"We’re all improving together": Oregon Open welcomes athletes for 2025 edition
University of Oregon alumnus Jackson Mestler paces current Ducks Benny Balazs, Sergio Del Barrio, and Vincent Mestler in the Oregon Open Men’s 3000m Steeplechase. Photo by Rian Yamasaki
by Owen Murray, TrackTown USA
In an open field, athletes have the freedom to learn.
The Oregon Open kicked off under sunny skies at Hayward Field on April 18. Host University of Oregon, led by steeplechase winners Katie Clute and Benjamin Balazs, triple jump winner Ryann Porter, and 800m winner Klaudia Kazimierska, won six events on the individual competition day as college athletes looked to push season and personal-best marks ahead of championship season.
Clute, a sophomore, opened the day with a comprehensive victory in the 3000m steeplechase: the Ohio native led from the gun and ran 10:13.16 (good for 23rd in the West region and 41st in NCAA Division I) to head a trio of top-seven Duck finishers.
Clute, though, is used to being in front.
“My automatic response, since my first cross country race in seventh grade, was to go to the front and hang on as much as I could,” said Clute following her Oregon Open win. “Today, I was just going to try to feel it out for the first thousand meters, and then if I was feeling okay, then try and start pushing it a little bit.”
Push it she did: Clute extended her advantage over the last 2000 meters and outpaced second place finisher Soňa Kouřilová (University of Utah) by 6.2 seconds when she stopped the clock. Oregon junior Kendall Martin finished third and ran a personal-best 10:21.72.
Training with runners like Martin demands Clute’s best every day, she said.
“It’s comforting. I train with these girls every day.”
- Oregon sophomore Katie Clute following her 3000m steeplechase win
“It’s definitely nice,” Clute said. “Knowing and trusting that you can run with them — and just trying to do well together. Being with teammates means you have a gauge on where you should be — and then it’s just kind of comforting. I train with these girls every day.”
Clute was matched on the podium minutes later by her teammate, men’s steeplechase winner Benjamin Balazs. The sophomore ran a personal-best 8:34.72 (2025 NCAA DI #14 / West region #9) as three Ducks finished in the top four.
“It feels good,” Balazs said of the Oregon near-sweep. “You see them improving too, and you’re like, ‘Oh, I’m doing the same thing as these guys. We’re all improving together.’”
Balazs, though, said that he ran faster than he thought he would in his first steeplechase of the season — and that means recalibrating expectations. Now, he’s already shooting for a sub-8:30 time in the event, he said.
“I’m only four seconds off, and I was running pretty conservative to start,” Balazs said. “I don’t see why not. We’re gearing up this year to be fast at the end of the year.”
“We’re gearing up this year to be fast at the end of the year.”
- Oregon sophomore Benjamin Balazs following his 3000m steeplechase win
Ryann Porter, meanwhile, needed just two attempts to set her winning mark in the triple jump; after fouling her first attempt, the Oregon senior jumped 13.24 meters to set a new 2025 NCAA DI #6 mark that led the field and passed her next four attempts.
“We were thinking one to three jumps, and then shut it down,” she said. “There’s a couple competitors in that field, so I was a little bit wary, but I figured it would be good.”
Porter finished second at the 2025 Big Ten Indoor Championship meet, where she jumped 13.37m, before finishing 12th at the NCAA Indoor Championship with a 13.00m jump.
“I can jump a lot farther by the end of the season,” Porter said. “My coach and I have been talking about 14 meters all season, so we’ll see if we can make that happen.”
Klaudia Kazimierska, a junior at Oregon who hadn’t run at Hayward Field since August due to an injury, returned with a bang. The Polish 2024 Olympian ran 2:02.80 in the 800m race to take the top spot ahead of her Oregon teammates Mia Barnett and Samantha McDonnell, who both ran personal-best times
“I did maybe two speed workouts before this, and I didn’t know where my shape was at,” Kazimierska said. “Now, going into the 1500m, it was a good opener but I want to get into fitness to race it.”
She made her move at the bell in the race and jumped ahead of Oklahoma State University athlete Isis Grant — she called it a “brave move” to overtake the athlete who led the initial 400 meters with so long to go. Even though it worked out in the end, it wasn't necessarily the plan, she said
“Honestly, we didn’t have any strategy,” Kazimierska said. “I wasn’t feeling great this morning, so we were thinking to trust your instincts and just race.”
“Trust your instincts and just race.”
- Oregon junior Klaudia Kazimierska following her 800m win
Oregon junior Evan Bishop won the final solo race of the night, the 5000m open, in a field stacked with Ducks. Bishop, who transferred to Oregon in 2024 after two years at the University of Wisconsin, ran a personal-best 13:42.79.
“You learn something every time you race,” Bishop said. “We all love to race more than train, so you can’t take these opportunities for granted. We had a blast out there.”
Elsewhere, Oregon pole vaulter Kyle Gibbs jumped 5.16m but was bested by the Texas A&M duo of Jack Mann III and Aleksandr Solovev — the latter of whom made it over 5.56m to set a new NCAA Division I #2 mark.
Ducks freshman sprinter Mihaly Akpamgbo ran a season-best 10.61 seconds in the 100m to win, while his freshman teammate Reggie Witherspoon III finished fifth with a time of 10.89 seconds. Akpamgbo also placed fourth in the 200m race, where he ran 21.51 seconds.
Oregon will continue competition tomorrow, in the scored Team Invitational. The final flights of the men’s and women’s hammer throws will also be competed, but no Oregon athletes are scheduled to throw. The Team Invitational begins field events at 4:00 pm PT, with the national anthem set for 4:55 pm PT.
2025 Oregon Open photo gallery
Photos by Rian Yamasaki
