Oregon busts out the brooms, sweeps Pac-12 titles

The Women and Men of Oregon celebrate after sweeping the Pac-12 titles in front of their home crowd at Hayward Field at the University of Oregon on Sunday. Photo by Logan Hannigan-Downs

By Joe Zochert

The final day of the Pac-12 Championships wrapped up Sunday at Hayward Field at the University of Oregon and it was a day dominated by finals and stellar performances. 

Oregon Takes Home both Men’s and Women’s Titles

The men won with 161 points to extend their 15-year streak, while the women scored 167 points to ruin USC’s dream of winning their fourth title in a row.

It was a great day for the Oregon Ducks in their home stadium. The team won 12 events over the three day meet, clinching seven of them on the final day on Sunday. 

Having both teams win together for the first time since 2017 will be a memory that Oregon head coach Robert Johnson will always treasure.

“That’s definitely going to be one of the things that I remember out of this year and out of all my years here,” said coach Johnson.

Coach Johnson wasn’t only impressed by the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place finishers, he was proud of the depth that the rest of the team displayed over the past three days.

“You guys know that we have a balanced approach,” Johnson said after winning both team titles. “We got bullets everywhere.”

Another win, but still more work for van Klinken 

For the second year in a row Jorinde van Klinken took the Pac-12 title in the women’s discus, winning with a throw of 60.87 (199-08) on Sunday. The 2021 NCAA discus champion dominated the field as all five of her throws would have won her the competition.

Even with the great performance, the 2020 Olympian still sees work to be done with the NCAA championships looming.

“We’re working a lot on technique right now,” she said. “So my rhythm is just so far off that I basically look like a snail throwing (the discus), just super slow.”

Oregon Dominates Sprints

The short sprints were where the Ducks scored the most points. They captured the conference title in each individual event and won the women’s 4x100m. Both the women’s and men’s side each scored a combined 93 points between the 4x100m, 100m and 200m. 

Oregon sprinting stars Kemba Nelson and Micah Williams would go on to score the most points for their teams. Nelson had 22.5 of the women’s 167 points and Williams added 21.5 to the men’s 161 points.

Nelson dominated with wins in the 4x100m, 100m and 200m. The senior ran a personal best 22.74 in the 200m, a season best 11.05 in the 100m, and helped the 4x100m team get their best mark of the season with a time of 42.91.

Nelson credits the first win in the 4x100m relay as a “confidence booster” to start the day.

For the men, Williams captured the title in both the men’s 100m and 200m. In the 100m, he won with a personal best and meet record of 9.93, then he followed it up by setting another PB in the 200m with a mark of 20.03.

The Portland-born athlete came in with a solid plan for the weekend.

“Ultimately, I was wanting to execute my race and just give my team a chance,” he said.

Williams was also very happy to see the Oregon women dominate the Pac-12's alongside the men’s team.

“I’m just happy that we’re winning on both sides; guys 15 years in a row, girls for the first time in four years,” he added. “I’m excited to come home and represent wins on both sides.” 

Colorado’s Women complete Distance Sweep

The Colorado women swept the distance events at the Pac-12’s as Micaela DeGenero won the 1500m, Madi Boreman became a two-time champ in the steeple and Abby Nichols took both titles in the 5,000m and 10,000m

On Sunday, Degenero won the women’s 1500m with a season best 4:13.26.  It was a patient race for the graduate student as she worked her way into the winning position at the bell lap and never looked back. 

“I felt pretty prepared for whatever situation that the race threw at me,” she said about her mentality going into this race.

“If it went out fast, I was ready to run hard and it would have been nice to go for time, but at the same time, I have a strong kick. So the slower races usually play to my strengths more”

In the 5,000m, Nichols secured her second conference title after setting the meet record in her victory in the 10,000m on Friday.

After finishing runner up in both of these events last year, she can only see how she has improved as a runner. 

“It’s a way to see that I’ve gotten better by getting a place higher,” Nichols added as she acknowledged how strong all the women are in the Pac-12.

“The Pac-12 women are so strong, you never know what’s gonna happen and they definitely make you work for the win,” Nichols said after winning the 5,000m. “I’m just happy to be a part of such a good conference.”

Discus Record Falls

California’s Mykolas Alekna won the conference title in the men’s discus with a personal best of  68.73m (225-06), setting a new meet record.

He beat the 2013 record of 65.41m (214-7) by UCLA’s Julian Wright on his second throw and continued to extend on his fourth and fifth throws of the competition. 

If that wasn’t impressive enough, the freshman broke his own collegiate discus record and has climbed to second in the world in the event. Alekna only trails the reigning Olympic champion Daniel Stahl in the world rankings.

Cooking in the 800m

Oregon’s Elliot Cook was victorious in the men’s 800m final with a PB of 1:48.81. He credited Saturday’s prelims for playing a part in his strategy today.

“From the prelim perspective, yesterday, I kind of realized that taking out from the gun and being in first through that first 200 meters allows you to dictate the race a little bit more,” said Cook about his preparation for the final. 

The freshman also talked about the hometown crowd at Hayward, providing an atmosphere unlike anything he has ever heard.

“If you’re in first or you pass someday, you can hear that roar,” said Cook after the race. “It’s something else, you don’t see that anywhere else.”