Birnbaum, Smith Earn Big Ten Awards

EUGENE, Ore. – On the heels of their respective wins last weekend, Simeon Birnbaum and Ben Smith have collected Big Ten weekly honors as announced by the league Wednesday afternoon. Birnbaum is the Men's Co-Track Athlete of the Week and Smith was named Men's Freshman of the Week.

Birnbaum kicked off his outdoor campaign by winning the invitational section of the 5,000 meters at the Stanford Invitational in an NCAA-leading time of 13:19.73. That performance took more than 12 seconds off his previous best and moves the Rapid City, S.D., native to No. 6 on the Oregon all-time list.

Birnbaum shared his week's Big Ten accolades with Ajani Dwyer of Penn State.

At the Triton Invitational, Smith won the elite flight of the shot put with a day's best of 20.02m/65-8.25, good for a new outdoor best. He currently ranks second in the Big Ten and third in the NCAA, and is now the sixth man in program history to throw 20 meters or farther outdoors. Smith is also fourth in the Big Ten in the discus with his measure of 58.30m/191-3 from the PNW Invite just over two weeks ago.

Collectively, the Men and Women of Oregon posted 10 top-10 national times and marks this past week between the Stanford Invitational, Triton Invitational and UNLV Rebel Elite. The team has 11 overall.

Oregon in the NCAA Top 10 (as of April 6)
MEN
100 Meters – 6. PJ Ize-Iyamu – 10.11
5,000 Meters – 1. Simeon Birnbaum – 13:19.73
10,000 Meters – 6. Evan Burke – 27:57.04; 7. Evan Bishop – 27:57.98
110m Hurdles – 6. Kai Graves-Blanks – 13.47*
Shot Put – 3. Ben Smith – 20.02m/65-8.25; 10. Kobe Lawrence – 19.13m/62-9.25

WOMEN
5,000 Meters – 6. Juliet Cherubet – 15:32.40
10,000 Meters – 10. Diana Cherotich – 32:19.06
100m Hurdles – 6. Aaliyah McCormick – 12.99
Triple Jump – 3. Cassandra Atkins – 13.39m/43-11.25

The outdoor season continues this week with Aiden Carter and Liisa-Maria Lusti in Azusa, Calif., for the Bryan Clay Multis. Lusti was the NCAA indoor pentathlon champion and Carter finished ninth at NCAAs in the heptathlon. The meet begins Thursday.

Ticket packages for the Ducks' outdoor home schedule are currently on sale. The team hosts the Oregon Team Invitational (April 17-18), Oregon Twilight (May 8), and the NCAA Championships in June.

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