After a successful weekend at the Payton Jordan Invitational, Titan Twilight, Penn Relays and OSU High Performance Meet, Oregon track and field will be back at Hayward Field for its final regular season home meet.
The Oregon Twilight begins Friday afternoon and Oregon expects to continue its success, after three relay wins and Athlete of the Meet recognition for Raevyn Rogers at Penn.
Besides earning three Penn Wheels in the women’s 4×100, sprint medley relay and women’s 4×400 relay this weekend, Oregon also excelled in hurdles. Sasha Wallace won the women’s 100 hurdles in 13.24.
At OSU, Ben Thiel took a hurdles win of his own in the 400 hurdles, 53.02. In the men’s steeplechase Chris Mulverhill earned a win, beating second place by over ten seconds, 9:07.71.
At the Titan Twilight, Oregon made six field event wins. Cullen Prena and Drake Brennan each set personal bests in the discus and shot put, respectively.
The Ducks wrapped up the past weekend at the Payton Jordan where Sam Prakel won the second section of the men’s 1,500.
Though Oregon saw much success at the four weekend meets, the Twilight should pose more of a challenge for the Ducks in field events, especially, where numerous unattached throwers are competing.
But in the sprints, Oregon has a clear advantage in the Twilight. Not only did the Penn Relays wins serve as a confidence boost- the women’s 4×400 time running the fastest for Oregon this season and seventh fastest in the NCAA- the competition also gave the Ducks a taste of what’s to come.
Head coach Robert Johnson said before the weekend that these away meets give his athletes the opportunity to compete against rivals and other competitors before facing them at the NCAA championships.
The Oregon Twilight has that same appeal.
The Ducks will get the chance to take on professional athletes as a way to test their skills against the best of the best before heading into one of the toughest parts of the season.
The Twilight begins Friday, May 6, with the first event at 1:30 p.m.
Follow Madison Layton on Twitter @MadisonLayton01