Oregon women have inside edge for rare three-peat at NCAA meet

To nobody?s surprise, the Ducks have chosen a conservative path to the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships this year.

The two-day meet, which opens Friday at Jacksons Indoor Track in Nampa, Idaho, could be the site of a rare three-peat for the top-ranked UO women.

Only LSU has accomplished that feat in the 29-year history of the women?s indoor championships. The Tigers, under former coach Pat Henry, dominated the women?s track and field scene with five straight indoor titles from 1993-97, followed by a three-year run from 2002-04.

On Friday, LSU will be one of at least four teams chasing the Ducks, who have won the past two NCAA indoor crowns by huge margins: 61-36 in 2010 and 67-38 in 2011.

This year could be a different story.

In fact, Track & Field News pegged LSU, which owns an NCAA record 11 indoor titles, to end Oregon?s reign.

Arkansas, Clemson and Texas A&M are also expected to be in the mix, but none of those schools have ever won a women?s indoor championship.

And the Ducks aren?t about to let go of that trophy easily.

?I remember my freshman year, we came in ranked high, but we had never done it before,? said junior Anne Kesselring, who broke the indoor mile school record this season with a time of 4 minutes, 32.61 seconds.

?To come out as champions that year, and to repeat last year, was so exciting. If we can back it up and do another one on top of that, I think it would be huge for us.?

The UO women have a versatile contingent of 12 athletes in the meet, covering every event on the track except the 200 meters and 60-meter hurdles. They also have senior Brianne Theisen, the collegiate record-holder and reigning two-time champion, in the pentathlon.

?We?re represented in a lot of events, but what I feel good about is that we haven?t done anything too risky,? UO director of track and field Vin Lananna said. ?We?ve taken a relatively conservative path. When people have had things wrong with them, we?ve either not competed them, or competed them on a limited basis.

?If we tried to kill the indoor season, we could really score a lot of points, but we?ve chosen consciously not to do that in preparation for a big outdoor season.?

That doesn?t mean the Ducks won?t do their best to claim a third consecutive title, but they?ve already showed their cards by deliberately cutting down the workloads of a few key individuals.

Consider:

Although Theisen comes into the meet with the second-best high jump of the year at 6 feet, 2 inches, yet another indoor school record, the Canadian Olympic hopeful will skip that event on Friday to focus on Saturday?s pentathlon.

Senior Amber Purvis, who scored in both the 60 and 200 last year, has competed sparingly this year, and is entered only in the 4x400 relay.

Redshirt freshman English Gardner, tied with Central Florida freshman Octavious Freeman for the top seed in the 60 at 7.19, could have doubled in the 200. She could show up on the 4x400 relay.

Kesselring, the NCAA outdoor champion in the 800 last spring, will forgo that event and focus on the mile and distance medley relay.

Junior Jordan Hasay, who swept the mile and 3,000 indoor titles last year, is back in those events, and she is a possible anchor on the DMR.

Oregon?s strength is its flexibility in both the middle distances and 400.

The Ducks can afford to wait and see how things develop during Friday?s prelims in the mile, 400 and 800 before making any final decisions on the DMR.

The second-seeded Ducks have been the runners-up in that event in each of the past two years.

?All of our holding back is already done,? Lananna said. ?We?re not going to double and triple athletes that we could. Now, if it were the outdoor NCAAs, it might be a little different. But honestly, I think we?ve put the athletes in the right events to set us up for the right opportunity.

?If the window of opportunity does open up, I think we?re in position to capitalize.?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rgsports/~3/adMMBIYkEHc/indoor-ducks-women-track-ncaa.html.csp

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