It was a strong opening day at the NCAA West Regional for the Oregon track and field teams Thursday afternoon in Austin, Texas, with more than a handful of athletes advancing on to Friday’s quarterfinals, while some locked down positions at the NCAA Championships.
In the 1,500-meter event, all of Oregon’s men and women advanced, with six total men and women all finishing in the top two of their flights. Senior Zoe Buckman won her heat in a time of 4 minutes, 23.16 seconds, while freshman Jordan Hasay also took first and posted the top time of the day, finishing in 4:20.45. Junior Alex Kosinksi placed second in her heat with a mark of 4:23.37.
On the men’s side senior Andrew Wheating took his heat in 3:43.90, senior A.J. Acosta won his race in 3:42.76, and sophomore Matthew Centrowitz finished second in his heat in 3:50.27.
In the sprints junior Mandy White moved on to Friday’s quarterfinals by running a personal best 11.67 seconds in the 100-meter dash, which was good enough for the fifth-fastest time in school history. For the men, senior Chad Barlow advanced to the quarterfinals with his seasonal-best mark of 46.84 in the 400 meters.
In the field events, junior Melissa Gergel secured a spot at next week’s NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, clearing the bar at the top height of 4.20 meters (13.8 feet) in the women’s pole vault. Meanwhile, redshirt senior Cyrus Hostetler and redshirt junior Alex Wolff will both be moving on to Eugene in the javelin. Hostetler, the top overall seed going into the day, finished in fifth place with a mark of 228 feet, 7 inches, while Wolff finished behind him in sixth with a throw of 227-3.
Complete results from the entire weekend will be available in Tuesday’s edition of the Emerald.
[email protected]