Pac-12 with 125 entries at 2022 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships
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SAN FRANCISCO – The Pac-12 will have 125 combined entries in 41 events at the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Oregon’s Hayward Field from June 8-11.
The conference will be seeking its 48th all-time men’s title and first since OREGON in 2015. Its 47 prior men’s outdoor championships are the most among all leagues, 18 ahead of the SEC, which is in second with 27. On the women’s side, the Pac-12 will be looking for its 11th overall title and second consecutive (USC). The conference’s 10 women’s outdoor championships are the second-most all-time, trailing the SEC’s 22.
The 2022 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships are the Ducks' second consecutive national hosting duties at the renovated Hayward Field. Between 2010 and 2018, Oregon hosted the NCAA Championships seven times. In addition to these NCAA Championships, Hayward Field is set to host the World Athletics Championships from July 15-24.
ESPN will provide live telecast and streaming coverage of the NCAA Championships across its family of networks. Click here for a complete broadcast schedule breakdown and streaming links.
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS – PAC-12 WOMEN’S PREVIEW
The Pac-12 will be represented by all 12 programs in 20 women’s events at the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships – every event except the long jump. In total, the league will have 69 event entries - 62 individual events and seven relay teams – and is led by No. 9 nationally ranked Oregon, the Pac-12 champion, which boasts 14 entries. No. 10 Colorado is the only other league school with double-digit entries, as the Buffaloes have a program-record 12.
A conference program will seek to hoist the hardware for the fifth time in seven championship meets, following USC victories in 2018 and 2021 and Oregon titles in 2015 and 2017.
PAC-12 WOMEN’S EVENT ENTRIES BY SCHOOL - 69
Oregon – 14 entries (13 + 1 relay)
Colorado – 12 entries (11 + 1 relay)
USC – 8 entries (6 + 2 relays)
Stanford – 7 entries
Washington – 6 entries
Arizona State – 5 entries
California – 5 entries (4 + 1 relay)
UCLA - 3 entries (1 + 2 relays)
Washington State – 3 entries
Arizona – 2 entries
Oregon State – 2 entries
Utah – 2 entries
Four Pac-12 athletes enter the NCAA Championships leading the nation in four events. USC’s Celera Barnes is tied for the national lead in the 100m (10.82) with Texas Tech's Rosemary Chukwuma. Both wind-aided times, Barnes ran hers at the Texas Relays in late March, while Chukwuma posted hers at West Prelims. Eighth in the 100m last year while at Kentucky, Barnes is looking to become the second woman from USC to win the event, along with four-time champion Angela Williams (1999-2002).
The national leader in the 10,000m and the Pac-12 Women's Track Athlete of the Year, Colorado's Abby Nichols is focusing on the 5,000m, an event in which she is ranked second in the country and ninth in NCAA history. Fellow Buff Dani Jones (2019) is the most recent of eight NCAA champions in the 5,000m from the Pac-12.
Arizona State's Jorinde van Klinken, the defending NCAA discus champion, leads the country in the event again this season with a mark of 212-5 (64.75m) at the Desert Heat Classic on April 30. The two-time defending Pac-12 Women's Field Athlete of the Year and a Dutch Olympian, van Klinken also broke the facility record in the shot put at West Prelims with an outdoor PR of 61-6¼ (18.75m) and the second-best mark in the NCAA this year. She is attempting to become the sixth woman to win both NCAA shot put and discus titles at the same outdoor championships. The previous five are all from the Pac-12 in Arizona State's Maggie Ewen (2018), UCLA's Seilala Sua (1999, 2000) and Tracie Millett (1999), and Arizona's Carla Garrett (1989) and Meg Ritchie (1982).
California's Camryn Rogers is the two-time defending NCAA hammer champion and her West Prelims mark of 250-10 (76.46m) extended her own collegiate record by nearly two and a half feet over her previous best (248-5/75.73m). A Canadian Olympian, Rogers is attempting to join SMU's Florence Ezeh (1999-2001) as the only women to win three consecutive NCAA hammer crowns.
The conference has an active streak of at least one women’s event champion in 34 consecutive NCAA meets dating back to 1987, the first year of Pac-12 women’s track & field, with a high of 10 event champions at the 1998 event in Buffalo, N.Y.
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS – PAC-12 MEN'S PREVIEW
The Pac-12 will be represented by all 10 men’s programs in all 21 events at the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. In total, the league will have 56 event entries – 52 individual events and four relay teams.
The Pac-12’s top representative is No. 19 nationally ranked Washington, as the Huskies secured 10 event entries, which is tied for the eighth-most in the NCAA. No. 12 USC and No. 13 Oregon each have nine event entries.
Washington is aiming for its first top-25 finish since 2016 and has its most qualifiers since that year. The 15-time defending conference champion Ducks will be searching for their first national crown since claiming back-to-back titles in 2014 and 2015. The Trojans won the most recent of their 26 NCAA titles in 1976.
PAC-12 MEN’S EVENT ENTRIES BY SCHOOL - 56
Washington – 10 entries
Oregon – 9 entries (8 + 1 relay)
USC – 9 entries (7 + 2 relays)
Arizona State – 8 entries
Stanford – 8 entries
California – 4 entries
Washington State – 3 entries
Arizona – 2 entries
UCLA – 2 entries
Colorado – 1 entry (relay)
Four Pac-12 athletes enter the NCAA Championships leading the nation in four events. The Pac-12 Men's Track Athlete of the Year, Oregon's Micah Williams reserved his spot at the NCAA Championships with a blistering 9.86 in the 100m at West Prelims on May 27. In lowering his own school record, Williams overtook UCLA's Ato Boldon (9.90; 1996) for the top spot on the Pac-12's all-time list and moved into a tie for the second-fastest performance in collegiate history. The time also puts Williams into a tie for No. 2 on the world list—wind legal—this year and broke the facility record.
Making his NCAA Outdoor Championships debut, Washington's Brian Fay is the national-leader in the 5,000m, running 13:16.52 at the Brian Clay Invitational on April 13. He is looking to become the second consecutive NCAA champion in the event from the Pac-12 (Cooper Teare - Oregon) and would be the Huskies' first 5,000m national champion.
Last month, USC's Earnie Sears III became just the third man to win three Pac-12 high jump championships (2018, 2019, 2022) when he cleared 7-1 ½ (2.17m), joining Arizona's Nick Ross (2011-12, 2014) and Oregon State's Dick Fosbury (1967-69). Earlier this season, he won the Invitational Elite men's high jump competition at the Mt. SAC Relays on April 16 with a PR of 7-6 ½ (2.30m), which was tied for the world-leading height until May 13 (now second) and is also tied for fifth all-time by a Pac-12 athlete.
Only a freshman and already the collegiate record holder in the discus, California's Mykolas Alekna set the NCAA all-time leading mark at the final day of the Pac-12 Track & Field Championships at Hayward Field on May 15. The Pac-12 Men's Field Athlete and Freshman of the Year, Alekna concluded West Prelims with a top mark of 212-10 (64.87m), which tied the meet record and set a facility record. He would be the second consecutive NCAA discus champion from the Pac-12 (Turner Washington - Arizona State) and Cal's first since Martin Maric in 2009.
The reigning NCAA triple jump champion, Oregon's Emmanuel Ihemeje had led the country in the event with a mark of 55-9 ¼w (17.00m) from Mt. SAC in mid-April until TCU's Chengetayi Mapaya punched his ticket to Eugene with an effort of 56-0 (17.07m) at West Prelims.
In addition to Ihemeje seeking to defend his title, Arizona State's Turner Washington is the defending NCAA champion in both the shot put and discus and is second (shot put) and eighth (discus) on those respective NCAA descending order lists this season. The Pac-12 has an active streak of at least one men’s event champion in 61 consecutive NCAA meets dating back to 1960, with a high of 10 event champions at the 1968 event in Berkeley, Calif.
PAC-12 ON THE BOWERMAN WATCH LIST
Men's Pre-NCAA Outdoor Championships: Mykolas Alekna, California; Micah Williams, Oregon.
Women's Pre-NCAA Outdoor Championships: Camryn Rogers, California; Jorinde van Klinken, Arizona State.