As Friday’s track and field NCAA Championships began to wind down at Hayward Field, Oregon’s lauded distance duo of Cole Hocker and Cooper Teare took center stage in the men’s 5,000 meter final.
Teare set up shop in third and stayed put for the better part of the first nine laps. In the following two laps Teare toggled between second and third, at one point shooting into first. Then he suddenly fell back to third.
It didn’t matter.
Teare’s explosive kick pushed him back into first, this time for good. He distanced himself from the pack and set an NCAA Championship record of 13 minutes and 12.27 seconds.
“For the past month (the kick) is all we’ve been working on,” Teare said. “I knew I had that in my back pocket. There were a couple races where I was caught at the line and got tensed up.”
He added: “Today it was about not looking back and running through the line.”
Teare raised his hands to his head as if in disbelief as he crossed the finish line. Teare had just turned in the fastest time in 43 years and number two in collegiate history.
“Believe it, Cooper Teare, NCAA champion,” echoed Hayward Field’s announcer.
Hocker, a forgotten man for much of the race, quietly climbed through the pack, using an equally violent kick to vault himself into fourth with a personal best of 13:18.95.
“I would definitely have been a little more disappointed if Cooper hadn’t won,” Hocker said. “I’m so happy to see him get his first individual national championship.”
LSU stole the show in a day of finals for the men’s NCAA track and field championships, but several impressive performances highlighted Oregon’s second-place finish, bringing Hayward Field’s fans to their feet over and over.
In the first performance by an Oregon athlete of the day, Hocker electrified Hayward Field in the men’s 1,500 meters as he beat out Notre Dame’s Yared Nuguse — the current NCAA 1,500 meters record holder — and finished in 3:35.35 seconds, the fourth-fastest time in NCAA history.
“Coming into the last 150 [meters] I heard all the fans in Hayward just erupt, ” Hocker said. “It was a feeling I’ve never felt.”
After hanging in third through three laps, Hocker fell back after bumping into a competitor. But, as he rounded the final bend, Hocker used a blistering kick to blow by Ole Miss’s Waleed Suliman and edge out Nuguse, who finished in 3:35.60, for the win.
“One thing I’ve been able to work on this year is remaining calm and staying patient,” Hocker said. “This race especially, probably the most competitive field I’ve been in all year.”
Freshman Emmanuel Ihemeje announced his presence early in the men’s triple jump final, completing the indoor/outdoor championship double and earning Oregon’s first ever triple jump title. In his first jump of the day, he jumped 56 feet and 2.75 inches, the collegiate leader for the outdoor season and eventual title-winning jump. He also broke his own school record of 55-8½.
“I really hoped to jump 17 meters, but I came here today to get a good position,” Ihemeje said. “The title means a lot more than the performance. I didn’t break my PR, it’s not a big deal.”
Ihemeje’s energy was contagious, inciting swaths of the boisterous, 6,000-plus person crowd before, during and after his championship performance.
“It’s such a pleasure for me and honor and I had to do my best to entertain our fans,” he said. “I did my best and I hope they enjoyed the show.”
Senior Isiah Griffith, the other Duck in the field, finished sixth out of 24 jumpers, and turned in a season-best 54-3¼ in the process.
In the men’s 100 meter, freshman Micah Williams held a brief lead before LSU’s Terrance Laird closed ferociously in the final 20 meters, finishing in 10.05, good for first place. After winning an indoor national championship and clocking the fastest semifinal time (10.11) on Wednesday, Williams matched that time, ultimately finishing in third.
After spending the first 600 meters of the men’s 800 meter final in the back of the pack, Charlie Hunter rounded the final bed with purpose, surging ahead of several runners and into fourth place.
But Hunter wasn’t satisfied.
With just meters to go, Hunter slid past Miami of Ohio’s Finley Mclear, edging him out by .05 seconds for a third place finish and personal best of 1:45.75.
While he finished in seventh, senior Jonathan Harvey closed out his career with a personal best 49.64 finish in the 400 meter hurdles.
The Men of Oregon finished their season off with a second-place championship finish, tallying 53 cumulative points, second only to LSU’s 84. On Saturday, Oregon’s women track and field will look to replicate the success as they return to Hayward Field.
