Hunter Earns National Athlete of the Week

EUGENE, Ore. – For the second time in his career—and first as an individual—Oregon redshirt junior Charlie Hunter is the USTFCCCA Division I Men's National Athlete of the Week. Hunter was part of the Ducks' record-breaking DMR and became the No. 4 all-time performer in the mile at last weekend's Razorback Invitational.
 
Hunter previously earned national recognition with Oregon's distance-medley relay in 2020. He is the first UO man to collect individual indoor honors since Edward Cheserek did so in 2017.
 
In his first appearance of the weekend, Hunter split 1:47.65 on the 800-meter leg of Oregon's distance-medley relay that stopped the clock in 9:19.42 to knock more than five seconds off its own collegiate record set at last year's Razorback Invitational. He teamed with Cole Hocker, Luis Peralta and Cooper Teare in the performance.
 
The Ducks' time doubles as the all-time world best, surpassing the time of 9:19.93 established by the American quartet of Matthew Centrowitz, Mike Berry, Erik Sowinski and Pat Casey in 2015.
 
Individually, Hunter posted an NCAA-leading time of 3:54.54 in the mile and in the process, set an Australian national indoor record in the event. Already No. 2 on the all-time UO list, the Gosford, Australia, native tied the fourth-fastest time in collegiate history. In the same race, teammate Reed Brown ran a time of 3:56.61 that ranks No. 2 in the country this season.
 
On Monday, the Men of Oregon debuted at No. 1 in the USTFCCCA national rankings while the Women of Oregon check in as the No. 13 team in the country.
 
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