Eric Becker @ericbecker__
Aaliyah McCormick (left) wins the U20 women's 110m hurdles. The USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships continued on July 7, 2023, at Hayward Field, in Eugene, Oregon. (Eric Becker/Emerald)
Both Oregon’s men’s and women’s track and field teams captured Big Ten championships last week in Indianapolis. On the verge of the national meet and with a home season that features both the Big Ten and NCAA Championship meets at Hayward Field coming soon after, athletes Matthew Erickson, Aaliyah McCormick, Silan Ayyildiz and head coach Jerry Schumacher spoke to media about the season so far.
On the mental aspect and the evolution of race strategy heading into NCAA Championships:
Schumacher: “We talk about that all the time. That’s just kind of race strategy, you know? You can watch video — there’s examples of great racing and terrible racing almost at every championship meet. That’s the best part of NCAAs or the Big Ten conference meet: times don’t matter…at the end of the day there, it’s just raw competition against the people you’re competing against, and you can sort that out and know your competition.”
Erickson: “Personally, I’ve put a lot of pressure on myself in the past. This year, something I’ve been doing to take the pressure off is instead of focusing on outcomes [placing within a meet], focusing on your execution — the variables that you can control, making sure that you perform the best you can on any given day.”
McCormick: “We talk about it a lot, because I feel like track and field is definitely 70 percent mental, and the rest is just hard work…It can definitely be a mental challenge or a mental block. If you walk out on the track and you feel like you can’t do this, you won’t do it. We try to just make sure that everybody is mentally okay, making sure you can do it. You walk out a winner, and you will be one.”
Ayyildiz: “Mentally, I feel like it’s higher-risk — if I come to DMR [distance medley relay], I race for the mile, and I didn’t race the mile at the Big Ten and also DMR just because I want to get ready for the mile for nationals. I think that three weeks is enough to clear my mindset, just the way I’m getting ready.”
On the women’s team’s chances at a national indoor championship:
Oregon will only bring four men’s athletes to the NCAA indoor meet, Schumacher said, but will be well in competition for the women’s title.
Ayyildiz, an Oregon miler, broke the NCAA mile record earlier this season when she ran 4:23.46 at an indoor meet at Boston University. Ayyildiz was also a part of the DMR in Massachusetts, where an Oregon group that included Julia Nielsen, Moriah Oliveira, Mia Barnett and Ayyildiz ran a collegiate-record 10:42.05.
McCormick, who ranks third nationally in the 60-meter hurdles with a 7.97-second mark she ran to win the event at the Big Ten meet, will compete for the national title in Virginia Beach. A junior, McCormick won the USATF U20 outdoor championship in the 100-meter hurdles in 2023.
Schumacher: “The NCAA meet breaks down pretty nicely. We’re taking 10 entries on the women’s side, which is the third-most of any program…and it’s a relatively veteran group.”
“We have the collegiate record holder in the mile, and she also anchored our collegiate-record DMR , so that puts us in a good spot for sure. National championships are hard to win — I think we have a good shot at it, though.”
McCormick: “I’m really excited. It [the women’s hurdles field] looks so competitive — the last entry is 8.10 [seconds]. That’s incredibly fast. I just know at nationals it’s either, ‘You got it’ or ‘You don’t.’ You have to literally go for it, and I know that that time is going to continue to go down and go down, and I’m just really excited to be a part of that and just run really fast.”
Ayyildiz: “Last year, I ran 4:30 [in the mile] and I was 12th or something, but this year, 4:29 is the last [qualifier]. It’s just so strong — these women and this new generation is just so fast. I think it’s going to be a really good race.”
On whether she feels pressure as the record holder: “I feel pressure, because I broke the record and people have high expectations. But also, on the other side, I have confidence, and I know my fitness and I believe in myself more than I used to.”
On racing the outdoor season at Hayward Field:
After completing its indoor season at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Virginia Beach next week, the Ducks move to the outdoor season.
Oregon will host its two traditional regular-season meets (the Oregon Preview and Oregon Twilight), but also added a team invitational meet and will host both the Big Ten and NCAA Championships in Eugene. The Ducks hosted the national championship last season at Hayward Field, where the women placed fourth overall and the men’s team placed 27th.
Erickson won the Big Ten men’s 800-meter title. He ran a season-best 1:46.58 time in the preliminary rounds in Indianapolis, and ranks 16th nationally.
Schumacher: “[There’s] nothing more exciting than having championship meets here at Hayward — obviously we’re really happy about that…We’ve added a team invitational [on April 19], which should be a lot of fun. Just to get a few teams on campus here, and we’ll do a little team scoring — which is something I think our athletes always like to do.”
“Big Ten and NCAA Championships [are] two of the biggest and best championships that you could possibly host, and we get them both in the same year. It should be a lot of fun.”
Erickson: “It’s huge. This indoor season has been pretty hard to manage with all that travel — being able to train and feel like yourself on the road isn’t as easy as being at home on arguably the best track in the world. This is my absolute favorite place to compete, and so that gives us, I think, a big home advantage.”
“When the O is on your chest, and you’re running at Hayward, there’s a little bit more pressure…but it just fires all the athletes up to perform at their best. I think the crowd is used to seeing great performances here, and we hold ourselves to the expectation that we want to give those performances to the crowd.”
McCormick: “It’s an advantage. Coming here, you can really feel the Hayward magic, so coming back here, getting ready to go back to nationals…it feels really good.”
Oregon will compete at the NCAA Indoor National Championships on March 14 and 15 before opening its home season at Hayward Field with the Oregon Preview on March 21 and 22.