Oregon Women Enter NCAA Championships Looking for Repeat
06/01/18 | Track and Field
EUGENE, Ore. – Oregon track and field will play host to the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships for the sixth straight year next week, with the national meet set to begin on Wednesday, June 6, and run through Saturday, June 9.
The Ducks enter the NCAA Championships with 30 total entries after a productive showing at the NCAA West Preliminary Round. The Women of Oregon own 19 qualifiers, tied for the most in the nation, as they look to claim their second straight NCAA outdoor title after their thrilling win last year to secure the historic Triple Crown. The Men of Oregon, who have won seven total national outdoor titles, enter the championships with 11 entries.
MEET FORMAT
As in recent years, the men's and women's competition will be split into separate days, with the exception of the multi-events. The men will start things off on Wednesday with finals in five field events and the 10,000 meters, as well as 10 semifinals on the track and the first five events of the men's decathlon. The schedule will be the same for the women on Thursday, except that the men's decathlon will finish up with the last five events. All remaining men's finals will take place on Friday along with the start of the women's heptathlon, which will finish on Saturday as part of the women's championship day. A full meet schedule is available on page No. 2.
TV AND LIVE STREAM INFO
ESPN will provide full coverage throughout all four days of the NCAA Outdoor Championships. The first two days will be broadcast live on ESPN2, beginning at 4:30 p.m. PT on Wednesday and 4 p.m. on Thursday. The two championship days will be aired live on ESPN, starting at 5 p.m. on Friday and 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. All field events throughout each of the four days will be available to stream live on ESPN3/WatchESPN.
FOLLOW ONLINE
Live results of the NCAA Championships are available on ncaa.com, and a link can be found on the track and field schedule on GoDucks.com. Live updates for Oregon will be provided on Twitter throughout the championships via @OregonTF and @Run4Ducks.
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS ENTRIES - WOMEN (19)
100 Meters (2) - Jasmin Reed, Ariana Washington
200 Meters (3) - Jasmin Reed, Ariana Washington, Lauren Rain Williams
400 Meters (3) - Briyahna DesRosiers, Makenzie Dunmore, Hannah Waller
800 Meters (1) - Sabrina Southerland
1,500 Meters (1) - Jessica Hull
5,000 Meters (2) - Lilli Burdon, Samantha Nadel
10,000 Meters (1) - Alli Cash
100M Hurdles (1) - Alaysha Johnson
4x100M Relay (1) - TBD
4x400M Relay (1) - TBD
Long Jump (1) - Rhesa Foster
Triple Jump (1) - Chaquinn Cook
Javelin (1) - Keira McCarrell
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS ENTRIES - MEN (11)
100 Meters (1) - Cravon Gillespie
200 Meters (1) - Cravon Gillespie
400 Meters (1) - Orwin Emilien
1,500 Meters (2) - Sam Prakel, Mick Stanovsek
5,000 Meters (1) - Cooper Teare
110M Hurdles (1) - Braxton Canady
4x400M Relay (1) - TBD
High Jump (1) - Ben Milligan
Long Jump (1) - Damarcus Simpson
Javelin (1) - John Nizich
WOMEN'S PREVIEW
The Women of Oregon enjoyed one of the most dramatic and memorable victories in history last year when they won the national outdoor title to complete the Triple Crown, and the Ducks will look to follow up that performance in what figures to be a heated women's team battle. Oregon's 19 entries are tied with USC for the most of any team in the nation, and include qualifiers in 13 different events. Minnesota is third with 13 qualifiers, while Florida and Georgia are tied for fourth with 12 apiece. UO edged out Georgia last June to complete its historic win before going head-to-head with USC in the 2018 Pac-12 Championship. The three teams currently own the top three spots in the national rankings entering NCAA Outdoors. The Ducks have three entries in both the 200 and 400 meters to lead the way, and two each in the 100 and 5,000 meters. NCAA Indoor 800 meter champion Sabrina Southerland ran an NCAA-leading 2:00.72 at the NCAA West Preliminary Round and is the top seed in that event entering the championships, and Oregon's 4x400 relay team is seeded No. 2. Freshman Keira McCarrell was the breakout performer of the regional weekend for the Ducks, throwing a lifetime-best of nearly 17 feet (171-1/52.15m) to earn a trip to her first NCAA meet.
MEN'S PREVIEW
The Men of Oregon enter the 2018 NCAA Outdoor Championships with seven national outdoor titles in program history, including two since 2014, and will go for No. 8 with 11 total entries in 10 events. The Ducks will have four Pac-12 champions in action - Cravon Gillespie (100M), Sam Prakel (1,500M), Braxton Canady (110MH) and Damarcus Simpson (LJ). Gillespie is also qualified in the 200 meters as the only UO male entered in multiple events, and Prakel is joined by Mick Stanovsek in the 1,500 meters. Simpson owned the top all-conditions long jump mark in the nation entering the NCAA West Preliminary Round at 27-4/8.33m (w+), and his wind-aided mark of 26-11.75/8.22m was tops at the west regional meet. The Ducks are coming off of their 12th consecutive Pac-12 team title.
HISTORIC HAYWARD FIELD SET FOR SWAN SONG
Hayward Field will be hosting its 18th NCAA Outdoor Championships, but the 2018 national meet will be the last held in the current state of the historic stadium. Hayward is scheduled to be renovated this summer. On Tuesday, April 17, the University of Oregon unveiled plans for a track and field stadium worthy of the legacies of Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight. Slated to open in 2020, Hayward Field will set a new standard for sports venues, create world-class training and competition facilities for student-athletes, and incorporate new laboratories and research facilities to better understand the potential of human performance.
Full details on the future of Hayward Field can be found at around.uoregon.edu/hayward.
RANKINGS
The UO women enter the NCAA Championships ranked No. 3 in the nation by the USTFCCCA, while the Oregon men slot in at No. 6.
UO MEN CLAIM 12TH STRAIGHT PAC-12 TITLE
The Men of Oregon continued their dominance of the Pac-12 Conference on May 12-13 in Stanford, Calif., running away with their 12th consecutive conference team title. Four UO men came away with individual conference titles: Braxton Canady (110M Hurdles), Cravon Gillespie (100M), Sam Prakel (1,500M) and Damarcus Simpson (LJ). Simpson was also the runner-up in the 100 meters and Gillespie took second in the 200, and both Ducks ran on the runner-up 4x100 relay team to lead the men's squad. There were a total of 28 scorers for the UO men as they won the team championship with 174 points, 49 more than second-place Stanford. Oregon remains the only men's team to win a conference team title since 2007, when the Ducks began their streak in Stanford. "When you talk about a dozen years of anything, that's an awful long time," said head coach Robert Johnson. "It's one of those experiences that we'll cherish."
OREGON WOMEN FINISH AS PAC-12 RUNNERS-UP
The Women of Oregon were locked in a thrilling battle with USC at the Pac-12 Championships, with the Trojans narrowly coming away with the team title. The UO women saw three Ducks win individual championships: Makenzie Dunmore (200M), Jessica Hull (1,500M) and Sabrina Southerland (800M). Dunmore was also the runner-up in the 400 meters as the sophomore enjoyed a breakout weekend to pace the women's team. The UO women saw 35 total scorers contribute to their final score of 154 points, just 16 behind the Trojans.
SIMPSON, JOHNSON HONORED BY PAC-12
Senior Damarcus Simpson was named the Pac-12 men's field athlete of the week after repeating as the conference long jump champion, while head coach Robert Johnson was honored with the Pac-12 men's coach of the year award for leading the UO men to their 12th straight conference title. Simpson captured his second straight conference championship in the long jump with a huge wind-aided mark of 27 feet, four inches, on his third attempt, though any one of his four jumps would have won him the title. Simpson's winning jump is the top all-conditions mark in the nation this season. He was also the Pac-12 runner-up in the 100 meters in a windy 10.14, and he ran the opening leg on the runner-up 4x100 relay team. Johnson is the Pac-12 men's coach of the year for the second year in a row and the fourth time since 2013, and he now owns nine total conference coach of the year awards. On June 1, Johnson was also honored by the USTFCCCA as the West men's region coach of the year.
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 with NCAA titles in cross country, indoor track and field and outdoor track and field in the same academic year. 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.
PRAKEL ADDS ANOTHER ACADEMIC HONOR
Redshirt senior Sam Prakel added yet another academic honor to his illustrious career on and off the track, earning Google Cloud Academic All-District 8 Men's Track/Cross Country first team honors. The reigning Pac-12 Men's Scholar Athlete of the Year in cross country, Prakel's Academic All-District distinction comes a few days after advancing out of the NCAA West Regional to the NCAA Championships in Eugene in the 1,500 meters for the second time in his career.
Players Mentioned
