Eight Oregon Ducks Punch Tickets to NCAA Championships

Sophomore Rebekah Noble will make her fourth NCAA appearance overall (including indoors) in the 800m in June, thanks to her runner-up finish Saturday (2:04.95).

Oregon junior Marcus Dillon earned NCAA invites Saturday in the 4x100m, 4x400m and 400m. Photo: goducks.com

EUGENE, Ore. - A record regional crowd of 5,769 cheered the University of Oregon men’s and women’s track and field teams to a host of NCAA qualifying performances Saturday in NCAA West Regional Championships final day action at historic Hayward Field.

The Duck men advanced both men’s relays, and six individuals to the collegiate finale – men’s athletes Marcus Dillon (400m), Michael McGrath (1,500m) and Ryan Brandel (javelin) and women’s athletes Rebekah Noble (800m), Zoe Buckman (800m) and Britney Henry (hammer) - courtesy of their top-five regional finishes and top-three relay placings.

On the men’s side, junior Marcus Dillon claimed second place in the 400m (46.31) with a .31-second personal best that also moved him up three spots all-time for UO to sixth, ahead of Pat Lanning (seventh, 46.38), Dave Hagmeier (seventh, 46.44) and Klaus Weigeldt (eighth, 46.47).

In the 4x100m, the unit of Dillon, freshman Ashton Eaton, junior Phil Alexander, and sophomore Jared Huske ran a season best (third, 40.26) for the second consecutive day – a .09-second improvement this time – and netted their third straight NCAA invitation in the outdoor event.

In the 4x400m, Dillon, Eaton, Alexander and freshman Chad Barlow picked up UO’s fifth straight NCAA outdoor invitation with their third-place finish (3:08.79) – and a season best by 1.08 seconds from their previous mark of 3:09.87. Even more impressive, no athletes on either relays have ever competed in the collegiate finale before.

In the distances, redshirt junior Michael McGrath captured his first NCAA outdoor invitation with his fifth-place finish in the 1,500m (3:46.31), and freshman A.J. Acosta positioned himself for a likely at-large invitation early next week with his ninth-place effort (3:48.43).

The pair entered the meet seeded 14th and sixth in the regional rankings with season bests of 3:44.25 and 3:42.40, respectively.

Redshirt sophomore Chris Winter placed eighth in the 3,000m steeplechase (8:58.66) Saturday – his second-fastest time this year – and was one place off his pre-meet seeding (seventh) based on his season best of 8:51.62 that placed him fifth in the recent Pac-10 Championships.

In the javelin, senior Ryan Brandel enjoyed his best-ever regional finish (second, 218-3) – 12 places better than his finish in ’06 – and secured his first-ever NCAA invitation.

The Milwaukie, Ore., native entered the meet with a personal best of 238-0 that ranked him first in the region and fourth nationally among collegians in ’07 and third all-time in school history.

On the women’s side, sophomore Rebekah Noble will make her fourth NCAA appearance overall (including indoors) in the 800m in June, thanks to her runner-up finish Saturday (2:04.95).

Freshman Zoe Buckman will join her in Sacramento after she finished fourth (2:06.82) with her third straight season best (2:06.85) the last two weeks.

In the 4x400m relay, the Duck quartet of junior Kavina Hall, sophomore Leah Worthen, freshman Keshia Baker and junior Irie Searcy ran its second-fastest time of the year (sixth, 3:40.58). The group entered the meet seeded fifth with a season best of 3:36.07 that ranked them third in school history.

In the field events, redshirt senior Britney Henry will look forward to her third NCAA trip in the hammer after she placed a best-ever third place in the West Regional (215-3) – her fifth meet in the past six contests with marks of 215-0 or better.

Henry threw her daily best on her fifth throw (62.56m), and her other legal attempts came on her first (62.65m), second (64.13m) and third (59.01m) throws.

Returning regional champion and USC’s Eva Orban topped the field (219-0), and edged Sarah Stevens of ASU (second, 217-8), Henry, Carrie Johnson of California (fourth, 211-4) and Amy Haapanen (fifth, 208-4).

At stake in each of the nation's four regionals this weekend were automatic berths for the upcoming NCAA Championships, Wednesday-Saturday, June 6th-9th, in Sacramento, Calif.

The top five finishers from each individual event and the top three relays automatically qualified for the collegiate finale, and each regional's sixth-12th place finishers go into a pool of at-large candidates to fill out the NCAA fields.

The top 6-8 athletes in each event from the at-large pool will be awarded NCAA invitations next week based on their season bests.

On Sunday, the second installment of the Road to Eugene ’08 meet will be held at Hayward Field from approximately 7:15-9:30 p.m.

Half-price ticket options are available if you bring ticket stubs from the recent NCAA West Regional or OSAA state championships, while UO faculty (with a guest) and students get in free with their UO ID passes.

Complete meet results are available at the www.FlashResults.com website at the http://www.flashresults.com/2007_Meets/outdoor/ncaawest/?&DB_OEM_ID=500 URL address.

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