Three Ducks earn All-American honors in indoor
■Woods, Parker, Kimataeach
receive All-American nods at
the indoor track championships
By Adam Jude
Oregon Daily Emerald
The Oregon men’s track and field
team ended its indoor season Satur
day at the NCAA championship in
Fayetteville, Ark,, with its best ever
showing — a ninth place finish with
three Ducks earning All-American
honors.
Sophomore Trevor Woods fin
ished third in the pole vault with a
personal best 17 feet, 11-3/4 inches
— the same mark as the top five fin
ishers. Top seed Jeff Hansen of
Brigham Young won the pole vault
with fewer overall misses.
“I was the ninth seed coming in,
but I vaulted like I was one of the fa
vorites and attacked all my attempts,”
Woods said. “I'm stoked to be an All
American and third overall even
though I’m only a sophomore. ”
Woods opened the competition
by clearing the 17-foot mark on his
third attempt, and followed that
with a first-attempt clearance of 17
3 3/4. He missed his three attempts
at 18-3 3/4.
Junior Sarnie Parker won the
Ducks’ first ever All-American hon
or in the 60-meter dash, placing
fourth with a time of 6.67 seconds.
Tennessee’s Justin
Gatlin won the 60
meter dash with a
time of 6.59 sec
onds.
"The All-Amer
ican award is
nice,” Parker said,
“but I was hoping
to be in there fighting for the win, so
there’s still more to work on. Mv
start was OK, but I need more in my
middle phase to put me in better po
sition forthe finish.”
The last Duck to earn an All
American nod was Pat Johnson,
now a wide receiver with the NFL’s
Baltimore Ravens, in 1995. Johnson
tied the school record in the 200
meter outdoor event with a time of
20.39 seconds.
MEN'S TRACK
AND HEIR
Parker, a wide receiver on the
Oregon football team, will split time
with the two sports during the
spring.
“I’m not worried about splitting
my concentration between the
two," Parker said. “Whichever sport
I’m doing at that time, I’m concen
trating full on. They’ve worked well
'together so far.’’
Simon Kimata received Oregon's
third All-American honor at the
NCAA championships. Competing
in his first indoor championships,
the Nyeri, Kenya, native finished
fifth in the 800-meter run with a
time of 1:49.56. Last year's NCAA
outdoor champion, Otukile Lekote
of South Carolina, finished first
with a time of 1:46.88.
“I came in hoping to go top
three," Kimata said, “but indoors is
a new thing for me, especially on
such a small track when I’m fairly
big compared to the rest of the guys.
“I ran out of gas at the end so I
know Igaveit myall.”
E-mail sports editor Adam Jude
at adamjude@dailyemerald.com.
Geoff Thurner Oregon Media Services
Sarnie Parker became the first Oregon sprinter to garner All-American status since 1995.
Parker placed fourth in the 60-meter dash at the track indoor championships.
Holliday batdes injury, places seventh in NCAA championships
■ iwo Ducks leave lasting
impressions at the NCAA Indoor
Championships in Arkansas
By Hank Hager
Oregon Daily Emerald
Becky Holliday is making her
presence known to the rest of the
country.
The transfer from Clackamas
Community College in Oregon City
finished seventh on Friday in the
pole vault at the NCAA Indoor
Championships in Fayatteville,
Ark. Her mark of 13-7 feet and 1/4
inches was one foot, behind Amy
Linnen of Arizona (14-10.25), who
took first place.
The junior cleared her opening
height of 12-11 1/2 and did the
same at 13-3 1/2. She missed her
first jump at her fi
nal height, but
was able to clear it
on a second try.
Holliday was
unable to practice
for two weeks pri
or to the meet due
to an injury suf
fered in practice, making her final
mark even more impressive. She re
quired seven stitches, snapped a
pole and suffered bruises to her hand
and shoulder.
“Physically, the injuries from the
accident didn’t affect me today, al
though I got some stomach cramps
in warm-ups that were a minor dis
traction,” Holliday said. “But there
weren’t enough to affect me, and I
was happy with my technique. I fi
nally rocked back and stayed with
the pole. Once I do that more often,
I’ll get 14 feet easy, so I’m looking
forward to outdoors and utilizing
more of those techniques.”
With her mark, Holliday gar
nered Oregon’s fourth All-America
honor in the event’s five-year histo
ry. She tied Oregon’s best mark in
the event, but because it was on her
second try, she is considered to
have missed the school’s record.
“Becky is doing OK transitioning
into a new system and has picked
up a lot of new things, but more im
portantly is setting the stage for
higher marks,” Oregon assistant
coach Mark Vanderville said.
Oregon’s other pole vaulter, sen
ior Niki Reed, placed 10th in the
competition at a height of 13-3 1/2.
She missed three tries at 13-7 1/4
that would have matched Holli
day’s mark.
Reed, who is planning on red
shirting during the outdoor season,
just missed her third All-America
honor. In the 2000 season, she fin
ished fourth with a mark of 13-5 1/4.
“Niki has been using bigger poles
more and more in practice, so we
knew how she responded to them
today would influence her finish,”
Vanderville said.
Holliday and the rest of the
Ducks will compete in their first
meet of the season on Eugene soil
when they participate in the Mon
tana-Weber State Triangular at Hay
ward Field on Saturday.
E-mail sports reporter Hank Hager
at hankhager@dailyemerald.com.
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