Sophomore Jillian Weir set another personal best in the hammer throw, but it wasn’t enough to beat out Caresssa Sims for the win. Sims bettered Weir’s PR of 58.30 meters by less than one meter. Sims threw 58.80 on her first attempt, ultimately good enough to take home the event win.
Jared Schuurmans also took home a win on the strength of his first round throw in the men’s discus competition. Schuurmans opened his day with a toss of 58.65 meters, better than 40 feet farther than the rest of the competition would manage all day. Lane CC sophomore William Kunkle was second, just three inches ahead of Southern Oregon’s Danny Parks who rounded out the top three.
Alyssa Monteverde easily outran the rest of the field in the women’s 100 meter hurdles. Monteverde improved her lifetime best by half a second—an eternity in the world of sprinting—and clocked the second best time in UO history finishing in 13.41. Monteverde ran so fast she outperformed her own expectations.
“My goal this year,” Monteverde said, “was to PR by a little bit and try and get up there and make it to Pac-12s. Surprised is a good word to use, but I’ve been training really hard this year so it’s not that surprising.”
The only real drama was waiting to find out if her PR was wind-legal or if, like the 13.76 she ran in Texas, it was wind-aided.
“That’s always the worry…I saw the time and I was like ‘either way that’s a huge PR. I was hoping it was wind legal.”
Monteverde is training for the multi-events and also competed today in the high jump and the 400 meters where she finished 4th in 1:03.49.
He wasn’t listed on the heat sheets initially, but two time Olympian Andrew Wheating was added to the field for the 800 meters late. Wheating ran in the second section, along with Hank Morrison and Trent Warren.
Wheating won his heat easily in 1:49.24 after spending the first lap in the middle of the pack and slowly making his move on the second lap pulling into first and not looking back as he rounded the Bowerman Curve. It wasn’t the fastest time in the world—it was actually slightly slow by Wheating’s standards—but he was glad to take a win early in the season.
Multi-sport athlete Liz Brenner finished second in the javelin, behind Ducks commit Haley Crouser, but Brenner still PRed.
“I think I felt more rested this week,” Brenner said, “because I didn’t get back (from Florida) until Wednesday, so my body was more rested.”
Brenner had been out of town for the presentation of the Sullivan Award, the top honor given to an amateur athlete by the AAU. Brenner was a finalist for the award.
Jordan Hasay won the 5,000 meters for Oregon, edging out Oregon Track Club’s Bridget Franek by less than a tenth of a second. Hasay took the lead with seven laps to go and didn’t give it up, though she had to hold of Franek over the last 100 meters as the pair crossed the finish line almost in tandem with Hasay finishing in 16:01.54.