The Oregon track and field team will head to the NCAA national championships in two weeks with 30 total entries.
The Ducks’ success continued to roll after the team concluded the three-day meet in Sacramento, California, for the NCAA regional qualifying meet.
After day one, Oregon ended with five secured spots for the championship meet, including sophomore Keira McCarrell’s throw for 48.16m (158-0 ft.) that landed her a back-to-back championship meet appearance. Meanwhile Max Lydum qualified after the second out of three flights with a personal best of 64.16m (210-6 ft.) in his last throw that landed him a spot in the championships.
On Thursday’s final event on the track, teammates Carmela Cardama Baez and Weronika Pyzik both crossed the finish line in the top 12 to clinch their spots. In her third trip to the preliminaries, Cardama Baez came in fifth at 33 minutes, 40.96 seconds and will be her first time competing in the national championships while Pyzik ran a season best of 33:41.35 and will join her in two weeks.
At the beginning of the second day, the Ducks had 17 opportunities to qualify and advance to the national meet and added an impressive 12 athletes by the end of day two.
Kiana Phelps started the second day on the field in discus on a high note when she threw a personal best of 55.84m (183-2) after placing 13th in the first round and ninth in the final round to send her to Austin and earn the second best mark in UO program history.
Adding to the qualifiers were javelin throwers John Nizich and Jackson VanVuren respectively earning themselves their third and first career appearances on the national stage.
Oregon women 400-meter runners dominated the race with three runners qualifying for Austin that included Hannah Waller, Venessa D’Arpino, who became the No. 9 all-time performer in UO history, and Briyahna DesRosier, who placed second with a lifetime-best of 51.72
Both the men and women’s 400-meter relay teams are advancing to the championships after finishing second at 39.03 for the men and third overall at 43.59 for the women.
Defending 1500-meter NCAA champion Jessica Hull will look to defend her title in the national meet after winning the first of the two heats of the race with a season best time of 4:09.90. Hull beat her own collegiate mark by almost three seconds and secured the seventh best time in NCAA track and field history.
For the second straight year, senior Cravon Gillespie qualified for the championships in both the 100 meters and 200 meters races after additionally helping the men’s 4×100-meter relay race advance as well. In the 100-meter race, Gillespie crossed the finish line in the first of his heat at a time of 10.03 along with teammate Oraine Palmer who placed third with a time of 10.28.
For the last Oregon qualifier of the weekend, the women ran a season best time of 3:30.36 in the 4×400-meter race with D’Arpino, Waller, DesRosiers and Khadejah Jackson as the third-fastest time of the night.
The 15 men and 15 women will be competing in two weeks for national titles in the championship meet in Austin, Texas.
