Track and Field teams compete at NCAA West Regionals

May 29, 2014

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. - Pac-12 men’s and women’s track and field student-athletes will compete at the NCAA West Region Championships hosted by the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Ark., Thursday-Saturday, May 29-31. Qualifying teams advance to the 2014 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships which will be hosted by the University of Oregon in Eugene, Ore., on June 8-11.

Qualifying to the final championships competition is accomplished through performance at the regional (East and West) competitions for events contested at those competitions. Twelve competitors from each individual event and 12 teams from each relay event advance from each regional to the final championships competition. Qualification, through competition in an event at a preliminary championships competition is required to participate in that event at the final championships competition. The NCAA East Region Championships is being hosted by the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Fla.

Nearly 154 women and nearly 148 men representing Pac-12 schools will be competing for a spot at the NCAA Championships. For more information on the NCAA West Regional, .

ENTRIES... A complete list of men’s and women’s competitors representing Pac-12 institutions at the NCAA West Regional is on pages 4-5. For the complete list of participants at the NCAA West Regional in Austin, Texas, visit the NCAA’s official website at www.ncaa.com or click on the direct link here: http://www.arkansasrazorbacks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=6100&ATCLID=209418169

LIVE RESULTS & SCHEDULES... The live results link, as well as, additional meet information can be found at the University of Arkansas’ championships site here: http://www.arkansasrazorbacks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=6100&ATCLID=209418169

HEPTATHLON/DECATHLON ENTRIES... The top 24 athletes in both the heptathlon and decathlon that have already qualified for the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Ore., have been announced. Below is the list of student-athletes that will be representing Pac-12 teams in both events. For the complete list of competitors, visit the NCAA’s official website or click on the direct link here: http://www.rtspt.com/ncaa/d1outdoor14/.

Decathlon: Dakotah Keys, SO, ORE; Viktor Fajoyomi, SR, USC; Mitch Modin, FR, ORE

Heptathlon: Alexis Walker, JR, UCLA

SOCIAL MEDIA... Fans can also follow the NCAA Regional Championships via social media by following Pac-12 teams’ official twitter pages: @ArizonaTrack; @SunDevilTFXC; @Cal_Track; @cubuffstrack; @oregontf; @Beavers_Track; @suathletics; @UCLATrack_Field; @USC_Track_Field; @Utah_trackfield; @UW_Track; @WSUTrackField. The United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association will also have full live coverage on its official twitter handle at @USTFCCCA.

TOP MARKS... The Pac-12 Track & Field Championships have featured many of the nation’s top-collegiate teams and athletes on a yearly basis. And this season is not any different. Five different athletes have posted the nation’s top times or marks, including OREGON senior Laura Roesler (2:00.54, 800m), STANFORD junior Aisling Cuffe (15:11.13), COLORADO senior Shalaya Kipp (9:39.12, steeplechase), ARIZONA senior Nick Ross (7-6.5/2.30m, high jump) and UA’s Lawi Lalang (3:36.34, 1,500m). The top three times in the country in the 800 meter belong to Pac-12 runners, with Stanford sophomore Amy Weissenbach posting the second-best time (2:02.60) and Oregon senior Samantha Murphy ranks third with a time of 2:02.61. A memorable 1,500-meter final at the Pac-12 Track & Field Championships turned in the top two times in the country, as UO’s Edward Cheserek finished second in the race behind Lalang with a time of 3:36.50.

BOWERMAN UPDATE... The latest The Bowerman Watch List which was released on May 22 features three women’s and three men’s athletes from Pac-12 institutions, with five different league institutions represented. There are 10 men’s and 10 women track and field athletes on each watch list. On the women’s side, OREGON is one of two schools with two athletes on the women’s list, with Phyllis Francis and Laura Roesler making the cut. COLORADO’s Shalaya Kipp also joins the UO duo on the list.

On the men’s side, ARIZONA’s Lawi Lalang and UCLA’s Julian Wruck make a return to the list after being two of the three finalists for last year’s honor. OREGON’s Edward Cheserek is on the list, as well, and is the only freshman to be featured.

The Bowerman Trophy, which was first awarded in 2009, is presented annually by the USTFCCCA to the most outstanding male and female collegiate track & field athletes in the nation.

OREGON SWEEPS PAC-12 TITLES... The OREGON men’s and women’s track and field teams swept the Pac-12 Men’s and Women’s Track & Field Championships that were held at Mooberry Track & Field Complex on the campus of Washington State. The men’s squad claimed its eighth-consecutive title tallying 163.25 points, while the women collected 176 points for first place. Individual recognition also when to UO’s Jenna Prandini who accounted for 32 points and earned Women’s Athlete of the Meet. USC’s Aaron Brown was the Men’s Athlete of the Meet after collecting 22.50 points. Prandini won three individual titles, claiming the long jump, 100-meter and 200-meter titles. She becomes only the fourth woman in Conference history to win at least three titles in one meet and the first since Seilala Sue of UCLA achieved the feat in 1999. Brown claimed the 100-meter and 200-meter sprints, also running the second leg of the 4x100-meter relay team to help the Trojans place first in the event.

On the men’s side, OREGON held a substantial lead by the end of the meet as USC placed second with 99 points. ARIZONA was third with 83 points and ARIZONA STATE was fourth with 80.75 points. WASHINGTON finished fifth (75.25), STANFORD was sixth (71), UCLA was seventh (68.25) and CALIFORNIA was eighth (67). In ninth place with 66.50 points was host-WASHINGTON STATE and COLORADO had 44 points.

On the women’s side, OREGON held the lead after the first day and never looked back, staying ahead of second-place USC, who scored 145 points. STANFORD and ARIZONA STATE tied for third with 75 points each, ARIZONA was just one point behind for fifth place and UCLA’s 68 points were good for sixth. WASHINGTON had 53 points for seventh, WASHINGTON STATE collected 46.50 points for eighth and CALIFORNIA had 44.50 points for ninth place. In 10th place with 33 points was COLORADO, followed by UTAH (23) and OREGON STATE (2).

PAC-12 MEET RECORDS FALL... During the course of the Pac-12 Men’s and Women’s Track & Field Championships, four meet records were broken and one was tied. OREGON’s Jenna Prandini broke former teammate English Gardner’s 200-meter record that was set last year, clocking a time of 22.60, the second-best time in the country this season. Meanwhile the USC 4x100-meter squad won the race in a meet-record time of 43.21.

On the men’s side, Aleec Harris broke former Trojan’s record in the 110-meter hurdles, recording 13.35 in the finals to shave off .04 seconds from the old record. ARIZONA’s Lawi Lalang broke his own record in the 1,500 meters, running in a time of 3:36.34 to also post the fastest time in the nation in the event this year. Fellow Wildcat Nick Ross jumped a height of 2.28m/7-5 3/4 in the high jump to tie the meet record. He is the third high jumper to achieve the height and first since 2005.

EPIC RACE AT THE PAC-12 CHAMPIONS... A wire-to-wire battled in the 1,500-meter race at the Pac-12 Championships resulted in an epic race for the ages. In the final 100 meters, ARIZONA’s Lawi Lalang held off OREGON’s Edward Cheserek by .16 seconds to win the individual title. Lalang’s winning time of 3:36.34 ranks as the seventh-fastest time in history at a collegiate meet, while Cheserek’s time, 3:36.50, ranks ninth all-time, making that race one of the fastest races in collegiate history.

2014 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS... The University of Oregon will host this year’s NCAA Championships, June 11-14 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. The University of North Florida (East) and the University of Arkansas (West) will be hosting the regional competition, May 29-31, 2014.

2015 PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS... UCLA will host the 2014 Pac-12 Championships, to be held May 9-10 and 16-17 at Drake Stadium in Los Angeles.