Nicole Blood ran the fastest 5,000m by a Duck in 20 years Friday night at the Mt. SAC Relays, clocking in at 15 minutes, 43.82 seconds. The sophomore finished 11th overall and third among collegians, to drop more than half a minute off her previous personal best of 16:16.58 set two weeks ago at the Pepsi Invitational.
“She did a great job,” Oregon head coach Vin Lananna said. “She was gonna make a big move at 800 meters (to go), kinda had a side stitch and really wasn’t able to close as fast as she’d have liked to have closed, but still, that’s a great performance and that’s good, because there’s more in the tank.”

Blood’s mark moved her to fourth all-time at Oregon and was the fastest since Annette Hand ran 15:34.55 in 1988. Kathy Hayes set the record of 15:23.03 in 1985.
Texas Tech’s Sally Kipyego, a six-time national champion, won the race in 15:11.88, while her teammate Irene Kimaiyo just edged Blood with a time of 15:43.50. Kipyego, Kimaiyo and Blood have the top three performances in the NCAA this season.
Zoe Buckman and Kasey Harwood picked up victories in the 1,500m and 400m hurdles, respectively.
Buckman’s time of 4:20.57 is her best time at Oregon.
“She closed big,” Lananna said. “She had a great last 200.”
Harwood finished in just more than a minute, 1:00.06, to edge teammate Jamesha Youngblood, who ran 1:00.94. Youngblood just missed the regional qualifying standard of 1:00.82 but did move into 10th all-time at Oregon. Harwood already owns the sixth-best time, running 59.79 two years ago.
Sarah Pearson and Zoe Nelson each posted NCAA provisional qualifying marks in the 10,000m. Pearson was 11th overall in 34:29.72, while Nelson was 16th in 34:50.59.
Freshman Alex Kosinski was eighth in the 800m in 2:09.41, a season-best time.
In the sprints, Mandy White doubled up in the 100m and 200m races, running times of 11.96 seconds and 24.76 seconds, respectively. Keshia Baker was the fastest Duck in the 200m, crossing the line in 24.31.
Ashley McCrea was Oregon’s top finisher in the field events, throwing the javelin 149 feet, 7 inches. Kara Meeuwsen was eighth in the same event at 141-5.
Jasmine Kelly was fourth in the high jump, making it over the bar at 16-6 1/4.
Lucy Cridland’s throw of 148-11 in the discus was good for fifth place and Megan Maloney took sixth in the hammer throw, with a toss of 176-0.
Freshman Jordan Roskelley cleared 11-9 3/4 in the pole vault to tie for sixth.
The Ducks next compete on Friday and Saturday at Hayward Field for the Oregon Relays.
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