Oregon Ducks gets a winner on Day 1 of the Pac-12 Track & Field Championship meet
Oregon school record holder Shelby Moran made history Friday afternoon.
The senior capped a stellar series in the women’s hammer competition with a second straight conference title during the opening day of the Pac-12 Track & Field Championship meet at Potts Field in Boulder, Colorado.
With the win, Moran became the first Duck to be a two-time winner in the women’s hammer.
Moran’s winning mark was 225 feet, 8 inches, though every one of her five legal throws would’ve won the competition. Her worst was 221-8, which was still well ahead of UCLA’s Mayyi Mahama’s second-place mark of 217-4.
Moran scored 10 points for Oregon, which ended the day in fourth place with 17 points as the Ducks look to win a third straight team title. Colorado is in first with 37 points, UCLA is second with 27 and Arizona third with 20. Oregon State has four points and is in a tie for ninth place with Utah.
First points come early in the day for Ducks
Kohana Nakato secured Oregon’s first four points of the competition with her fifth-place finish in the javelin as she threw 164-10 on her final attempt.
It was the second-straight fifth-place finish at the Pac-12 championship meet for Nakato, who was also third as a freshman in 2022.
Oregon State’s Maryann Ackerman was sixth with a mark of 164-2 on her final throw.
It was a no-contest win for UCLA’s Federica Botter, who threw 192-8 — more than 23-feet farther than anyone else.
The Oregon men also scored its only six points of the day in the javelin, getting four from Gavin Korkeakoski with his fifth-place finish and two from Asher Krauel, who placed seventh.
The Ducks are in seventh place in the team standings, well behind first-place Washington, which has 38 points.
Korkeakoski's best mark of 205-9 came on his final attempt and moved him up from eighth place. Krauel’s best throw was 201-11.
The winner was the Huskies' Chandler Ault, who threw 254-3 to break the meet record of 253-3 set by former Duck Cyrus Hostetler in 2010.
Good start for Ducks in the multis
Led by a big first day from Taylor Chocek, the Oregon women’s team occupies three of the top-four spots in the heptathlon standings after four events.
Chocek tallied 3,543 points on Friday and will take a nine-point lead over Colorado’s Avery McMullen into Saturday’s final three events.
Colleen Uzoekwe is in third place with 3,391 points and Annika Williams is in fourth with 3,387.
Oregon’s Gianna Bullock is just outside of scoring position in ninth place with 3,231. Oregon State’s Anneke Moersdorf is in fifth place with 3,338.
In the decathlon, Oregon’s Rafael Raap stands in third place with 3,889 points after five events. He is 200 behind Washington’s Jami Schuelter, who leads with 4,089. Washington State’s Mason Mahacek is second with 3,982.
Arthur Katahdin is also in sixth place for the Ducks with 3,598 points.
10,000-meter final results in points for women
Anika Thompson placed sixth in the 10K in 35 minutes, 19.28 seconds, earning three points for the Ducks. Maddy Elmore was also entered but did not compete.
In the men’s 10,000, Oregon’s Devin Hart and Izaiah Steury finished 12th and 15th, respectively. Hart ran 30:12.75 and Steury crossed in 30:57.60.
Results from preliminaries on the track
Jadyn Mays ran season-best 22.80 to win her heat and advance to Sunday’s 200 final. The 2023 Pac-12 runner-up already had the best time in the conference this season at 22.85. Oregon’s Shaniya Hall (24.04 and Brazil Neal (24.68) also competed but didn’t advance. Oregon’s PJ Ize-Iyamu also advanced to the men’s final in the 200. He won his prelim heat in 20.96.
The Oregon women advanced all three of their entries in the 1,500 into Sunday’s final, as Klaudia Kazimierska (4:23.73), Silan Ayyildiz (4:23.85) and Mia Barnett (4:22.22) all secured automatic qualifiers during the two prelim races Friday afternoon. Oregon State’s Noemi Lundgren ran 4:45.74 and didn’t advance, and Ellie Hull didn’t finish her race.
Rheinhardt Harrison recorded the fastest time in the two men’s 1,500 prelims to advance to Sunday’s final. Harrison won his heat in 3:46.54. Elliott Cook also advanced with an automatic qualifier after finishing fifth in his heat in 3:37.24. Fellow Ducks Tomas Palfrey (3:48.90) and Luke Affolder (3:49.56) finished sixth and seventh in their heat and didn’t advance.
Returning Pac-12 champion Shana Grebo won her 400 hurdles heat in 57.78 to automatically qualify for Sunday’s final. Right behind her was Oregon State’s Kate Sorenson in 58.90 to also qualify. The Beavers’ Adael Scatena ran 1:01.99 and did not advance. Oregon’s Vincent Corday finished fifth in 53.33 in his heat of the men’s 400 hurdles and did not advance to the finals.
Other notable result
It was a rough outing for Oregon’s Alysah Hickey in the long jump. The 2021 and 2022 Pac-12 champion failed to make the finals after recording a best jump of 18-5 during the opening series. Hickey, who missed all of the indoor season and most of the outdoor season with an injury, came into the competition with a season-best mark of 21-1¼. Stanford's Alyssa Jones was the winner with a jump of 21-3½.
Follow Chris Hansen on X @chansen_RG or email at chansen@registerguard.com.
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: See how Oregon Ducks performed on Day 1 of Pac-12 Track & Field champs
