Road to Eugene Goes Through Austin
05/23/17 | Track and Field
THE MEN AND WOMEN OF OREGON WILL LOOK TO PUNCH THEIR TICKETS TO THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS IN EUGENE THIS WEEKEND AT THE NCAA WEST REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS IN AUSTIN, TEXAS
EUGENE, Ore. - Coming off a ninth straight sweep at the Pac-12 Championships, the Men and Women of Oregon head to Austin, Texas, this week for the NCAA West Regional Championships, hosted by the University of Texas. The Ducks will be looking to punch their tickets to the NCAA Outdoor Championships at Historic Hayward Field (June 7-10) in Eugene.
Action will begin on Thursday at Mike A. Myers Stadium with the women's hammer throw, and will conclude on Saturday night with the 4x400 relays. The top 12 student-athletes in each event will advance to Eugene for the NCAAs. The Ducks have already booked a pair of spots in the field, with Joe Delgado and Mitch Modin already qualifying in the decathlon.
HOW TO FOLLOW: The NCAA West Regional Championships will not be broadcast or streamed live, but a link to live results for the meet can be found on the track and field schedule on goducks.com. Updates will be provided throughout the weekend on Twitter via @OregonTF and @Run4Ducks.
.@OregonTF is heading to Austin, Texas for the NCAA Regionals on Thursday. Hear from head coach @Run4Ducks here: https://t.co/ZZWj53unc5 pic.twitter.com/vGxe0RB4Tr
— Jonathan Style (@JonathanRStyle) May 23, 2017
LARGE GROUP OF DUCKS HEADS TO AUSTIN: There will be plenty of Ducks in Austin this weekend as they attempt to secure as many bids as possible for the NCAA Championships. The Women of Oregon boast 31 entries, the most of any team in the field, with 25 student-athletes entered in individual events. The Ducks are entered in every event in the meet other than the high jump and pole vault.
The Men of Oregon will send 17 Ducks in individual events, and will have 22 total entries in individual events as well as the 4x100 relay. The men are entered in every event except for the 800 meters, 400 hurdles, high jump and triple jump.
UNPARALELLED CAREER COMES TO A CLOSE FOR CHESEREK: King Ches has run his last collegiate race in an Oregon singlet. Edward Cheserek, the winningest runner in NCAA history (page 3), will not run at the West Regional meet due to a lower back strain. After consulting with Cheserek and team medical staff, head coach Robert Johnson and associate head coach Andy Powell made the determination to withdraw Cheserek from the NCAA West Regional Championships. As a result, the senior will not compete in the NCAA Championships next month at historic Hayward Field.
KING, STEVENS, JOHNSON EARN PAC-12 HONORS: The Pac-12 yearly honors were rolling in for the Ducks after sweeping the conference titles once again, as Kyree King and Deajah Stevens were named the men's and women's Pac-12 athletes of the year, and head coach Robert Johnson was named the conference's coach of the year on both the men's and women's sides. King is the sixth Duck to earn the Pac-12 men's athlete of the year award, including the second straight after Devon Allen earned the honor in 2016. Stevens earns the honor after teammate Hannah Cunliffe won it in 2016, and she is the fifth Duck in the last eight years to be honored with the award. For Johnson, he now has eight Pac-12 coach of the year awards, five on the women's side and three on the men's side.
DUCKS SWEEP PAC-12 TITLES FOR NINTH STRAIGHT YEAR: The Men and Women of Oregon continued their dominance of the Pac-12 Conference two weekends ago at Hayward Field, dominating on both sides to sweep the conference titles for the ninth year in a row. The Men of Oregon won for the 11th straight year, while the Women of Oregon made it nine consecutive. In total, the Ducks claimed 11 individual Pac-12 championships, and also won both titles in the 4x100 relays.
After entering the meet with 18 points thanks to Mitch Modin and Joe Delgado going 1-2 in the Pac-12 decathlon, the Men of Oregon jumped out to an early lead on day one. Damarcus Simpson claimed the first win of the weekend for the Ducks in the long jump, leaping 26-1/7.95m. Freshman Rhesa Foster got the first win on the women's side and made Oregon 2-for-2 in the long jump with a title of her own at 20-6.5/6.26m. 17-time NCAA Champion Edward Cheserek was the third and final winner for Oregon on day one, defending his Pac-12 title in the 10K and winning his seventh career conference championship in 29:11.76.
Senior Ryan Hunter-Simms started day two off in dramatic style, winning the discus on his final throw at 192-7/58.71m. The Ducks then swept the 4x100 titles, with the men winning in 39.17 and the women taking the title in 42.81. Alaysha Johnson earned the first Pac-12 title of her career, winning the 100 hurdles in 12.90, and sophomore transfer Chaquinn Cook hit a huge PR in the triple jump at 44-1.5/13.45m. Senior Kyree King won the 100 metes and broke the school record in a wind-aided 10.09, and later came back to win the 200 and break another UO record in 20.27. In also running on the winning 4x100 team, King was named the men's athlete of the meet. Deajah Stevens then followed suit on the women's side, winning the 100 in 11.05, leading a 1-2-3 Oregon sweep, and then taking the 200 in 22.09, a world-leading time and the second-fastest ever in NCAA history. Raevyn Rogers closed out the individual titles for Oregon as she continued her dominance in the 800 meters with a win in 2:02.93.
DUCKS WIN FIVE WHEELS AT PENN RELAYS: The Ducks took a large contingent of student-athletes to the famous Penn Relays in Philadelphia last weekend, and came away with five title wheels from the prestigious meet.
The Women of Oregon got things started with another terrific showing in the 4x100, with the quartet of Alaysha Johnson, Deajah Stevens, Makenzie Dunmore and Ariana Washington winning in 42.35 to break the Penn Relays record. A few hours later, the Men of Oregon brought home their first wheel of the weekend in the distance-medley relay Championship of American final. Blake Haney, Marcus Chambers, Mick Stanovsek and Sam Prakel won the race in 9:32.61. The Ducks claimed their third wheel in the sprint-medley relay to wrap the first day's action in Philadelphia, this time breaking their sixth collegiate record of the season in the process. The quartet of Dunmore, Stevens, Hannah Waller and Raevyn Rogers ran an NCAA all-time best 3:39.05 to win. The collegiate record belonged to Oregon briefly, as Texas A&M topped the Ducks' time in 3:39.04 at the SEC Relays just a few moments later.
On the final day, the Men of Oregon brought home another wheel with a win in the 4xMile, as Mick Stanovsek, Tim Gorman, Blake Haney and Sam Prakel ran a blazing 16:21.81 to win the Championship of America final. In anchoring his second winning relay, Prakel earned Penn Relays college athlete of the meet honors as well as Pac-12 men's track athlete of the week. The Women of Oregon wrapped the Ducks' weekend in Philadelphia with Oregon's fifth wheel of the meet, winning the Championship of America 4x400 relay. The team of Elexis Guster, Raevyn Rogers, Makenzie Dunmore and Deajah Stevens took home the title in 3:24.72 to break the Penn Relays meet record.
Individually, Alaysha Johnson brought home the women's collegiate title in the 100 hurdles with a winning time of 12.88, doing so while running into a headwind. Johnson earned Pac-12 women's track athlete of the week honors with her individual win as well as the 4x100 win. In the throws, senior Ryan Hunter-Simms had a big throw in the discus, reaching 194'9" (59.36m), the seventh-best mark in UO history.
OREGON SHINES IN CALIFORNIA: Competing at three different meets in California a few 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 have regained the top spot in the latest outdoor women's rankings after their ninth straight Pac-12 title, while the Men of Oregon came in at No. 5 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 three on the latest outdoor edition as the regional championship meets approach. Raevyn Rogers, Deajah Stevens and Ariana Washington all appeared on the latest list, and Hannah Cunliffe and Sasha Wallace have also appeared on the list multiple times this season. For the men, Edward Cheserek remains on the watch list for the 27th time in his career, the most appearances in history.
Players Mentioned
