EUGENE, Ore. -- Oregon senior Tommy Skipper cleared the best
pole vault mark by a collegiate athlete this season at 19 feet,
¼-inch Friday during the NCAA West Regional Championships at
Hayward Field.
Skipper broke the Pac-10 Conference outdoor record as well as
his own school record in his final collegiate appearance before his
home crowd.
The top-five finishers in each event automatically qualify for
the NCAA championship meet being held June 6-9 in Sacramento.
Skipper wasn't the only performer taking over the NCAA lead on
Friday.
In the long jump, Washington's Norris Frederick recorded the top
jump in the nation at 26-¾ to win the event. His winning mark
followed a 26-¼ put up by Pac-10 champion Matt Turner of Arizona
State, which, at the time, was also the best jump by a collegian.
In other men's finals, Oregon junior Galen Rupp, the NCAA record
holder in the 10,000, won the 5,000 in 14:08.03, while fellow Duck
Brian Richotte earned his second trip to nationals with a win in
the hammer throw at 221-6. Richotte, who is in his one and only
season as a Duck, represented Radford University at the NCAA meet
in the 2005 season, finishing 10th.
The discus title went to Niklas Arrhenius from BYU with a throw
of 206-3, beating a field that included the top five performers in
the NCAA.
On the women's side, UCLA's Rhonda Wadkins tied the second-best
long jump mark in the world this season with a winning effort of
22-4 ½, also breaking Gail Devers 19-year-old Pac-10 record.
Former national champion Sharon Day, continued her comeback from
injury with a win in the high jump.
Day, a Cal Poly junior, and California sophomore Inika
McPherson, each cleared 6-feet, ½ inch, but Day got the win
because she had fewer misses.
Day, the Big West champion and the Mustangs first national
champion in 12 years when she won the title in 2005, broke her foot
while jogging after that season and had to redshirt in 2006.
Oregon sophomore Rachel Yurkovich, a two-time Pac-10 champion,
won the javelin with a throw of 178-9 on her only attempt of the
competition.
Yurkovich, the NCAA leader this season, has been nursing a sore
throwing shoulder in recent weeks. She hit the winning mark on her
first throw and then passed on her final five attempts.
In other women's finals, Stanford's Teresa McWalters won the
5,000 in 16:04.92, and Arizona State's Jessica Pressley won the
shot put with a mark of 58-6 ½.