Over the summer, Oregon track and field lost four of its top veteran distance runners in Lilli Burdon, Mick Stanovsek, Tanner Anderson and Katie Rainsberger. The four All-Americans followed coaches Andy and Maurica Powell, who helped lead dozens of Oregon distance runners to national titles for over a decade coaching at Oregon, to Washington, immediately raising questions of the teams depth and experience.
But by the time the NCAA cross-country championships rolled around, athletes remarked that the team had grown into a tightly knit family over the season, fostered by the new coaching styles of Helen Lehman-Winters and Ben Thomas.
That group mentality has transitioned into the indoor season where distance athletes have pushed huge personal bests and some of the NCAA’s fastest times this season. With the NCAA Indoor Championships on Friday, seven of the sixteen Ducks who are headed to Birmingham, Alabama, for the finals are from the distance squad.
“We have a good (number) of entries and I’m excited to go and see what we can do,” head coach Robert Johnson said. “This is the meet we pin on our calendars. We always want to be at our best.”
Earlier this season, senior Blake Haney attributed the team’s strong start to the smooth transition between the cross country and indoor track season. The team stayed in touch and held each other accountable over group messaging apps during the month-long break between school terms where athletes return home and have to self-train.
“If you don’t hit that month right then you’ll really fall behind and struggle to catch back up come indoor season,” Haney said.
Haney is one of the six Ducks to break the four-minute mile barrier this season, and one of four who will be competing in the event at NCAAs. Coach Johnson called the four-minute mile mark a “holy grail-like feat” for his athletes.
“Having six of our guys do that is a true testament to what Ben is doing there,” said Johnson regarding coach Thomas, who was selected as the West Region assistant coach of the year.
Johnson also commended his athletes for qualifying in a year where the top times in events like the women’s 3000-meters were abnormally faster than other years, calling the qualifying bubble “bonkers” and “bananas.”
The top performer for the Ducks distance team this season has undoubtedly been senior Jessica Hull. The reigning NCAA outdoor 1,500-meter champion has had a perfect individual season, winning each race she has started and setting Oregon records in both the mile and the 3,000-meters. Despite ranking second nationally in both events, Hull will be focusing solely on the 3,000 at the finals.
Like Hull, sophomore Cooper Teare has also had a standout season in multiple events. Not only did he run a personal best of 3:59.21 in the mile earlier this season, but he also finished No. 7 all-time at Oregon with his 3,000-meter finish of 7 minutes, 50.66 seconds, qualifying him for NCAAs.
Both Hull and Teare will anchor their respective distance medley relay teams as well, with the mens team at No. 8 in the NCAA and the women’s at 12.
The two-day competition will kick off on Friday at 5:30 p.m.
