TRACKING DOWN SUCCESS.

Byline: Bob Rodman The Register-Guard

The march continues for Martin Smith. Tom Heinonen, however, is ready to call a halt. The Oregon men's track and field team, guided by fourth-year coach Smith, slams into today's start of the four-day NCAA Championships at Sacramento with more athletes wearing yellow and green than in recent memory.

The Ducks are manned with 13 individuals and a 14th joining the 4x400 relay team.

"It is a strong statement that we are taking that many individuals to nationals," Smith said.

Heinonen is closing the door on a 27-year career as the UO women's team coach by leading eight individuals into the NCAA meet.

"It's the strongest group we've had in years," said Heinonen, who announced last fall that he would retire at the end of this season. "If we have a great meet, we could put some points on the board.

"I want these athletes to do well for themselves," said Heinonen, alluding to his final appearance at a college meet as the Oregon coach. "I've got to end this somewhere and this is it, and I'm fine with it."

While the UO women's contingent has seven field-event athletes and one heptathlete, the Duck men's group is a balanced one - five sprinters and hurdlers as well as the relay team, four distance runners, three field-event athletes and one decathlete.

"For the young guys (four freshmen and two sophomores), this is a fantastic opportunity early in their careers to gain experience, compete and not just go (to the meet) but see how far they can succeed in it.

"For the other athletes, they have legitimate shots to get on the board as scoring athletes with opportunities to make all-American."

The UO men's NCAA team includes two former national champions - decathlete Santiago Lorenzo and javelin thrower John Stiegeler, both seniors who claimed their collegiate titles in 2001 but missed the 2002 season because of injuries.

Lorenzo enters the decathlon, which begins today, ranked third with his personal record of 7,911 points. Ahead of him are Tennessee's Stephen Harris (8,103 points) and Auburn's Maurice Smith (7,925).

Stiegeler's season best in the javelin is just 228-2, well behind his NCAA win and UO record throw of 252-10 two years ago, which is why he is ranked 18th as the qualifying round begins today.

"Both athletes are healthy and ready to see what they can do," Smith said.

Samie Parker, a senior ranked sixth in the 100 meters, is making his first NCAA outdoor appearance. Ranked second on the UO all-time list (10.18), Parker is attempting to become the second all-American in the event in UO history.

"It will be exciting to see how Samie does," Smith said. "The sprints are loaded, but he has made huge improvements this season."

Adam Kriz, a senior, is ranked seventh in the hammer. Eric Logsdon, a sophomore, is ranked seventh in the 5,000. Trevor Woods, a junior, is ninth in the pole vault, and junior Jason Hartmann is 11th in the 10,000.

Also competing for the Ducks are freshman 110 hurdler Eric Mitchum (ranked 16th), sophomore steeplechaser Brett Holts (21st), junior Ryan Andrus in the 10,000 (22nd), freshman Jordan Kent in the 200 (24th), freshman Matt Scherer in the 400 (25th) and junior Brandon Holliday in the 400 hurdles (25th).

The Ducks' 4x400 relay team of freshman Travis Anderson, Scherer, Kent and Holliday is ranked 18th.

Opting not to predict a point total or how Oregon might finish in the team race that includes favorites Arkansas, Auburn, USC, UCLA and Mississippi State, Smith said that "we will try to do the best we can."

In the women's meet, the Ducks are fielding a team without a competitor on the track (save for junior heptathlete Abby Andrus) for the second straight year.

The UO contingent includes senior pole vaulters Becky Holliday (ranked first in the nation with her UO record jump of 14-8) and Niki McEwen (ranked fourth), senior discus thrower Mary Etter (11th), Andrus in the heptathlon (15th), sophomore javelin throwers Roslyn Lundeen (17th) and Elisa Crumley (24th), senior hammer thrower Jordan Sauvage (24th) and senior triple jumper Amanda Brown (26th).

Defending team champion Lousiana State is favored to outrun Texas, UCLA, Nebraska and South Carolina for the women's title.

Andrus enters the competition, which begins Friday, with a stress reaction injury of her fibula, the non-weight-bearing bone in her left leg.

"But this is the kind of an injury that you can, given her event, go full blast," Heinonen said.

Lundeen (shoulder) and Crumley (elbow) have battled injury "but are healthier now than they have been all season," said Heinonen, whose only athlete scheduled to compete on the track is Andrus in the heptathlon's 100 hurdles, 200 and 800.

"You go with what you've got," Heinonen said. "Field events have been our strength for the last several years, and I'm fine with that."

The UO women competing today are Etter (discus qualifying), and Crumley and Lundeen (javelin qualifying). The Oregon women competing Thursday are Holliday and McEwen (pole vault qualifying), Sauvage (hammer qualifying) and Brown (triple jump qualifying).

The other Oregon men scheduled to compete today are Parker (100 preliminaries), Woods (pole vault qualifying), Mitchum (110 hurdles prelims), Kriz (hammer qualifying), Holts (steeplechase prelims), Holliday (400 hurdles prelims) and Logsdon (5,000 prelims).

On Thursday, UO men scheduled to begin competition are Kent (200 prelims), Scherer (400 prelims), the 4x400 relay team (prelims) and Andrus and Hartmann (10,000 final).

CAPTION(S):

N C A A t r a c k a n d f i e l d c h a m p i o n s h i p s Chris Pietsch / The Register-Guard Oregon's John Stiegeler, a 2001 NCAA champion in the javelin, has a season-best throw of 228-2, which is well behind his national-title and UO record throw of 252-10. Stiegeler is ranked 18th in the nation heading into today's qualifying round. UO men's coach Martin Smith takes 14 athletes into the meet.