Past and present Oregon athletes continued to impress in front of their home crowd on Monday at Hayward Field. 

Recently graduated steeplechaser, Jackson Mestler snuck his way into the finals after placing in the final qualifying spot in his field. Mestler finished fifth in the second heat and 16th overall, clocking in at eight minutes and 33 seconds. 

Mestler was in seventh with 200 meters remaining before Mike Leet and Jordan Mann stumbled over the final hurdle allowing Mestler to advance into fifth. 

“I knew I needed to get these guys if I wanted to go to the finals,” Mestler said. “By a stroke of luck, they both happened to fall and I capitalized, avoiding them on the ground.” 

Mestler took advantage of his opponents’ blunder and will compete in the final for the 3000- meter steeplechase on Friday, June 25 at 4:40 p.m.

While Mestler eked his way into the steeplechase finals, the recently graduated Isaiah Griffith held his own in the triple jump. 

After scratching on his first jump, Griffith bounced back resoundingly on his second and third attempts.Griffith jumped a personal best 16.48 feet on his third attempt, vaulting him into a seventh place finish.