Notes: NCAA Championships Return to Hayward Field

Thursday, May 25

Austin, Texas

All Day

University of Oregon

NCAA West Regionals

Photo by: Eric Evans/GoDucks.com

06/02/17 | Track and Field

T&F Notes: NCAA Championships Meet Central

THE MEN AND WOMEN OF OREGON WILL HAVE 31 ENTRIES IN 21 EVENTS WHEN THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS TAKE PLACE AT HAYWARD FIELD NEXT WEDNESDAY THROUGH SATURDAY

By: Nate Krueger

EUGENE, Ore. - The NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships return to Historic Hayward Field once again this season, and the Men and Women of Oregon will be in full force as they aim to take home collegiate track and field's most coveted trophy.

The Women of Oregon enter the NCAA Championships with history in their sights as they attempt to complete the historic Triple Crown with NCAA titles in cross country, indoor track and field and outdoor track and field in the same academic season. It is a feat that has never before been accomplished by a women's team in NCAA history. The women are in position to make a run at putting their names among the all-time elite as they enter the NCAAs with 17 entries in 10 events.

On the other side for the Ducks, the Men of Oregon will feature 14 entries in 11 events when the NCAA Championships kick off in Eugene. The Oregon men have won two of the last three NCAA outdoor titles.

MEET FORMAT: The NCAA Championships will mainly be separated between the men and the women by day. Action will begin on Wednesday with all men's events, featuring five finals in field events, the 10,000 meter final, 10 semifinals on the track and the first half of the decathlon. Thursday will feature the same women's finals and semifinals, as well as the second half of the decathlon. The remaining men's finals will take place on Friday, and the women's heptathlon will also begin. The Championships will wrap up on Saturday with the remaining women's finals, including the final three events of the heptathlon. All award presentations will take place on Friday (men) and Saturday (women).

HOW TO FOLLOW: The NCAA Championships will once again be broadcast live on ESPN, providing fans with all of the action from Hayward. The main feed on the track will be aired live on ESPN2 beginning at 5:30 and 4:30 p.m. PT on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, and on ESPN starting at 5:30 and 3:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, respectively. There will also be additional live streams on ESPN3 and ESPNU throughout the four-day meet to show the field and combined events. All pertinent information on the NCAA Championships for anyone attending, as well as a link to live results, can be found at goducks.com/ncaatf. Live updates will be provided throughout the meet on Twitter via @OregonTF and @Run4Ducks.

DUCKS EARN 31 TOTAL ENTRIES FOR NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS: Competing at the NCAA West Regional Championships in Austin, Texas, last weekend, the Men and Women of Oregon punched 31 total tickets in 21 events for the NCAA Championships. The Women of Oregon have 17 entries in 10 events, while the Men of Oregon own 14 qualifiers in 11 events. The women have multiple qualifiers in six events (100, 200, 400, 800, 5,000, 100H), while the men have two with Kyree King and Damarcus Simpson each in the 100 and Mitch Modin and Joe Delgado both in the decathlon. The Ducks' most entries in an event come in the women's 400, where Elexis Guster, Makenzie Dunmore and Ashante Horsley all qualified. While in Austin, Deajah Stevens (100, 200) and Chaquinn Cook (triple jump) each had the best marks of the field in their respective events. The men's quartet of Simpson, King, Julius Shellmire and Marcus Chambers also topped their own school record to qualify in the 4x100, finishing in 38.94. The Ducks did suffer some attrition in the women's sprints in Austin, as Hannah Cunliffe was lost for the season with hamstring soreness and the 4x100 squad was disqualified for a lane exchange violation.

INTERVIEWS: Head Coach Robert Johnson

Samantha Nadel, Senior

Chaquinn Cook, Sophomore

NEWCOMERS MAKING AN IMPACT: The Ducks have enjoyed a big boost from newcomers this season, as 10 of their entries for the NCAA Championships are owned by freshmen, redshirt freshmen or transfers. Kyree King headlines the group in the 100 and 200, joining Elexis Guster, Chaquinn Cook, Samantha Nadel, Tim Gorman and Damarcus Simpson as impact transfers for Oregon. Katie Rainsberger, Makenzie Dunmore and Rhesa Foster have been tremendous as true freshmen, and Tanner Anderson has made his presence felt in the distance events as a redshirt freshman.

DUCKS IN THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS: Oregon enters the 2017 NCAA Championships with 30 total national titles in cross country/track and field, and seven total outdoor NCAA championships. The Men of Oregon have won seven all-time outdoor titles, while the Women of Oregon have won twice. Oregon's last outdoor titles came in 2015, when the Ducks swept the national championships on both the men's and the women's sides. The NCAA Championships will take place at Hayward Field for the fifth straight year, and for the sixth time in the last eight years.

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, did 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 at 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 took home wheels in the 4x100 relay, sprint-medley relay and 4x400 relay. The quartet of Makenzie Dunmore, Deajah Stevens, Hannah Waller and Raevyn Rogers ran an NCAA all-time best 3:39.05 to win the sprint-medley relay, though 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. The Men of Oregon claimed twowheels of their own at Penn, winning the distance-medley relay and the 4xMile.

Sam Prakel anchored both winning relays for the men to earn the honor of male athlete of the week, and he was later honored as the Pac-12 men's track athlete of the week. 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. Ryan Hunter-Simms also claimed an individual win for Oregon in Philadelphia, winning the discus after reaching 194'9" (59.36m), a lifetime-best and the seventh-best mark in UO history.

OREGON SHINES IN CALIFORNIA: Competing at three different meets in California April 12-15, 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.

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.

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. 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. 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.

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. 9 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.