A “mixed bag” of athletes, as University of Oregon head coach Robert Johnson calls it, will be making their 2017 debut in Seattle on Saturday at the UW Indoor Preview.
There, the Ducks will encounter fellow Pac-12 competitors Washington State, Stanford and Washington, along with athletes from other schools mostly along the west coast.
The Ducks will find most of their success in the running events. For the women, the most exciting event will be the 60-meter, which will feature U.S. Olympians Deajah Stevens and Ariana Washington, and 2016 Pac-12 Women’s Track and Field Athlete of the Year Hannah Cunliffe, who is coming off a hamstring injury she sustained at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
“My goal was really to outwork everyone else, and I think I did a pretty good job of that especially since I felt like I was behind because of my injury,” Cunliffe said.
Two Oregon newcomers will also make their debut in the 60-meter: Iowa transfer Elexis Guster, a six-time All-American and three-time Big Ten champion, and freshman Makenzie Dunmore.
Senior Marcus Chambers headlines the men’s 60-meter dash for the Ducks. The six-time All-American is adamant about having a better indoor season than his previous ones. He believes that a good indoor season will lead to an excellent outdoor one.
“I haven’t really been so successful in the indoor season, but this year I had the best fall I’ve had so far,” Chambers said. “Hopefully I do well in the indoor season, and that’ll bring more momentum to my outdoor season.”
Another exciting event for the women will be the 600-meter run. Last year, during the event, Oregon’s Raevyn Rogers broke the indoor collegiate record, crossing the line in 1 minute, 26.34 seconds for the second fastest time ever by an American. Her teammate, three-time All-American Brooke Feldmeier, will also be in the event this year.
For the women’s distance events, sophomore Lilli Burdon will be making her debut in the 1,000-meter, along with two athletes who didn’t, or barely, competed in last year’s indoor season. Brianna Nerud, who was a U.S. Olympic Trials qualifier and the school record holder in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, and Kelly O’Neill.
Freshmen Jack Yearian and Austin Tamagno will run in both the men’s 800-meter and 1,000-meter. Both outstanding prep-runners, Tamagno, hails from Brea Olinda High School in Brea, California, and Yearian, from Bellarmine Prep in Tacoma, Washington.
Oregon is particularly deep in the women’s sprints and the men’s distance events this year. So deep that Johnson believes that he could send a field of five or six guys for the mile and all will run under four minutes.
“I’d be lying if I said it’s not a good problem to have,” Johnson said. “I’d rather have three cars than one cause you never know when you’re going to get a flat tire.”
This year, however, Johnson believes that the Ducks will be more well-rounded in the other events with the additions of a deep recruiting class, some of whom are making their debuts Saturday.
“I think we’re pretty balanced, as we’ve always been,” Johnson said. “We’re going to score in a multitude of event areas. That’s how we’ll attack this upcoming year.”
New hurdlers, throwers, and jumpers have been added to deepen Oregon’s roster, including freshman long jumper and California state champion Rhesa Foster, and sophomore  triple jumper ChaQuinn Cook, who transferred from Portland State after winning a 2016 Big Sky triple jump title.
Redshirt freshman Ronna Stone will compete in both the shot put and weight throw, joining redshirt junior Madeline Middlebrooks for the latter.
With the departure of Devon Allen, the Ducks needed new talented hurdlers. Freshmen Braxton Canady and Jonathan Harvery will make their debuts on Saturday during the men’s 60-meter hurdles. The women’s event will feature senior Sasha Wallace and redshirt sophomore Alaysha Johnson, both of whom competed in the 100 hurdles at the U.S. Olympic trials.
Follow Hannah Bonnie on Twitter @hbonnie03