Oregon's depth shines during women's Pac-12 Track & Field Championship title run
Oregon coach Jerry Schumacher was anticipating a battle against Southern California that would go down to the wire.
Instead, the Ducks wrapped up their second-straight women’s conference title well before the three-day Pac-12 Track & Field Championship meet ended Sunday afternoon at Hilmer Lodge Stadium in Walnut, Calif.
Oregon recorded seven event wins and scored points in 19 of 21 events as it rolled to 158½ points.
The Trojans were a distant second with 127 points.
“It’s fantastic,” Schumacher told the Pac-12 Networks in an interview from the infield after the Ducks wrapped up the 13th team title in program history. “We knew we were up for an epic battle and our team really stepped up and did a great job top to bottom.”
Five of Oregon’s individual titles came Sunday afternoon, beginning with a win in the meet-opening 4x100-meter relay in 43.31 seconds — setting the tone for what would be a 103½-point day — and ending with a repeat victory by Lexi Ellis in the triple jump in a personal-record 44 feet, 10¾ inches.
“That shows the depth of this program,” Schumacher said. “Really excited about how they performed today.”
Oregon’s throwers rack up points, wins, records
What a weekend for assistant coach Brian Blutreich’s women's throwers.
That group won three of four events, set two school records, and scored a combined 54 points — more than what was scored overall by Utah (45), Arizona (39), Arizona State (31) and Washington State (15½).
Leading the way was Jorinde Van Klinken, who won the shot put on Saturday and the discus on Sunday, repeating her double from last season when she was at Arizona State.
Van Klinken threw 61-0 to win the shot put and steal the school record away from teammate Jaida Ross, who was runner-up for the second-straight season at 60-6¾. Mine De Klerk also placed eighth at 51-9.
Van Klinken won the discus on Sunday with a throw of 206-10, igniting a 21-point performance by the Ducks, who also had Ross come in third at 178-10 and De Klerk finish fourth in 178-8.
Shelby Moran, another ASU transfer, threw 226-3 to win the hammer Saturday and break Britney Henry’s school record of 221-7 that had stood for 17 years.
On Friday during the first day of the meet, Kohana Nakato scored four points for the Ducks with a fifth-place finish in the javelin at 168-3. It was the best throw of her collegiate career.
Mays sprints to 20½-point day
Jadyn Mays ignited the Ducks on Sunday with a tremendous leg on the winning 4x100 team.
An hour later she won a title she won’t have to share.
Backed by an explosive start that was untouchable, Mays raced to victory in the 100 in 11.20.
The sophomore then finished second in the 200 in 22.42 — fourth-fastest in program history behind only Olympians Deajah Stevens (22.09), Jenna Prandini (22.20) and Ariana Washington (22.21).
Welcome back, Shana Grebo
Saturday’s prelim was Shana Grebo’s first collegiate 400-hurdles race in more than a year.
Sunday she returned to win Oregon’s first title in the event.
Grebo overcame some choppy strides over her final couple of hurdles to win in 46.41.
Her time was second-fastest in school history, behind her own Oregon record of 56.28 that she set in 2022 before having to leave the team and return to France due to an eligibility issue.
Grebo spent most of the regular season competing unattached before finally getting cleared to compete again for the Ducks at the Oregon Twilight on May 5.
Chocek leads big meet for Oregon’s multis
Taylor Chocek set a 168-point PR to finish in fourth place in the heptathlon, leading a trio of point scorers for the Ducks in the event.
Chocek, a South Eugene High School grad, scored 5,793 led by a PR in the javelin of 151-10.
Gianna Bullock also finished seventh with a score of 5,162, and Colleen Uzoekwe was eighth at 5,108, as Oregon scored eight team points.
Other notable results
Freshman Aaliyah McCormick was second in the 100 hurdles in 13.06 but then needed help from a trainer to get off the track with an apparent right leg issue.
Two-time defending long jump champion Alysah Hickey was the runner-up in Saturday’s final with a mark of 21-2. Stanford’s Alyssa Jones got the win in 22-3½.
Oregon scored seven points in the 1,500 Sunday afternoon as Izzy Thornton-Bott placed third in 4:11.99 and Maddy Elmore was eighth in 4:15.15.
Freshman Klaudia Kazimierska placed fifth in the 800 on Sunday in 2:06.58, and Ella Nelson was eighth in 2:07.10.
Ella Clayton and Katriina Wright finished sixth and eighth, respectively, in the 400 on Sunday to score four points for the Ducks. Clayton finished in 51.92 and Wright 52.39.
Clayton, Wright, Grebo and Bullock wrapped up the meet with a fourth-place finish in the 4x400 relay in 3:35.30.
Tori Sloan finished fifth in the high jump Sunday with a mark of 5-10 to add four points to Oregon’s team total.
In Saturday’s 3,000 steeplechase final, Harper McClain finished sixth in a PR 10:12.35 and Malia Pivec was seventh in 10:14.75 for five team points. McClain also scored one point Friday with an eighth-place finish in the 10,000 final in a PR 33:42.26.
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This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Oregon Ducks women win 7 events and team title at Pac-12 championships
