Jessica Hull started the indoor season by placing third in the mile at the UW Preview, then anchoring the DMR in the nation's leading time at the Columbia Challenge.
How do you follow up the first Triple Crown in women’s collegiate track and field history?
For the Ducks, you do it, quite literally, one step (and jump and throw) at a time.
Last season was a historic one, as the UO claimed the women’s cross country and indoor national championships before taking home the outdoor title at Hayward Field. No women’s team had ever won all three in one season before, and the outdoor title was clinched in dramatic fashion; the Ducks needed to win the final event, the 4x400, to take home the crown, and beat USC by two-tenths of a second before the heavens opened and a thunderstorm sent the athletes—and the crowd—running for cover.
During the offseason, head coach Robert Johnson inked a signing class that included Lauren Rain Williams, the third-fastest 200-meter high school runner in US history—only six-time Olympic gold medalist Allyson Felix and two-time World Junior champion Candace Hill have run the distance faster; Kaylah Robinson, one of the few US high schoolers in history to run the 100-meter hurdles in under 13 seconds; Shae Anderson, California state 400-meter and 300-meter champion and Gatorade Girls Track and Field Player of the Year; Kate Murphy, 2016 US Olympic Trials 1500-meter semifinalist, 2016 USATF junior 3000-meter champion, and third-fastest high school 1,500-meter runner of all time; and Sydnee Walker, 2016 USATF Junior Olympics hammer throw champion.
That class was added to a roster that includes three-time NCAA champion and 2016 Olympian Ariana Washington, five-time All-American Katie Rainsberger, five-time All-American Brooke Feldmeier, three-time All-American and NCAA champion Makenzie Dunmore, All-American and Pac-12 champion ChaQuinn Cook, four-time All-American Alli Cash, and four-time All-American Lilli Burdon.
Loaded? You bet Oregon’s women are loaded, even after the early departures of Bowerman Award winner Raevyn Rogers, Deajah Stevens, and Hannah Cunliffe, all of whom turned professional before their senior seasons (or, in Cunliffe’s case, a week into her senior season).
The Men of Oregon, who finished ninth in the NCAA outdoor championships in 2017, also welcomed a talented crop of newcomers that included Joseph Anderson, 2017 Pan American Championships 110-meter hurdles bronze medalist; Jared Briere, the nation’s No. 1-ranked hammer thrower; Cooper Teare, California 3,200-meter state champion—and Pac-12 Cross Country Freshman of the Year; and Reed Brown, the Texas 6A 3,200-meter state champion who broke Texas’ 32-year-old state record over the distance.
The indoor season opened when the women, ranked No. 1, and men headed to Seattle for the UW Preview. For the reigning indoor champions, Walker made her UO debut with the seventh-best weight throw in school history to finish second in the event, Ashlyn Hare finished second in the high jump, and seven Ducks made the final of the 200-meters with another four advancing to the 60-meter final. The men entered the meet knocking on the door of the nation’s top five, and Braxton Canaday finished second to only Olympic gold medalist Aries Merritt in the 60-meter hurdles; while Max Lydum, Austin Glynn, and Austin Tharp went 2-3-4 in the weight throw.
From there the teams headed to New York for the Columbia Challenge, and both the men and women got off to strong starts when they ran NCAA-leading DMR times. Australians Jessica Hull and Lilli Burdon celebrated Australia Day in fine fashion, leading the Ducks to the women’s title on the same day their compatriots Down Under were celebrating their national day. Alaysha Johnson won the 60 meters, Cook broke the UO’s indoor triple jump record, the 4x400 relay team broke the meet record, Burdon ran the fifth-fastest mile in UO history, while Walker made the sixth-best weight throw in US history in only her second meet. To cap it all off, the Ducks then went 1-2 in the 400-meters, and 2-3-4 (and 7, 8, 11, 12) in the 200-meters.
For the men, Cravon Gillespie ran the third-fastest 60-meter time in UO history to be the overall winner, and followed that up with the seventh-fastest 200-meter time to place second. Braxton Canaday won the 60-meter hurdles, and in the mile, four Ducks broke the four-minute mark, led by Mick Stanovsek who crossed the line first overall.
While the women dropped slightly in the polls after the Columbia Challenge, falling to third behind Arkansas and Georgia, the men leaped from 14th to 4th.
- by Damian Foley, assistant director of marketing and communications. Photos by Josh Philips, goducks.com.
KEY UPCOMING MEETS
NCAA INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
March 9–10 ● College Station, Texas
PEPSI TEAM INVITATIONAL
April 7 ● Eugene
OREGON TWILIGHT
May 4 ● Eugene
PAC-12 MULTI-EVENT CHAMPIONSHIPS
May 5–6 ● Palo Alto, California
PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS
May 12–13 ● Stanford, California
NCAA WEST PRELIMINARY ROUND
May 24–26 ● Sacramento, California
NCAA OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
June 6–9 ● Eugene