Day three of the NCAA Track and Field Championships kicks off today at Hayward Field. All events today and Saturday will be finals, and Oregon has many athletes still competing through the weekend. A full preview of the day can be found here.

Day three schedule:

TRACK EVENTS
4:30 p.m. 400-Meter Hurdles Women Final
4:40 p.m. 400-Meter Hurdles Men Final
4:50 p.m. 800 Meters Women Heptathlon
5 p.m. 100 Meters Women Final
5:10 p.m. 100 Meters Men Final
5:20 p.m. 800 Meters Women Final
5:30 p.m. 800 Meters Men Final
5:40 p.m. 3,000 Steeplechase Men Final
5:55 p.m. 400 Meters Women Final
6:05 p.m. 400 Meters Men Final
6:15 p.m. 5,000 Meters Women Final
FIELD EVENTS
3:15 p.m. Pole Vault Women Final
3:20 p.m. High Jump Men Final
3:25 p.m. Triple Jump Women Trials/Final
4 p.m. Discus Men Trials/Final

***

For Oregon fans, the most intriguing aspect of the NCAA Track and Field Championships is the women’s attempt to win the outdoor championships and snag the triple crown.

That feat is currently in danger with Oregon’s English Gardner battling injury. Gardner, perhaps Oregon’s best runner, had a lousy showing in the 200-meter semifinals, coming in seventh and failing to advance.

After the heat, Gardner told reporters that she was running despite injury and that she was experiencing inflammation in her right ankle.

Curtis Anderson of The Register-Guard has a full story.

***

Oregon first baseman Ryon Healy was selected in the third round of the MLB draft Friday by the Oakland Athletics. Healy was the 100th overall selection and joins a team known for their savvy talent evaluation.

As reported earlier, Healy is likely to for-go his senior year due to his high draft stock.

Following the final out in the Eugene Regional Championship Game game on Monday, Oregon baseball waved goodbye to its 2013 season and said goodbye to many valuable players.

Ryan Hambright, Darrell Hunter, Andrew Mendenhall and J.J. Altobelli are the seniors leaving Oregon this year.

Hambright, while being stuck in a season-long, injury-fueled slump, still had a large impact on the program. He joined his brother, standout Brett Hambright, on the Duck team and was the regionals MVP in 2012.

Hunter, a relief pitcher, was the first recruit to sign with Oregon after the program was reinstated in 2009. He had an up-and-down career, also due to injuries, but had some strong innings this season, including three perfect innings against the Eugene regional champions, Rice, in an elimination game victory.

His health this season has peaked some interest in the right-hander. Toward the end of the season, Oregon head coach George Horton talked up his pitcher, claiming that his baseball career might extend past college.

But the senior who will leave the biggest hole is Altobelli. He was the leader and face of Oregon baseball, especially during the last two seasons. He never hit for power or average but had a knack of making big plays in big moments.

“J.J. gets big in the box, big in the circle and big in big games,” Horton said of his shortstop.

Altobelli’s biggest contribution came in the form of defense: He committed just five errors over the regular season, making him the stingiest shortstop in the Pac-12.

“He a shortstop that is arguably the best in the country,” Horton said. “At least the best that I’ve ever coached.”

Aside from the seniors, he isn’t quite sure who else will be departing. Junior Ryon Healy will almost certainly take off for the draft after the incredible offensive season he had, but he will surely not be the only one.

Former starter and current relief pitcher Christian Jones still has much promise, even though he didn’t rebound as well as expected from Tommy John surgery. He has alluded to his plans to sign with a major league team in the summer, forgoing his final year.

While he and Healy are the most likely to leave,  juniors like Brett Thomas, Jimmie Sherfy, Aaron Payne and Tyler Baumgartner make is difficult to predict what the club will look like next season.

“It’s obviously going to be tough losing Ryon, all the seniors, and all of the other guys that are going in the draft,” Baumgartner said.

From a coaching standpoint, Horton isn’t worried. He deals with seniors and big league prospects leaving every year and just brings in new recruits to replace them.

“We’ve got a pretty good recruiting class,” he said. “As long as we don’t get devastated by the draft.”

While Oregon will lose players who have been here for all four years of the program and has others who have stepped in and made the program as strong as it is, ultimately it is a collegiate team.

“There’s going to be new J.J.’s and Ryan Hambrights and Ryon Healys,” Horton said.

Based on George Horton’s expectations, the Oregon baseball season, even after winning 45 games, was a failure.

Oregon baseball’s head coach said publicly many times that the standard for the program was “Omaha or bust,” but the Ducks failed to reach the NCAA College World Series after being awarded a national seed for the second straight year.

However, during the final press conference of the year after Oregon’s season ended with a 11-4 loss to Rice on Monday, his sentiments had changed.

“I think that’s pretty good,” he said of the team’s 94 wins over the past two seasons. “There were some media out there that thought we were overrated, but we certainly didn’t think we were overrated.”

Without placing emphasis on Omaha, the Ducks certainly did well despite glaring weaknesses. Nationally, they were 17th in combined ERA at 2.78, tied for second in fielding percentage at .981 and 21st with a 1.20 WHIP.

They were in a pennant race with the Oregon State Beavers, a team now headed to Super Regionals, throughout the season and only relinquished the Pac-12 title on the final weekend of the regular season. The Ducks’ body of work, especially the wins against seven of the top 25 teams, speaks for itself.

However, even though the season was successful on many levels, there were two issues that Oregon couldn’t overcome:

— It was a poor offensive team that was often forced to use its baseball savvy to score runs by taking advantage of walks and any errors committed by the opposition. A big part of that is a result of PK Park being one of the most expansive parks in the country, but the Ducks still played 30 of their games on the road.

— The other issue is the utter lack of fan support. Attendance at most games, even post-season games, was horrendous for a top-ten team. Throughout the season, players openly talked about how they need the crowd to get them going. The lack of fan support is undoubtedly tied to the style of ball Horton likes to play: He centers his team around pitching and defense.

“The real excellence of our team, whether it’s exciting and brings fans here or not, is (tied to that),” he said.

When the Ducks did compile a string of runs, it was usually from small ball. Oregon was tied with Central Arkansas for the most sacrifice bunts in the nation.

However, Horton’s style of baseball has been undeniably successful. He has been to six College World Series and once returned with a ring. He also has no intention of changing the brand of baseball Oregon plays.

“Unless we change the dimensions (of the park) or the turf, to think that we’re going to be an offensive juggernaut here at PK Park everyday … I don’t see that happening,” he said.

While his teams will likely never lead the nation in runs scored, one thing Horton does know how to do is win. What he has done with the program in just four years since its reinstatement has been impressive to say the least. It might not put fans in the seats, but it will likely continue to bring in top-tier recruits.

For the second straight year, Jimmie Sherfy has been named one of five finalists for the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Stopper of the Year Award. The award is given to the top relief pitcher on college baseball.

Sherfy’s 21 saves are a school record and second best in the nation. He also boasts a 2.25 ERA, and is the active career leader in strikeouts per nine innings at 12.98.

Tyler Rogers of Austin Peay, David Berg of UCLA, Jonathan Holder of Mississippi State, and Michael Lorenzen are the other four finalists.

Oregon baseball had three players named to the Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American team. The three separated themselves from the rest of the nation’s class by having an immediate impact on a top 10 program.

Cole Irvin:

In many ways, Irvin was the best pitcher on the Oregon staff despite being a freshman. His 11 regular season wins tied a school record and his 116 innings pitched were by far the most on the team. Irvin threw four complete games, the final coming in an elimination game in regionals.

His 2.48 ERA is second on the club, but it wasn’t just stats that demanded attention to Irvin. His strong work ethic and humble attitude were referenced countless times by the coaching staff.

Garrett Cleavinger:

As the season went on, the Vulture, as Horton calls him, became as sure a thing as All-American Jimmie Sherfy. No longer was the goal to take a close game to the ninth and let Sherfy shut it down, all the Ducks had to do was bring a lead to the eighth.

Cleavinger finished the season with a 9-0 record and a 1.24 ERA. With Jimmie Sherfy being a junior, he will be at Oregon for one more year at best. Cleavinger is the guy coach George Horton is grooming to be the next closer.

Mitchell Tolman:

Tolman’s season was a funny one. He saw very little playing time during the season until he caught fire during a five game road trip in Washington. Over the course of the week, Tolman .474 with 14 RBI and was named Hitter of the Week by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.

Tolman has since cooled off and saw his batting average dip down to .315, but that red-hot week showed the potential for growth over the next few years. He and junior college transfer Tyler Baumgartner are likely the offensive future for the Ducks.

Ryon Healy was easily the best player for the Oregon baseball program during their 2013 season and the main reason the No. 9 team got a national seed. Ripping the cover off the ball in a conference like the Pac-12 brings attention. Big league attention. With the season now over, Healy faces a big decision: another season at Oregon or sign with a team after the MLB draft.

“I’ve got a lot of emotions going through me right now,” Healy said. “I don’t know what my future is going to hold right now. The next week will determine it.”

Healy, a player who is rarely able to hide his emotions, was visibly sad and overwhelmed. His career at Oregon has been incredible. This season, he grew immensely as hitter and carried a poor offensive Oregon team through a brutal 60-game schedule.

His passion was never doubted. When Healy came up short in big moments, his helmet, bat and gloves often went flying as he buried his face in his hands on long walks back to the dugout.

But it wasn’t just on-field moments that shaped who Healy has become.

“Quite frankly I feel like I have learned more about life throughout these three years than I have about baseball,” Healy said. “That’s how special this program has been to my life. I’m not walking out of here with my head hanging. I’m proud to be a Duck.”

Healy has likely built strong relationships with the Oregon players and coaches and relishes his time under the tutelage of coach George Horton, but the call of the majors can be quite alluring. Especially for a junior who had a monster season.

That call was not lost on Coach Horton or Tyler Baumgartner, who openly spoke as if Healy had already signed with a team when speaking of next season.

“It’s obviously going to be tough losing Ryon and all of the other guys who are seniors or going in the draft,” Baumgartner said. “Coach (Wasikowski) and Uhlman do a good job of preparing us. We’ll be ready for next year.”

If Healy does go, the loss will take its toll off the field as well as on. Coach Horton has developed a lasting relationship with Healy he doesn’t want to see end.

“I don’t get involved in all of the recruitment,” Horton said. “But I did happen to go into his home. I fell in love with him and his family. I think besides the baseball development, he went from being a youngster to a real man and a leader and essentially carried the club offensively this year.”

If he does decide to depart for the pros, Healy claims that his time spent at Oregon has prepared him for what comes next and that he will always remember his collegiate career fondly.

“The University of Oregon was by far the best thing that has ever happened to my life and baseball career,” Healy said. “I can’t say enough thank you’s to the coaching staff and the university for really changing my life for the better.”

With their backs against the wall, both coaches made a risky gamble with their starting pitching choices for the Eugene Regional championship game. For Rice head coach Wayne Graham, it paid off. For George Horton and the Ducks, the gamble was season-ending as the Ducks fell to the Owls 11-4 in the regional championship game.

Graham started his closer, Zech Lemond, who hadn’t started a game all season. Lemond did an unimaginable job considering the situation, going 6.2  innings, giving up four runs on eight hits while striking out seven and walking one.

Ironically, while Oregon waited for Lemond to get gassed, he just got better with each inning. He retired the side in both the fifth and sixth innings before giving up a lead-off hit in the seventh.

“It’s just another game,” Lemond said. “I’m going to do my job and throw strikes.”

It wasn’t until he gave up an RBI single to Tyler Baumgartner in the bottom of the seventh that he was pulled. Oddly enough, he was replaced by Austin Kubitza who was Rice’s Friday starter.

Horton looked to his All-American, Jake Reed, to keep Oregon alive. Reed, who has pitched inconsistently this season, went on short rest after throwing Friday against South Dakota State.

Reed only threw 74 pitches against SDSU, giving Horton faith that he was up to the task. He got shelled early, giving up four hits and five runs in 1.2 innings before being pulled for Christian Jones.

“We didn’t pitch very well unfortunately,” Horton said. “They were on it and they hit some balls hard. The balls they miss-hit found holes and this darn game of baseball is a difficult thing.”

Jones was worse. In just two-thirds of an inning he have up two more runs on two hits to put Oregon in a 7-3 hole.

“The spot that I brought Jones in, had he pitched in character, was a perfect spot for him,” Horton said.

Oregon finally found solace in the form of Clayton Crum. Crum, who had only pitched 11 innings all season, threw two innings, giving up a run on three hits. While it wasn’t dominating, he quieted the loud Owl bats long enough to give Oregon a chance.

Garrett Cleavinger came on in the fifth inning and dominated, allowing two hits and no runs in three and a third innings, but the run support that was pouring from the Oregon dugout just 24 hours earlier had dried up.

With nothing to lose and the fate of the season looming, Horton called upon Jimmie Sherfy in the eighth with two outs. He got Shane Hoelscher to come up empty on a swing with two strikes.

Oregon batters went down in order in the eighth, and Sherfy again took the mound in the ninth to preserve any chance of a comeback.

As Sherfy occasionally does, he gave up some hits and allowed two runners in scoring position. However, uncharacteristically, he didn’t settle down. Instead he gave up a two-run triple to Rice catcher Hunter Kopycinski with two outs, followed by an RBI double to Ford Stainback to all but bury the Ducks.

Oregon had a last-ditch effort in the ninth when Desmond Santos got on base after being plunked by Kubitza. Connor Hofmann then drilled a single to center field. Senior J.J. Altobelli took his final at-bat in a Ducks jersey, grounding out into a double-play and moving Santos to third.

The seven-run rally proved to tall a task as Aaron Payne grounded out to end the season.

The poor pitching, some sub-par defense and not enough hitting combined to be the demise of the Ducks’ 2013 season, again short of Omaha.

While the season ended not as he would have liked, Horton is proud of what he has done with this program in four short years, especially the postseason runs in the last two.

“The real strength of the 92 wins over the last two years is character,” Horton said.

After the game, like usual, Horton refused to fall into complacency.

“We’re going to go to Omaha sooner or later,” Horton said. “The names on the jerseys are going to be different but we’re going to go to Omaha, I assure you. And I’m going to be the coach.”

Oregon softball’s Jessica Moore and Alexa Peterson have been invited to the 2013 USA Softball Women’s National Team Selection Camp. The Oregon standouts were two of 32 invited, nine being from the Pac-12.

Of the 32, 17 will emerge to represent the USA in international competition to be played in three separate countries. The team will have the task of defending the 2012 title that the USA team won in the World Cup of Softball VIII in Oklahoma City last year.

The final roster will be announced on June 14th. Here are the 32 selected to the team:

Name (Hometown/College)
Valerie Arioto (Pleasanton, Calif./California 2012)
B.B. Bates (Victorville, Calif./UCLA junior)
Cassidy Bell (Bakersfield, Calif./Penn State senior)
Megan Blank (Culver City, Calif./Iowa sophomore)
Whitney Canion (Aledo, Texas/Baylor RS junior)
Lauren Chamberlain (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./Oklahoma sophomore)
Raven Chavanne (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Tennessee senior)
Amanda Chidester  (Allen Park, Mich./Michigan 2012)
Aimee Creger (Yukon, Okla./Tulsa junior)
Sam Fischer (Simi Valley, Calif./Loyola Marymount 2012)
Amber Freeman (Lakewood, Calif./Arizona State sophomore)
Lauren Gibson (Pasadena, Md./Tennessee senior)
Taylor Hoagland (Flower Mound, Texas/Texas senior)
Nicole Hudson (Webb City, Mo./Missouri senior)
Kaitlin Inglesby (Portland, Ore./Washington junior)
Stephany LaRosa (Diamond Bar, Calif./UCLA sophomore)
Destinee Martinez (Corona, Calif./Oklahoma junior)
Jessica Moore (Sutter, Calif./Oregon senior)
Nicole Morgan (The Woodlands, Texas/Texas A&M junior)
Michelle Moultrie (Jacksonville, Fla./Florida 2012)
Sara Nevins (Pinellas Park, Fla./South Florida junior)
Alexa Peterson (Salem, Ore./Oregon junior)
Janine Richardson (Auburndale, Fla./South Florida 2012)-
Lindsey Richardson (Estero, Fla./South Florida senior)
Keilani Ricketts (San Jose, Calif./Oklahoma senior)
Hannah Rogers (Lake Wales, Fla./Florida junior)
Kourtney Salvarola (Arnold, Md./South Florida junior)
Rhea Taylor (Buford, Ga./Missouri 2011)
Taylor Thom (Cedar Park, Texas/Texas junior)
Jordan Wallace (Weatherford, Texas/Louisiana-Lafayette sophomore)
Hallie Wilson (Santa Ana, Calif./Arizona sophomore)
Lindsey Ziegenhirt (Elk Grove, Calif./California senior)

Oregon softball’s Jessica Moore and Alexa Peterson have been invited to the 2013 USA Softball Women’s National Team Selection Camp. The Oregon standouts were two of 32 invited, nine being from the Pac-12.

Of the 32, 17 will emerge to represent the USA in international competition to be played in three separate countries. The team will have the task of defending the 2012 title that the USA team won in the World Cup of Softball VIII in Oklahoma City last year.

The final roster will be announced on June 14th. Here are the 32 selected to the team:

Name (Hometown/College)
Valerie Arioto (Pleasanton, Calif./California 2012)
B.B. Bates (Victorville, Calif./UCLA junior)
Cassidy Bell (Bakersfield, Calif./Penn State senior)
Megan Blank (Culver City, Calif./Iowa sophomore)
Whitney Canion (Aledo, Texas/Baylor RS junior)
Lauren Chamberlain (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./Oklahoma sophomore)
Raven Chavanne (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Tennessee senior)
Amanda Chidester  (Allen Park, Mich./Michigan 2012)
Aimee Creger (Yukon, Okla./Tulsa junior)
Sam Fischer (Simi Valley, Calif./Loyola Marymount 2012)
Amber Freeman (Lakewood, Calif./Arizona State sophomore)
Lauren Gibson (Pasadena, Md./Tennessee senior)
Taylor Hoagland (Flower Mound, Texas/Texas senior)
Nicole Hudson (Webb City, Mo./Missouri senior)
Kaitlin Inglesby (Portland, Ore./Washington junior)
Stephany LaRosa (Diamond Bar, Calif./UCLA sophomore)
Destinee Martinez (Corona, Calif./Oklahoma junior)
Jessica Moore (Sutter, Calif./Oregon senior)
Nicole Morgan (The Woodlands, Texas/Texas A&M junior)
Michelle Moultrie (Jacksonville, Fla./Florida 2012)
Sara Nevins (Pinellas Park, Fla./South Florida junior)
Alexa Peterson (Salem, Ore./Oregon junior)
Janine Richardson (Auburndale, Fla./South Florida 2012)-
Lindsey Richardson (Estero, Fla./South Florida senior)
Keilani Ricketts (San Jose, Calif./Oklahoma senior)
Hannah Rogers (Lake Wales, Fla./Florida junior)
Kourtney Salvarola (Arnold, Md./South Florida junior)
Rhea Taylor (Buford, Ga./Missouri 2011)
Taylor Thom (Cedar Park, Texas/Texas junior)
Jordan Wallace (Weatherford, Texas/Louisiana-Lafayette sophomore)
Hallie Wilson (Santa Ana, Calif./Arizona sophomore)
Lindsey Ziegenhirt (Elk Grove, Calif./California senior)

Robert Johnson, the Oregon men’s track and field head coach, was named the West Region Men’s Coach of the Year Monday.

The award, voted on by the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, is evidence to the remarkable success that Johnson has seen in his first year at the helm.

Under Johnson’s direction, the storied track and field program didn’t miss a beat, snagging their seventh straight Pac-12 title this season with 149.5 points. UCLA came in second with 108 points.

Johnson will send 13 of his athletes to compete in the NCAA Championship this week at Hayward Field.