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2014 NCAA outdoor track and field championships day 4 recap: Oregon men clinch team title, nine NCAA individual champions from the Pac-12

by Taylor Dutch
Jun 14, 2014
Eric Evans

"Hayward Magic" was in full force Saturday as upsets and breakout performances gave the Oregon men's track team their first NCAA team title since 1984 – and it all happened at Historic Hayward Field. The "Conference of Champions" was represented by an astounding nine NCAA individual titles from athletes across the Pac-12, including a number of marks that smashed NCAA meet records. 

The Oregon Ducks delivered in front of their home crowd with 88 points to easily take the team title ahead of runner-up Florida who wound up with 70 total points. The USC Trojans followed in a tie for fourth-place with LSU, Arizona finished in seventh and Arizona State followed in 13th, adding up to three Pac-12 schools finishing with the top 15 teams in the country. 

The women of Oregon took home a third-place team finish behind Texas A&M and Texas with 59 total points. Stanford (11th), USC (16th), and Colorado (19th) all added up to four women's teams from the Pac-12 in the top 20. 

Here's a full breakdown of the day 4 action in Eugene:

Oregon

It all started with a nail-biter performance from Mac Fleet. The defending NCAA champion defended his 1500m title by edging out 5k champ Lawi Lalang at the line by four hundredths of a second. Fleet is the first runner to win back-to-back outdoor titles in the event since 1998. His winning time 3:39.09 is a season’s best for the Duck. His freshman teammate Sam Prakel followed in his NCAA outdoor final debut with a 10th-place finish at 3:41.

Senior Sarah Penney ran to a 10th-place finish in the women’s 1500m final in a time of 4:22 for her final race as a Duck.

Junior Arthur Delaney earned more points for the Ducks with a seventh-place finish in the men’s 200m final with a time of 20.79.

In another close finish that had to be taken down to the thousandths of a second, Jenna Prandini added another All-American honor to her resume this weekend with an impossibly close runner-up finish to Texas A&M’s Kamaria Brown. Just to give you a better idea of how ridiculously close this was, Brown ran 22.63 (22.623) and Prandini ran 22.63 (22.630).

Tanguy Pepiot competed to a sixth-place finish in the men’s 3000m steeplechase in a time of 8:43 to add to Oregon's point total.

Sam Crouser was added to the list of Duck NCAA champions after throwing for a mark of 76.98m in the men’s javelin – the first NCAA title of his career. Crouser finished third last year and 14th in 2012.

In a huge upset, wide receiver Devon Allen ran the fastest time of the year and a huge personal best to take the men’s 110m hurdles crown. His time of 13.16 also takes down the NCAA meet record set by Olympian Aries Merritt in 2006 who ran for Tennessee at the time. Allen’s performance clinched the team title for Oregon, giving the Ducks an overwhelming lead with 88 points ahead of Florida’s 62 (at the time).

Freshman Brittany Mann also earned some points for the ladies of Oregon with a seventh-place finish in the women’s shot put to cap off her first year for the Ducks.

Freshman Frida Berge also made her mark at the NCAA outdoor finals with a 15th-place finish in the women’s 5000m to earn second-team All-America honors.

Junior Lauren Crockett brought home second-team All-America honors with a 14th-place finish in the women’s high jump with a mark of 1.77m.

The Oregon women were unable to defend their indoor national title after finishing third in the women’s 4x400m relay in a time of 3:29.03 behind champions Texas and runner-up Texas A&M.

Arizona

After winning the 5k title last night, senior Lawi Lalang returned to set the tone for the men’s 1500m, taking the lead from the start, but barely fell short at the line to defending NCAA champ Mac Fleet. In one of the closest finishes this year, Fleet and Lalang finished in 3:39.09 and 3:39.13, respectively.

Senior Julie Labonte competed in her final meet for the Wildcats with a fourth-place finish in the women’s shot put to earn first-team All-American honors. The performance marks the fourth year in a row that Labonte has earned NCAA outdoor first-team All-America honors in the event.

After a stellar fourth-place finish in the women’s 10k two days ago, Elvin Kibet returned to take 14th in the women’s 5000m in a time of 16:20.

Arizona State

In a masterful finishing kick, junior Shelby Houlihan became the first Sun Devil in school history to win the women’s 1500m title! It may have been a slower, tactical race, but Houlihan proved that she can handle any situation as she fought til the very end to take down Florida’s Cory McGee.

The Sun Devils earned some points early on with a seventh-place finish in the men’s 4x100m relay in a time of 39.73 seconds.

Sophomore Josh Dixon competed in the men’s triple jump for an 18th-place overall finish with a mark of 15.59m.

Another Sun Devil relay team made its mark to end the day as the men’s 4x400m team finished fifth overall to take home first-team All-America honors. Their time of 3:04.11 was a season’s best.

California

In his NCAA outdoor final debut, sophomore Thomas Joyce ran a gutsy race to take 11th in a tight battle to the end from the entire field. His finishing time of 3:41.08 was a personal best.

Sophomore Jonte Grant took home a 14th-place finish in the men’s triple jump with a mark of 15.84m.

Stanford

Senior All-America Michael Atchoo delivered in his final race for the Card with an eighth-place finish in the men’s 1500m with a time of 3:40.66.

Sophomore Darian Brooks finished 21st overall in the men’s triple jump with a mark of 15.55m.

To cap off what has been an incredible year for Aisling Cuffe, the junior battled for a runner-up finish in the women’s 5000m in a time of 15:37, just a few seconds behind NCAA champion Marielle Hall of Texas (15:35). Her teammate Jessica Tonn finished in 13th in a time of 16:19.

UCLA

Freshman Cody Danielson earned second-team All-American honors with a 14th-place finish (65.10m) in the men’s javelin.

Junior Zibby Boyer also earned second-team All-America honors with a 17th-place finish in the women’s high jump with a mark of 1.72m.

USC

The Trojans turned in an impressive performance to kick off the meet with a fourth-place finish in the men’s 4x100m relay in a time of 39.30 seconds. It was the highest finish by a Trojan squad since the 1999 team that placed second. The Florida Gators took home the win in a blazing time of 38.73 seconds ahead of runner-up Texas A&M and third-place LSU.

The women of Troy brought their ‘A’ game today with a season’s best and runner-up finish in the 4x100m relay. With flawless hand-offs at every turn, the Trojans ran a blazing 43.00 seconds to take second behind Texas A&M, who ran the fastest collegiate time of the year in 42.80 seconds. Saturday's Trojan time was the second-fastest in USC school history.

Aaron Brown brought the heat again after running in the men’s 4x100m relay with a runner-up finish in the men’s 200m final on the tail of Florida’s Dedric Dukes. Dukes turned in a wind-legal time of 19.92 seconds, just ahead of Brown’s 20.02.

Sophomore Tynia Gaither returned after anchoring the runner-up women’s 4x100m relay to take sixth in the final of the women’s 200m with a time of 23.05 seconds.

In a photo finish, Aleec Harris was just barely edged out by Oregon’s Devon Allen for the win in the men’s 110m hurdle final. Harris’ runner-up finish was run in 13.18 seconds, just behind Allen’s 13.16.

The women’s 4x400m relay were the last representatives for the USC Trojans with a seventh-place finish overall in a time of 3:32.35.

Washington

Quinn Hale racked up a first-team All-American honor with a fifth-place finish in the men’s javelin with a throw of 70.82m. This was Hale’s first time competing at the NCAA outdoor finals. His teammate Carson Fuller followed with a 20th-place (62.51m) overall finish in the event.

For full results of the 2014 NCAA outdoor track & field championships visit NCAA.com.

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