Distance Crew Heads to Stanford for Outdoor Debuts

Friday, March 30

Stanford, CA

All Day

University of Oregon

Stanford Invitational

Photo by: GoDucks.com

Distance Crew Heads to Stanford for Outdoor Debuts

03/28/18 | Track and Field

Notes: Stanford Invitational Meet Info Entries/Live Results

Oregon's distance runners will make their outdoor debuts this Friday at the Stanford Invitational after the Ducks' throwers, jumpers and sprinters opened up last weekend in San Diego

By: Nate Krueger

EUGENE, Ore. – After the throwers, jumpers and sprinters got the 2018 outdoor season off to a strong start for the Oregon track and field teams last weekend, the Ducks' distance runners will make their outdoor debuts this Friday at the Stanford Invitational.

Oregon's distance crew will compete only on Friday at the two-day meet in Stanford, Calif., with Ducks entered in the 1,500, 5,000 and 10,000 meters for both the men and women.

HOW TO FOLLOW
The Stanford Invitational will be live streamed on FloTrack.org (premium subscription required), and live results will be available at rtspt.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 opened the outdoor season at No. 1 in the USTFCCCA men's preseason rankings, while the Women of Oregon were ranked No. 2 in the nation.

WINS, PERSONAL BESTS ABOUND IN SAN DIEGO
The Ducks got their outdoor season off to a fast start last weekend at the SDSU Aztec Invitational, winning eight events and recording a flurry of personal bests. The Women of Oregon won six events, while the Men of Oregon won two. After an indoor season that didn't meet expectations, the Ducks' productive outdoor debut was a good first step to getting back to "The Oregon Way."

Winner	Event	Mark
Braxton Canady	110M Hurdles	14.32
Chaquinn Cook	Long Jump	20-7.25
Alaysha Johnson	100M Hurdles	13.48
Keira McCarrell	Javelin (Invite)	154-8
Alexis Rigmaiden	Javelin (Open)	132-4
Ariana Washington	100 Meters	11.25
UO Women	4x100M Relay	44.38
UO Men	4x100M Relay	39.94

UO THROWERS START OUTDOORS STRONG
While the Ducks received good showings across the board in San Diego, Oregon's throwers were especially strong in their outdoor debut. Keira McCarrell won the women's javelin invite (PR 154-8), and Maddie Rabing moved into sixth in UO history while taking third in the hammer throw (190-7). Kiana Phelps hit a PR in the discus (168-5), exceeding her NCAA West Regional qualifying mark from last year, and redshirt freshman Alexis Rigmaiden won the open javelin (132-4) in her Oregon debut. For the men, redshirt sophomore Jackson VanVuren was second overall and first among collegians in the men's javelin invite, besting his previous PR by nearly 20 feet (225-4). VanVuren's performance carries some extra significance, coming exactly one year after he underwent elbow surgery. Freshman Jared Briere threw a PR in the hammer throw (178-9), and Sebastian Barajas hit a PR in the shot put (55-1).

RECORD BOOK MOVEMENT
Three Ducks made moves in the Oregon outdoor top-10 lists last weekend. Maddie Rabing moved into sixth in the hammer throw (190-7/58.09m), ChaQuinn Cook took over the No. 8 spot in the long jump (20-7.25/6.28m) and Lauren Rain Williams' 11.50 in the 100 meters put her at No. 9 all-time.

INTERVIEW - ROBERT JOHNSON, HEAD COACH

Some thoughts on the Aztec Invitational and our week down in San Diego.#GoDucks pic.twitter.com/ZmbUsZu1Lq
— Robert Johnson (@Run4Ducks) March 26, 2018

PEPSI TEAM INVITATIONAL SET FOR APRIL 7
Historic Hayward Field will once again play host to the Pepsi Team Invitational on April 7, as Washington, Washington State and BYU join Oregon in Eugene for the four-team meet. The first field event is set for 11 a.m. PT, with the first track event at 2 p.m. The event will be streamed live for fans on Facebook.

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.

UP NEXT
Oregon will host the first of two regular season home meets on April 7, welcoming Washington, Washington State and BYU to historic Hayward Field for the Pepsi Team Invitational.