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Pac-12 Conference

The Conference
of Champions

2022 Pac-12 Track & Field Championships begin Friday at Oregon

May 12, 2022
Oregon Athletics

CHAMPIONSHIPS CENTRAL // SCHEDULE OF EVENTS // ENTRIES
LIVE RESULTS // PAC-12 NETWORKS COVERAGE
ALL-TIME TOP-10 LIST // PAC-12 RECORD BOOK

SAN FRANCISCO – The Pac-12 Track & Field Championships return this weekend when Oregon hosts the conference meet at Hayward Field from May 13-15.

The Ducks are hosting the Pac-12 title meet for the 10th time and first in five years. Oregon previously hosted in 1967, 1973, 1982, 1992, 2000, 2006, 2009, 2012 and 2017.

Historically spread over two weeks, this is the second year the event will feature a three-day schedule with all running-, field- and multi-event champions crowned on the same weekend.

A schedule of events, live results, records, television details and other relevant information can be found on the championships homepage on pac-12.com/tfchamps.

MEN'S PREVIEW

Six of the conference's 10 men’s squads are ranked in the USTFCCCA National Rating Index, the second-highest total among all conferences behind the 14-team SEC (8). The Pac-12's ranked programs are led by 14-time defending Pac-12 champion and No. 7 Oregon. UO won in record-breaking fashion last season, scoring 185 points to set a new championships standard, besting USC’s 180 points scored at the 1976 meet in Berkeley, California.

Duck athletes have six times or marks among the top 10 on the NCAA descending order lists, highlighted by Tokyo Olympians Micah Williams and Emmanuel Ihemeje. Williams, a member of Team USA's 4x100-meter relay pool last summer, is entered in the 100, 200 and 4x100-relay. At U.S. Olympic Trials, he broke the school 100m record with a 9.91 performance in the final to take fifth place, and is now the No. 2 performer in Pac-12 history. Back in mid-April, the Bowerman Watch List candidate ran a wind-aided 9.83 at the at the Mt. SAC Relays that established the world lead at the time and is currently No. 2 in the NCAA. Entered in the long jump and triple jump, Ihemeje is already a three-time NCAA triple jump champion (2021 and 2022 indoor and 2021 outdoor) and his wind-aided 55-9.25 (17.00m) from Mt. SAC leads the country. He competed for Italy at the Tokyo Olympics and finished 11th overall.

The Ducks' Reed Brown is third nationally in the 1,500 with his 3:36.44 at the Oregon Relays, Ty Hampton is seventh in the javelin (252-11/77.08m) and Max Vollmer is fifth in the decathlon (8,022). Oregon's 4x100 relay is sixth (38.83).

USC enters the meet ranked No. 8 nationally. Second in 2021, the Trojans have finished in the top three in nine of the last 12 conference meets. Its last team title came in 2006. The Trojans boast seven times or marks among the top 10 in the country this outdoor season, including Earnie Sears III’s NCAA-leading 7-6.5 (2.30m) in the high jump. Davonte Burnett is fifth in the 100 and his 9.99 from Mt. SAC is fifth on the Pac-12's all-time top-10 performers' list. Trey Knight is fifth nationally in the hammer (234-6/71.48m) and Omotade Ojora seventh in the 110 hurdles (13.52w). USC’s 4x100 relay is fourth (38.74).

Currently No. 11, Stanford is led by three of the nation's top five 10,000m performers in No. 2 Charles Hicks (27:40.16), No. 3 Cole Sprout (27:42.42) and No. 5 Ky Robinson (27:47.11), which are three of the eight best performances in Pac-12 history. Hicks is the only one entered in that event this weekend, as Sprout is in the 5,000 and Robinson entered in the 5,000 and steeplechase. Robinson's 13:23.61 in the 5,000 at the Stanford Invitational is the seventh-best time in the country. Freshman Udodi Onwuzurike is ninth nationally in the 100, running 10.07 at the Stanford Invitational to break the school and meet records in his collegiate 100m debut. He is entered in the 100, 200 and 4x100-relay this weekend.

Last year's third-place finisher, which put up the second-best point total in program history (114), No. 19 Washington has four athletes with top-10 national times or marks, including two of the country's five best in the 5,000. Brian Fay's 13:16.52 from the Brian Clay Invitational in mid-April is No. 1 in the NCAA and No. 10 on the Pac-12's all-time top-10 performers' list. Teammate Kieran Lumb ran 13:23.26 at the same meet, which is No. 5 nationally. Luke Houser is eighth in the 1,500 (3:37.51) and Roan Allen is ninth in the javelin (246-2/75.04m).

No. 22 Arizona State is led by Turner Washington, the 2021 NCAA outdoor shot put and discus champion and two-time indoor shot put champion (2021, 2022). Washington is No. 2 in the NCAA this season in the shot put (68-5.75/20.87m) and No. 8 in the discus (204-6/62.33m). A 2021 Bowerman Award finalist, he is again on the Bowerman Watch List in 2022. Freshman Ralford Mullings is third nationally in the discus (214-6/65.39m) with the No. 6 performance in Pac-12 history.

Another freshman leads No. 25 California into the conference meet, as discus thrower Mykolas Alekna broke the collegiate record that had stood since 2004 with a 222-0 (67.68m) at the Big Meet against Stanford, the farthest throw by a teenager in world history. Alekna joins Williams (ORE) and Washington (ASU) on the Bowerman Watch List. Cal's Iffy Joyner is No. 9 in the NCAA in this discus (204-0/62.17m) and Hakim McMorris is No. 6 in the decathlon (7,941).

Among others in the top 10 nationally in their events, Colorado’s Eduardo Herrera is fourth in the 5,000 (13:20.30).

In total, seven event champions are back to defend their 2021 titles in Burnett (100/200), USC's Johnnie Blockburger (400), Hicks (10,000), ASU's Jamar Marshall Jr. (110 hurdles), Washington's Elijah Mason (discus) and Vollmer (decathlon).

WOMEN'S PREVIEW

Seven of the nation’s top 25 teams come from the Pac-12 and are led by No. 9 Oregon, which is in search of its first Pac-12 title since 2017. The 14-team SEC is the only conference in the country with more ranked squads (8).

The Ducks, which won nine consecutive championships from 2009-17, have been second in each of the past three meets. UO has top-10 NCAA performers in the 100 (Kemba Nelson; 10th; 11.09), 400 hurdles (Shana Grebo; seventh; 56.28), steeplechase (Aneta Konieczek; sixth; 9:44.72), 4x100 relay (sixth; 42.93), long jump (Alysah Hickey; ninth; 21-8/6.60m) and triple jump (Lexi Ellis; eighth; 44-6.25/13.57m).

Washington, which has been in the top 25 for four consecutive weeks, is currently No. 15 and coming off a program-best, third-place finish in 2021. The Huskies have a quartet of top national times and are led by NCAA 800 leader Carley Adams (2:03.58). In the 1,500, Anna Gibson has the No. 8 performance in the country (4:13.31), Haley Herberg is 10th in the 5,000 (15:31.14) and Ida Eikeng is second in the heptathlon (5,916). 

Two of the country's best throwers power No. 16 Arizona State in Jorinde van Klinken and Beatrice Llano. A Tokyo Olympian for the Netherlands, van Klinken is the reigning NCAA outdoor discus champion and added an NCAA indoor shot put title in mid-March. She leads the country in the discus by a wide margin (212-5/64.75m), is the only discus thrower over 200 feet this year, surpassing the mark in all four of her meets, and has the 12 farthest discus marks this spring. She's also No. 2 nationally in the shot put (60-6.5/18.45m), while Llano is seventh in the hammer (228-6/69.64m). 

No. 18 Stanford has two of the nation's best in the 1,500 in No. 1 Julia Heymach (4:11.00) and No. 5 Christina Aragon (4:12.82), although Heymach is not entered and is in stead in the 800 and looking to defend her title in the 5,000. Virginia Miller, whose 181-3 (55.26m) javelin throw at the Stanford Invitational moved her to No. 10 on the Pac-12's all-time performers' list, is ninth in the country in that event. In the heptathlon, Allie Jones is No. 5 in the NCAA (5,832). At last year's Pac-12 meet, Jones reached or tied her PR in six of the seven events and obliterated her best overall score by 455 points to finish as runner-up.

Three-time defending conference champion USC is ranked No. 21 in the country and has three of the country's top sprinters and hurdlers. Celera Barnes is the national leader in the 100 (10.82) and Samirah Moody ninth (11.08), while Jasmine Jones is No. 9 in the 100 hurdles (12.85w).

Two of the top three hammer throwers in the country are on No. 24 California in Camryn Rogers and Anna Purchase. A Canadian Olympian, Rogers owns the collegiate record (248-5/75.73m), six of the nine best throws in collegiate history, and is the two-time reigning NCAA champion in the hammer. Purchase's PR of 231-9 (70.63m) from the Brutus Hamilton Invitational on April 9 is No. 3 in the country this season and is the No. 5 performance on the Pac-12's all-time list.

For No. 25 Colorado, Abby Nichols is second in the nation in the 5,000 (15:15.95) and the second-best performer in Pac-12 history, while Madison Boreman is ninth in the steeplechase (9:46.80). 

Among others in the top 10 nationally in their events, Oregon State's Grace Fetherstonhaugh is seventh in the steeplechase (9:44.76), Arizona's Samantha Noennig is seventh in the shot put (57-7.5/17.56m), and the Wildcats' Shannon Mesiberger is 10th in the 400 hurdles (56.45).

In total, eight event champions are back to defend their 2021 titles in Heymach (5,000), Konieczek (steepelchase), Washington's Makenna Barton (pole vault), Hickey (long jump), Oregon's Dominique Ruotolo (triple jump), Noennig (shot put), van Klinken (discus) and Rogers (hammer).