With multiple meet records, Oregon wins and overall Hayward magic, the Big Ten Outdoor Championships proved everything it cracked up to be.
Going into the final event the Ducks’ women’s squad held a narrow, one point lead over USC, and their triple crown title was in jeopardy going into the 4×400-meter relay. The Women of Troy were just too much to keep quiet, and their dominant relay performance secured a Big Ten team title for USC.
The Ducks’ men’s team finished first in the conference with 110 points after entering the day with a three point lead over Nebraska.
On day two of the meet, despite her 15th place finish in the final event, senior Annika Williams secured a 63 point victory in the heptathlon with a personal best 5914 cumulative score.
“Being that close to 6000 points is great, (but) I would love to get to 6000,” Williams said. “Like I said, I didn’t (personal best) in anything this weekend. Anything could have been a little bit better for me to get to that 6000.”
As the only sub-13 hurdler in the women’s 100-meter hurdles, junior Aaliyah McCormick dominated the competition all weekend and took home the conference championship with a season best 12.86.
“I haven’t gone under 13 until right now, so it definitely reassures me that I’m in the right position and it’s so exciting honestly. I love being under 13 seconds,” McCormick said. “This is our first year in this conference and it’s very important to all of us to win at home.”
Senior Klaudia Kazimierska eased to a win in the women’s 800-meter, and the Poland native beat the rest of the competition by almost two whole seconds with her 2:02.92. Kazimierska took an early lead which only grew as she continued running.
Going into the 5000-meter races, the Oregon men’s squad practically wrapped up the team title, but the Women of Oregon still hung behind the USC Women of Troy by 14 points.
Sophomore Simeon Birnbaum bounced back from a disappointing 1500-meter race where he placed third to win the 5000m with a meet record time of 13:31.87. Birnbaum hung back behind the top five most of the race and then sprung himself to victory in the final two laps to win by less than a second.
“I got out-kicked in the 1500, so I got really fired up and ready to go for this race,” Birnbaum said. “I wanted to go out there and ice this meet for us.”
Junior Silan Ayyildiz raced a meet record 5000m with a 15:37.11, which gave her the win by less than half a second. Oregon freshman Diana Cherotich held a large lead going into the final few laps, and it looked like she would take an easy win, but the competition caught up.
“Simeon (Birnbaum) really inspired me,” Ayyildiz said. “I tried to go with (Cherotich), but it was kinda early and I waited a little bit. In the last 600, I was just counting the laps in my mind. I was just like ‘I can do just the last 200 or last 100.’”
Ayyildiz did just that and carried her momentum into a phenomenal last stretch which pushed her to a massive win in the 5000m. That gave Oregon enough points to take a one point lead going into the 4x400m, which was the closing event of the weekend.
The Women of Troy took first place in the relay, while Oregon placed eighth. The dream of a Big Ten triple crown was squashed in that final event.
The Oregon men’s squad took home the Big Ten crown, which added a silver lining as the Ducks head to Bryan-College Station, Texas for the NCAA Regionals. Oregon has 43 entries in that meet.
