Friday’s Oregon Twilight marked the final home meet of the Oregon 2025 outdoor track and field season. Five athletes recorded personal bests on their way to victory, giving fans inside Hayward Field plenty to cheer about.
The fun didn’t stop there. Current Ducks won 10 of the Twilight’s 32 events, and unattached Ducks (past and present) won another four events. One such unattached competitor, 2024 graduate Shelby Moran, even set a meet record (70.22 meters) in the women’s hammer throw.
Collegiate track events began at 5:00 p.m. with the women’s 1500-meter race. Sophomore Ella Thorsett overtook three racers in the last lap, winning by almost three seconds with a personal-best time of 4:16.92. Thorsett had run only one other 1500-meter this season after battling back from a femoral stress injury she’d dealt with as a freshman.
“I felt pretty good on the third lap,” Thorsett said. “I felt like I got a second wind, and it was nice to have people to hawk down like that.”
Sophomore and Eugene native Hannah Seubert set a personal record (11:08.08) in the women’s steeplechase. Seubert finished 28 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Chris Brethower and 50 seconds ahead of third-place finisher Morgan Boddy, both running for Pacific University.
Matthew Erickson, known primarily as a middle-distance runner, turned some heads when he entered the men’s 400-meter race. The senior began the race without starting blocks,, but broke away before the final stretch. The Hayward Field crowd roared with approval when Erickson crossed the line at a personal-best time of 47.04 seconds.
“This 400 was kind of just prep for the 800s coming up,” Erickson said. “(Head coach Jerry Schumacher)’s reasoning was like, ‘You don’t use blocks in the 800, this is prep for the 800.’”
Freshman Mihaly Akpamgbo had an excellent day, setting a season best in the 100-meter (10.58 seconds) and a personal best in the 200-meter (21.37 seconds) shortly afterwards.
The night’s final race, the men’s 1500-meter McChesney Invite, saw Ducks sophomore Simeon Birnbaum finish in 3:37.93, Oregon’s fifth personal record of the evening. Birnbaum pumped both fists in celebration as he crossed the line to scores of applause.
No more Ducks achieved personal bests on Friday, but there was an abundance of other action for fans to take in.
Norwegian junior transfer Daniel Thrana blew the men’s javelin competitors away with a throw of 76.12 meters. Oregon junior Zach Young finished second with a season best of 62.32 meters, while unattached former Duck Ryan Brendal (2006-’07) finished third with a season best of 60.12 meters.
“I’m looking forward to competing here next year, that’s for sure,” Thrana said afterwards. “In the summer, my goal is to compete at (the World Athletics Championships).
“I would have to get closer to 80 meters,” Thrana said regarding the competition he’d face at September’s world championships in Tokyo. “That’s achievable for sure. (If I) get good conditioning and good competition, it’s gonna happen.”
Oregon’s performances were almost entirely positive, but a hush fell over the crowd following the Wade Bell 800-meter race. Ducks sophomore William Heslam won by nine hundredths of a second (1:49.77), but fell as he stretched across the line. Heslam stayed down for several minutes and was eventually helped off the track as he clutched his right shoulder.
Section 2 of the men’s 1500-meter invitational saw Canadian Olympian Justyn Knight record a season-best time of 3:42.01, two hundredths of a second ahead of Oregon senior Evan Dorenkamp in second place. Ducks Sergio Del Barrio, Evan Bishop and Quincy Norman followed just seconds later to finish third, fourth and fifth, respectively.
The Ducks will travel to Corvallis tomorrow for Saturday’s Pac-12 Open, which marks the official end of their 2025 regular season. They’ll then return to Hayward Field for the Big Ten Outdoor Championships, which will run from Friday, May 16 to Sunday, May 18. The men’s and women’s teams both won this year’s Big Ten Indoor Championships (Feb. 28 – March 1) and now will be looking for a clean sweep in front of their home fans.
“Conference meets are always super fun, and at home it’s gonna be awesome,” Thorsett said.
