Outdoor Season Kicks Off This Weekend in San Diego

EUGENE, Ore. – The Oregon track and field teams will open up the 2018 outdoor season this weekend with the SDSU Aztec Invitational at the SDSU Sports Deck in San Diego, Calif.

Coming off an indoor season in which the Women of Oregon placed fifth and the Men of Oregon tied for 13th at the NCAA Indoor Championships, the Ducks will look for a fast start outdoors beginning this weekend in San Diego. The Ducks' sprinters, jumpers and throwers will be in action in San Diego, with UO's distance runners set to begin their outdoor season next weekend at the Stanford Invitational.

HOW TO FOLLOW
There will be no TV or live stream for the SDSU Aztec Invitational, but live results will be available at finishedresults.com and on the track and field schedule on GoDucks.com. Updates throughout the meet will be provided on Twitter via @OregonTF and @Run4Ducks.

RANKINGS
The Men of Oregon open the outdoor season at No. 1 in the USTFCCCA men's preseason rankings, while the Women of Oregon slot in at No. 2 in the nation.

INTERVIEW - HEAD COACH ROBERT JOHNSON

SOUTHERLAND WINS NCAA INDOOR 800M TITLE
Redshirt senior Sabrina Southerland enjoyed a breakout performance at the NCAA Indoor Championships, running away from the field to win the NCAA title in the women's 800 meters. Ranked 16th in the event entering nationals, Southerland ran a huge lifetime-best of 2:01.55 to continue the recent dominance in the event for the UO women. Southerland carried on the winning tradition of Bowerman winners Raevyn Rogers (2016, 2017) and Laura Roesler (2014), giving the UO women the indoor 800 title in three straight years and four of the last five. Including outdoors, the Women of Oregon have won the last six NCAA 800 meter championships. Southerland also helped the UO women to a fourth-place finish in the 4x400 relay, accounting for 15 of UO's 31 points and earning a pair of first-team all-America honors.

UO WOMEN CAPTURE FIRST NCAA DMR WIN
The Women of Oregon provided the headline on the first day of the NCAA Indoor Championships, coming away with the first NCAA distance medley relay title in women's program history. The quartet of Jessica Hull, Venessa D'Arpino, Susan Ejore and Lilli Burdon won the national championship in 10:51.99, just .03 seconds ahead of second-place Stanford, for the fourth-fastest time in collegiate history and second-best all-time at Oregon. The win gave the Oregon women five straight years with at least one national champion at the national indoor meet.

HULL AND BURDON RUN INTO UO HISTORY
After helping lead the UO women to a national fifth-place finish in cross country, Jessica Hull and Lilli Burdon both enjoyed great indoor seasons for the Ducks. At the NCAA Indoor Championships, Hull ran lead and Burdon ran anchor for Oregon's NCAA champion distance medley relay team. Hull earned another first-team all-America honor with a third-place finish in the 3,000 meters, and Burdon was one spot shy of scoring with a ninth-place showing. Earlier in the indoor season, Hull and Burdon both ran under the previous UO mile record at the MPSF Championships (Feb. 24), with Hull becoming the new record-holder in 4:31.76 and Burdon crossing just behind in 4:32.30 to rank second all-time. The duo also became just the second and third Ducks ever to run faster than 9 minutes in the 3,000 meters, with Hull running 8:58.50 and Burdon 8:59.18 at the Husky Classic (Feb. 10) to rank second and third , respectively, all-time behind former Duck star Jordan Hasay.

OREGON MEN SHINE IN THE MILE
The distance group stood out for the Men of Oregon during the indoor season, specifically the men's milers. Five different Ducks ran under 4 minutes throughout the indoor season. Sam Prakel led Oregon with a third-place finish in the mile at the NCAA Indoor Championships (March 10), and he also owned UO's fastest time of the season at 3:56.89 (Feb. 10), third-best all-time at UO, while running under 4-minutes three times. Freshman Reed Brown earned first-team all-America status with an eighth-place NCAA finish, and he ran 3:57.23 earlier in the year to move into fourth all-time at Oregon. Former walk-on Mick Stanovsek also qualified for NCAAs in the mile with a mark of 3:57.90, ninth-best all-time at Oregon. Senior Blake Haney (3:59.01) and freshman Cooper Teare (3:59.29) also ran under 4 minutes. The men's distance group also impressed outside of the mile, with James West finishing sixth in the 3,000 meters at NCAA Indoors and Tanner Anderson qualifying in the 5,000 meters.

JOHNSON AMONG ALL-TIME GREAT COACHES
In just his sixth year as the Ducks' head coach, Robert Johnson has already led Oregon to 13 team NCAA championships, placing him fourth on the NCAA all-time list. Only John McDonell (42), Pat Henry (35) and Ted Banks (17) have led cross country or track and field teams to more national titles. Under Johnson, the Ducks have won two NCAA championships in women's cross country, four in women's indoor track and field, three in men's indoor track and field, two in women's outdoor track and field and two in men's outdoor track and field. Additionally, Johnson led the Women of Oregon to the the historic Triple Crown in 2016-17. Johnson has also guided his student-athletes to 50 individual national championships, including Sabrina Southerland in the 800 meters and the women's distance medley relay team at the 2018 NCAA Indoor Championships.

UO WOMEN COMING OFF TRIPLE CROWN
The Women of Oregon are looking to build off last year's magical season in 2018 after becoming the first NCAA DI women's program ever to complete the Triple Crown, with national titles in cross country, indoor track and field and outdoor track and field in the same academic year. The UO women began the historic run with a thrilling one-point win in the 2016 NCAA Cross Country Championships, and then dominated at the NCAA Indoor Championships for their seventh indoor title in the last eight years with a meet-record 84 points. With history on the line, the Ducks pulled out a narrow victory over Georgia at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, with the 4x400 relay team running a collegiate record 3:23.13 to pull out a must-have victory in the final event and complete the Triple Crown.

NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS TICKETS ON SALE NOW
The NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships will return to Historic Hayward Field for the sixth straight year this spring (June 6-9). All-session tickets and the Championship Package for the national championship meet are on sale now, with single-day tickets to go on sale at a later time. Season and single-meet tickets for the Ducks' 2018 home regular season, which features the Pepsi Team Invitational (April 7) and the Oregon Twilight (May 4), are also on sale. Fans can purchase tickets online at goducks.com, by phone by calling 1-800-WEBFOOT or in person at Matthew Knight Arena or Autzen Stadium.

UP NEXT
The Ducks' distance runners will kick off their outdoor season next weekend at the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto (March 30-31).