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Oregon Ducks track and field has big weekend as DMR resets record and Jaida Ross shines

Chris Hansen, Eugene Register-Guard
·3 min read
Oregon's Maddy Elmore warms up to compete in the 1500 meters at the 2023 NCAA outdoor track and field championships, June 10, 2023 at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas.
Oregon's Maddy Elmore warms up to compete in the 1500 meters at the 2023 NCAA outdoor track and field championships, June 10, 2023 at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas.

The school record in the women's distance medley relay fell Friday night in Fayetteville, Arkansas, during the first day of an impressive weekend of performances for the Oregon track and field program at the Razorback Invitational indoor meet.

The team of Klaudia Kazimierska, Ella Clayton, Ella Nelson and Maddy Elmore won the DMR in 10 minutes, 47.50 seconds, a time that is now No. 1 in program history as well as the No. 2 on the all-time collegiate list. It also set records for the Razorback Invitational meet and the facility record at the Randal Tyson Track Center.

The previous Oregon record was 10:48.77 and set by Lilli Burdon, Ashante Horsley, Raevyn Rogers and Katie Rainsberger in 2017.

Jaida Ross shines in the shot put

The Ducks also added nine other top-10 program marks Friday and Saturday, including from Jaida Ross, who won the women's shot put competition with an NCAA-leading and world-No. 2 measure of 61 feet, 9¾ inches.

During her series, Ross recorded three marks beyond her previous personal record of 60-8 and, in the process, became the No. 8 performer on the all-time collegiate indoor list. She also broke the Razorback Invitational meet record, besting the mark of 60-7¼ set by Raven Saunders in 2017.

Her mark solidified her standing as the Ducks' No. 2 all-time indoor performer.

Several Ducks move into Oregon top 10

Kazimierska ran 2:03.46 in the 800 meters to finish third among collegians and fifth overall. Already second in UO history in the mile, Kazimierska is now the No. 4 performer in the 800.

Emily Fitzsimmons became the first to crack the program's top-10 list in the women's pole vault since 2014 when she cleared 13-4½ to move into a tie with Anginae Monteverde as the No. 8 all-time performer.

Three Oregon men posted sub-1:50 performances in the 800 led by Matthew Erickson, who set an indoor PR at 1:47.92 to make him the Ducks No. 7 all-time performer. Tomas Palfrey also ran 1:48.79 and James Harding ran 1:48.97, setting the national indoor record in his native New Zealand.Ryann Porter moved into fourth all-time at Oregon in the women's triple jump with her mark of 42-8.

The Ducks' women's 4x400 relay team of Shana Grebo, Clayton, Katriina Wright and Shaniya Hall ran 3:32.44 to improve their standing as the No. 8 relay team in program history. Those four had a previous best together of 3:32.64 from the 2022 Pac-12 Invitational.

In the prelims of the men's 60-meter hurdles, Anthony Trucks ran 7.81 to move into seventh on the UO list.

In the pentathlon, Taylor Chocek cleared 5-8¾ during the high jump, which ties the eighth-best clearance in UO history. She finished the competition with 4,067 points, eight shy of her PR.

Gianna Bullock had indoor bests in four of five pentathlon events en route to 3,960 points, No. 5 on the program's top-10 list.

What's next for Oregon

The Ducks will compete at the Don Kirby Invitational (Feb. 9-10) in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the Eagle Elite Invitational in Boston. The meet in Boston will be contested at the TRACK at new balance, the site of this year's NCAA Indoor Championships.Follow Chris Hansen on Twitter @chansen_RG or email at chansen@registerguard.com. For more sports coverage, visit registerguard.com. Want more stories like this? Subscribe to get unlimited access and support local journalism.

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Record-setting DMR highlights Oregon Ducks track and field weekend