Oregon has one last chance to add to its list of NCAA Indoor Championships qualifiers

Chris Hansen, Register-Guard
·2 min read
Oregon's Elliott Cook, right, is on track to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championship meet in both the 800 meters and mile.
Oregon's Elliott Cook, right, is on track to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championship meet in both the 800 meters and mile.

Oregon will compete in its final meet of the regular season this weekend when the Ducks take a large squad to Seattle for the Ken Shannon Last Chance Invite.

The meet represents exactly what the name implies — Oregon’s last chance to secure qualifiers for the March 10-11 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championship meet.

The national meet takes the top-16 entered individuals on the descending order list. As of Thursday, the Duck women have eight individuals in qualifying position in seven events, plus their distance medley relay team.

The Oregon men have two individuals in qualifying position in three events.

The Oregon State women also have two runners in qualifying position.

That could change this weekend with conference championship meets and several last-chance meets taking place across the country.

Oregon also has a couple of athletes on the bubble competing in Seattle. Mine De Klerk ranks 27th in the women’s shot put at 54-11½, and Taylor Chocek is 18th in the pentathlon with season-best score of 4,075.

The Ducks have loaded up in the opening heat of the 5,000 meters as the bulk of the men’s distance team will make its season debut Friday evening.

Quincy Norman, Cameron Stein, Abdinasir Hussein, Caleb Brown, James Gormley, Giuliano Scasso, Luke Affolder and Josh Schumacher are all entered, as are freshmen Josh Edwards, Benjamin Balazs, Kutoven Stevens and Jeffery Rogers, who are entered as unattached.

As intriguing as it is to see so many Oregon runners finally entered in a distance race this season, it would require a lifetime-best effort from one of those Ducks to get an NCAA qualifier. The 16th-fastest time in the NCAA this season, as of Thursday, was 13 minutes, 26.11 seconds. That’s more than 20-seconds faster than the PR of any Duck entered.

In qualifying position

The top-16 entered athletes in each event qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships

OREGON

Men

  • 60 — 1, Micah Williams, 6.51 (ran 6.49 but adjusted for altitude)

  • 800 — 9, Elliott Cook, 1:46.93.

  • Mile — 13, Elliott Cook, 3:55.34

Women

  • 60 — 7, Jadyn Mays, 7.17

  • 200 — 7, Jadyn Mays, 22.93

  • Mile — 9, Klaudia Kazimierska, 4:32.03. 10, Izzy Thornton-Bott, 4:32.69.

  • 60 hurdles — 6, Aaliyah McCormick, 8.03.

  • Distance medley relay — 3, 10:49.07

  • Long jump — 1, Alysah Hickey, 22-3¼

  • Triple jump — 5, Lexi Ellis, 44-3½

  • Shot put — 1, Jorinde Van Klinken, 64-2½. 9, Jaida Ross, 58-2½

OREGON STATE

Women

  • Mile — 14, Kaylee Mitchell, 4:32.95

  • 3,000 — 10, Kaylee Mitchell, 8:55.10. 13, Grace Fetherstonhaugh, 8:55.71

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 head to Ken Shannon Last Chance Invite