Weekend Wrap | BU, Don Kirby & TTU - University of Oregon Athletics

Weekend Wrap | BU, Don Kirby & TTU

02/17/26 | Track and Field

The Ducks racked up seven wins and 14 top-25 national performances last weekend.

EUGENE, Ore. – The Oregon track and field team posted 14 top-25 national marks this past weekend with event groups split between the BU Valentine Invitational, Don Kirby Invitational and Jarvis Scott Invitational. The Ducks also collected seven wins over the two days of competition.

In Tuesday's release of the USTFCCCA polls, the Men of Oregon are the No. 3 team in the nation for a third-consecutive week. The UO men have the top-ranked 3,000 squad in the country with five runners inside the top 14, and three athletes ranked top five nationally in their respective events with Elliott Cook in the mile, Kobe Lawrence in the shot put and Peyton Bair in the heptathlon.

The Women of Oregon are up two spots to a No. 6 in the latest poll, tying a season-high ranking. Along with its four top-five individual event rankings, the UO women added a top-three distance medley relay to their season résumé at last Friday's Crimson Open.

At the end of the qualifying window which runs through the conference weekend, the top 16 declared athletes in each event and top 12 relays will advance to the 2026 NCAA Indoor Championships (March 13-14) in Fayetteville, Ark.

Top 25 in the NCAA
(* from this past weekend)

MEN
800 Meters
18. James Harding - 1:46.83
20. Matthew Erickson - 1:46.88*
22. Elliott Cook - 1:46.94

Mile
4. Elliott Cook - 3:52.32*
15. Tomas Palfrey – 3:53.86

3,000 Meters
7. Tomas Palfrey – 7:39.03*
8. Benjamin Balazs – 7:39.31*
9. Simeon Birnbaum - 7:39.65
12. Connor Burns – 7:40.80*
14. Elliott Cook - 7:41.57

5,000 Meters
18. Abdel Laadjel - 13:24.17

60m Hurdles
25. Kai Graves-Blanks - 7.69

Shot Put
2. Kobe Lawrence – 20.16m/66-1.75*
6. Ben Smith - 19.82m/65-0.5

Heptathlon
1. Peyton Bair - 6,371 points
11. Aiden Carter - 5,790 points

WOMEN
Mile
2. Wilma Nielsen – 4:21.04*
8. Silan Ayyildiz - 4:25.11
12. Juliet Cherubet - 4:27.46*

3,000 Meters
4. Silan Ayyildiz - 8:42.66*
23. Juliet Cherubet - 8:52.30

5,000 Meters
13. Diana Cherotich - 15:13.38*

60m Hurdles
2. Aaliyah McCormick – 7.97@*
@ - converted from 7.95 (altitude)

Distance Medley Relay
3. Ayyildiz, Doht-Barron, McDonnell, Nielsen – 10:45.97^*
^ - converted from 10:49.73 (4400y)

Pole Vault
18. Emily Fitzsimmons - 4.40m/14-5.25*

Long Jump
17. Liisa-Maria Lusti - 6.43m/21-1.25

Triple Jump
25. Cassandra Atkins – 13.12m/43-0.5*

Pentathlon
3. Liisa-Maria Lusti - 4,290

Up Next: The Ducks' schedule this week includes the Arkansas Qualifier (Feb. 20) in Fayetteville, Ark., and the DMR Challenge (Feb. 22) in Boston. The postseason begins Feb. 26-28 with the Big Ten Indoor Championships in Indianapolis.

For more news and information about Oregon cross country and track and field, follow @OregonTF on Facebook, Instagram and X.