Oregon men hold a nine-point lead in first place and the women trail Georgia by a half-point after day one at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships.
Of the five event championships handed out Friday, Oregon claimed three. Jenna Prandini set a school record (6.65m) in the long jump on the way to a national title, while Eric Jenkins captured the 5,000m crown with a time of 13:48:36. The distance medley relay team of Colby Alexander, Marcus Chambers, Nikolaus Franzmair and Edward Cheserek also won the championship in its event, posting a time of 9:30:53.
Oregon women, who sit in second with 13.5 points, narrowly lead Baylor and Arkansas by a half-point, while the men lead with 32 points ahead of Arkansas (23) and Florida (16).
As expected, numerous Oregon distance runners finished the first day at the top of their events on the men’s side, accounting for 18 of the team’s 32 points.
Parker Stinson and Will Geoghegan finished third and seventh, respectively, behind Jenkins in the 5,000m. Daniel Winn, Edward Cheserek and Johnny Gregorek finished second, third and fourth in the prelims of the mile.
Greg Skipper moved from ninth to finish fourth on his final weight throw, a toss of 72-6.50.
Prandini also won her heats in the 60m (7.15) and 200m (22.52), the latter of which is the best time in the world this year. Jasmine Todd also qualified for the finals in the 60m with the fourth best time of the day (7.17).
Sasha Wallace (60 m hurdles) and Ariana Washington (200m) also qualified for the finals, while Lauren Crockett’s 1.84m leap in the high jump placed fifth in the long jump finals.
(Find the results and event schedule here and team scores here.)
Oregon still has much work left to do, as the meet’s remaining 12 events will conclude on Saturday. Brittany Mann will begin the day for the Ducks in the shot put at 3:45 PST.
Follow Jack Heffernan on Twitter @JHeffy13
Ducks close to repeat, win three events at NCAA Championships
Jack Heffernan
March 12, 2015
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