NCAA Track & Field Championships: Trio of Oregon school records highlight Day 1 action

Running, jumping, and throwing commenced at Historic Hayward Field for the first day of the NCAA Track & Field Championships. Day one action saw multiple student-athletes score their respective teams' points, and even more qualify for Friday's finals of their events.

[2017 NCAA Track & Field Championships results (NCAA.com)]

If you remember one name from today’s Duck action let it be this: Kyree King. The Pac-12 Male Track Athlete of the year not only qualified for the NCAA finals in three events (100m, 200m, 4x100m relay), but also set new school records in all three events. This is the first men’s 4x100m relay team Oregon has qualified for the finals since 2006. Fast as Duck, indeed. Marcus Chambers also came back from the 4x100m to advance in the 400m, setting a new lifetime best of 44.92. On the distance side, Blake Haney ran a personal best of 3:40.40 in the 1500m to qualify for Friday's finals, while teammate Tim Gorman came up short for the finals with a 3:45.24 run. Redshirt freshman Tanner Anderson repped the Ducks with a 13th place finish in the 10,000m, running 29:21.67. Cole Walsh put the first points on the board for the Ducks, finishing fifth in the pole vault with a best jump of 5.45m (17-10.5). Cody Danielson finished his senior season in 12th place for the Ducks with a best throw of 69.31m (227-4) in the javelin.The duo of decathlon Ducks, Pac-12 champion and runner-up Mitch Modin and Joe Delgado, respectively, completed five of the ten events today, sitting in 17th and 19th place, respectively, heading into tomorrow’s finals.

Eric Sloan gave the Trojans their first points of the day, wrapping up long jump competition with a sixth-place finish and best jump of 7.65m (25-1.75). Nicholas Ponzio was right behind him with more points, also finishing sixth in the shot put with a best throw of 19.53m (64-1). Teammate Matthew Katnik finished 16th in 18.63m (61-1.5). Though their time wasn’t fast enough to qualify for Friday’s finals, the Trojans’ 39.05 in the 4x100m was a season-best and the 10th fastest 4x100m team in USC history. Marquis Morris hung on and ran 13.49 to qualify for the finals in the 110m hurdles. Freshman phenom Michael Norman, on the other hand, is moving on to Friday’s finals in the 400m, running 44.97. Teammate Ricky Morgan Jr. ran 45.92, but did not qualify in the event. The 4x400m squad wrapped up the day's action with a 13th place finish ran in 3:05.80. On the distance side, Robert Ford wrapped the 2017 collegiate season with a 1:50.42 in the 800m, not quite fast enough for Friday’s finals.

2017 Pac-12 Champion Rai Benjamin cruised to a heat win in the 400m hurdles, running a 48.99 that’s good for the fourth-fastest time of the day. The men’s 4x100m team ran 39.89 over the relay, finishing 22nd overall and failing to qualify for Friday’s finals. On the distance side, Austin O’Neil closed his UCLA career running 8:49.52 in the steeplechase, good for 15th place overall. The duo of javelin throwers, Simon Litzell and MarianSpannowsky finished 16th and 23rd, respectively, with best throws of 67.62m (221-10) and 64.90m (212-11), also respectively.

Pac-12 shot put champion Peter Simon's best throw of the day at 19.49m (61-3) at the NCAA Championships to finish seventh overall. Pac-12 3,000m steeplechase champion Bailey Roth ran the fifth-fastest time of the day (8:42.92) to qualify for Friday’s finals. The Wildcats finished day one with a 19th place finish in the 4x400m relay, running 3:08.66.

The Pac-12 hammer throw champion wrapped his 2017 collegiate season up finishing 14th with an individual best throw of 66.16m (217-1). Misana Viltz ran 22.20 in the 110m hurdles and did not qualify for Friday’s finals. 2017 Pac-12 runner-up CJ Allen missed his shot at the NCAA 400m hurdles title by one one-hundredth of a second, finishing ninth overall in 49.44.

Garrett Starkey wrapped up his Sun Devil career flying to 5.15m (16-10.75) in the pole vault, the second-highest clearance in Arizona State history and good enough for 16th place overall.

The Buffs saw the first of their distance dudes qualify for Friday's finals in the 1500m. Ben Saarel hung on in his heat to run a 3:40.71 and qualify for the NCAA 1500m final.

Day two of NCAA Track & Field Championship action kicks off Thursday, June 8 at 2:00 PT/3:00 MT with the women's hammer throw.