Tommy Skipper says he is at 95% for PAC-10s

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.cstv.com/sports/c-track/uwire/051206aam.html

In the field, Oregon teammates Tommy Skipper and Jonathan Derby will launch in the pole vault Saturday. With the NCAA's top mark (19-0) in the event this outdoor season, Skipper is among the nation's best despite seeing limited action in 2006.

Skipper is still battling a hamstring injury and said that he is at 95 percent.

Skipper's 19-foot mark is his only clearance this outdoor season. He said that this mark has little relevance to who comes away with first place Saturday.

"You never know who's going to win," Skipper said. "I have to respect my competition,"

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.registerguard.com/news/2006/ ... ion=sports

Fit, fast and feeling good: Tommy Skipper shoots for a second Pac-10 vault title
By Curtis Anderson
The Register-Guard
Published: Saturday, May 13, 2006
Oregon's Tommy Skipper has cleared only one bar outdoors in the pole vault this season.
For most athletes, that might be a source of concern.
But Skipper, a three-time NCAA champion and Pac-10 record-holder, insists he has no such worries as the 2006 Pac-10 Track and Field Championships unfold at Hayward Field today.
"I feel good, I'm ready to go," said Skipper, who broke his own conference record with a one-and-done clearance of 19 feet on a cold and windy afternoon at the Oregon Preview in mid-March.
"I've done so much training this year that I'm really happy with my fitness level. I've never felt this fit or fast in my life, and 60 to 70 percent of the pole vault is just being fast down the runway. Taking off and all that other stuff comes through practice."
The problem, of course, is that Skipper hasn't had much practice competing outdoors this year.
Despite a couple of good attempts, he was unable to clear his opening height of 18- 1/2 at the Pepsi Team Invitational on April 9, when he misjudged the amount of time he had to begin his warmups.
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Then, three days before the Oregon Invitational on April 22, he suffered a slight strain of his left hamstring. The injury kept him out of that meet and the UO coaching staff decided not to risk further damage by competing in the Twilight Meet.
"We wanted to take every precaution and get it healthy before the Pac-10, regional and NCAA meets," Skipper said. "I didn't want to have to deal with a nagging injury, so we decided not to compete in the other meets."
The men's pole vault, which begins at 2:05 p.m., is one of seven finals being contested today.
It would be a huge boost to Oregon's hopes of successfully defending its conference title if Skipper can return to form and claim his second Pac-10 crown in that event. He'll also stop by the javelin runway to see if he can score for the third straight year after placing fifth as a freshman and seventh as a sophomore.
Skipper, who has already won two NCAA indoor titles (2005, '06) and one outdoor crown ('04) in the pole vault, is eager to put the memory of last year's struggles behind him. After undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery in March of 2005, he no-heighted at both the Pac-10 and West Regional meets.
He will make one concession for today's meet.
"I'm going to open at a little lower height than I normally do," he said. "I don't want to hurt my hamstring again, so if I can come out and win it, I'll probably just stop instead of taking a ton of jumps."