Shooting For The Stars
Oregon may not win the AIAW team title, but Patty Kearney is
likely to bring the Ducks at least one individual championship
With an impressive dual meet
season under its belt, the
Oregon women’s track team
appears to have the nation's top
dual meet ranking locked up.
And one big reason for the
Ducks’ success this year has
been the improved performance
of javelin hurler Patty Kearney.
Kearney already holds the
Oregon javelin record, as well
as the top collegiate mark of the
season (180-7). But she will be
shooting for bigger game this
week when the AIAW national
championships open today at
Hayward Field.
“It should be pretty competi
tive,’’ says Oregon throws
coach Scott Irving “I would
think it will take a throw in the
180’s to win the meet, but I
believe she’ll be in the running
for the championship.”
Kearney hasn't always been
among the nation’s finest, how
ever. In fact, when she first
came to Oregon, she wasn’t
even considering going out for
track.
“I hadn’t planned on athletics
at all, but I was really at a
stalemate for something else to
do,” Kearney says. "I went to a
track meet and saw they were
only throwing maybe ten feet
further than what I’d done in
high school, so I figured Well,
heck, I should be able to be
competitive.’ ”
Kearney hasn't regretted that
decision. Each year has seen a
steady improvement in her
marks - 132 feet that first year,
154-11 as a sophomore and
166-11 last year. But since this
season is her last at Oregon,
Kearney has decided to give it
her best shot.
“I’m definitely putting my all
into it," she says. “In my prac
tices, for weights and stuff like
that, I’ll come in on a day when I
don't feel like doing it, but I’ll
just kick myself in the rear and
say get going.’ And on those
days it seems like I have my best
workouts.”
Another indication of how
seriously Kearney is taking this
season came last fall, when Irv
ing arranged for her to spend
four months in West Germany to
train under national javelin head
coach Wolford Hurst.
“I’m very grateful to Scott for
arranging the trip,” says the
thrower. “It was a good exper
ience, not only for javelin, but
culturally it was great.”
Also training under Hurst
were Eva Helmschmidt, West
Germany’s top thrower and
fifth-ranked in the world last
year, and Karen Smith, Amer
ica's No. 2 thrower.
"I was throwing alongside two
over-200-foot throwers, and
that’s got to help some,” Kear
ney says. “Watching those two
javelin throwers in their training,
they were just more intense,
more aggressive. Their wor
kouts didn’t have to be long,
they just had to be good quali
ty”
Kearney leads the nation in the javelin with a best of 180-7, an
Oregon school record.
Photo by Martha Stanton
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I
That intensity took a little ad
justing, too. “Wolford would
watch each one of our throws
and mention something about it
every time. I was really frustrat
(Continued on Page 7)
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