Ducks dig deep to complete championship sweep

After winning cross country crown by one point and setting all-time indoor track and field scoring record, Oregon produces another memorable finish with collegiate record in 4x400 relay to secure outdoor title

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

It took the greatest relay performance in NCAA Division 1 Outdoor Championship history Saturday to complete the most impressive achievement by one school's track and field and cross country programs in a single school year.

Facing an 8.2-point deficit against Georgia and forced to win the 4x400-meter relay to not only capture the team title but complete the only triple crown in an academic year in Division 1 history, Oregon responded with another collegiate record, capped by a thrilling anchor leg from Raevyn Rogers to edge USC at Hayward Field.

After the Trojans prevailed against Oregon in the indoor 4x400 final in March, with both teams breaking the meet record, the Ducks and USC delivered exceptional encore performances, producing the two fastest times in collegiate history.

Behind a 49.77-second split from Rogers against a 49.63 leg from Trojan anchor Kendall Ellis, Oregon edged USC 3:23.13 to 3:23.35 to capture the team's third women's 4x400 championship, the school's third outdoor team title and the program's third finals win in seventh months -- along with cross country and indoor track and field -- to secure the historic triple crown. Both performances eclipsed the 2004 collegiate record of 3:23.75 held by Texas.

Both lineups would have won any global competition this year and only national teams from 12 countries have ever run faster than Oregon, with just 13 better than USC.

Oregon finished with an outdoor team-record 64 points -- all scored on the track -- rallying past Georgia, which scored 62.2 points with only field-event athletes, the exact same order for the trio from the indoor championship meet in College Station, Texas. USC was third with 43 points, securing its highest finish since 2006.

"Is that the way to end a track meet, or what?" Oregon coach Robert Johnson said. "(USC) kind of stole one from us indoors with the collegiate record in the 4x400, so for us to come back and do it here says a lot. They have a great team and their coach does a good job of getting those girls ready, so you can't say any more about them and what they do. You had a 400-meter finalist in Kendall Ellis against the 800 (champion) and I'll always bet my money on Raevyn Rogers.

"I wouldn't want it to come down to any other group of four girls on our team. For them to rise up and do what they did, I simply told them, 'We're built for this. We've been built for this all year long.' I wouldn't trade those girls for anyone in the world."

Rogers had earlier become the first female athlete in Division 1 history to win three consecutive outdoor 800 championships and five overall, including indoors, by clocking 2:00.02, with Brooke Feldmeier adding a third-place finish for the Ducks in 2:01.54.

When Oregon had run its previous 4x400 season-best 3:24.72 at the Penn Relays in April, Rogers was on the second leg and Deajah Stevens ran anchor.

But when Stevens fell with 20 meters remaining in the 200 final and didn't score as a result of a disqualification after Florida senior Kyra Jefferson won in a collegiate-record 22.02, Oregon decided to field a lineup of Makenzie Dunmore, Stevens, Elexis Guster and Rogers against USC's quartet of Cameron Pettigrew, Amalie Iuel, Deanna Hill and Ellis.

"I've been in that situation a lot during youth track and I know what to expect and I know what my teammates expect of me," Rogers said. "A lot of people ask to be in that position, but I wanted it. I wanted that challenge and I wanted the opportunity to lead this team to a championship.  It was something that we needed to get. I'm just glad that I was able to stay composed and be patient."

USC led midway through, but Guster gave Oregon the advantage entering the anchor and despite Ellis running the fifth-fastest split in outdoor finals history, it wasn't enough for the Trojans to become the first program to hold the indoor and outdoor collegiate 4x400 records simultaneously since Texas in 2003-04.

"The last relay was pretty emotional since I knew it was the last time I would ever run with that same incredible group of women," said Iuel, who also finished third in the 400 hurdles in 55.82.

"We all agreed beforehand that we would leave absolutely everything on that track for the very last time. We beat the previous NCAA record and set a huge new school record, which is definitely something we can take with us. Although we were disappointed we didn't get the 'W', I am so incredibly proud of everyone on this team. We showed true grit out there and managed to place third overall even with such a small number of women competing."

USC also relied on freshman Anna Cockrell placing second in the 400 hurdles in 55.36 and eighth in the 100 hurdles in 12.91, Ellis placing third and Pettigrew securing seventh in the 400 in 51.06 and 52.52, Hill finishing sixth in the 200 in 23.00, Dior Hall earning seventh in the 100 hurdles in 12.82 and Ky Westbrook taking eighth in the 100 in 11.29.

Brittany Mann added a third-place finish Wednesday in the shot put with a mark of 57-4.75 (17.49m), helping USC hold off fourth-place Kentucky, which won the 4x100 relay in a stadium record 42.51 to contribute to its 40-point effort. Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, Kayelle Clarke, Destiny Carter and Kianna Gray eclipsed the mark of 42.65 set at last year's final by LSU.

Oregon nearly set the record for most points scored by a team in only track events at a championship meet -- LSU amassed 67 in 2008 to win the title -- but still produced the highest score in program history, with Ariana Washington finishing second in the 200 in 22.39 and fourth in the 100 in 11.09, Stevens securing second in the 100 in 11.04, Alaysha Johnson and Sasha Wallace placing fourth and sixth in the 100 hurdles in 12.72 and 12.81, and Guster taking sixth in the 400 in 52.25.

Katie Rainsberger and Samantha Nadel, who scored at all three championship meets for the Ducks, were respectively fourth in the 1,500 in 4:14.20 and eighth in the 5,000 in 15:48.93.

The Ducks set the all-time indoor scoring record to win with 84 points to secure its seventh title in eight seasons, which followed the narrowest margin of victory in cross country finals history, edging Michigan 125-126 to capture a fourth championship. Texas also won all three titles in succession in 1986, but began with indoor and outdoor track and field crowns in the 1985-86 school year and then followed with a cross country championship to open the 1986-87 school year.

"We've done really well around here and I don't know how much higher we can continue to go," Johnson said. "To be able to say among all the programs in the country that we're one of the only people to be able to do that is incredible. (Texas coach) Terry Crawford did it, but I kind of equate it to the 'Tiger Slam' where she did it in two calendar years and we did it in one calendar year. To have Oregon up there at the top of that list, I'm at a loss for words."

Georgia had the most event champions, including 1-2 finishes in the long jump and high jump to go along with a third consecutive triple jump title for Keturah Orji and a third career heptathlon championship for Kendell Williams.

Orji jumped a wind-aided 46-10.75 (14.29m) to follow her runner-up finish in the long jump, with Williams accumulating 6,265 points to capture her seventh career national title, including four indoor pentathlon championships.

Madeline Fagan became the first female athlete to win indoor and outdoor high jump crowns in the same year since former Georgia star Leontia Kallenou in 2014. Fagan and teammate Tatiana Gusin, who took first and second indoors, both cleared 6-3.25 (1.91m) but Fagan captured the title by doing so on her first attempt compared to Gusin's third.

Missouri's Karissa Schweizer completed her own triple crown by winning cross country, indoor 5,000 and outdoor 5,000 titles, securing the final championship in 15:38.93, becoming the first female athlete since Texas Tech's Sally Kipyego in 2007-08 to achieve the feat.

Sage Watson, a Canadian Olympian, became Arizona's first 400 hurdles champion by clocking 54.52.

Tobi Amusan, a Nigerian Olympian, won the first 100 hurdles title for UTEP since 1984 by edging defending champion Camacho-Quinn, a Puerto Rican Olympian, by a 12.57 to 12.58 margin.

Jamaican national record holder Shadae Lawrence won Kansas State's first discus title with a sixth-round throw of 201-4 (61.37m). Arizona State's Maggie Ewen placed second with a throw of 197-2 (60.11m), becoming the first female athlete since Southern Illinois' Jeneva McCall in 2010 to earn All-America honors in the hammer throw, discus and shot put.

Another Jamaican star, Chrisann Gordon, became the fourth Texas female athlete to win the 400, giving the Longhorns seven championships overall by clocking 50.51.

Allie Ostrander became only the second female in Boise State history to win a championship, capturing the 3,000 steeplechase crown in 9:41.31. Ostrander also earned All-America honors in the 5,000, placing fourth in 15:46.18.
Mikiah Brisco won the 100-meter dash title in a wind-legal 10.96, becoming the sixth LSU female to capture the championship.

Jaimie Phelan secured the first women's 1,500 title for Michigan by prevailing in 4:13.78.