Ducks Off to Penn Relays, OSU High Performance Meet

Thursday, April 27

Philadelphia, Pa.

All Day

University of Oregon

Penn Relays

Photo by: Kirby Lee

Ducks Off to Penn Relays, OSU High Performance Meet

04/26/17 | Track and Field

Notes

OREGON WILL ONCE AGAIN SPLIT UP THIS WEEK AS HALF THE TEAM HEADS TO PHILADELPHIA FOR THE PENN RELAYS AND THE OTHER HALF STAYS IN OREGON FOR THE OSU HIGH PERFORMANCE MEET

By: Nate Krueger

EUGENE, Ore. - The Men and Women of Oregon will be split between two meets this week, the prestigious Penn Relays in Philadelphia, Pa., and the OSU High Performance Meet at Oregon State in Corvallis. The Ducks will compete in a number of relays in Philadelphia while also getting some of their throwers some action, and a large number of Ducks will head to Corvallis seeking qualifying marks in individual events.

How to Follow: The Penn Relays will be available to be streamed live on USATF.TV with a +Plus subscription. There will not be a live stream offered for the meet in Corvallis. Links to live results for both meets can be found on the track and field schedule on goducks.com. Updates from both meets will be provided on Twitter via @OregonTF and @Run4Ducks.

Weekly Interviews: Head Coach Robert Johnson

Raevyn Rogers, Junior

Sam Prakel, RS Junior

Entries - Penn Relays: The Ducks will have the opportunity to run multiple relays at one of the biggest meets in the country this week in Philadelphia. The Men of Oregon will run the 4x100, 4x400 and 4xMile relays along with the distance medley relay, and the Women of Oregon will run the 4x100, 4x400 and 4x1500 relays as well as the sprint medley. Individually, Alaysha Johnson will run in the 100 hurdles, Jackson Mestler will compete in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, Cody Danielson and John Nizich will throw the javelin and Ryan Hunter-Simms will throw both the discus and the shot put.

Entries - OSU High Performance: There will be much more of an individual focus for the Ducks that stay in Oregon to compete in Corvallis. Joshua Rambert will run the 400 hurdles, Braxton Canady will go in the 110 hurdles and Khadejah Jackson will race in both the 100 and 400 hurdles. Freshman Rhesa Foster will also run the 100 hurdles, in addition to competing in the long jump.

In the middle distance, Austin Tamagno run the 800 meters for the men, while freshman standout Katie Rainsberger and Brooke Feldmeier will also run the 800. Travis Neuman, Bryan Fernandez and Perrin Xthona will all race in the 5,000 meters, and Brianna Nerud and Frida Berge will make her season debut in the 3,000 steeplechase.

In the throws, Cullen Prena, Drake Brennan and freshman Sebastian Barajas will all throw the discus, while Brennan and Barajas will also throw the shot put and Prena the hammer. Senior Austin White will also join Barajas in the shot put. For the women, Kiana Phelps, Maddie Rabing and Ronna Stone will all throw the shot put and the discus, and Rabing will also join Madeline Middlebrooks in the hammer throw.

Senior Cole Walsh will lead the Ducks in the jumps as he looks to top the PR he set in the pole vault two weeks ago, and Ben Milligan will aim for a new top mark in the high jump in his first action of the outdoor season. Chaquinn Cook will go in the triple jump for the women. Multi-even athletes Mitch Modin and Joe Delgado will both compete in the 110 hurdles, the pole vault and the shot put as they prepare for the Pac-12 Multi-Event Championships next weekend.

Oregon Shines in California: Competing at three different meets in California two weeks ago, highlighted by the famous Mt. SAC Relays, the Men and Women of Oregon came away with another incredible performance with multiple record-breaking showings. Raevyn Rogers stole headlines by breaking the 27-year-old collegiate record in the 800 meters in an astounding 1:59.10. The quartet of Makenzie Dunmore, Hannah Cunliffe, Deajah Stevens and Ariana Washington topped their own collegiate record in the 4x100 relay in a blazing 42.12.

In the individual sprints, Stevens and Washington each set personal-bests to finish 1-2 in the invite 100 meters, with Stevens winning in 11.00 and Washington taking a close second in 11.06 in a field that featured former Duck greats Jenna Prandini and Jasmine Todd. The duo put on another impressive performance later in the day in the 200 meters, where Stevens took over the NCAA and world leads in 22.31 with Washington finishing in 22.93.

The Men of Oregon broke a record of their own in the 4x100. The foursome of Damarcus Simpson, Kyree King, Julius Shellmire and Marcus Chambers ran the fastest time in Oregon history in 39.18. King won two individual events, and ran a lifetime best 10.23 in the 100 meters while also winning the 200 in 20.78. In the field events, senior Cole Walsh hit a new PR and finished as the top collegian in the field by clearing 5.50m/18'0.5".

Freshman phenom Katie Rainsberger made more headlines for the Women of Oregon, finishing second in the invite 1,500 meters in 4:13.25, a new NCAA-leading time.

Ducks Enjoy Record-Breaking Start to Outdoor Season: A highly productive weekend at the Florida Relays in Gainesville, Fla., was highlighted by a pair of collegiate records for the Women of Oregon. The quartet of Makenzie Dunmore, Hannah Cunliffe, Deajah Stevens and Ariana Washington smashed the collegiate record in the 4x100 relay, flying to a win in 42.34, before breaking it again two weeks later at Mt. SAC. The same four Ducks came back out a few hours later and moved their names to the top of the all-time collegiate list in the 4x200 with a time of 1:28.78. Both marks took the top spot in the Oregon record books as well. The two collegiate records marked the third and fourth for the Women of Oregon so far in 2016-17 (60m, DMR), and first two of the outdoor season. The Men of Oregon had an impressive showing of their own in the 4x100, as Damarcus Simpson, Kyree King, Julius Shellmire and Marcus Chambers secured the second-fastest time in school history with a third-place time of 39.39.

Alaysha Johnson enjoyed a tremendous start to the season, winning the 100-meter hurdles in an Oregon record and personal-record (PR) 12.69 seconds. Sasha Wallace, the indoor national champion in the 60 hurdles, finished sixth in 12.94. Chaquinn Cook claimed the victory in the college long jump with a PR mark of 6.15m/20'2", getting her first outdoor season as a Duck off to a strong start. Senior Cole Walsh opened his final outdoor season with a win in the pole vault, clearing 5.42m/17'9".

The Ducks also received a strong start from their distance runners at the Stanford Invitational. Seventeen-time national champion Edward Cheserek opened outdoors with a win in the 10,000 meters in 28:46.48, which is currently 10th in the nation and 12 seconds better than his 10K qualifying time from last season (28:58.57). Lilli Burdon (4:17.07), Emma Abrahamson (4:18.62) and Jessica Hull (4:19.50) all hit PRs in the college 1,500, and senior Samantha Nadel, the fourth-place finisher in the 3,000 at the Indoor Championships, crushed her PR in the 5,000 meters to win her section in 15:49.26. Tanner Anderson (29:26.15) and Travis Neuman (29:33.95), also posted times in the 10K that should be fast enough for regional qualifiers.

NCAA Champs! Women Win 7th Indoor Title in Record Fashion: The Women of Oregon won their seventh NCAA Indoor Championship in the last eight years, breaking the all-time meet scoring record while doing so, and four Ducks claimed individual national titles. Overall, the Ducks earned their ninth national championship in track and field, and 13th total including cross country. Coupled with the women's national title in cross country in the fall, the women are now positioned to take a run at the triple crown (cross country, indoor track and field, outdoor track and field), which no women's team has ever accomplished.

The Ducks scored 84 points to shatter the 29-year-old scoring record of 71, set by Texas in 1988. Hannah Cunliffe (60 meters), Sasha Wallace (60-meter hurdles), Raevyn Rogers (800 meters) and Ariana Washington (200 meters) each hauled in individual titles to lead the Ducks to the historic win. The Ducks dominated the short sprints, with Cunliffe, Washington and Deajah Stevens going 1-3-5 in the 60 meters and Washington and Cunliffe securing the first 1-2 finish in the 200 meters since 2010.

King Ches Takes His Throne: In winning the 3,000 and the 5,000 meters at the NCAA Indoor Championships, Edward Cheserek ran his career national title total to 17 and became the winningest athlete in NCAA track and field/cross country history. Cheserek passed Suleiman Nyambui (1979-82) for that honor, and is also now has the most national titles of any male athlete in the history of NCAA Division I athletics. The King trails only Jenna Thompson (Stanford, swimming), who won 19 total national titles, for the most national championships in NCAA DI history. Cheserek made even more history in College Station, Texas, adding a second-place finish in the mile to his two titles to set the meet record for points scored with 28. He also became the all-time NCAA Indoor leader in career points scored with 91. Adding to his incredible career and final season, Cheserek broke the indoor collegiate mile record at the Boston University Last Chance Meet on February 26 in a blazing 3:52.01.

Rankings: The Women of Oregon slotted in at No. 2 in the latest outdoor women's rankings, while the Men of Oregon came in at No. 13 in the most recent men's rankings.

Bowerman Watch: The Women of Oregon have landed a record five athletes on multiple watch lists for the Bowerman Award, and boast four on the outdoor midseason watch list in Hannah Cunliffe, Raevyn Rogers, Deajah Stevens and Ariana Washington. Sasha Wallace has also appeared on the list multiple times. For the men, Edward Cheserek remains on the watch list for the 26th time in his career, the most appearances in history.

Up Next: After a competing at the Penn Relays and OSU High Performance Meet, the Ducks will get their first chance to compete at Hayward Field in the Oregon Twilight on May 5. The Ducks' multi-event athletes will also compete in the Pac-12 Multi-Event Championships that weekend at Oregon State.