Photo by: Ben Crawford
On The Hunt For Qualifying Marks
02/21/19 | Track and Field, @GoDucksMoseley
The UO track and field program heads to the MPSF championships this weekend with an eye on the NCAA Indoor Championships in March.
As the Oregon track and field team heads to Seattle for this weekend's Mountain Pacific Sports Federation indoor championship meet, a few Ducks are on the outside looking in on NCAA Championships qualifying.
The Ducks will attempt to run, jump and throw their way to a couple of league titles this weekend. But more than anything, they want to get that handful of student-athletes off the NCAA bubble and into the field for the national championship meet March 8-9 in Birmingham, Ala.
"We always talk about the national meet being something that we're locked in and focused to," UO coach Robert Johnson said earlier this week. "So we've typically used the Mountain Pacific to qualify our kids to the national meet. That hasn't changed this weekend."
The top 16 marks in each event qualify for NCAA Indoors, and the Ducks have several they can feel comfortable about. On the women's side, 400-meter runner Hannah Waller, miler Jessica Hull and triple jumper Chaquinn Cook each had the No. 2 mark in the country entering this week. On the men's side, blazing times last weekend in a "last chance" meet gave Oregon several potential NCAA qualifiers in the mile.
But there remains work to be done entering the MPSF meet. Men's sprinter Cravon Gillespie is precariously on the bubble in both the 60 meters (T16th, 6.63) and the 200 (15th, 20.80). Women's miler Susan Ejore is 13th (4:35.57) and men's miler Blake Haney is 15th (3:58.73.). And men's long jumper Tristan James currently has the No. 17 mark, 25 feet, 6.75 inches, just outside the NCAA bubble.
"Top 20 doesn't do you any good," Johnson said. "It gets you a pat on the back. Top 16 is the number you're looking at."
The MSPF championship will be conducted Friday and Saturday in Seattle. Right out of the gate the Ducks will look to get an NCAA Indoor qualifying time Friday night, in the women's distance-medley relay.
"That'll be a big to-do for us," Johnson said.
Following this weekend's meet, the Ducks will set their entry list for the NCAA championships. It could be a sleepless night for those student-athletes still on the bubble, as they wait to discover Monday where exactly their marks leave them based on entry lists submitted around the country.
Johnson in particular is feeling for runners in the women's mile and men's 3,000. This season seems to be an outlier in those races, requiring times Johnson called "bananas" in relation to historical data.
Ejore is sitting on the bubble in the mile at 4:35.57, and James West is only No. 14 in the men's 3,000 entering this week despite a time of 7:52.14, which Johnson said is "absolutely bonkers." West does enter this week No. 6 in the mile, after running 3:57.75 last week.
"Certain events just get hot," Johnson said, noting a recent season when 60-meter times similarly were outliers. "And those are events that got hot. Those times are two or three seconds faster than what the historical data would tell you."
That said, Johnson isn't looking for any of his runners to shrug their shoulders and accept a pat on the back for coming out of this weekend with a time that's No. 18 or No. 19 nationally. This weekend is about finishing in the top 16, and nothing else will do.
The Ducks will attempt to run, jump and throw their way to a couple of league titles this weekend. But more than anything, they want to get that handful of student-athletes off the NCAA bubble and into the field for the national championship meet March 8-9 in Birmingham, Ala.
"We always talk about the national meet being something that we're locked in and focused to," UO coach Robert Johnson said earlier this week. "So we've typically used the Mountain Pacific to qualify our kids to the national meet. That hasn't changed this weekend."
The top 16 marks in each event qualify for NCAA Indoors, and the Ducks have several they can feel comfortable about. On the women's side, 400-meter runner Hannah Waller, miler Jessica Hull and triple jumper Chaquinn Cook each had the No. 2 mark in the country entering this week. On the men's side, blazing times last weekend in a "last chance" meet gave Oregon several potential NCAA qualifiers in the mile.
But there remains work to be done entering the MPSF meet. Men's sprinter Cravon Gillespie is precariously on the bubble in both the 60 meters (T16th, 6.63) and the 200 (15th, 20.80). Women's miler Susan Ejore is 13th (4:35.57) and men's miler Blake Haney is 15th (3:58.73.). And men's long jumper Tristan James currently has the No. 17 mark, 25 feet, 6.75 inches, just outside the NCAA bubble.
"Top 20 doesn't do you any good," Johnson said. "It gets you a pat on the back. Top 16 is the number you're looking at."
The MSPF championship will be conducted Friday and Saturday in Seattle. Right out of the gate the Ducks will look to get an NCAA Indoor qualifying time Friday night, in the women's distance-medley relay.
"That'll be a big to-do for us," Johnson said.
Following this weekend's meet, the Ducks will set their entry list for the NCAA championships. It could be a sleepless night for those student-athletes still on the bubble, as they wait to discover Monday where exactly their marks leave them based on entry lists submitted around the country.
Johnson in particular is feeling for runners in the women's mile and men's 3,000. This season seems to be an outlier in those races, requiring times Johnson called "bananas" in relation to historical data.
Ejore is sitting on the bubble in the mile at 4:35.57, and James West is only No. 14 in the men's 3,000 entering this week despite a time of 7:52.14, which Johnson said is "absolutely bonkers." West does enter this week No. 6 in the mile, after running 3:57.75 last week.
"Certain events just get hot," Johnson said, noting a recent season when 60-meter times similarly were outliers. "And those are events that got hot. Those times are two or three seconds faster than what the historical data would tell you."
That said, Johnson isn't looking for any of his runners to shrug their shoulders and accept a pat on the back for coming out of this weekend with a time that's No. 18 or No. 19 nationally. This weekend is about finishing in the top 16, and nothing else will do.
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