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Skipper Skies to Third in USA ChampionshipsPublished by
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Junior Tommy Skipper paced the University of Oregon in fourth day action Saturday in the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, and Finish Line USA Junior Outdoor Track and Field Championships, held at the IU Michael A. Carroll Track & Soccer Stadium on the IUPUI campus.
Skipper and Hartwig missed subsequent attempts at 18-8 1/4 (5.70m), while Walker passed to 18-10 1/4 (5.75m) and also missed his three tries.
In prior USA Championships, Skipper tied for ninth in 2005 (17-8 1/2) and 14th in the 2004 Olympic Trials prelims (17-8 1/2), and was the youngest competitor in the latter event. Asics post-collegiate vaulter Russ Buller won Saturday’s event with a final clearance of 19-0 1/4 (5.80m) over 2004 Olympic silver medalist Toby Stevenson who also cleared 19-0 1/4 but on his second attempt, while Buller made his first try. As the top finishers in their event, Buller and Stevenson earned spots on the U.S. team for the 2006 IAAF World Cup, Sept. 16-17 in Athens, Greece, while the top junior championships finishers earned invites to the 2006 World Junior Championships, August 15-20 in Beijing, China. During the collegiate season, Skipper won his second outdoor NCAA title with a clearance of 18-8 1/4 two weeks ago, while in May he won his second Pac-10 title (18-0 1/2) and finished second in the West Regional (18-1). The Sandy, Ore., native opened the campaign with a school and Pac-10 record on his first and only attempt of the Oregon Preview (19-0) in mid-March. Skipper also won the pole vault title in the 2006 NCAA Indoor Championships in early March (18-6 1/2), after he led the regular season rankings (18-8 3/4) with his winning mark from the Mountain Pacific Championships in late February. Overall in ’06, he has competed in 10 meets and has cleared 18 feet in seven of them, including three in which he has topped 18-6. On the track, Duck senior Eric Mitchum made his third straight USA appearance in the senior 110 meter hurdles and ranked 28th overall (14.18, w:-1.0). Overall in the event, Nike’s Dominique Arnold led the prelims (13.35, w:-1.0) by .07 seconds over unattached entrant Ryan Wilson (second, 13.42, w:-1.5) and Mizuno’s Terrance Trammell (third, 13.51, w:-1.8). This season, the Calumet City, Ill., native has competed in 15 high hurdles races, and has broken 14.00 seconds in 14 of them. In May, he posted his third event wins in the Pac-10 and West Regional (13.56/13.52), then added his third All-America honor outdoors in the event in the NCAA Championships (fifth, 13.58). This season he ran a wind-legal season best of 13.52 (w:1.8) in his West Regional win, while his wind-aided season best (13.48w, w:2.8) came in the Oregon Invitational in Eugene in late April. Indoors this season, Mitchum also claimed his third All-America honor in the 60-meter hurdles with his third-place finish in the NCAA Championships (third, 7.68) after he also finished top six in 2005 (fourth, 7.73) and 2004 (sixth, 7.74). On the women’s side, senior Lauryn Jordan finished 15th Saturday in the senior women’s long jump (19-9 3/4, 6.04m, w:0.7) in her USA Championships debut. She opened with her daily best, and added marks of 19-7 3/4 (5.99m, w:1.7) and 19-5 3/4 (5.94m, w:0.0) on her second and third attempts of the prelims. Overall in the long jump Saturday, Nike’s Rose Richmond (22-9w, w:2.2) won by 6 1/2 inches over fellow Nike post-collegians Tianna Madison (second, 22-2 1/2w, w:2.3) and Grace Upshaw (third, 21-10, w:0.9). Upshaw, a former Duck athlete and Oregon letterwinner in 1994, won U.S. titles in 2003 and ’05, and placed top-10 in the finals of the 2003 and ‘05 World Championships (seventh/eighth) and 2004 Olympics (10th). During the ’06 outdoor season, Jordan competed in the long jump in five meets – all of which she topped 19-10. She made her NCAA debut in the event two weeks ago (21st-prelims, 19-10 3/4), after she placed fourth in both the Pac-10 and West Regional (20-4 1/4 / 20-10 1/2). The latter mark and personal best moved her to second all-time for UO, only 1 1/4 inches behind school record holder Julie Goodrich (21-0 1/2, 1988). Jordan also ranks top-10 all-time for UO in the triple jump (second, 41-4 1/2, 42-11.75w, 43-2.5W), heptathlon (third, 5,499, 2006) and high jump (fifth, 5-10). Before Saturday, her most recent competition was the NCAA heptathlon in which she finished seventh with a 73-point personal best (5,499) and placed three places higher than her pre-meet seed (10th). During the year she upped her personal best in the Mt. SAC Relays (5,426), and added third in the Pac-10 Championships heptathlon (third, 5,378). On the junior side, the Duck men featured four freshmen-to-be in the men’s 1,500 meters final. El Camino High School senior A.J. Acosta (Oceanside, Calif.) won by .18 seconds with the second-best time of his career (3:45.95) over Georgetown freshman Andrew Bumbalough (second, 3:46.13) and Samuel Borchers of the Miami Valley Track Club (third, 3:46.32). Three other future Ducks also finished top-10 – Kenny Klotz (seventh, 3:52.35), Andrew Wheating (eighth, 3:54.28) and Isaac Stoutenburgh (10th, 3:55.81). Acosta had run slightly faster in the Oregon Twilight at Hayward Field in Eugene on Sat., May 8 (3:45.73) which is the fastest high school time so far in ’06. Complete results are available at the www.USATF.org website at the http://www.usatf.org/events/2006/USAOutdoorTFChampionships/schedule.asp URL link. Action resumes Sunday in the fifth and final day of both events, although no current Oregon athletes are slated to compete.
Men Pole Vault More news |
In the senior men’s pole vault, Skipper tied for third place (18-4
1/2) with American record holder Jeff Hartwig and 2005 World
Championships silver medalist Brad Walker who also converted the same
height on their first attempts.