The Oregon men had top-two finishes in three distance relays, while the Oregon women saw a school record fall in the mile relay at the prestigious Penn Relays, which concluded Saturday at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.
The women’s 4x400m relay team of Jamesha Youngblood, Keshia Baker, Michele Williams and Amber Purvis was denied a victory in the anchor leg by the University of Technology (Kingston, Jamaica) relay team, crossing the line in 3:31.54. Oregon finished the relay final in 3:32.34, breaking a 15-year-old school record and setting the second-fast mile relay time this season. Texas A&M finished third in 3:32.86, and Penn State finished fourth in 3:33.06.
On Friday, the Duck men blew past the competition in the distance medley relay. Matthew Centrowitz (1,200m) gave Oregon a cushion that Chad Barlow (400m) maintained, and Mac Fleet (800m) and Andrew Wheating (1,600m) separated themselves from the pack in quick succession. Wheating anchored the Ducks in his first outdoor race of the season at any distance to a time of 9:30.69. Villanova (9:33.93) and Georgetown (9:34.38) followed Oregon across the finish line.
On Saturday, the men’s distance corps yet again blew the field away in the 4xMile relay. Fleet (4:03.3), Centrowitz (4:05.2), Michael Maag (4:04.1) and A.J. Acosta (4:02.5) separated themselves by as much 70 meters, winning in 16:15.14. Auburn was the runner-up in 16:20.41, followed by Michigan (16:20.56).
Not all was perfect for the Duck men, however, as the 4x800m relay race came down to anchor legs. Virginia’s Robby Andrews held off Wheating — shades of the 2010 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, when Andrews outkicked Wheating in the 800m final to give the race to the Cavaliers in 7:15.38. Oregon finished second in 7:15.55.
One of the few individuals competing for the Ducks, junior Claire Michel, placed second in the 3,000m steeplechase in 10:18.22.
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