University of Oregon
Florida Relays
Two Collegiate Records Headline Final Day in Florida
04/01/17 | Track and Field
THE WOMEN OF OREGON SET COLLEGIATE RECORDS IN THE 4X100 AND 4X200 RELAYS TO HEADLINE A VERY PRODUCTIVE FINAL DAY AT THE FLORIDA RELAYS
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The Oregon track and field team wrapped up the opening weekend of its outdoor season on Saturday with the final day of the Florida Relays.
The Women of Oregon set collegiate records in both the 4x100 and 4x200 meter relays to headline a highly productive final day of relays and field events in Gainesville.
How it Happened: The quartet of Makenzie Dunmore, Hannah Cunliffe, Deajah Stevens and Ariana Washington got their outdoor seasons off to a blazing start, setting the collegiate record in the 4x100 in 42.34. The same four Ducks came back out a few hours later and moved their names to the top of the all-time collegiate list in the 4x200 with a time of 1:28.78. Both marks took the top spot in the Oregon record books as well. The two collegiate records marked the third and fourth for the Women of Oregon so far in 2016-17 (60m, DMR), and first two of the outdoor season.
Alaysha Johnson, Elexis Guster, Sasha Wallace and Raevyn Rogers also ran a solid 4x200 relay in 1:31.25. The Women of Oregon closed out their day in the relays with a pair of wins in the 4x400. Kylee O'Connor, Brooke Feldmeier, Alaysha Johnson and Ashante Horsley won the collegiate final in 3:35.73, while the quartet of Hannah Waller, Guster, Dunmore and Rogers won the Tom Jones College 4x400 in 3:26.07, which is good for second in Oregon history.
The Men of Oregon had an impressive showing of their own in the 4x100, as Damarcus Simpson, Kyree King, Julius Shellmire and Marcus Chambers secured the second-fastest time in school history with a third-place time of 39.39. The same four finished seventh later in the day in the 4x200 relay in 1.22.72 in a field of mostly professionals.
In the field events, Senior Cole Walsh opened his final outdoor season with a win in the pole vault, clearing 5.42m/17'9".
In the throws, freshman Sebastian Barajas hit a new PR in the shot put at 16.48m/54'1". Ryan Hunter-Simms reached 55.85m/183'3" in the discus to kick off his final outdoor season. Redshirt freshman Ronna Stone hit a PR in the shot put at 14.55m/47'9" to place seventh.
What it Means: The Ducks got their outdoor season off to a very strong start at the Florida Relays along with the Stanford Invitational. In total, Oregon won eight events between the two meets and set three school records and two collegiate records.
Quotable: Head Coach Robert Johnson
"Good opening outdoor weekend for the Ducks. It was great to have a part of our team come down to Gainesville and then be able to send the other half to Stanford where we got a lot of good times. It's amazing to get one collegiate record, but to get two in one day is pretty incredible and a special accomplishment for our girls. But those weren't the only special performances this weekend; Cole Walsh put together a good performance to win the pole vault, Sebastian Barajas hit a lifetime best and multiple other Ducks showed what they're capable of. Overall, we're happy with how we opened outdoors."
Up Next: The Men and Women of Oregon will return to Eugene for this week before resuming their outdoor season at the Mt. SAC Relays (April 12-15), the Beach Invitational (April 13-15) and the Bryan Clay Invitational (April 13).
Players Mentioned
