UO vaulter comes of age.

Byline: Ron Bellamy / The Register-Guard

FOR A MOMENT, on the gray afternoon at Hayward Field, the swirl of activity that is a track and field meet seemed to suddenly stop, as if by fate, and all attention was focused on the Oregon pole vaulter at the top of the runway.

From the small crowd of 2,603 came the rhythmic clapping of encouragement, and you could look into the East Grandstand, where the Washington athletes were sitting, and see purple-clad Huskies clapping as well, the beat getting faster as Trevor Woods lifted the pole and began to sprint toward the pit.

Up, over, down, without so much as brushing the bar, and when he leaped to his feet in celebration, the sophomore from Coos Bay was, in the culture of his event, different than the athlete who had planted the pole seconds earlier.

"If you're an 18-foot vaulter, you're an elite pole vaulter," Woods said afterward. "That's what that means."

The precise height that Woods cleared was 5.50 meters - 18 feet, 1/2 inch - and it tied Woods with Jay Davis for fourth on the all-time Oregon list, behind the only other Oregon vaulters to ever eclipse 18 feet: Kory Tarpenning at 18-6 1/2 , Tom Hintnaus at 18-4 1/2 and Piotr Buciarski at 18-2 1/2 .

As the Ducks swept the Huskies in men's and women's dual meets, there were other compelling stories. In steady rain, and with less than 100 fans in the stands at noon, junior Adam Kriz set the tone for the Ducks by winning the hammer with a significant PR.

By the time the running events began, shortly after 1 o'clock - and about the time you'd understandably opted for the Masters on television - the rain suddenly stopped, and on the almost windless afternoon, track and field conditions became quite good.

And the little crowd roared when Oregon's Eri Macdonald came from way behind to win the women's 800 at the tape in a personal best of 2 minutes, 6.37 seconds, seventh all-time at Oregon. There was another roar when sophomore Brandon Holliday won at the tape in the men's 400-meter hurdles in a PR of 51.29 that cracks Oregon's top 10.

But in importance, symbolic and otherwise, the performance to remember was Trevor Woods' remarkable pole vault.

In the context of the meet, Woods' vault highlighted an inspiring day by the Ducks in the men's field events after a rough week - the loss of John Stiegeler, the NCAA javelin champion, to a knee injury; the increasing probability that NCAA decathlon champion Santiago Lorenzo will redshirt due to injury.

"The kids in the field events came with just a burning fire in their belly," Oregon coach Martin Smith said. "They were passionate in their desire to compete."

WOODS' PERFORMANCE was significant in the bigger picture, too, because the Marshfield High grad is a marquee member of the recruiting class that was ranked No. 1 in the nation by Track & Field News in December 2000.

Last season, a JC transfer in that class, Micah Harris, set the Oregon school record in the 110-meter high hurdles, but Woods' breakthrough performance is the loudest noise so far by the high school kids from that group.

It came on a day that another highly regarded member of that recruiting class, redshirt freshman Eric Logsdon, got his first win ever as a Duck by capturing the 3,000, and that true sophomores won the javelin (Adam Jenkins) and 400 hurdles (Holliday).

"We were recruited here to put up those big marks," said Woods, who compared his freshman season to the freshman seasons of basketball stars Luke Jackson and Luke Ridnour. Meaning that to the outside world, he'd done just fine, finishing fourth in the Pac-10 meet and qualifying for the NCAA championships, but he was deeply disappointed when he no-heighted in nationals here.

"I went back to work and started working really hard to come of age," he said.

Saturday, that hard work paid off. "That's big-time pole vaulting for a sophomore in college," Smith said. "He's an important leader on this team. He was a quarterback in football, and those kind of leadership skills he brings to the track team. He has this wonderful passion for track and field, and it's quite contagious."

Woods finished Saturday with three very good attempts at 18-4 1/2 ; until then, he'd never before looked up at that height, and he walked away knowing he can clear it.

"Oregon track is what I love," Woods said. "My ideal goal would be to see the whole stands packed for an Oregon track meet. ... I want people to get excited."

Eloquent words, and a noble goal, as soaring as that 18-foot vault, which was exciting indeed.