The NCAA Track and Field Championships continued in Austin, Texas, for day two out of four.
Oregon secured several team points, had a nail biting finish for one race and the women advanced to four event finals on Saturday. Twelve of Oregon women’s 15 entries were in action Thursday in numerous events.
The women 4×100 relay made it into the top eight slot to advance to the final on Saturday. The relay team includes twin sisters Kerissa D’Arpino and Venessa D’Arpino, senior Briyahna DesRosiers and junior Brianna Duncan.
The decathlon also came to a conclusion today as freshman Max Vollmer placed fifth overall to give his team four points in his NCAA debut.
After day one, Vollmer sat in ninth place and started day two with just 26 points out of the top eight standings. Vollmer received a score of 7,703 and picked up two personal records along with it in 110m hurdles and javelin throw. He ran a time of 14.93 in the hurdles and placed first in the javelin with a throw of 62.35m (204-6), respectively.
Reigning NCAA outdoor champion Jessica Hull competed today in the 1500m looking to advance to the finals to defend her title. The runner did not disappoint as she secured first place with a time of 4:12.02 to lead the race going into Saturday’s final.
Junior Hannah Waller barely qualified to the final in eighth place in the 400m with a time of 51.99. Teammates Venessa D’Arpino and Briyahna DesRosiers finished right behind her in ninth and tenth place but did not qualify.
Susan Ejore finished in fourth place in the 800m with a time of two minutes and 03.43 seconds to advance to the final event.
Carmela Cardama Baez and Weronika Pyzik competed in the first track final of the day in the 10,000m race. Pyzik finished in 13th place with a time of 34, minutes, 0.66 seconds. Meanwhile, Cardama Baez finished in second place where she ran a time of 33:11.56 in a nail-biting finish that brought the crowd to its feet. The finish was the best finish by an Oregon track and field woman since Kathy Hayes won it in the championships in 1984.
In the jumps, Rhesa Foster placed seventh overall in the final long jump event where Oregon gained two more team points. Foster showed a strong series with having three jumps over 21 feet, jumped a new personal record of 6.43m (21-1.25) and is now the number four performer in program history.
The javelin final was postponed because of a weather delay and will be in action Friday at 2:30 p.m. where sophomore Keira McCarrell is slated to compete. Javelin will be the first event to compete on Friday.
Friday will feature day three of the championships where the men of Oregon are scheduled to compete in their final events as well as finish up field events.
