lewis (shot put, first, 55-2 3/4).

Oregon’s next home meet, the 18th annual Pepsi Team Invitational, follows Sat., April 7th and will welcome USC, Kansas State and Washington.

The Trojans, Ducks and Huskies finished first, second and fourth in the Pac-10 Championships last year, while the respective women’s teams placed third, fifth and seventh in the ’06 league clash.

At the national level, all three Pac-10 programs finished top-25 in the nation outdoors last year in Sacramento (USC M-9th, W-2nd; Oregon M-12th, W-11th; Washington M-22nd, W-21st).

Kansas State perennially boasts one of the nation’s top field event corps and spotlights high jumper Scott Sellers who cleared 7-4 1/2 as a freshman in ’06 and placed third in the 2006 NCAA Outdoor Championships.

ASU INVITATIONAL MEET INFORMATION

Friday

First Duck Event: 5:00 PM – Women’s Hammer

Last Duck Event: 6:30 PM (approx.) – Men’s Hammer

Saturday

First Duck Event: 10:30 AM – Women’s Discus

Last Duck Event: 8:00 PM (approx.) – Men’s 4x400m Relay (rolling running event schedule starting at 5:30 PM)

Teams (Men and Women unless otherwise noted): Arizona State, Adams State, Ashland (Ohio), BYU, Dartmouth, Manhattan, Michigan (W), Missouri, Northern Arizona, Ohio State (M), Oregon, Purdue, UC Davis, UNLV (W), Washington, Western New Mexico, Wyoming, Xavier (Ohio)

TENTATIVE OREGON ENTRIES

Men’s Events (* athletes listed alphabetically)

100m – Alexey Shkuratov

200m – Phillip Alexander, Marcus Dillon, Alexey Shkuratov

400m – Zach Ancell, Chad Barlow

110m Hurdles – Marshall Ackley, Jared Huske, Alexey Shkuratov

400m Hurdles – Marshall Ackley, Jared Huske

4x100m

4x400m

Pole Vault – Marshall Ackley, David Moore, Colin Witter-Tilton

Long Jump – Alexey Shkuratov

Hammer – Brian Richotte

Javelin – Matt Adams, Ryan Brandel, Jamie Slade, Alex Wolff

Women’s Events (* athletes listed alphabetically)

100m – Ashley Bridenbeck, Keshia Baker, Irie Searcy

200m – Keshia Baker, Ashley Bridenbeck, Kavina Hall, Irie Searcy, Leah Worthen

400m – Kavina Hall, Leah Worthen

100m Hurdles – Kasey Harwood

400m Hurdles – Kasey Harwood, Amanda Santana

4x100m

4x400m

High Jump – Eniko Eros, Emily Gillespie, Kasey Harwood, Jasmine Kelly

Pole Vault – Emily Enders, Eniko Eros, Tara Rhein

Discus – Lucy Cridland

Javelin – Ashley McCrea, Kara Meeuwsen, Rachel Yurkovich

More meet information is available at the www.thesundevils.com , www.arizonaathletics.com and www.gostanford.com websites.

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