The Oregon indoor track and field teams continued its early season success at the University of Kentucky’s Rod McCravy Invitational, picking up six event victories over a two-day span.
On Friday, the women’s team picked up three wins, capped off by a strong showing by the distance medley relay team. The team of Annie Leblanc, Chizoba Okodogbe, Laura Roesler and Megan Patrignelli finished in 10:56.77, shattering the McCravy meet record and Nutter Fieldhouse record. The mark set the bar as the best time in the country this season and is the fourth-fastest time in school history.
After going 1-2 in the 60 meter dash last week in Seattle, Jasmine Todd and Jenna Prandini were the top two finishers on Friday in the long jump. Todd jumped 21-0 (6.40m) in her first jump of the day, which is tops in the NCAA this season and the second-best indoor mark in school history. Prandini jumped 20-1.50 (6.13m) to secure second place. Also picking up a win for the Ducks on Friday was Lauren Crockett, who cleared 6-0 (1.83m) in the high jump – a personal best.
Day two of the event was highlighted by Roesler, who ran a blistering 2:01.32 in the 800 meter run. Roesler’s time was the fastest in the United States this year and is the second-fastest in NCAA indoor history. The NCAA indoor record is held by Nicole Cook, who ran 2:00.75 for Tennessee in 2005. Roesler finished runner-up in the 800 meter run at both the indoors and outdoors championships last year to LSU’s Natoya Goule (who has since transferred to Clemson and will sit out the 2013-2014 season under transfer rules) and appears to be the early favorite in the event this season.
“Laura is training at a really high level and is reaping the benefits of the work she put in over the summer,” head coach Robert Johnson told GoDucks.com. “There are a few things we can still clean up but to come out and run the way she did is a real positive sign.”
Phyllis Francis also picked up a win for the Ducks by running an NCAA season best mark of 52.14 in the 400 meter dash. Francis came back later in the day to anchor the 4×400 meter team, which finished second with a time of 3:35.06.
After anchoring the distance medley team on Friday, Megan Patrignelli won the mile on Saturday in a time of 4:43.68.
Also impressing was freshman Sasha Wallace, who improved on her school record in the 60 meter hurdles in both the preliminaries (8.16) and finals (8.10). Wallace finished third in the finals.
On the men’s side, Mike Berry was edged out by Florida’s Arman Hall in the 400 meters but the senior’s time of 45.84 was the second-fastest time by an NCAA runner this season. Boru Guyota’s finished third in the 800 meter run with a time of 1:48.91 while Parker Stinson netted a fourth-place finish in the 3,000 meter run by finishing in a time of 8:09.36. You can find full results from the meet here.
The Ducks make their way back up to Seattle next weekend for the UW Invitational, which will run from Friday, Jan. 31 to Saturday Feb. 1.
Follow Chris Mosch on Twitter @chris_mosch