University of Oregon
Oregon Relays
Ducks Win Big at Oregon Relays
04/17/16 | Track and Field
EUGENE, Ore – Oregon track and field piled on the wins during the final day of the Oregon Relays, Saturday at Hayward Field, finishing with a total of eight victories.
None may have been bigger than Cole Walsh who carried over momentum from a solid indoor season, clearing a personal best of 17-9 (5.41m) to win the pole vault. The height is two and a half inches better than his previous best and moves him in a tie for ninth in Oregon history, the best since Tommy Skipper set the school record in 2007.
“I know he's been close to a lot of things in practice so to see him put it together in a meet is really exciting,” said Oregon head coach Robert Johnson about his sophomore vaulter.
Walsh was animated as the crowd responded to his achievements on the east runway at Hayward Field, likely securing a spot at the NCAA West Regional.
“Every time the grandstands get loud, it's really fun to jump,” Walsh said.
The Hayward crowd has come to expect Devon Allen to win every time he steps on the track – mainly because it has come to fruition over the last two weeks. The dual-sport star has earned seven wins between the Pepsi Team Invitational and the Oregon Relays.
Allen added three more victories on Saturday, winning both the 110 (13.48) and 400 hurdles (51.32). He also teamed up with Kirk Merritt, Tony Brooks-James and Marcus Chambers in the 4x100, the latter of which chased down former teammate Russell Hornsby on the home stretch to cross the finish line in 40.18.
Chambers won the open 400 later in the day, finishing in 46.95 while Ashante Horsley ran away from the women's field to mark her second victory in two day after winning the 200 on Friday.
Oregon cleaned up in the field events on Friday and Chance Whitehurst continued the trend by winning the men's triple jump on Saturday. The Portland, Ore., native topped his previous best by 18 inches with a wind-legal mark of 49-9.25 (15.17m).
In the final event of the day, Jack Galpin, Grant Grosvenor, Cameron Stone and Bradley Laubacher won the 4x400 in 3:14.46.
Grosvenor was also in action for the 800, along with Ashley Maton on the women's side. Grosvenor crossed the finish line in 1:50.70 while Maton set a personal best of 2:09.08, each taking second.
It has been an action packed two weeks for the Ducks with two home meets and a lot of competition in the books. Johnson said now the attention turns to training as the Ducks have a week off before a group travels to the Penn Relays then eventually returning for the Oregon Twilight on May 6.
“If we can get over the little aches and pains and the normal mundane stuff that comes along with training really hard at this time of year,” Johnson said. “If we can get over that we'll have a little lull over the next couple of weeks, then we'll come back for the Twilight meet.”
