Ashton Eaton’s school and facilities heptathlon record highlighted Oregon’s weekend performances at the UW Indoor Invitational in Seattle. The sophomore’s 5,859 points easily surpassed the NCAA automatic qualifying standard of 5,650 and former NCAA decathlon champion Santiago Lorenzo’s school record of 5,608.
Sophomore Nicole Blood also snagged an automatic qualifying mark in the women’s 3,000 meters, placing fourth in nine minutes, 8.44 seconds.
Six individuals and two relay teams each met NCAA provisional qualifying standards. On the women’s side, Keshia Baker won the 400m in 54.25; Zoe Buckman was seventh in the 800m in 2:08.70; Melissa Gergel was fifth in the pole vault, clearing 13 feet, 5.75 inches; and the distance medley team of Kavina Hall, Buckman, Blood and Alex Kosinski placed third in 11:10.48.
For the men, it was a trio of distance runners and the distance medley team that met the provisional qualifying mark. Matthew Centrowitz was sixth in the mile, crossing the line in 4:03.08, while A.J. Acosta also placed sixth in the 3,000m in 8:02.26. In the 5,000m, Kenny Klotz was ninth in 14:06.34. The men’s distance medley team of Michael McGrath, Chad Barlow, Andrew Wheating and Acosta was second to the Oregon Track Club in 9:36.21.
Other performances of note were the men’s and women’s 4x400m relay teams, which both won their events and were less than three seconds from meeting the provisional standard.
Elsewhere, former Duck Tommy Skipper won Friday’s Millrose Games pole vault at Madison Square Garden in New York with a vault of 18-8.25. Skipper beat, among others, 2004 Olympians Derek Miles and Giovanni Lanaro and 2007 world champion Brad Walker.
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