James Wins Pac-12 Title, Ducks Prosper in Tucson

Saturday, May 11

Tucson, AZ

5:00 PM

University of Oregon

Pac-12 Championships

Photo by: Chris Hook

05/11/19 | Track and Field

UPDATED Sunday Schedule Meet Results

By: Zach Lawson

TUCSON, Ariz. – On a day that featured a lengthy lighting day, the Ducks came through with five top-three results—including a Pac-12 title for Tristan James—and 17 combined qualifiers (nine men, eight women) into Sunday's finals.

At the end of day one, the Men of Oregon have 51 points and sit in second place in the team race, seven behind current leader UCLA. The men scored 31 points in field events Saturday, paced by a 1-2-6 finish in the long jump with James securing the program's third-straight and 11^th overall conference title in the event.

The Oregon men also benefitted from bronze performances by Jackson Mestler in the steeplechase and John Nizich in the javelin.

With just four of 21 event scored, the Women of Oregon have collected 16 points heading into Sunday's adjusted schedule. Amanda Gehrich was the top scorer of day one with a third-place outing in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

Sunday's schedule has been adjusted to feature timed-section finals of the 200 meters, 800 meters and 400-meter hurdles. In addition to time updates for Sunday's field events, running finals will now begin at 5:30 p.m. (PT).

Into the Finals…
Men
Cravon Gillespie – 100m
Oraine Palmer – 100m
Spenser Schmidt – 100m
Rieker Daniel – 100m
Orwin Emilien – 400m
James West – 1,500m
Reed Brown – 1,500m
Eric Edwards Jr. – 110m hurdles
Joseph Anderson – 110m hurdles

Women
Brianna Duncan – 100m
Venessa D'Arpino – 100m
Hannah Waller – 400m
Briyahna DesRosiers – 400m
Jessica Hull – 1,500m
Emily Sloan – 100m hurdles
Rhesa Foster – 100m hurdles
Kerissa D'Arpino, Venessa D'Arpino, Briyahna DesRosiers, Brianna Duncan – 4x100m

The men's long jump was set to enter the final when the meet was delayed. James finished with a best of 7.59m/24-11 and was followed by Spenser Schmidt (7.55m/24-9.25) and DJ Henderson (7.40m/24-3.5) in second and sixth, respectively. Despite passing on their final few jumps, each Duck established a season best in the event.

Each team registered six points in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Mestler had only run the event once this season, posting a time of 9:06.80 at the Cardinal Classic. He shaved more than 14 seconds off that time with a mark of 8:52.10 to establish a new personal best. Gehrich matched the third-place outing in just the second scored event for the women, due in large part to Saturday's delay.

The Women of Oregon closed out the long day with nine points between the 10,000 meters and javelin. Just shy of 1 a.m., Carmela Cardama Baez and Phily Bowden finished fifth and eighth, respectively. Prior to the end of that race, Alexis Rigmaiden scored in the Pac-12 meet for the first time with a sixth-place effort. She was 20^th at last year's conference meet.

In the first event of the weekend, Max Lydum posted a personal best of 63.92m/209-8 to finish seventh in the hammer throw and add two points to the men's total. He entered the meet with lifetime best of 62.91m/206-5 from last year's NCAA West Preliminary.

The men picked up eight points in the javelin, highlighted by a bronze outing by Nizich. Using a season-best 70.46m/231-2, the Oregon City native moved from fourth to third in the final round. Teammate Jackson VanVuren also scored with his seventh-place finish.

With only nine teams entered in the men's 4x100-meter relay, the Ducks advance straight into Sunday's final. All four scheduled legs advanced to the 100-meter final, taking four of the top five qualifying spots from the prelim.

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