EUGENE - The University of Oregon men’s and women’s track and field teams wrapped up their busy recruiting cycle with the official addition of four men and three women to their 2004-05 class of newcomers, including five freshmen and two juniors.

The Duck men’s throw program attracted one of the state’s top combination throwers, Brian Wuethrich of North Bend High School in North Bend, Ore.

In the 3A state finale as a senior, he won the javelin (194-6) and took second in the shot put (55-6 3/4) and 19^th in the discus (118-11). As a junior, he placed in the javelin (second, 182-3), shot put (third, 54-8 1/4) and discus (ninth, 140-0), and also scored as a sophomore in the javelin (12^th, 176-2). He led the 3A state javelin rankings in 2004 (194-6) and ranked fourth overall in the state.

Junior college sprint transfer Richard Del Rincon joins the program from Cuyamaca College in El Cajon, Calif. He won the 2004 California Junior College Championships in early May in Bakersfield, Calif., as a redshirt sophomore in the 100 (10.53,10.40-prelims) and added second place in the 200 (21.09, 20.92-prelim) only .09 seconds behind the winner. This season he clocked personal bests of 10.40 in the 100 and 20.87 in the 200 at the Foothill Conference meet, and added a 400 best of 47.92 earlier in the season. He owned 2002 freshman bests of 10.80 in the 100, 21.58 in the 200 and 49.70 in the 400. As a prep he competed for Monte Vista High School in the San Diego Section area and owned senior season bests in 2001 of 10.82 / 10.5-hand-timed in the 100, and 21.77 / 21.7-h in the 200. As a prep junior he ran bests of 10.94/10.92w/10.7-h in the 100 and 21.88 in the 200.

The men’s distance program welcomes freshmen-to-be Chris Winter from Handsworth Secondary in North Vancouver, British Columbia, and J.K. Withers from Cardinal Newman High School in Santa Rosa, Calif.

Winter owns a 3,000-meter steeplechase personal best of 8:54.94 from a meet in Burnaby, British Columbia on July 1, and recently competed with current Duck freshman Kyle Alcorn in the World Junior Championships in Grosseto, Italy on July 14 (sixth-second of three heats, 19^th overall, 9:00.58). He also broke 9:00 in the Victoria International Track Classic in B.C. mid-June (8:57.2) - six seconds better than his effort from April’s Oregon Invite at Hayward Field in Eugene (fifth, 9:03.83). Overall, he currently ranks sixth among all Canadians this year and tops among juniors nationally.

Last year, he ranked third on the world season best list for juniors in the 2,000-meter steeplechase behind a pair of Kenyans thanks to his bronze medal effort from the World Youth Championships in Sherbrooke, Canada. (5:44.23). He also a owns personal best of 8:31.00 in the flat 3,000 and has run a 8:31.17 season best in 2004.

In cross country in March, he competed in the 2004 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Brussels, Belgium in the junior men’s 8K (87^th, 27:53), and ranked fourth on the 13^th-place Canadian unit. He qualified for the team after he placed sixth in the national junior harrier championships late last November in Toronto, Ontario (26:46), and is also a two-time British Columbia provincial junior harrier champion.

Withers is one of the West Coast’s top 800-1,600 runners and owned senior season bests of 1:53.21 (800), 4:10.7 (1,600, mid-March) and 8:36.17 (3,000, Stanford Invite (3/26-27/04, fifth place)). In June, he scored in the state 1,600 (eighth, 4:21.39), after he won the NCS Meet of Champions (4:14.16) in late May and was second as a junior in 2003 (4:21.76). In other elite meets as a senior he competed in the Golden West Invite in mid-June (mile, fifth, 4:18.14), the Arcadia Invite in mid-April (10^th, 4:19.32) and the Centennial Invite at the end of April (4:11.69). In cross country, he was a state qualifier as a senior in 2003 (103^rd, 16:12) and junior in 2002 (122^nd, 17:50) and also competed in the 2003 FootLocker West Regional meet as a senior (178^th, 18:00).

On the women’s side, the Ducks added record-breaking distance runner Brianna Anderson-Gregg of Philomath High School in Philomath, Ore., and talented heptathlon prospects Lauryn Jordan of San Joaquin Delta Junior College and Kalindra McFadden of Belgrade High School in Bozeman, Mont.

In the 3A state championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Anderson-Gregg finished second in the 3,000 (10:28.80) and ran on the 4x100 (10^th-prelim, 52.00) and 4x400 relays (10th-prelim, 4:11.04). At season’s end, she ranked first in the 3A and fifth overall in the 3,000 (personal best 10:10.90). As a junior she won the 3A state 800 (meet record 2:12.78, 2:15.27-prelim) and 1,500 (4:31.92), and added legs on the 4x100 (second, 50.55, 50.86-prelim) and 4x400 relays (third, 4:03.30, 4:04.69-prelim). She also placed top 10 as a sophomore in the state finale in three events (800, seventh, 2:26.93, 2:19.31-prelim; 1,500, 10^th, 4:59.46; 4x400, sixth, 4:05.54, 4:03.13-prelim) and once as a freshman (800, first, 2:21.28).

Overall, besides her 3,000 best of 10:10.90 as a senior, she owns other all-time bests of 2:12.04 (800) and 4:31.92 (1,500, 2002). In cross country, she led Philomath to the team title as a senior with her 12-second individual win (18:33) after similar titles as a junior (18:49) and sophomore (18:54) - the latter also keying the team victory. She also competed in the Oregon-Washington Border Clash as a sophomore (22^nd, 16:17) and senior (eighth, 16:46), and the FootLocker West Regional as a senior (57^th, 19:47).

Jordan won California Community College Championships titles in 2004 in the heptathon, high jump, long jump and triple jump, and also placed fifth in the 100 hurdles. Her personal bests include 5-8 1/2 (high jump), 19-10 (long jump), 40-8 (triple jump), and 4,900 (heptathlon). The 5-8 junior-to-be graduated two years before in 2002 from Bear Creek High School in Stockton, Calif. - the same area her junior college is located.

McFadden placed as a senior for Bozeman High School in the Montana 2A state meet in the 100 (fourth, 13.00), 200 (second, 26.45), 100 hurdles (first, 15.07), high jump (second, 5-2) and triple jump (second, 35-10). As a junior, she won the 100 (12.68), 200 (26.15), 100 hurdles (meet record 14.64) and triple jump (37-6 1/4), and placed in the high jump (second, 5-2) to lead the nearby Belgrade team to state runner-up team honors. As a sophomore, she won the state 200 (25.76), 100 hurdles (15.37), high jump (5-3) and triple jump (35-2), and competed as a freshman in the long jump (sixth, 16-7). She competed for nearby Belgrade High School her first three seasons, then transferred to Bozeman High School as a senior. Her all-time bests are 14.64 (100H), 12.35-hand-timed (100), 25.00-hand-timed (200), 16-10 (long jump), 5-4 (high jump), and 37-6 (triple jump). The academic all-state pick graduated with honors and a 3.9 GPA. Her dad played football for USC and Oregon and also threw the shot put for the Ducks and was a 1965 UO letterwinner.