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. It was like I
had no limits.”
Overall, Lorenzo won just one
of the 10 events, the 400 meters
with a time of 48.27 seconds.
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