Who scored and who qualified for Oregon on first day of NCAA Track & Field Championships?
Chris Hansen
- The Oregon Ducks men's and women's distance medley relay teams both earned points on the first day of the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships.
- Oregon's women's team had a strong showing, with several athletes qualifying for Saturday's finals, including Jadyn Mays in the 60 and 200 and Aaliyah McCormick in the 60 hurdles.
Oregon won’t go into the final day of the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships empty-handed.
The Ducks’ distance medley relay teams both delivered points during Friday’s meet-opening sessions at the Virginia Beach Sports Center in Virginia Beach, Va.
The women’s team of Wilma Nielsen (1,200 meters), Ella Clayton (400), Ella Nelson (800) and Silan Ayyildiz (1,600) placed second in 10 minutes, 45.99 seconds to score eight points. It was the second-fastest time ever produced at Oregon, behind only the collegiate-record setting 10:42.05 the Ducks ran earlier this season.
The men’s team of Tomas Palfrey, Fuad Omer, James Harding and Elliott Cook scored six points with their third-place finish in 9:17.57, breaking the school record of 9:19.42 set in 2021 by the team of Cole Hocker, Luis Peralta, Charlie Hunter and Cooper Teare.
BYU won the women’s race in a meet-record 10:45.34 when Riley Chamberlain ran a 4:25.12 final leg to pass Ayyildiz.
Virginia won the men’s race in a meet-record 9:15.12. North Carolina was second in 9:17.17.
Oregon women load up for Saturday’s finals
Nielsen and Ayyildiz qualified for Saturday’s final in the mile with times of 4:34.17 and 4:34.76, respectively. Those were the fastest and third-fastest times out of Friday’s preliminary heats.
Ayyildiz is also entered in the 3,000 final Saturday.
Jadyn Mays will compete in a pair of finals Saturday as well after advancing in the 60 and 200.
Mays ran season-best times in both prelims, clocking a 7.13 in the 60 and 22.59 in the 200.
The senior placed third in both races during the 2024 championship meet.
Aaliyah McCormick won her heat and had the second-fastest time overall during the prelims of the 60 hurdles when she equaled her personal record with a 7.97.
Also competing in finals Saturday will be Jaida Ross in the shot put and Ryann Porter in the triple jump.
Oregon men advance one in the 800
Matthew Erickson ran a PR 1:46.11 to lead all qualifiers in the 800 prelims and become the No. 2 performer all time at Oregon.
It was a different story for his teammate, Koitatoi Kidal.
Kidal stumbled and fell off the track as the runners were going into the final curve. When he lunged forward he appeared to catch an inadvertent heel to the face from Washington’s Cole Lindhorst, who subsequently fell as well.
Kidali didn’t finish the race, though Lindhorst got up to finish in 15th place in 2:24.83. He was later added to the final after a review.
Oregon’s Simeon Birnbaum also saw his weekend come to an end in the mile prelims when he finished last in his heat in 4:09.64.
Birnbaum had run 3:52.81 this season at the Razorback Invitational in the final weekend of January to become the fourth-fastest performer in Oregon history. But he got injured soon after and didn’t compete again until Friday.
Erickson will be the Ducks’ only competitor on Saturday.
Chris Hansen covers University of Oregon football, men’s basketball, track and field, cross country and softball for The Register-Guard. You can reach him at chansen@registerguard.com and you can follow him on X @chansen_RG