University of Oregon
NCAA Indoor Championships
Ducks Eye Repeat Sweep At NCAA Indoors
03/07/17 | Track and Field
THE MEN AND WOMEN OF OREGON WILL TRY TO SWEEP THE NCAA INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS FOR THE SECOND-STRAIGHT YEAR THIS WEEKEND IN COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS
EUGENE, Ore. - The Oregon track and field team heads to the NCAA Indoor Championships this weekend in College Station, Texas, seeking a repeat of last year's indoor title sweep, and 15-time NCAA champion Edward Cheserek pursues NCAA history.
The top-ranked Women of Oregon will send 10 athletes in 13 events to Texas, as well as a 4x400-meter relay team and a distance-medley relay team, as they aim for their seventh NCAA Indoor title in the last eight seasons. The Ducks will bring the most athletes to College Station of any team in the field, men or women.
The Men of Oregon will travel eight student athletes in 11 individual events, as well as a distance-medley relay team. The Ducks are seeking their fourth-straight NCAA indoor title and fifth overall.
Coverage: The NCAA Indoor Championships will be broadcast live on ESPN3, and a link to live results will be available on the track and field schedule of goducks.com. Live updates from the meet will be provided via Twitter on @OregonTF and @Run4Ducks.
Entries - Women: The Ducks' impressive sprinting trio of Hannah Cunliffe, Deajah Stevens and Ariana Washington will all run both the 60 and the 200 meters, making for huge scoring opportunities for the Women of Oregon. Cunliffe set the collegiate record in the 60 meters this season (7.07) and is second in the 200 meters behind Stevens (22.65), the 2016 U.S Olympian. Washington, another Olympian for the Ducks, will look to add indoor titles to her resume after sweeping the 100 and 200 meters outdoors last season.
Three-time national champion Raevyn Rogers will try to add to her trophy shelf in the 800 meters after winning the event in both indoors and outdoors last year. Rogers is also slated to run both relays for the Ducks, joining Makenzie Dunmore, Elexis Guster and Stevens in the 4x400 and Lilli Burdon, Ashante Horsley and Katie Rainsberger in the DMR. The Ducks' currently own the collegiate record in the DMR (10:48.77).
Rainsberger, the standout freshman who took fourth at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, will run the 3,000 meters after taking over the NCAA lead (9:01.21). Rainsberger will be joined by Samantha Nadel and Alli Cash, making for a big scoring event for the Ducks.
NCAA leader Sasha Wallace will go for her first indoor national title in the 60-meter hurdles, and she will be joined by all-American Alaysha Johnson. Senior Maggie Schmaedick rounds out the list of entries for the Women of Oregon in the 5,000 meters after a huge performance at the MPSF Championships in Seattle two weeks ago.
Entries - Men: Fifteen-time national champion Edward Cheserek will have a chance to make history as he goes for his 16th national title, which would be the most in NCAA history. He is entered in the mile after breaking the collegiate record last Sunday (3:52.01), as well as the 3,000 and 5,000 meters. Cheserek won indoor titles in the 3,000 and 5,000 meters as well as the DMR last season, completing only the second triple in NCAA history.
Sophomore Matthew Maton will join Cheserek in both the mile and the 3,000 meters, and he and Cheserek are slated to be joined by Cameron Stone and Mick Stanovsek in the DMR. Tim Gorman, a senior transfer from Dartmouth, also joins Cheserek and Maton in the mile, making for an another big scoring opportunity along with the 3,000 meters.
Another senior transfer, Kyree King, will wrap his indoor career in the 60 meters for the Ducks, and senior Marcus Chambers was a late add to the 200 meters after a late scratch. Junior transfer Damarcus Simpson will compete in the long jump after breaking the school record earlier in the season (8.01m/26-3.5), and freshman Braxton Canady qualified for the Championships in his first season as a collegiate in the 60-meter hurdles, where he qualified with a time of 7.74 seconds.
Senior Mitch Modin wraps up the entries for the Ducks in the heptathlon after qualifying at last weekend's MPSF Championships with a personal-best score of 7,474 points.
Cheserek Chasing History: Entered in three individual events at the Indoor Championships, Edward Cheserek is on the verge of making NCAA history. Cheserek completed a historic triple at the NCAA Indoor Championships last year (5,000, 3,000, DMR), and went on to join former Duck Galen Rupp as the only men to win the NCAA cross country title, the indoor 3,000 and 5,000 meters and distance medley relay, and the outdoor 5,000 and 10,000 meters in the same academic year. The historic season ran Cheserek's NCAA championship count to 15, tying him with Suleiman Nyambui (1979-82) for the most combined national cross country/track and field championships won in NCAA history as he makes his final lap for the Men of Oregon.
Cheserek Breaks Collegiate Mile Record: Edward Cheserek made history at the Boston University Last Chance Meet on February 26, breaking the indoor collegiate mile record in a blazing 3:52.01. Competing in a field of almost exclusively professionals, Cheserek topped the two-year old record of 3:52.88 by Arizona's Lawi Lalang, further adding to his incredible resume as a collegiate.
Men Win MPSF Title, Women Take Second: The Ducks enjoyed a productive weekend at the MPSF Championships two weeks ago, with the Men of Oregon taking home their third MPSF title and the Women of Oregon finishing second with multiple impressive performances. Oregon came away with seven individual titles and multiple Ducks moved into qualifying position with their performances.
Katie Rainsberger won the mile in a PR 4:35.60 after already taking the nation lead in the 3,000 meters. NCAA-leaders Hannah Cunliffe and Sasha Wallace each took the MPSF crowns in the 60 meters and the 60-meter hurdles, respectively, with Cunliffe winning in 7.15 seconds and Wallace in 7.95 seconds to each break the MPSF meet records. Alli Cash came away with the conference title in the 3,000 meters with a winning time of 9:09.18.
For the men, Senior Mitch Modin came away with a huge performance in the heptathlon to move into qualifying position for the NCAAs, winning with a career-high 5,747 points and hitting a big PR in the pole vault (4.90m/16-0.75). Senior Marcus Chambers won the 400 meters in a career-best 46.40 seconds, and Kyree King won the 200 meters in 21.04 seconds.
Ducks Lead NCAA in 7 Events: The Ducks hold seven NCAA-leading marks entering the NCAA Indoor Championships, with five coming on the women's side. Hannah Cunliffe leads in the 60 meters (7.09), Deajah Stevens leads the 200 meters (22.65), Sasha Wallace leads the 60 meter hurdles (7.91) and the women's distance medley relay team took over the NCAA lead at the Columbia East-West Challenge in New York while setting the all-time collegiate record (10:48.77). Freshman Katie Rainsberger gave the Ducks the NCAA lead in the 3,000 meters two weeks ago with a blazing time of 9:01.21. On the men's side, Edward Cheserek took over the lead in the 5,000 meters with a PR time of 13:32.59 at the Husky Classic in Seattle, and his collegiate record in the mile (3:52.01) moved him to the top of that list.
Rankings: The Women of Oregon remain as the top-ranked team in the latest USTFCCCA computer rankings, while the Men of Oregon slot in at No. 3.
Bowerman Watch: After landing a record five athletes on the February watch list for the top individual award in the sport, the Women of Oregon placed four Ducks on the latest March edition. Raevyn Rogers and Ariana Washington remain on the watch list from the preseason, and Hannah Cunliffe and Sasha Wallace have joined them after tremendous indoor seasons. Deajah Stevens is receiving votes on the latest watch list.
On the men's side, Edward Cheserek remains from the preseason list, but his inclusion impacted history as well. Cheserek tied Lawi Lalang for the most Bowerman watch-list appearances in NCAA history in March with the 24th of his career.
Players Mentioned
