Duck Sports Authority - Another NCAA champ

June 15, 2008

John Copp
Duck Sports Authority Senior Analyst

The season is over for the Oregon Duck track team. The Duck men concluded a season in which they won the PAC 10 conference championship with 22 points and an eleventh place finish in the NCAA championships held this weekend in Des Moines. Their counterparts on the women's side garnered 27 points en route to their eighth place finish, dramatically improving from their fifth place finish in the PAC 10. For both, the championship meet in Des Moines represented more of a dress rehearsal for next year than a serious opportunity to win a national title. The Duck men return 20 of the 22 points they earned at Des Moines and the women all 27 of theirs.

The meet featured both good and bad for the Ducks. Ashton Eaton, seeded fourth entering the competition, improved on his previous personal record by nearly 300 points in the decathlon to take home the gold. At the same time, he met and exceeded the Olympic A standard to put himself into to position to challenge for a spot on the US Olympic team. The 8055 points he earned in Des Moines is the third best performance by an American decathlete this year.

The Duck women also came home from Iowa with an individual champion among them. Rachel Yurkovich, the Ducks' three-time PAC 10 champion in the javelin, overcame a history of poor performances at the NCAAs to put together her best series ever and win the title with a throw of 185'7". Of her six throws at the meet, all exceeded 172' and each would have scored in the meet were it to stand alone.

The Duck men nearly had a second champion when their middle-distance phenom, Andrew Wheating, charged into the headwind on the final straight at Des Moines to try to make up ground on Southern Cal's Duane Solomon and Texas' Jacob Hernandez. Wheating caught Solomon, who ran for the US in the World championships in 2007, but was nipped at the wire by Hernandez in a finish that was about as close as one could imagine. Wheating, slightly behind a leaning Hernandez as they crossed the finish-line, was in front by the time the two completed the stride that took them across the line. Hernandez was timed in 1:45.31 and Wheating in 1:45.32, times that place them third and fourth on this year's national performance lists.

The Duck women also scored in the 800 meters when Australian Zoe Buckman finished a disappointing fourth in race in which she made some poor tactical decisions. Buckman, who was rounding nicely into shape as the season progressed, let herself fall too far behind the leaders and was forced to kick to improve her position heading into the home straight. Her efforts sapped her of some of the energy she need to claim the title for which she was favored after U.S. champion Alycia Johnson of Cal dropped out with a foot injury as she was passed by three runners in the last 50 meters.

The women also earned fourth place points from the efforts of Canadian heptathlete, Brianne Thiessen, who nearly matched her own personal record with a score of 5710 with an outstanding second day. Nicole Blood, recovering from injuries like an umber of Ducks, accounted for the remainder of the Duck women's points when she finished third in the 5000 meters.

The Duck men picked up points in the javelin from Alex Wolff, who continued his comeback from a series of injuries to earn two points for finishing seventh with a throw of just over 220 feet. Senior hammer thrower Colin Veldman also picked up a pair of points with a seventh place finish in his specialty.

In addition to the triumphs of and outstanding performances of Ducks like Eaton, Yurkovich, Blood and Wheating, there were some disappointments for the Ducks. Sophomore A.J. Acosta, seeded sixth in the 1500 meters had a pair of rough trips. In the semifinals, was pushed and stumbled his way to at 13th place finish that left him on the outside looking in at the final by just .003 seconds. The Ducks appealed Acosta's exclusion and won. Buoyed by his reprieve, Acosta headed in to the final determined to take advantage of his opportunity. Once again, Acosta ran into trouble during the race. This time, just as he was making a move in the homestretch, he was cut off and forced to abort his move. As a result, Acosta once finished again just out of the money, ending up a non-scoring ninth.

The Duck 4x400 team also proved to be a disappointment. After a scintillating performance in PAC 10 championships that made them a contender to score at the NCAA meet, the Duck men ran nearly seven seconds slower than they had in Los Angeles to finish dead last in the prelims and eliminate themselves. Had they made through and matched their season best from the PAC 10 championships, they would have earned themselves a fifth place finish.

Despite the disappointments, the future looks bright for the Ducks. The men, in particular, should be able to challenge for a title next year with the return of Galen Rupp. Rupp, who redshirted this year in order to train for the Olympics, would be favored in either the 5000 meters or the 10,000 meters or both based on his times from last year. With Wheating who was primarily a soccer player in high school, improving by leaps and bounds and ranked in the top three in both the 800 and 1500, Acosta, junior Chris Winter who finished 12th in the steeplechase (eight of the runners ahead of him graduate), Wolff, talented freshman hammer thrower Jordan Stray and multi-event transfer David Klech the Ducks have a nucleus that could well earn the Ducks their first NCAA track championship of this century.

Stay tuned to Duck Sports Authority. We'll keep you apprised of the Duck efforts to bring back the NCAA title to Tracktown, USA and all the other news worth reporting about Duck sports.

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