Thowers face tough competition in Texas meet
Junior Rachel
Kriz is one of
eight Oregon
throwers
competing in
the Texas
Relays.
Erik R. Bishoff
Photographer
Eight Oregon women
throwers, led by Sarah
Malone, head to the Texas
Relays meet beginning today
By Alex Tam
Sports Reporter
Many of the nation's best track and
field athletes will gather to participate
in one of the most nationally recog
nized track meets.
The Oregon women's track and
field team will send its throwers unit
dium in Austin, Texas. The meet be
gins today.
The country's top high school and
collegiate athletes, along with former
Olympians such as 1996 gold medal
ist sprinter Chryste Gaines, will com
pete at the meet. Gaines told TexasS
ports.com that the experience of the
Texas Relays is great as fans in the
Lone Star State are very knowledge
able about track and field.
"There aren't very many meets in
the world like this," Gaines told Tex
asSports.com. "To run here in front of
this crowd is amazing and gives you
so much energy."
The Ducks hope to learn from the
WOMEN’S
TRACK
to the 77th
annual Clyde
Littlefield
Texas Relays
held at Mike
A. Myers Sta
experience in a stadium that will host
the 2004 NCAA Championships in
two months. One of those hoping to
make it to the national champi
onships is redshirt junior and All
American javelin thrower Sarah Mal
one. Malone is already a two-time
NCAA qualifier and holds the school
record for the javelin event with a
mark of 179-2.
Another notable Duck entering the
field is junior Bree Fuqua, a transfer
after three seasons at Wisconsin,
where she holds the school's indoor
and outdoor shot-put record. In her
first year at Oregon, she has already
proved herself to be one of the team's
top athletes.
Fuqua began her Oregon career
two weeks ago at the Oregon Preview
meet, where she posted Pacific-10
Conference and regional qualifying
marks in the shot put and discus.
Fuqua, a Poison, Mont., native,
earned marks of48-10 3/4 in the shot
put and 160-6 in the discus. Her per
sonal best of 51-3 1/2 in the shot put
already ranks her second all-time in
the history of the program.
Along with Fuqua, senior Jill
Hoxmeier will also compete in the
discus on Friday. Hoxmeier returns as
the squad's top discus and hammer
thrower from last season. She is
ranked 12th among Pac-10 returnees
in the discus based on her mark of
151-9 in 2003. Her personal best of
162-8 in the hammer places her
eighth all-time in Oregon history.
The fourth-year Duck said that
every meet is important to her from
here on out as she winds down her ca
reer at Oregon.
"Because this is my last year, I really
just want to go out every meet and
throw like it's my last meet,"
I loxmeier said. "I want to give it all I
have and not hold anything back."
Sophomore Megan Kriz, a transfer
from Portland State, is another of the
eight Ducks participating at the meet.
She made her Oregon debut at May
ward Field two weeks ago in the ham
mer throw and posted a mark of 171
7. That throw puts her fifth all-time in
Oregon history in the hammer.
The women throwers are under
new leadership and guidance headed
by four-time Olympian and assistant
coach Lance Deal. A new philosophy
emphasizing both track and especial
ly field events is being seen as the
main difference this year.
University junior and middle dis
tance runner Laura Harmon said she
has noticed the change with the tran
sition to the new coaching staff led by
men's head coach Martin Smith.
"The coaches are maybe a little bit
more intense than last year, which is a
good thing," Harmon said. "It's just a
lot different."
Contact the sports reporter
at alextam@daiiyemerald.com.
Men’s track sends 12 to face top national challengers
The Oregon men’s track
team heads to Texas for one
of the year’s biggest meets
By Jon Roetman
Sports Reporter
The Oregon men's track and field
4 team is ready to face its first big chal
lenge of the outdoor season.
The Ducks sent 12 participants to
* Austin, Texas, today for the 77th-an
nual Texas Relays.
r
The meet mns through Saturday
and will feature some of the top tal
ents from around the country, includ
ing former Olympians and high
school standouts.
MEN'S
TRACK
Highlight
ing the meet
for Oregon is
freshman
Tommy Skip
per. The All
American is one of four pole vaulters
who will compete for the Ducks. Skip
per took second at the NCAA indoor
finale (18-feet 4 1/2-inches) but is
looking to rebound from a disap
pointing performance two weeks ago
at the Oregon Preview, where he
failed to clear 18 feet.
All-American Trevor Woods will
also compete in the pole vault. The
senior from Coos Bay placed third at
the NCAA Indoors as a sophomore
in 2002.
Redshirt sophomore Jon Derby and
redshirt freshman David Moore
round out the pole vaulters for Ore
gon. Derby recorded a personal best
of 16-6 3/4 at last year's Oregon Twi
light, while Moore's best (16-8 3/4)
came in 2003 as a USA Junior Cham
pionships Qualifier.
Leading the way on the track will be
Brandon Holliday in the 400 hurdles.
The former Pacific-10 Conference
400-hurdle champion started the
2004 outdoor campaign with a bang,
placing first at the Oregon Preview
(51.89 seconds).
Also on the track will be sopho
mores Eric Mitchum and A.K. Ik
wuakor. Both will compete in the 110
and 400 hurdles. Mitchum garnered
All-American status at the 2004
NCAA Indoor Championships, fin
ishing sixth (7.74) in the 60 hurdles.
The Calumet City, 111., native also took
first in the 110 hurdles with a windy
13.91w (w2.5) during his 2004 out
door debut at the Oregon Preview.
Ikwuakor started the outdoor cam
paign strong with a pair of runner-up
finishes in the 110 (14.66) and 400
(52.93) hurdles at the Oregon Preview.
Turn to CHALLENGERS, page 14
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