Oregon women finish fourth, men scoreless at NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championship meet

The Oregon women came within two points of a podium finish during the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships.

Led by a second-place finish by Jaida Ross in the shot put and a pair of third-place showing by sprinter Jadyn Mays, the Ducks came in fourth in the team standings Saturday when the three-day meet wrapped up inside the TRACK at New Balance in Boston.

Ross was the runner-up in her event with a mark of 60 feet, 7½ inches.

The junior’s best throw was her first and she spent the rest of the competition attempting to better that mark while also chasing down Colorado State champion Mya Lesnar, who opened with a 60-9½ that Ross couldn’t beat.

None of the other 14 entries had a 60-foot throw. Jalani Davis of Ole Miss was third at 59-6¾.

Ross made a big jump in the standings from last season when she made her NCAA Indoor Championships debut with an eighth-place finish.

Mays’ big day began with her third-place finish in the 60 meters in 7.12 seconds. Ahead of her were LSU’s Brianna Lyston and Georgia’s Kaila Jackson, who ran 7.03 and 7.08, respectively. Lyston’s time was a personal record and the fastest time in the NCAA this season.

Mays was back on the track 40 minutes later for the 200 final when she ran 22.60 for another six points for the Ducks.

Mays was fifth in both events last season.

The 200 winner was South Carolina’s JaMeesia Ford in a PR and collegiate-leading 22.34. McKenzie Long of Ole Miss was second in 22.51.

Several others score for the Ducks

Klaudia Kazimierska grabbed two points with a seventh-place finish in the mile in 4:30.65, just off her school-record of 4:30.33 set earlier this season. The race was won by Harvard’s Maia Ramsden in a meet-record 4:25.13.

Sophomore Aaliyah McCormick was seventh in the 60 hurdles in 8.26. The winner was USC’s Jasmine Jones in a PR and collegiate-leading 7.77.

McCormick has now scored at consecutive NCAA Indoor meets. She was sixth last season.

Maddy Elmore, in her NCAA Indoor debut, placed eighth in the 3,000 in 8:58.52. Oregon State’s Kaylee Mitchell was 10th in 9:02.91.

The race was won by Florida’s Parker Valby in a meet-record 8:41.50. Valby set the collegiate record in the 5,000 on Friday when she won in 14:52.79.

That point by Elmore put the Ducks in fifth place with 29 points — and one out of the third-place tie between Ole Miss and Georgia — heading into the 4x400 finale.

The relay team of Shana Grebo, Ella Clayton, Katriina Wright and Shaniya Hall clocked a 3:30.89 to finish seventh for two points as Oregon jumped Ole Miss into fourth.

Georgia finished sixth in the 4x400 for three points to place third with 33. Arkansas scored 55 to win the team title and Florida was second with 50.

Oregon’s first four points of the meet came Friday night with a fifth-place finish in the distance medley relay.

The team of Mia Barnett, Clayton, Ella Nelson and Silan Ayyildiz ran 10:57.24 during a race that included a collision and fall during the third leg that involved Nelson.

The Ducks also had a potential scorer come off the board when pentathlete Annika Williams took a hard fall in the event-opening 60 hurdles Friday morning and was unable to continue in the competition.

Oregon men’s scoring streak ends

For the first time since 2001, the Ducks failed to score a point in the men’s meet.

Heptathlete Rafael Raap — Oregon’s only men’s athlete to qualify for the meet — dropped out of the competition Saturday after five events to record a DNF.

Raap, who opened the competition Friday morning by stumbling out of the blocks in the 60 meter, and 2,981 points after Day 1.

Saturday he competed in the 60 hurdles but then dropped out with the pole vault and 1,000 still to go.

The Ducks had scored in all 21 NCAA Indoor Championship meets between 2002-23, a stretch that also saw them win five team titles.

Texas Tech won the men’s team title with 50½ points

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: Oregon Ducks track & field 4th at women's NCAA Indoor Championships