The Oregon Ducks track and field team showed team out on Saturday in their first meet at the newly renovated Hayward Field, taking home seven first place finishes.
The Oregon mens’ 4×100 meter relay team took first place in their home debut with a strong 39.53 performance.
Sophomore Micah Williams ran the second leg of the relay for the second meet in a row after leading all of last season. The 4×100 was his only event of the day after competing in the three at the Aztec Invitational in San Diego.
“We’re loaded,” Williams said. “We’re ready. Our team is good and talented. So we’ll be ready when it matters.”
For the second meet in a row, the Ducks snagged first and second place in the women’s 4×100. Redshirt freshman Jadyn Mays celebrated her 20th birthday with the win and ran an impressive lead-off leg to give Iman Brown some breathing room.
In the women’s discus throw, redshirt Freshman Jaida Ross broke the meet record in her first place throw that traveled 52.74 meters. Freshman Mine de Clerk finished in second with a throw of 50.81 meters.
The pair took first and second in the shot put later on Saturday. This time de Clerk finished atop the field followed by Ross. De Clerk threw for 17.19 meters and Ross threw a personal best of 17.13 meters. This was the first throw of Ross’s career that went over 17 meters.
“It was a big throw. Very happy that I broke 17,” Ross said. “It got kind of close at the last meet so I’m very happy that I got it this time.”
Shaniya Hall, Ella Clayton and Jasmine Montgonery finished in that order and swept the women’s 200 meter podium. Hall took down the meet record when she crossed the finish line in 23.63 seconds.
Hall, who wasn’t able to compete last year due foot injuries noted how hard it was for her last year.
“Last year, I literally thought I was done,” Hall said. “I was ready to give up, but I knew I still had a long way to go.”
Montgomery got her second win of the day when she crossed the line in 11.52 seconds in the women’s 100 meter dash.
Izzy Thornton-Bot ran in the 800 meters, though she said post-race that she’ll primarily focus on the 1500 meters this season. Nonetheless, Thornton-Bot finished in first with a time of 2:04.98. She finished a hair ahead of Portland’s Laura Pellicoro, who made up vital ground in the final 50 meters.
“I did feel her coming up, and I knew that I really had to get a wriggle on. But, I finished with everything I had, and I would have done that regardless of if she was there or not,” Thornton-Bot said.
The Ducks look to continue their speedy start to the 2022 outdoor season on April 13, at the Mt. Sac Relays in Walnut, California.
