In hopes of improving their marks before the Pac-12 Championships, which takes place in a week, the throwers, sprinters and distance runners of the Oregon track and field team returned to Hayward Field for the Oregon Twilight on Friday.

“It’s been a long time since our last race here,” said Sam Prakel, who placed fifth in the men’s 800 meter. “It feels good to be back in front of the fans.”

Despite placing fifth, Prakel finished with a personal record of 1 minute, 50.99 seconds in an event he doesn’t normally compete in.

“I was racing a little under distance,” Prakel said. “Trying to work on my speed a little.”

Kiana Phelps kicked things off for the Ducks in the women’s discus. On her fifth throw, she took the lead from Melissa Ausman, who was competing unattached, by hitting a season-best of 165 feet, 5 inches. Madeline Middlebrooks followed them in third with a distance of 153-07.

Later, Phelps participated in the shot put, placing fourth with a distance 47 feet, 3/4 of an inch. She finished behind Maddie Rabing and Ronna Stone in second with 49-00.25 and third with 47-07.00, respectively.

Both Rabing and Middlebrooks headed over to the hammer throw to finish the meet for the women throwers. They went 1-2 after throwing 176 and 174-10, respectively.

As for the men, Cullen Prena won the hammer throw with a distance of  208-05 before heading back to the main field to finish the discus, where he placed third after throwing 168-10 on his final attempt. Ryan Hunter-Simms placed second with a distance of 186-01.

Hunter-Simms also placed second in the shot put after throwing 57-10.50 inches. Behind him was Austin White and T.J. Brassil with distances of 52-05.25 and 52-01.25, respectively.

Cody Danielson won the men’s javelin, winning by almost ten feet. After he threw 238-10 on his fifth attempt, Danielson decided to pass on his final attempt as he was significantly in the lead.

Oregon’s distance runners were also in action. Both the men and women’s 1,500-meter were filled with Ducks. In the men’s event, Mick Stanovsek finished as the runner-up, crossing the line in 3:45.09. After leading for most of the women’s race, Katie Rainsberger finished in third after being outkicked by two other runners. She ran a time of 4 minutes, 11.53 seconds. Just behind her was Jessica Hull in 4:13.48.

It was the opposite for Perrin Xthona in the women’s 3,000. After trailing for much of the race, Xthona took the lead with only two laps to go. She ended up winning the race by more than 20 seconds in 10 minutes, 18.73 seconds.

A couple jumpers also represented Oregon at the meet. Pole vaulter Cole Walsh won after clearing 17 feet, 2.75 inches. In only his second outdoor meet, Ben Milligan was the runner-up in the high jump with a final height of 6 feet, 6.75 inches.

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The Oregon track and field team finished up at the Penn Relays on Saturday with two more relay wins, while the rest of the team concluded the OSU High Performance Meet with multiple athletes hitting personal records.

Sam Prakel had another successful day at the Penn Relays during the men’s 4xmile final. He ran the final leg and sealed the win with a strong kick. Oregon’s team of Mick Stanovesk, Tim Gorman, Blake Haney and Prakel won with a final time of 16 minutes, 21.81 seconds. Because of his performance, Prakel was named the men’s college athlete of the meet.

Oregon’s Sam Prakel races during the 1,500 meters. The NCAA Track & Field National Championship is held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon on June 10, 2016. (Kaylee Domzalski/Emerald)

Oregon then earned their second relay win, this time in the women’s 4×400 relay. The quartet of Elexis Guster, Raevyn Rogers, Makenzie Dunmore and Deajah Stevens finished more than seven seconds faster than anyone else with a time of 3:24.72 to earn another Penn Relays record.

The Oregon men also earned a second-place finish in the 4×100. On Friday, the team of Damarcus Simpson, Kyree King, Julius Shellmire and Marcus Chambers finished third to qualify for the Champ of America final. During the final, they finished in 39.10 to top their own school record.

In the individual events, Alaysha Johnson, who had finished with the top time in the 100-meter hurdles on Friday to advance to the final, won the event with a time of 12.88 while running into a headwind.

As for the throwers, Ryan Hunter-Simms placed fourth in the discus with personal record distance of 194 feet, 9 inches to earn seventh in school history, while Cody Danielson and John Nizich placed fifth and sixth in the javelin, respectively.

The throwers at OSU High Performance Meet were also successful. Maddie Rabing won the women’s shot put after throwing a personal record of 50 feet, 01.50 inches on her third attempt.

Both the men and women finished second place in the discus. Kiana Phelps finished with a best throw of 162 feet, 1.5 inches. Drake Brennan threw 175-10.50 for his runner-up finish and behind him was Cullen Prena in third, throwing 175-05.50.

Three of the hurdlers at OSU, Braxton Canady, Khadejah Jackson and Kylee O’Connor, also hit personal records. Canady finished as the runner-up in the men’s 110-hurdles, while Jackson finished in third in the women’s 100 hurdles. They ran times of 14.15 and 14.19 seconds, respectively. Jackson also ran the 4×400 hurdles, along with O’Connor. They finished second and fourth with times of 1 minute .03 of a second and 1:00.89, respectively.

Rhesa Foster also ran the women’s 100 hurdles, finishing just after Jackson in fourth in 14.30. Right before, she finished in second in the long jump with a distance of 19 feet, 8.50 inches. Oregon’s other woman jumper, Chaquinn Cook, won the triple jump with a distance of 41 feet, 1.5 inches, a season best.

In the women’s 800-meter, Brooke Feldmeier placed fourth with a time of 2:05.12, while Katie Rainsberger placed sixth with a personal record of 2:05.20.

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No. 6 Oregon hadn’t won a three-game series since the beginning of the month when it swept Arizona State. That changed on Saturday when the Ducks beat Oregon State 7-2 to secure their first three-game series win since April 2.

After the game, both head coach Mike White and senior right fielder Danika Mercado discussed the importance of momentum, both in the game and in the season as a whole.

“Every game’s important right now as you’re looking into the postseason,” White said. “Once we get some momentum, we want to keep it.”

“Winning a series is huge for momentum,” Mercado added. “Our team has needed a couple big games of hitting, and I think we’ve had them. Like I said in the past, it just takes a couple hits for us to get going.”

Momentum was on the Duck’s side as they led 4-0 heading to the fifth inning but that changed quickly in the fifth when Oregon State (24-21, 6-11) put together a rally. After Natalie Hampton hit a double to centerfield, she advanced Sammi Noland, who reached base on a walk, to third.

With two bases loaded and only one out, freshman pitcher Miranda Elish came in to relieve another freshman, Maggie Balint, who finished the game with two hits and a strikeout but walked six. Although Elish managed to strike out Alysha Everett, Lovie Lopez was able to hit a single and scored Noland and Gregoire, pinch running for Hampton. The score stood at 4-2 after Oregon State batted.

“Maggie just wasn’t getting strikes,” White said. “She had six walks, and that’s too many at this level.”

But Oregon (40-6, 13-6) regained momentum in its half of the fifth. After Shannon Rhodes singled to left field, Mia Camuso came up to bat. She reached first on a fielder’s choice that also saw Rhodes advance to second on a fielding error. Oregon State had three such errors in the game.

Another fielding error allowed Lauren Lindvall to advance to first base, loading the bases. A pitching error also cost the Beavers when Nerissa Eason hit Jenna Lilley with a pitch, allowing Rhodes to score. Then, Mercado singled to right field to score Lindvall and Camuso, bringing the score up to 7-2.

“I think that was a huge inning for us,” Mercado said of Oregon’s five-run fifth. “We always talk about winning the inning.”

After that, Oregon State decided to take out their pitcher, switching Eason for Taylor Cotton. Eason finished with seven hits, two errors and five walks, but only one strikeout. One of those errors had allowed Oregon to score in the bottom of the second when Eason threw an illegal pitch, enabling Mia Camuso to bring the score up 2-0.

Although Cotton was able to keep Oregon at seven, it was Elish who stole the show for the relief pitchers. She finished the final two innings by throwing six strikeouts with only two hits.

“Miranda did a fantastic job. That’s the best that I’ve ever seen her pitch,” White said. “I think she continues to get stronger and stronger week to week. I mean she struck out their best hitter [Alyssa Everett] twice.”

The Ducks will conclude their three-game series against Oregon State on Sunday at Jane Saunders Stadium.

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The Oregon track and field team split and traveled to the OSU High Performance and the Penn Relays. Oregon won three events at the Penn Relays on Friday.

The Women of Oregon broke yet another collegiate record, winning the women’s sprint medley in 3 minutes 39.05 seconds. The time was also a Penn Relays record.

Makenzie Dunmore kicked things off in the 100-meter leg and tore past the other competitors to give Oregon an early lead. Deajah Stevens and Hannah Waller built on that lead in the 200-meter and 400-meter legs, respectively. That left Raevyn Rogers with more than a 30 foot lead to finish off the 800-meter leg as Oregon won effortlessly by more than four seconds.

Earlier, Stevens and Dunmore ran legs in the women’s 100-meter relay to bring Oregon its first victory of the day. After winning their heat on Thursday with the fastest time out of the rest of the teams in the field to advance to the Champ of America final, the quartet of Alaysha Johnson, Stevens, Dunmore and Ariana Washington broke the another Penn Relays record, finishing in 42.35 seconds.

The men also found success by winning the distance medley relay with a time of 9 minutes, 32.61 seconds. Marcus Chambers ran an impressive 400-meter leg in 45.58 seconds, almost two seconds faster than anyone else in the field. His performance moved Oregon from fifth place to first. During the 800-meter leg, Mick Stanovesk fell back into fourth, forcing Sam Prakel to make up the distance on the 1,600-meter leg. With 200-meters to go, Prakel broke out into a run to beat out the rest of the field on the straightaway.

The Ducks also earned two third-place finishes. The quartet of Marcus Chambers, Kyree King, Julius Shellmire and Damarcus Simpson qualified for the final in the 100-meter relay, which will take place on Saturday. Emma Abrahamson, Lilli Burdon, Jessica Hull and Samantha Nadel ran the 1,500-meter final in 17:39.78 to earn their third-place finish.

Meanwhile, at the OSU High Performance Meet, Frida Berge placed fifth in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase and crossed the line in 10:21.27. Her time is the eighth-fastest in school history.

The men and women also delivered stellar performances in the hammer throw. Max Lydum won the event with a personal record of 182 feet, 8 inches. Austin Tharp also hit a personal best of 171-10. Madeline Middlebrooks finished second with a final distance of 182-8, while Maddie Rabing earned another personal record, hers of 177-5 to finish fifth.

Cole Walsh finished in second in the pole vault after a hard-fought battle with Justin Petz of Lane Community College. Both finished with heights of 16 feet, 8 inches, but since Walsh missed his first attempt, the win was given to Petz.

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The Oregon beach volleyball team’s season ended on Friday during the Pac-12 Championship after suffering two losses in the pairs competition. Neither duo was able to tally a set win. Oregon finishes the season with a record of 2-9.

The pairing of Taylor Agost and August Raskie were up first for the Ducks as they took on the Cal duo of Bryce Bark and Olivia Rodberg. They lost by scores of 21-14 and 21-15.

A couple hours after, Oregon saw its season end. On the top court, Lindsey Vander Weide and Brooke Van Sickle matched-up against Arizona State’s Bianca Arellano and Whitney Follette. After losing the first set of 21-13, the Ducks tried to fight back but dropped the second set 21-19.

Now, the Ducks return to the indoor courts. They will play a couple of spring exhibition matches. The first one will be on May 7 against Washington and Oregon State.

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The Oregon beach volleyball team was eliminated from the Pac-12 Championships on Thursday after dropping both of its matches against Utah and Washington in Tucson, Arizona.

The Ducks (2-9) battled hard against Utah, falling 3-2. Utah took an early lead after dispatching Lauren Page and Marine Hall-Poirier in the only match that didn’t go to three sets. On court No. 3, Willow Johnson and Maddy Silberger-Franek soon evened the score.

Taylor Agost and August Raskie also suffered a defeat, leaving the pair of Ronika Stone and Maggie Scott to even the score once again.

The match came down to Lindsey Vander Weide and Brooke Van Sickle on the top court. They were able to win the first set, but then dropped the next two to give Utah the victory.

Later in the day, Washington routed Oregon, 5-0. Oregon mustered just one set victory in the match. Stone and Scott, who were arguably Oregon’s most competitive pair this season, were the lone duo to force a third set. They they eventually fell to Washington’s Anna Crabtree and Lindsay Chalmers.

Even though the team has been eliminated, the Ducks will stick around for Friday’s action. Oregon’s top two pairs — Raskie/Agost and Vander Weide/Van Sickle — will compete. They will square off against other pairs from Cal and Arizona State.

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Head Coach Robert Johnson still remembers hearing the announcer address the crowd, alerting them of Oregon’s presence one of the first times he brought the track and field team to the prestigious Penn Relays.

“Here comes Oregon,” the speakers boomed.  “And they have sprinters!”

Raevyn Rogers described the atmosphere of the Penn Relays with the same excitement, calling it “a festival for track.”

Oregon has been “putting on a show,” as Rogers puts it, at the Penn Relays since 2010 when the men’s distance medley relay team, that included Matthew Centrowitz and Andrew Wheating, took home the school’s first victory

Now, the Ducks are well-respected in the East Coast community and hope to continue their dominance this weekend. The Penn Relays will take place Thursday-Saturday and will be streamed live on USATF.tv with a premium subscription.

The Ducks are entered in eight different relays. The men and women are entered in both the 4×100 and 4×400 relays. Additionally, the women will be in the 4×1,500 and the sprint medley, while the men compete in the DMR and the 4xmile, which will both feature Sam Prakel.

“We have been running as individuals up until this point trying to chase regional qualifying times, but this kind of reminds us how great of a team sport track can be,” he said of the emphasis on relays the meet has.

However, there will be some individuals competing. Alaysha Johnson is set to compete in the 100-meter hurdles, while Jackson Mestler runs in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

In addition, a couple throwers will travel to the Penn Relays, including Cody Danielson and John Nizich in the javelin and Ryan Hunter-Simms in both the shot put and the discus.

The majority of the throwers and the rest of the track and field team will travel the much shorter distance up to Corvallis for the OSU High Performance. Drake Brennan and Sebastian Barajas are doubling in the discus and shot put. In both events, they will be joined by other throwers, including T.J. Brassil and Austin White in the shot put and Cullen Prena in the discus. Prena is also set to compete in the hammer throw with Max Lydum and Austin Tharp.

For the women, Kiana Phelps, Ronna Stone and Maddie Rabing will compete in the shot put and discus, while Rabing will also participate in the hammer throw with Madeline Middlebrooks. Annie Whitfield will be in the javelin.

More sprinters will compete in individual events at OSU, particularly in the hurdles. Rhesa Foster will double in the 100-meter hurdles – where she will be joined by Khadejah Jackson – and the long jump. Chaquinn Cook rounds out the jumpers in the triple jump.

Set to compete in the men’s 110 hurdles is Braxton Canady, along with decathletes Mitch Modin and Joe Delgado. The two of them will also be in the pole vault (with Cole Walsh) and shot put.

Coming off an NCAA-leading performance in the 1,500-meter two weeks ago, Katie Rainsberger will compete in the 800-meter, alongside Brooke Feldmeier.

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In preparation for next week’s spring game, the Oregon football team played a scrimmage for its practice on Saturday.

Head coach Willie Taggart addressed the media before practice kicked off and said that it would be played like an actual game, with coaches in the press box and on the sidelines.

He also answered other questions about the spring game and the detailed the process for how coaches will form teams for next Saturday. Here is what he said:

Media: Is the only difference between today and next Saturday is no one is watching?

Willie Taggart: We’re going to draft for the spring game which will be pretty cool. Our coaches had from Sunday until this past Thursday to get free agents for their teams. They were able to get one offensive player and one defensive player for their team, and then we’ll have our draft tonight for the spring game. That part will be different. Today is just going out and getting better and competing. It’s a big evaluation day for us.

M: Are the coordinators the ones drafting?

WT: We actually picked names out of a hat to pick who would be the head coach for each team. Coach [Raymond] Woodie and Coach [Keith] Heyward will be the head coaches for the teams, and I’ll be the commissioner.

M: Who were those free agents?

WT: Royce Freeman and Ugo [Amadi] are for one team. And then Jake Hanson and the freshman Jordon Scott for the other team. It’ll be interesting.

M: Who decided that those four guys were going to be the free agents?

WT: The coaches of the teams. Like I said, they had from Sunday until Thursday to do anything they could, within NCAA rules, to entice the guys to get on their team. Those were the guys they wanted.

M: What about Scott has impressed you?

WT: Everything. From the time he’s gotten here, he’s been very impressive. We asked him to lose weight, and he is doing that with enthusiasm, and he’s going out and competing every single day. He’s gaining respect not just from the coaching staff but from his teammates. The kid is going to be special.

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Oregon wrapped up its regular season this weekend by going 1-4 on its trip to California. The Ducks played against Sacramento State on Thursday, Stanford and Boise State on Friday, and Washington and Cal on Saturday.

The trip began on a high note as Oregon narrowly edged on Sacramento State 3-2, a team which the Ducks defeated a week ago for their lone victory of the season. Ronika Stone and Maggie Scott improved to 3-0 on the season as the No.5 pairing and evened Oregon’s record on the day at 1-1. Oregon had been down 1-0 after Lauren Page and Marine Hall-Poirier lost their match.

The match was tied at two apiece going into the final pairing after No. 3 pairing of Maddy Silberger-Franek and Willow Johnson won their match and the No. 2 pairing of Taylor Agost and August Raskie lost theirs. Brooke Van Sickle and Lindsey Vander Weide secured the victory.

But the weekend went downhill from there as the Ducks played a tournament at the Stanford Beach Volleyball Stadium on Friday. The Ducks didn’t win a single match against Stanford and only winning one against Boise State.

A week after losing 2-3 to Boise State, the Ducks fell to the Broncos once again; this time 1-4.

On Saturday, Oregon again went o-5 and 1-4 in its two matches.  The Ducks weren’t able to generate a win against Washington and were only able to get one win out of Cal. The lone win came out of the top court with the pairing of Vander Weide and Van Sickle.

The California trip finished out the Ducks’ regular season as they ended with a 2-7 record. On April 27-28, Oregon will participate in the Pac-12 Championship.

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It was a historic day for Oregon’s sprinters on the final day of the Mt. Sac Relays.

The quartet of Hannah Cunliffe, Deajah Stevens, Ariana Washington and Makenzie Dunmore broke their own collegiate 4×100 record (42.34  seconds) they set two weeks ago at the Florida Relays. On Saturday, they finished first in 42.12, barely edging out LSU’s relay team by .02 of a second.

Soon after, Stevens and Washington went 1-2 in the 100-meter, while running against former Ducks Jenna Prandini and Jasmine Todd, who both finished in the top 12. Stevens’ and Washington’s times of 11.00 and 11.06 respectively were personal bests and fifth and sixth in Oregon history.

But, their days still weren’t done. Stevens ran a new world-leading time of 22.31 and took home the win in the 200. Washington also participated in the race and finished eighth, crossing the line in 22.93 right before another former Duck, English Gardner.

That wasn’t the only record that the Women of Oregon set NCAA on Saturday. Raevyn Rogers crossed the line in a speedy 1 minute, 59.10 seconds in the 800 meter to break the 27-year-old collegiate record by .01 of a second.

Kyree King also took his place in school history in the men’s 100-meter. He finished fifth overall with a personal best of 10.23, good for fourth in school history. Before that, King, along with Marcus Chambers, Julius Shellmire and Damarcus Simpson set an Oregon record in their 4×100 relay, crossing the line in 39.18.

Chambers also took second place in his first 400 of the spring with a time of 45.29. He, along with Johnathan Harvey, Cameron Stone and Chin Ng also won the men’s 4×400 relay, with a time of 3 minutes, 07.30 seconds.

The women also won their 4×400 relay. Rogers, Dunmore, Elexis Guster and Alaysha Johnson crossed the line in 3:27.98. Before that, Guster took third in the 400 with a 52.69, followed quickly by Dunmore in 53.05 for fourth.

Johnson also ran in the 100-meter hurdles, though she didn’t finish as well as teammate Sasha Wallace, who placed fourth with a time of 13.56 seconds.

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