This Week:
The Oregon track and field team will host the Oregon Relays this week as high school, collegiate and professional athletes will converge on Historic Hayward Field Thursday, April 16-Saturday, April 18. Combined events will kick off the weekend on Thursday at 1 p.m., a session that is free to the public. The combined events will resume on Friday at noon, with afternoon session beginning at 1:45 p.m. Saturday’s high school action will begin at 9:05 a.m. with college competition beginning at noon.
While the majority of Ducks will compete in front of the home crowd, a select group of Ducks will travel to the Mt. SAC Relays, Saturday.
Coverage:
Competition on Friday and Saturday for the Oregon Relays will be streamed live on Runnerspace.com, HERE. Live stats will be available on GoDucks.com.
Featured Events:
The women’s 800 will be loaded with Ducks including All-American Annie Leblanc makes her 2015 outdoor debut in the event and Raevyn Rogers, who won the 800 last week at the Pepsi Invitational. The two will be up against former Duck Samantha Murphy and Oregon Project runner Treniere Moser.
Mary Cain headlines a strong field in the women’s 1,500 where she will run alongside former Oregon All-American Alexi Pappas. The group of current Ducks include scorer at the 2015 NCAA Indoor Championships in the mile, Nikki Hiltz.
Marcus Chambers is coming off a strong performance at the Pepsi Invitational where he won the 200, 400 and anchored Oregon’s winning 4x400 team. Chambers is entered in both the 200 and 400 this week, and will face former NCAA Champion in the 800, Charles Jock of Nike OTC.
In the men’s 1,500, former Oregon National Champion Mac Fleet and All-American AJ Acosta lead the list of entrants. Oregon Freshman Blake Haney will be running unattached.
All-Americans Dakotah Keys and Mitch Modin will compete in their first decathlon of the 2015 season. Keys finished third at the 2014 NCAA Championships in the event while Modin took 13th.
Bill McChesney Jr.:
The comparisons were inevitable, especially when the former South Eugene High School product broke Steve Prefontaine’s state meet record at 3,200 yards by 12 seconds (8:50). But the four-time NCAA All-American and 1980 Olympian was able to create a legacy of his own. Still holding the school record at 5,000 meters (13:14.80), the American collegiate record holder ranked atop the nation’s 5,000-meter list and fourth in the world in 1981, in addition to posting the world’s ninth-fastest 10,000 time (27:47.25). Competing in four NCAA cross country meets during his collegiate tenure, he aided the Ducks to their fourth NCAA cross country title as a freshman in 1977 as well as runner-up finishes in 1978 and ‘79. The 33-year-old distance standout died in a traffic accident on the Oregon coast in 1992.
Rankings:
In the latest USTFCCCA computer rankings, the Oregon men’s team is No. 3 where they have remained a constant all season while the women are No. 8.
National Leaders:
Senior Sam Crouser leads the country in the javelin with a throw of 259-0 at the Trojan Invitational to start the season. That distance would have topped any mark throw by any NCAA competitor last season.
The women’s 4x100 relay team of Marybeth Sant, Ariana Washington, Jenna Prandini and Jasmine Todd currently lead the NCAA with a blazing time of 43.31 in the season opener. The time is second in Oregon history.
Prandini Jumps to Pac-12 Honor:
Jenna Prandini was named the Pac-12 Women’s Field Athlete of the Week, April 13, after winning the long jump last weekend at the Pepsi Invitational. Prandini, a redshirt junior, flew to a win in the long jump with a best mark of 21-0.5, beating out a strong field that contained Kentucky’s Kenyattia Hackworth and teammate Jasmine Todd. The mark ranks fourth in the NCAA this season.
Crouser Named Athlete of the Week:
Sam Crouser was named the USTFCCCA Division I Men’s Field Athlete of the Week, March 24 for his performance at the Trojan Invitational.
