The third day of the 2024 NCAA Track and Field National Championships is complete. Oregon’s lone male finalist, Elliott Cook, competed in the 1500m final. Meanwhile, Oregon’s two heptathletes, Taylor Chocek and Annika Williams, began their events.
1500m final | Friday, 6:12 P.M.
After winning his qualifying heat on Wednesday with a personal-best time of 3:27.25, Cook ran in the final of the 1500-meter run on Friday.
Cook accelerated his speed at the start of the final lap of Friday’s final. The junior led the field for most of the last 400 meters until Washington’s Joe Waskom began to catch up to him. Cook’s final time was 3:39.57, which made him the national runner-up. Waskom beat him to the finish line by 0:00.09.
What he’s saying:
On if he knew Waskom was close behind him down the final stretch:
“Gotta assume in a national final there’s always gonna be somebody creeping on the outside. You can never trust that you’re in the lead by too much. Going to the last 100 meters, I thought it was me and Colin [Sahlman]. There were guys right behind us trailing but always expecting it. Do everything I can from now until next time we’ll see each other whether that’s USA’s [Olympic Trials] or next year to make sure that that doesn’t happen again.”
On if he ran the race that he wanted:
“Not quite. It got pretty mixed up. I kind of found myself on the rail kind of getting pushed back, people constantly surging up front. I knew to expect a messy race. I needed to be tactically a little more sound. I felt like I was pressing a little too much with 500 to go, 400 to go where I wasn’t as confident my kick the last 100 meters compared to previous races but it’s a step in the right direction this season and I really wanted to get that win from home today, but it’s not gonna happen every day.”
What it’s like to run his race at Hayward:
“You guys heard when they announced my name. It’s an unbelievable feeling when you hear the whole stands erupt when they call your name, wearing the “O” on my chest, swinging that last 100 meters, making the moves that I did in that last 400. It was exciting because coming down that homestretch, everyone’s roaring.”
Heptathlon | Friday
100m Hurdles
Williams won her heat of the hurdles, with a new lifetime-best 13.75 and 1014 points. Meanwhile, Chocek finished second in her heat with a 13.66 and accumulated 1027 points. Chocek and Williams were sixth and eighth in the heptathlon standings, respectively, after the first event.
High Jump
Chocek cleared her attempts over 1.60, 1.63 and 1.66 meters to be one of the final seven heptathletes in her flight. She was unable to clear 1.69 meters in three attempts.
Williams was the last woman standing in her flight. She cleared each of her first five attempts. Her highest clearance ended up being at 1.78 meters, which put her in sixth in the high jump standings.
Williams was fifth in the heptathlon with 1967 points and Chocek was in 16th with 1833 points following the conclusion of the first two events.
Shot Put
The first throw was Chocek’s best attempt. Her measurement of 13.28 meters would put her in ninth in the shot put standings and 11th overall in the heptathlon.
Williams ended the shot put with the third-best overall throw — 14.51 meters. It was a personal-best for Williams and she rose to second in the heptathlon.
200m Dash
Chocek ran 24.54 in the 200m dash. She finished 10th in the rankings after four events, with 3508 points.
Williams ran a season-best 24.91 to sustain her place in the rankings. After four events, she sits fourth in the standings with 3690 points, 104 points behind leader Timara Chapman of Texas A&M.
The University of Florida completed the Mens’ Championship by defeating Auburn University by one point for the title — Oregon finished in 27th with 11 points. Oregon is in contention for the Womens’ title tomorrow. The Ducks are currently in third with 15 points — 11 behind the leading Gators.
Williams and Chocek will complete their heptathlon as the women of Oregon continue to chase a national title. Follow along with the Emerald’s coverage of the 2024 NCAA Track and Field Championships on X, @ODESports.
