Track Teams Announce Transfers and NLI Signings
EUGENE, Ore. -- The Oregon track and field teams have gained key pieces for both the 2012 season, as well as the future, with the addition of two transfers to the roster and the signing of a pair of high level women to National Letters of Intent, Associate Athletic Director Vin Lananna announced Wednesday.
Enrolling at Oregon for the spring quarter are sprinter Chris Stubbs and NAIA steeplechase champion Katie Conlon. Signing with Oregon to join the women's team this fall are prep standouts Annie Leblanc of Repentigny, Québec, and Ashante Horsley of McMinnville, Ore.
Stubbs transfers to Oregon from Lane Community College and before that was a state runner-up sprinter for Willamette High School. The Eugene, Ore., native went on to become a NWAACC 100 and 200 meter sprint champion for Lane.
Conlon, from Jamestown, N.D., won the 2011 NAIA 3,000 meter steeplechase title for Jamestown College, setting the school record in 10:25.33. Both Conlon and Stubbs are juniors in terms of outdoor eligibility.
Looking to the future, Leblanc is one of the brightest junior stars in Canada, having won silver in the 800 meters at the 2011 Pan American Junior Championships. Her personal-best in the 800, 2:03.55, ranked 12th in the world among juniors last year.
Horsley is the defending OSAA 6A 400 meter champion for McMinnville High School. She has a personal-best in the event of 56.16 and was also the 2011 state runner-up in the long jump.
The three women will join a team in 2013 that includes fellow signees Brittany Mann from Beverly Hills, Mich., in the throws, Jasmine Todd of Chandler, Ariz., in the sprints and jumps, distance specialist Abbey Leonardi of Kennebunkport, Maine, and a pair of state champions from Bend's Summit High School in Megan Fristoe and Ashley Maton. The women's newcomers are rounded out by transfer Jillian Weir, a sophomore thrower who is eligible to compete this season.
Stubbs is one of four transfers for the men this season.
Trevor Dunbar from the University of Portland, and junior college sprinters Korey Brown (Pasadena City College) and Jordan Latt (Lane CC) joined the team during the winter term.
The men's newcomers will also include distance signees Freddy Ovett of Melbourne, Australia, Richard Goodman of London, England. Both freshman have enrolled at Oregon for the spring term. Signee Ryan Hunter-Simms, a thrower from Highland, Calif., will join the Ducks this fall.
KATIE CONLON, JAMESTOWN, N.D./JAMESTOWN H.S./JAMESTOWN COLLEGE
Bests: 3,000 Meter Steeplechase - 10:25.83.
Conlon won the NAIA national steeplechase title for Jamestown College in 2011. She set the school record in winning in 10:25.83. She also holds Jamestown College records in the 5,000 meters (17:32.28), indoor mile (4:59.94) and indoor 3,000 meters (9:51.36), and was also on the record-setting distance medley relay team.
Conlon finished eighth overall at the 2011 NAIA national cross country championships and 14th as a freshman in 2009.
Prior to college, she was a state top 10 finisher in both cross country and on the track at both 800 and 1,600 meters for Jamestown High School.
Conlon, who redshirted her first outdoor season in 2009, is a junior in track this spring with two years left to compete. She will be a senior in both cross country and indoor track next year, plus the additional year remaining outdoors.
ANNIE LEBLANC, REPENTIGNY, Québec
Bests: 800 Meters - 2:03.55; 1,500 Meters - 4:20.63.
Leblanc ranked 12th in the world among juniors in 2011 after running 2:03.55 in the 800 meters at the Harry Jerome meet in Burnaby, B.C. She went on to win her third straight Canadian junior 800 meter title last season and was the silver medalist in the 800 meters (2:06.35) at the 2011 Pan Am Junior Championships in Miramar, Fla. She also ran the second leg of the Canadians' runner-up 4x400 meter relay team (3:38.99).
Earlier this month, Leblanc posted a personal best in the 1,500 meters of 4:20.63 at the ASU Sun Angel Classic.
She was also a 2010 IAAF World Junior Championships qualifier and a 2009 World Youth competitor, both in the 800 meters.
Leblanc is the daughter of Chantal Desrosiers, a sprinter who qualified for the 1980 Olympics in the 200 meters, but was unable to compete due to the Western boycott of the Moscow Games.
ASHANTE HORSLEY, McMINNVILLE, ORE./McMINNVILLE HS
Prep Bests: 100 Meters - 12.11; 200 Meters - 24.99w; 400 Meters - 56.16; Long Jump - 18-1.25.
Horsley captured the 2011 400 meter 6A state title as a junior for McMinnville High School in 56.16. She also was the runner-up in the long jump and finished third in both the 100 and 200 meters as McMinnville took third in the state.
Horsley's personal best in the long jump, 18-1.25, came in a win at the 2011 Pacific Conference Championships.
She was fourth in the state in both the 200 and 400 meters as a freshman in 2009.
CHRIS STUBBS, EUGENE, ORE./WILLAMETTE HS/LANE CC
Bests: 100 Meters - 10.66; 200 Meters - 21.25; 400 Meters 46.89.
Stubbs, a junior who is eligible to compete for the Ducks this spring, was the 2009 NWAACC champion at both 100 and 200 meters for Lane Community College. He set personal bests in both races at the conference championships, going 10.66 in the 100 and 21.25 in the 200 as Lane finished as the 2009 NWAACC runner-up.
Stubbs sat out the 2010 season, during which he ran a personal-best 46.89 unattached 400 meters at the Oregon Twilight.
In 2011, he won the 400 at the Willamette Invitational in 48.28.
Prior to Lane, Stubbs was the 2008 state runner-up in both the 200 and 400 for Willamette High School.
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