The 2024 NCAA Division I Track and Field Championships are set to kick off in Eugene this week, with the first events slated for Wednesday afternoon. Before the athletes took the track at Hayward Field, Oregon’s star thrower Jaida Ross and head coach Jerry Schumacher made an appearance. 

Here’s how they answered questions from national media about Hayward-Field advantage, new additions — including heptathlete Annika Williams to the field — and the upcoming excitement:

Jaida Ross

Ross, who holds the NCAA record in the women’s shot put, is now in her junior season at Oregon. She is expected to compete for a spot in the U.S. Olympic squad later this month — but for now, her full focus is on the opportunity at hand.

Her introduction:

“This is my fourth year. I’m born and raised in Oregon, so I’m excited that I get my last NCAA outdoor championships here…I’m super excited [and] I get to have a lot of family coming in and the season has been going well for me — so excited to keep building on it.”

On her teammates:

“The team is super important to me. I love my throws group [and] I love the rest of my team. I’ve been lucky enough to have amazing teammates…the atmosphere is amazing and then also we push each other every day.”

On her preparation for the Championships:

“[We’re] pushing my peak as late as we can so that we can make it good for this week and for trials. I think the peak is at the right time — I had my last heavy lifts last week so the peak is coming and I’m just really excited for the next two weeks.”

On dividing her focus between shot put and discus:

“I think what’s nice for me though is that I’m going to have shotting as my main event, and I won’t be thinking about discus, especially because it’s just a different technique. I can focus on shot and then kind of just have fun with discus.”

On teammate Annika Williams being added to the National Championship field:

“I was super happy to see her out — and we’re in the same grad program — I see Annika every day. So when I saw that pop up, I was just as happy as she was for her. That’s a great addition to the women’s team.”

On having her family present at Hayward:

“I think I have 15 people coming on the shot day and I have like 19 on the discus day. So I have an army — everyone. I have a very packed house. air mattresses on the floor. It’ll be great.”

Jerry Schumacher

Schumacher joined Oregon in 2022 after heading up the Nike Bowerman Track Club for a decade and a half — and the connections were obvious. Since joining, he’s seen success, guiding the Women of Oregon to a 2024 Pac-12 Championship. That title completed their three-peat of the conference title ahead of a looming move to the Big Ten.

His introduction:

“I think to say that we’re excited to be hosting the NCAA Championships is an understatement. Between or administration, our coaching staff, the community, the fans, the officials, our athletes — we’re just genuinely really excited to be hosting to be giving us a chance to compete at home and you know, I think we have a great four days of track and field ahead of us.”

On the home-field advantage at Hayward Field:

“I think any time you get a chance to compete at home with your home base and crowd and community behind you, it gives you a little extra — an extra little extra lift. But, you know, it’s also some disadvantages that as coaches we also know. There’s a lot more work that gets involved. There’s a lot more distractions. that you don’t get away from. We try to minimize those as mundane as much as possible, but undoubtedly the ability to compete at home, on your home track with your home fans behind you [is good].”

On Jaida Ross:

“Yeah, I think you just heard her saying that she has [her family] here to cheer her on. I think that would have happened wherever the meet was, but I think it’s especially special, being here at home — for her especially, an Oregon kid. You know, her athletic accomplishments speak for themselves. What she is around our team and as a team leader, she leads everybody on the team. ​​But I think really a part that a lot of people don’t get to see on the athletic field is just really the quality person that she is. ​​She’s one of the best and obviously her time here is almost to an end but we hope it goes our way this weekend.”

On Annika Williams being added to the field:

“Yeah, obviously that was big — [last] year she was the first one out and and obviously every now and then things change. Other teams line up, a square opens up a position and she was called to get in and we’re thrilled about that. It gave us another athlete to potentially score. ​​I think we’re represented in 13 of the 21 events. We’re deep and we have athletes across the board and in a lot of different events.”

On the balance between NCAA Championships and Olympic Trials:

“​​I think first and foremost as a collegiate athlete, the NCAA is probably the most important meet on the schedule — that goes from conference to those championship meets. That’s why college kids are part of the teams they’re part of…Not that the Olympic trials aren’t important, because they are, but I think that first and foremost it’s again, it’s the team competitions and you know, this is one of them. So like I said, if there’s a couple of days circled on the calendar for all of our student athletes, it’s this weekend for sure.”
The Ducks, along with the rest of the nation, kick off action on Wednesday afternoon. The full schedule is available at NCAA.com. The Emerald will have day-by-day updates, at DailyEmerald.com and online on X @ODESports.