University of Oregon
NCAA Indoor Championships
Women of Oregon Win NCAA Distance Medley Relay Title
03/09/18 | Track and Field
The Women of Oregon won the NCAA title in the distance medley relay with the fourth-fastest time in collegiate history and the men’s DMR team finished third to headline day one of the NCAA Indoor Championships
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The women's distance medley relay squad won the NCAA title with the fourth-fastest time in collegiate history while the men placed third in the DMR to headline the first day of the NCAA Indoor Championships for the Oregon track and field teams on Friday at Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium.
The quartet of Jessica Hull, Venessa D'Arpino, Susan Ejore and Lilli Burdon finished the DMR in 10:51.99, just .03 seconds ahead of second-place Stanford, to claim the first women's DMR national title in program history and put up 10 team points for the Women of Oregon.
How it Happened: Hull gave the Ducks the lead right off the bat with a 3:19.97 split on the 1,200 meter leg, and D'Arpino kept pace over 400 meters to put Oregon in second as she handed to Ejore. Ejore ran a 2:04.19 split on the 800 meter portion and passed to Burdon with the Ducks neck-and-neck with Stanford entering the final leg. Burdon blazed through the final mile in 4:33.67 and staved off Stanford down the final stretch to secure the national title for the Ducks in the final event of the day."Oregon just seems to always find a way to win."
— Oregon Track & Field (@OregonTF) March 10, 2018
Re-Watch the Women of Oregon win the DMR at #NCAATF #GoDucks pic.twitter.com/8hL91Yx0Jb
Oregon's winning time of 10:51.99 is No. 4 all-time in collegiate history and second-best all-time at UO.
"I believed in myself the whole way and we have all been working well together in practice, so I knew we could do it," said Burdon. "I'm really happy with how we all ran today and I'm just so proud of us."
The Men of Oregon took third in the distance medley relay as the squad of Blake Haney, Cameron Stone, Mick Stanovsek and James West crossed in 9:31.45 to score six team points. Haney and Stone kept pace through the first two legs to put the Ducks in third, and Stanovsek pulled UO into second after his 800 meters. West ran 3:57.98 over the last mile to help Oregon finish third, behind Virginia Tech and Notre Dame.
"I think it's a really easy argument to make that we're one of the best middle-distance programs in the country with all the sub-4 (minute mile) guys we have," Stanovsek said. "Obviously we wanted to win so coming away with third is a little bittersweet, but we all ran our hardest and I'm proud of how we performed."
In addition to the solid showings by the DMR teams, the Ducks also saw three individuals advance out of semifinals and into Saturday's finals.
In the first event of the day, redshirt senior Sam Prakel cruised to the win in his semifinal heat of the mile to auto-advance to Saturday's final in 4:02.65. Freshman Reed Brown, running in the second semifinal heat, mounted a tremendous final kick over the last 100-plus meters to come from the back of the pack and finish third in 4:02.25 to reach the final.
For the Women of Oregon, redshirt senior Sabrina Southerland took third in her 800 meter semifinal heat, crossing in 2:03.57, to advance to Saturday's final.
The UO women just missed out on a couple of advancers in the 400 meter semifinals. Freshman Shae Anderson ran an indoor PR of 52.69 to finish ninth overall, one spot out of moving on, and redshirt junior Briyahna DesRosiers was one place behind in 52.75.
What it Means: The DMR teams put an exciting finish on an uneven first day for the Ducks in College Station, and gave Oregon some momentum as it enters Saturday's final day of competition with six finals on the schedule. The Women of Oregon have now won at least one individual NCAA indoor title in five straight seasons.
Notable: Stanovsek suffered some tough luck in the first semifinal heat of the mile, as it appeared he was tripped up and fell midway through the race …Neither Makenzie Dunmore (7.47) or Alaysha Johnson (8.20) were able to advance in the 60 meters and 60-meter hurdles, respectively … Ejore ran 4:45.57 in the mile semifinals but did not advance … Tanner Anderson finished 16th in the men's 5,000 meter final in 14:22.93 … The Oregon women have 10 points entering day two, while the UO men have six points.
On Deck for Saturday (All times PT):
1:30 p.m. - Women's Triple Jump Final (ChaQuinn Cook)
2:10 p.m. - Men's Mile Final (Sam Prakel, Reed Brown)
3:40 p.m. - Women's 800 Meter Final (Sabrina Southerland)
4:10 p.m. - Men's 3,000 Meter Final (James West)
4:25 p.m. - Women's 3,000 Meter Final (Lilli Burdon, Jessica Hull)
4:55 p.m. - Women's 4x400M Relay Final (TBD)
The @OregonTF women hold off Stanford in a thrilling DMR! #NCAATF pic.twitter.com/wvIvWsBOM8
— FloTrack (@FloTrack) March 10, 2018
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