Boreman Reclaims Steeplechase Title

EUGENE – University of Colorado track and field senior Madie Boreman picked up her second Pac-12 Championship here Saturday, winning the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase and returning the title back to Colorado.
 
Boreman, who won the steeplechase title in 2017 as a freshman, ran a personal best 9:42.22 to take the win. She sat in third and fourth for most of the race, then dropped a 71-second lap to reclaim the title. Her last lap was four seconds faster than any other lap in the race.
 
The Pac-12 women's steeplechase title returns to the Buffs, who prior to last year had won every single women's title since joining the conference. Boreman beat out last year's champion and Polish Olympian Aneta Konieczek who finished third overall. Boreman also leaped a pair of Pac-12 women in the overall NCAA lists, posting the fifth-best time in the NCAA this season.
 
Also in the race, Gabrielle Orie ran 10:03.54 to finish sixth overall and earn her spot into the NCAA Preliminaries. Her mark is good for 27th in the NCAA prior to this weekend's meets.
 
The day started with the second day of the decathlon and heptathlon competitions. Avery McMullen started the day by winning the women's long jump with a jump of 5.85 meters (19-2.5). She took the lead in the overall standings heading into the javelin before Stanford's Allie Jones retook the lead. In the final event, McMullen finished seventh in 2:23.90, three positions behind Jones who took the heptathlon title with 5,731 points. McMullen finished as the runner-up with 5,576 points, while Jada Green finished sixth with 5,312 points.
 
In the decathlon, Nick Bianco closed out the 10-event competition sixth overall with 6,652 points. Bianco's best event was the pole vault where he tied for first with three other athletes at 4.61 meters (15-1.5).
 
In the final day of track prelims, Micaela DeGenero qualified in the women's 800-meter run, winning her heat in 2:05.40. She will race tomorrow in the women's 1,500 championship and then have a 50-minute break before the 800 finals.
 
While DeGenero was the only woman to advance to finals today, a pair of men advanced from the sprints and hurdle squad. Tyler Williams ran the 400-meter dash in 46.31 seconds to advance with the seventh-best mark. His time was also the eighth-best time in CU history. His teammate Kellen Monestime ran 14.56 seconds in the men's 110 hurdles to advance with the eighth qualifying position.
 
Tomorrow the Buffs will have the busiest day in the meet with 32 student-athletes in individual final events, along with some doubling or even tripling up with individual events and relays. The busiest athletes in terms of the number of races are Tyler Williams, Emma Pollak, Abbey Glynn, Aaron McCoy and Garrett Nelson who will all run in the 4x100 and 4x400 relays along with an individual event.

The women jumped into second with 44 points, trailing host Oregon by 16 points following Boreman's championship. The men are tied for eighth with 15 points.