Olympics 
Oregon football player Devon Allen advances to semifinals in 110m hurdles
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Devon Allen is moving on to the semifinals of the 110-meter hurdles.
Allen, a wide receiver for the University of Oregon, tied for first place in his preliminary heat with a time of 13.41 seconds to advance to the event’s semifinal round Tuesday night in Rio.
Allen, a redshirt junior for the Ducks, qualified for the Rio Games last month by winning the 110-meter hurdles at the U.S. Olympic Trials on familiar turf – historic Hayward Field on UO’s campus in Eugene. In that event, Allen put up a personal best of 13.03, which would have been the top time of any competitors so far in Rio.
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Jamaica’s Omar McLeod put up the top time Monday night – 13.27 seconds.
Allen, who also competes for Oregon’s track team, has been a standout on the football field as well. As a redshirt freshman in 2014, Allen caught 41 passes for 684 yards and seven touchdowns. However, he suffered a torn ACL in the Ducks’ Rose Bowl win over Florida State. He returned quickly from that injury, but wasn’t quite the same in 2015, posting only nine catches for 94 yards.
Once Allen completes his Olympic experience, he plans to rejoin the Ducks’ football team, hopefully in time for the team’s Week 2 matchup against Virginia.
Allen is exploring the possibility of maintaining his collegiate eligibility as a football player while competing professionally in track. Oregon’s chief compliance officer told The Register-Guard earlier this month that Allen could pursue both sports “as long as he doesn’t sign any endorsements or agree to any endorsement contracts (in track) until he’s done with his football eligibility.”
[Related: Before Rio, long jumper Jeff Henderson tried out with Kansas City Chiefs]
And when Allen does return to Eugene for football season, he told Sports Illustrated that he hopes to bring some hardware with him.
“You know how we do [the big screen] video before every game where they introduce all the players?” Devon says. “I was thinking it would be cool to wear my gold medal in the video.”
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Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
