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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (June 1, 2001)
Boness fails to hit high mark ■ High jumper Jason Boness’ hopes were dashed when the junior couldn’t clear three of his four attempts By Jeff Smith Oregon Daily Emerald Clap, clap, clap. Run, run, run. Jump, jump, jump. Miss, miss, miss. So went the NCAA Track and Field Championships for an ex tremely disappointed Jason Boness Thursday, as the Oregon high jumper ended his up-and-down junior season with one clearance and three straight misses at 7 feet, 1/4 inches. Even with the Hayward Field faithful clapping in unison to help him out, Boness couldn’t find it in him to will himself over the bar. After his third and final miss, he immediately tore off his sun glasses and chucked them to the ground. He then went over to the grass, fell down on his back and threw his hands over his head in frustration. Finally, as he came to grips with his results, he punched the ground and walked off. “Fm really pissed,” Boness said. “I don’t know. It’s been a tough year. It was a hit-and-miss thing. In consistency. ” Boness finished in 13th place with his only successful jump of 6- 11 3/4. Weber State senior Charles Clinger, the 2001 world leader in the event (7-8 1/2) won the NCAA title with a clearance of 7- 6 1/2. This was the meet that Boness had been looking forward to for so long. He always loves to jump at home and especially at big meets when the pressure is on. Last sea son, he cleared a personal-best 7 5 at the Pacific 10 Conference Champi onships at Hayward Field. At this year’s Pac-lOs two weeks ago, he jumped a season-best 7-3 en route to fin ishing second in the league after losing a jump-off. But Thursday just wasn’t his day, and Boness admitted that it felt dif ferent out there for some reason. “It was home, but it didn’t really feel like home,” he said. “I felt like I had enough adrenaline. I had the crowd behind me, but something was off.” The 6-3 junior All-American will now take the summer off to relax and recharge his battery. After his splendid sophomore campaign, he had high hopes for this season. Now, he says, it’s time for a break. “I’m burned out with track right now,” Boness said. “I just need a rest.” Boness cited less attention from coaches this season as one of the reasons for his inconsistencies. Last year, he said, he would get daily workouts from assistant coach Bill Lawson. “Well, what’s been going on is that now that we got all these great athletes, I haven’t been getting a lot of coaching,” Boness said. “There’s no specific high jump coach. It’s been really frustrating.” Lawson knows how much of a competitor Boness is and believes he can put this behind him and come back even stronger for his senior season. “I feel bad for Jason,” said Law son, who specializes in the field events. “He would have loved to contribute to the team. He just didn’t have it today. I think Jason needs a rest. He’ll be back and we’ll try again.” Even without Boness scoring points for the Oregon men’s track and field team, the Ducks stand in first place overall with 27 points, thanks to John Stiegeler and San tiago Lorenzo’s back-to-back NCAA titles in the javelin and de cathlon, respectively. “That’s what hurts the most,” Boness said. “We’re doing so good. I let the team down.” Championships continued from page 1A ters. He trailed Georgia’s David Leman by 70 points and Ten nessee’s Stephen Harris by just nine points. To win the decathlon, Lorenzo had to beat Leman to the finish line by about 10 seconds and Har ris by two seconds. The junior from Buenos Aires, Argentina, who was fifth in the NCAA Championships with 7,543 points last year, finished the 1,500 in 4:21.84 — an eight-second per sonal best — four seconds ahead of Harris and nearly 27 seconds in front of Leman. “I knew I had to have a huge run,” Lorenzo said of scoring 799 points in the final event. “I was just feeling great ... it couldn’t have been any better. This is the best feeling I’ve ever had in my life.” Harris, the decathlon leader af ter day one, said he was not disap pointed with second place. “I gave it my all, and I had a lot of fun,” said the Tennessee soph omore, who finished 18 points be hind Lorenzo. “Santiago is a great athlete ... He deserves a lot of credit.” A sleepless night haunted Lorenzo after the first day of com petition, even though he put on a good showing during the first day, finishing second with 3,991 points. “I was just excited to get back out there,” he said. Both Lorenzo and Pappas put on their best suits in front of 4,575 fans Thursday, each scoring per sonal bests in total points. Pappas set PRs in the discus, pole vault and the 110-meter hurdles to fin ish nine points behind North Car olina’s Michael Cvelbar, who was sixth. “I would have been a lot happi er with sixth,” Pappas said. “But that just makes me a lot hungrier for next year.” Lorenzo’s 7,889 points were a personal best by 163 points, but just the fourth-best total in the Oregon record books. “It really helped to have some one out there with me,” Pappas R. Ashley Smith Emerald Oregon’s Santiago Lorenzo earned 828 points for himself with this long jump. Lorenzo's NCAA championship results Day1 Events Mark 100 LJ SP HJ 400 11.03 7.06m 13.38m 1.91m 48.27 Day 2 Events Mark 11 OH DT PV 15.10 42.05m 4.9m JT 1,500 55.91m 4:21.84 said of his first NCAA meet. “The crowd was really supportive, which makes you really happy and excited inside. 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