Come Wednesday, Hayward Field will be filled with the best college athletes from around the country as Eugene hosts the NCAA Track and Field Championships.
The Ducks are defending champions on both the men’s and women’s sides, but the 2016 competition promises Oregon a fight to the finish.
As of May 23, the Ducks sat in the top five in both men’s and women’s rankings. The women’s team holds the No. 3 position behind Kentucky and Arkansas, while the men’s is No. 4; Texas A&M, LSU and Florida hold the top-three ranks.
The Ducks can expect especially fierce competition in women’s sprints, in which Kentucky boasts three top-10 athletes in the 100 meters and four qualifiers in the 200 meters. Kianna Gray and teammate Destiny Carter will each compete in both the 100 and 200. Gray, a freshman, is also a member of both the 4×100 and 4×400 relay teams for the Wildcats.
On the men’s side, LSU poses the biggest threat. Of the 10 total men’s entries, seven of those are in distances 400 meters or fewer. In the 100 and 200 meters, Junior Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake holds the fastest times in the field, 10.20 and 19.96, respectively.
The Ducks have just two competitors in the men’s sprints — Devon Allen in the 200 meters and Marcus Chambers in the 400 — so it is in the distance events that Oregon will have to make up some ground. Edward Cheserek will look to defend his titles in both the 5,000 and 10,000 meters.
In the 10,000, Cheserek holds the fastest time in the field by five seconds, but the King does have some stiff competition for his other event.
For the 5,000 meters, Thomas Curtin of Virginia Tech and Justyn Knight of Syracuse hold the top qualifying times. The two have marks separated by just .01 seconds, which are three seconds faster than the rest of the field.
Switching to off-the-track action, the women’s can expect a good showing from Arkansas in the long jump, pole vault and heptathlon. Arkansas boasts nine entries over these three events, with four competitors in the heptathlon alone.
The men’s team, on the other hand, had quite the field in the javelin. Texas A&M, Oregon and Washington each have two entries for the throw. The men’s hammer throw, however, shouldn’t be much of a competition at all. Nick Miller of Oklahoma State holds a seed mark 6.3 meters ahead of second place. Miller is the school record holder in the event and a six time Big-12 champion.
Overall, the Ducks can expect to battle to protect their titles. The championships begin Wednesday, June 8 and run through June 11.
Follow Madison Layton on Twitter @MadisonLayton01