The first day of the 2024 NCAA Track and Field National Championships is finished. Oregon’s five competitors on the day — Tomas Palfrey, Elliott Cook, Rheinhardt Harrison, PJ Ize-Iyamu and Rafael Raap — have wrapped up their races and have their eyes on this weekend’s finals. Here’s everything that happened on Wednesday — from Raap’s decathlonto Ize-Iyamu’s 100-meter dash.

1500-meter race (semifinal) | Wednesday, 4:46 P.M. 

Palfrey was the first Duck to run in the 1500-meter semifinals. He finished with a time of 3:40.82 and seventh place in his section. He failed to receive an automatic qualifier, but was one of the two bubble spots in his section. Ultimately, the second heat delivered faster paced results and Palfrey didn’t qualify for the final.
The junior, Cook, headlined the first day for Oregon athletes. He was met with applause by the home crowd when he recorded a personal best time of 3:27.25 in the semifinals. His first place position in his heat gave him a spot in the final and the best time overall on Wednesday.

Harrison’s time of 3:38.70 was eighth in his heat and eighth overall. He narrowly missed out on a spot in the final by 0:00.77, but ended his season with a personal best.

What to watch next:

Cook will be the only Oregon athlete in the 1500-meter final. The competition is set to begin at 6:12 p.m. on Friday.

100-meter dash (semifinal) | Wednesday, 5:46 P.M.

Ize-Iyamu ran in the first heat of three in the men’s 100-meter semifinals. He crossed the finish line fourth with a time of 10.28 seconds. He didn’t secure an automatic qualifying spot in the final, but was on the bubble after the first heat.

What to watch next:

Since Ize-Iyamu didn’t record a top three time of the non-automatic qualifiers, his performance wasn’t good enough to advance. The 100-meter final is set to start at 6:52 p.m. on Friday.

Decathlon | Wednesday

In the decathlon, athletes compete in ten events over the course of two days, accumulating points for their finish in each event. On Wednesday, the first five events — the 100-meter dash, the long jump, the shot put, the high jump and the 400-meter dash — were contested. Oregon’s Raap represented the Ducks on home turf, finishing 18th overall after the first day.

100 meters

Raap finished fifth in the first section of the first decathlon event. His final time in the 100 meters was 10.99, which put him at 863 points, good for 17th overall in the decathlon standings after one event.

Long jump

In Raap’s first long jump effort of the day, he recorded a distance of 7.02 meters. That put him at seventh among the field after the first attempt. However, Raap received a red flag penalty on his second effort. His third and final attempt was listed as 6.97 meters, making his first the score he’d end with for the long jump.

Raap would end up with the 16th-best measurement in the long jump. His performance improved his point total to 1681 — making him 13th in the decathlon after two events.

Shot put

The measurement for Raap’s first throw was 13.81 meters, making him fifth in the shot put after the first attempt. Once again, he received a flag on his second attempt. His third and final throw ended up being another penalty, meaning that his first attempt was his only fair attempt. Raap would finish 11th in the shot put and rise to 11th in the decathlon overall.

High Jump

Raap wasn’t able to clear the bar on his first attempt in the high jump. He cleared the bar at 1.83 meters on his next attempt, but he sat at 19th in the field. Later, he cleared his attempt at 1.86 meters, but failed to improve on that attempt, ending in 18th place for the high jump.

400 meters

The first day of the men’s decathlon concluded with Raap securing a personal best time of 50.41 seconds in the 400 meters. He still finished seventh in his section and 22nd overall in the event.

The 400 meters brought Raap’s point total up to 3873. He finished the day in 18th place in the decathlon with five more events to go.

What to watch next:

The last five events of the decathlon will take place tomorrow, starting at 11:30 a.m. Raap and the rest of the field will begin with the 110-meter hurdles. The discus, pole vault, javelin and 1500 meters will conclude the competition.