Four Ducks achieved personal bests and a meet record was broken as Oregon racked up seven event wins during the Ducks’ season-opener on Saturday at the UW Indoor Preview in Seattle.
After she sustained hamstring injury at last season’s NCAA Outdoor Championships that kept her from competing in the final, Hannah Cunliffe began her season on a strong note with a win in the women’s 60-meter dash. Cunliffe beat out a deep field of athletes, including fellow Ducks and Olympians Ariana Washington and Deajah Stevens, with an NCAA-leading time of 7.19 seconds.
Washington was eliminated after placing 10th in prelims, missing the qualifying time by .03 seconds, but Stevens placed fourth overall with a time of 7.31, a personal best.
Western Kentucky transfer Kyree King burst onto the scene with an NCAA-leading time as he won the men’s 60-meter dash in 6.65 seconds, the second fastest time ever by a Duck.
In the women’s 60-meter hurdles, both Sasha Wallace and Alaysha Johnson topped the meet record of 8.12 seconds, set last year by Nia Ali, as they went 1-2 in the event. Wallace finished in 7.96 seconds for a new NCAA-leading time, the second fastest in Oregon history, only .05 off her own record, while Johnson crossed the line in 8.09. Tara Davis, running with Plyometric Fusion Track Club, placed third after winning her heat in 8.31.
Johnson came up big during the women’s 200-meter as well, winning the race in 24.09 seconds, a personal best. Her old record of 24.28 was achieved at last season’s meet. Redshirt senior Ashante Horsley came in third.
The Oregon women also found success in the 600-meter. Raevyn Rogers, who broke the collegiate record in the event last year with the second fastest time ever by an American at 1 minute, 26.34 seconds, repeated her win and nearly repeated the record with a time of 1:26.97. Fellow Duck Brooke Feldmeier came in third, crossing the line .01 second after Stanford junior Olivia Baker with a time of 1:28.23.
The Ducks’ sixth event win didn’t come away from the track — Cole Walsh earned a personal record while winning the men’s pole vault. His finishing height of 17 feet, 8.5 inches not only bested his old indoor record of 17-3.75, but it is also the fifth-highest in Oregon indoor history.
In the throwing events, two redshirt freshman had solid debuts. Max Lydum threw a distance of 56 feet, 6.75 inches for third place in the men’s weight throw, while Ronna Stone placed fourth in the women’s weight throw with a distance of 53-2.25.
A few of the other Oregon freshman had successful debuts, including Braxton Canady, Austin Tamagno and Jack Yearian.
Canady took third overall in the men’s 60-meters with a time of 8.02 seconds. He finished second in his heat, following Evo Track Club’s Siddhanth Thingalaya who won the event with a meet record of 7.70 seconds. The time beat former Duck Jonathan Cabral’s record by .07 seconds.
Tamagno came in third during the men’s 1,000-meter, finishing in 2:25.63 after former Duck Eric Jenkins, who also won the mile in 3:58.68, and Stanford freshman Issac Cortes. Yearian placed eighth in the event with a time of 2:26.62.
The two also ran in the 800-meter, Tamagno placing fifth and Yearian at eighth. However, another Duck, redshirt freshman Mick Stanovsek, fared better. Coming in just .04 seconds after the eventual winner Edward Kemboi, Stanovsek crossed the line in 1:50.98.
Follow Hannah Bonnie on Twitter @hbonnie03