Oregon went into the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation indoor track and field championships in Seattle hoping to have a large number of athletes attain or improve their NCAA qualifying marks, and came out of it with that and more.
The men’s team won the school’s first-ever MPSF indoor track and field title, while the women set four new school records.
The men scored 90 points to edge past Cal (84.5) and Stanford (83) on the strength of event wins from Derrick Jones and Andrew Wheating and all-around team depth.
Jones and Washington State’s Justin Woods both finished the 60m in 6.78 seconds, but the Oregon sophomore was awarded the win and the resulting 10 points.
Wheating and teammate Michael McGrath went 1-2 in the 800m, crossing the line in NCAA-provisional-qualifying times of 1:48.82 and 1:49.28, respectively.
The 4x400m relay team of Ashton Eaton, Chad Barlow, Phil Alexander and Marcus Dillon dropped almost two seconds of its best time, finishing in 3:07.13, second to Arizona State’s time of 3:07.06.
Kenny Klotz (5,000m) and Eaton (long jump) each added third-place finishes, while Colin Witter-Tilton (pole vault), A.J. O’Connell (high jump), Diego Mercado (5,000m) and Eaton (60m hurdles) were each fourth. Eaton’s best jump, 25 feet 3 1/4 inches, was more than a foot farther than his previous indoor best and an NCAA provisional mark.
The women’s third-place team effort was highlighted by freshman Alex Kosinski’s school record in winning the mile. Kosinski’s time of 4:39.54 broke Leann Warren’s 23-year-old mark of 4:40.6 and exceeded the NCAA automatic qualifying standard. Teammate Nicole Blood was third in 4:43.77.
Two other freshmen also broke school records. Mandy White dropped her own 60-meter record to 7.65 seconds and Jamesha Youngblood broke Lauryn Jordan’s year-old long jump record with her leap of 20-6 1/4.
Keshia Baker also reset her 400m record and improved her provisional mark in winning the MPSF title in 54.15.
Zoe Buckman (800m) and Melissa Gergel (pole vault) each improved their provisional marks while finishing second. Buckman ran 2:06.88 behind defending NCAA champion Alysia Johnson of Cal, while Gergel vaulted 13-7.
Sarah Pearson and Zoe Nelson were third and fourth in the 5,000m, finishing less than a second apart, 16:34.73 to 16:35.18. Both surpassed the provisional qualifying standard.
The Ducks will likely send small squads to last-chance qualifying meets next weekend in either Seattle or Ames, Iowa, before the NCAA championships March 14-15 in Fayetteville, Ark.
[email protected]