At the interview she seemed more relaxed and relieved than excited that she won her first NCAA individual title.

Texas A&M junior Porscha Lucas and sophomore Gabby Mayo were fourth and fifth respectively and were talking about 8 races down and just two more to go.  But they were confident that they had the strength to keep going and would perform well the next day.  They were both still excited about the collegiate record 4x100 meter relay that broke the record by running 42.36 as Texas A&M won for the third straight year.  Last year they had run on the team that had become third all-time at 42.59 in winning the NCAA title.  Lucas had a similar schedule indoors when she ran the 60, 200, and 4x400 relay.

200 - Porscha Lucas was happy to get her first title after finishing second last year and second indoors this year.  In the first two rounds the '08 OT semifinalist ran prs 22.52 and 22.38 (#4 all-time collegian) to dominate by time but in the final the heavy schedule slowed her to 22.81, just ahead of Charonda Williams of ASU in 22.84.  She now had her 15th all-American award with a year to go.  She is ranked 2nd in the world and US, .04 behind Lauryn Williams.  If Lucas can save some energy in the heats and not double she has a good chance to make the US team.

Charonda Williams of Arizona State did not want to talk.  She seemed to be under the strain of running so many races to triple and help the Arizona State team possibly win.  She had been great at the Pac-10 meet.  But seem to have trouble with so many races.  She looked like she was slow to recover under the eight race toll. Indoors she helped the ASU 4x400 relay team to a runner-up finish at the NCAA indoor but didn't run outdoors.  Outdoors she finished a below expected sixth in the 100 at 11.37 and was second in the 200 at 22.84 after running a pr 22.71 in the semis.  Both finals were run into head-winds.  If she limits her race schedule she will probably be more successful at the US championships. 

400- Joanna Atkins of Auburn surprised herself with her win.  She did not expect to win, she just focused on her own race out in lane 8 where she could see no one.  The sophomore was fourth indoors.  She ran 50.39 (#2 US and world this year) to move to fifth all-time among collegians.  She beat pre-race favorites Jessica Beard of Texas A&M (50.56) (#4 US and World this year) who moved to sixth all-time among collegians and NCAA indoor champion Francina McCrory of Hampton in 50.58 (#5 US, #6 world this year) who moved to eighth all-time.  Those were the fastest times ever for 2nd and 3rd at an NCAA championships. 

Duck Keshia Baker finished fifth in a school record 51.29 and she praised god and her coach, Robert Johnson for guiding her. She said she will use this experience to help the younger sprinters on Oregon's team, Amber Purvis and Mandy White for next year's NCAA championship to be held in Eugene. 

800 - Geena Gall of Michigan came into college the top 800 runner and ended her career as the top.  She had gained strength from the 1500 training and this year was a doing a lot more speed. Early in the bad part of the year in Michigan she had run a 55 second quarter-mile.  She ran 2:00.80 for a 1.5 second pr (OT in '08) and feels that could have been faster if she had not run wire-to-wire. 

Laura Hermanson of North Dakota State ran 2:06 in 2007 and then ran 2:03.37 in LA last year and had some good performances.  She has had great training this year and ran a pr 2:03.19 in the semis and 2:01.37 in the final.  She was very excited with her quick development and looks forward to racing some more. 

Phoebe Wright of Tennessee won the indoor 800, was part of the DMR win and looked great until the final.  She won her heat in  2:04.86 and semi in 2:02.56 but couldn't answer in the final as she had all year long.  She ran 2:03.57 for fifth.  I expect she will run very well at the US championships if she is healthy. 

1,500 - Susan Kuiken of Florida State really wanted her first outdoor title.  In 2008 she had won the NCAA indoor 3k title but to get an outdoor title meant a lot to her.  She had battled against the top runners but was confident she could get the win.  She pulled away from everyone, not like last year when she couldn't follow her teammate's (HAnnah England) move. She won in 4:13.05.

Brenda Martinez of Cal Riverside had outkicked everyone and had recently taken down all of the list leaders with a great kick in this, her senior year.  Indoors she was just 7th (pr 4:39) but her speed and a great training season indicated she could have a great track season.  At conference she ran a 2:03.05 800 to indicate her great condition and speed and she ran 2:02.34 last year.  She had raced 1,500s all season to gain race experience.  Kuiken still finished faster and MArtinez was second in 4:13.97.  Her coach said she will run the 800 meters at the US championship because it is a change and they would like to see what she would do since they only ran one 800 meters and that was at the conference meet where she doubled. 

Steeple -  Colorado's Jenny Barringer has looked tremendous all year.  She hasn't lost to an American of collegian all year long.  At Prefontaine she surprised her whole team by announcing at a team meeting before the race that she would run the 1,500.  She ran 3:59.90 collegiate record after winning the indoor 3k in a collegiate record and beating multiple NCAA champion in the mile indoors at the Big 12 championship, then set a 5k outdoors.  At the NCAA championship she broke the in-season collegiate record in the steeplechase at 9:25.54.  She seemed disappointed and it seemed she was heavy-legged.  The heavy schedule may have slowed her.  She mentioned how she had a list of all of the collegiate distance records on the wall and crossed them off as she broke the records and said her records are also meant to be crossed off

Freshman Mel Lawrence Washington - she seemed a little overwhelmed by the attention.  She was happy with the performance to get third.  She had been given confidence by her coach that she would do well.

5,000 meters - Angela Bizzari of Illinois did not to seem to have confidence that she would do well even though she was the top returner.  She said she was not aware of who was around her and was just racing. 

Nicole Blood of Oregon - was happy to get eight points for the team.  She thought she was still in the race to win with 200 to go.   When she heard the crowd noise she responded to run as fast as she could to hold off Koons and Sanakiewich who were chasing her. 

10,000 meters - Danette Doetzel fo Providence said this year's entire plan was to run the 10,000 even though she had the top 5,000 meter time.  Her coach had given her confidence to have success here. 

Mattie Bridgmon of Oregon was seventh.  She knew she had to score so she pushed the pace.  She was very happy to contribute two points to the team effort.  She had missed two weeks after Pepsi due to soreness in her foot that had been bugging her a little after her Stanford 10k. 

100 hurdles - Tiffany Ofili of Michigan was relieved to win after losing the semifinal and had no idea of the rarity of winning three NCAA 100 hurdles titles.  She admitted her strength was due to cross training in the heptathlon.  Long jump and 200 training has halped her with her development

Texas A&M's Gabby Mayo was 4th after winning her semifinal.  She seemed tired and seemed to have strained something (or just tired) after the race.  Teammate Vashti Thomas did not finish and the Aggies did not get the advantage of having an extra competitor to help with the team race.

400 hurdles - Nicole Leach of UCLA had been hurt early in the year and her coach, Janette Bolden, admitted to starting her season slowly.  At the west region meet Bolden was hopeful of her success at the NCAA meet.

4x100 meter relay - Texas A&M was not called for a pass out of zone in the final during their collegiate record 42.36.  The first exchange was passed out of zone but because the official had not raised a flag, the NCAA could not disqualify them although four teams protested. 

4x400 meter relay - Texas used Alexandria Anderson on the third leg and she was the only person in the final to break 51 seconds.  That allowed their 17 year-old sophomore Chantel Malone to finish off the relay to get them the win.  Anderson earned her 20th all-American award.  Very few competitors have gotten 20 a-a awards. 

HJ - Destinee Hooker of Texas won her third title to get into rare company.  She will compete at the US championships but if she makes the world championship team she will train for volleyball at the same time and try to squeeze in high jump workouts.  She mentioned she would like to high jump and play volleyball at the Olympics.  If their is a schedule conflict she would drop high jump.  She said the technique she has most improved at Texas is her in air/over-the-bar technique. 

Runner-up Liz Patterson was frustrated at not winning.  She is happy she has an Arizona teammate, Jasmin Day, that is in her corner and that they push each other in practice. 

Long Jump - Kim Williams of Florida State said this was just an extra event.  She praise her coach, Dennis Nobles, and mentioned how good he was and his previous history of coaching world record holder Jonathon Edwards.     

Jameesha Youngblood of Oregon was disappointed she couldn't get first place points because she had tied for the top jump but was third due to her second best jump.  She admits her improved speed is good but bad at the same time because it is hard to handle.  She says she does not look at her mark unless it is her third jump and she needs a good jump.  She also said she is inconsistent on the runway because she is inconsistent with her speed.  She said she was done even though she still had the triple jump.

Triple Jump - Kim Williams of Florida State is just a sophomore and won the triple jump with the best jump ever at 47-2 1/4 but was wind-aided by a 2.1 m/s wind.  The jump would have been the collegiate record if it was only 2.0 m/s wind-aided. 

Shot Put - Mariam Kekhhishvili of Florida was disappointed with her prelim performance because she said she wasn't fired up.  For the final she was but in warm-ups she pulled her hamstring.  She won though

Sarah Stevens of Arizona State was not happy about losing but happy about scoring points for the team.  She said she will put shot at US championships and not throwing Discus will help because that "throws off her technique in the shot put."

Discus - D'Andra Carter joined her sister Michelle and father Michael winning NCAA championships.  She was happy to be rid of the pressure and is happy to chear on her sister at the US championships. 

Hammer Throw - Sarah Stevens is happy with her progress in the event and the seconds in the shot and discus and third place finish here scored 22 for the team.  The most for any field athlete.  She will throw the hammer at the US championships

Javelin Throw - Rachel Yurkovich of Oregon was mad going into the last three throws.  After prelims she wanted to get things going.  She ended up beating her goal of 59 meters and she did it three times with her best throw of 59.62, 195-7, a school record.  All three throws over 195 are now the 7th, 8th, and 9th best collegiate throws ever (still #6 collegian) . Patterson of Purdue couldn't respnd but did have her best throw with her fourth throw, 57.96m, 190-2. 

Heptathlon - Oregon's Brianne Thiesen seemed a little worn after the first day with the tough competition.  On the second day she improved by 16 feet on her third throw of the javelin throw to take the lead.  She was then in range of 6100 points to make the World championship A standard and she needed to run 2:13.7 to get that.  The first thing she told Dan Steele at the end of the race was, "I'm so disappointed. Just 14 points off."  Steele had to tell her, "be happy, you're an NCAA champion as a sophomore."  Under Steele's training she has lost 2  pounds but has gotten stronger.  Her improved speed is a big reason for her improved performance this year.

Ahmad Rashad of USC has in his coaches words "worked his butt off," to get back to this point.  He seems like a great kid and the 10.10 for second in the final is just the beginning for him.

The revelation of the meet was D'Angelo Cherry of Mississippi State who ran 10.03 in the heats to become #3 on the world junior list.  He ran sixth in the final.  If he runs at the world junior meet he could break Jeff Demps' record of 10.01 from the Olympic Trials in Eugene last year.  Location for this year's US junior meet.

200- Charles Clark of Florida State won in 20.55 but this is a long way from 2005 when Spearmon ran 19.91, Gay ran 19.93/20.16 final, Carter ran 20.08, Dix 20.18 semi, Martin 20.34 semi, Amoo 20.36 semi, or Dix the last three years in the second half of a double in 20.30, 20.32, and 20.40.  On a fast track it was the slowest time since 1976.

400- Jonathon Borlee turned the tables on his twin Kevin and won the 400 meters.  The two ran on Belgium's Olympic 4x400 meter relay.  Kevin ran in the semifinals of the Olympics and set the Belgian national record.  Here Jonathon broke Kevin's national record (44.88) to win the NCAA championship in 44.78 (#5 in the world) and Kevin was fourth. 

Michael Bingham was the NCAA indoor champ was a disappointed 2nd in 45.09.  Calvin Smith (#2 seed at 44.96), the only American in the top six was third at 45.29. 

Jordan Boase of Washington has not put it together all year and couldn't make it out of the semifinals.  He looked injured at the Pac-10 200 and his coaches have been cautious with him since. 

Pre-NCAA favorite (44.86 to win Big 12) sophomore Gil Roberts had the third fastest heat winning time but did not finish his heat in the semifinals. 

800 - Andrew Wheating ran 1:46.21 in the semifinals and final for the top collegiate time but probably would have run faster in the final if a cramp/injury had not hit him with 300 meters to go. He ran 51.84 for the first 400, just behind Tevan Everett at 51.26.  It looked like he would follow his promise of beating the meet record of 1:44.70 but was slowed by the pain. 

1500 - German Fernandez looked good at 3:39.00 (#4 a-t US junior) and would likely make the US junior team but will pass that up and take a few weeks to visit with family in California.  He expects a big reception at home from family and friends and then will prepare for the cross country season.  He admits to missing a lot of time due to little injuries or bad days. 

Stanford's Garrett Heath was fourth at Pac-10 and third at the west regional meet but ends up second at the NCAA meet in 3:39.51 after Centrowitz (hurt), Rupp (other events), and Wheating (other event) did not run. 

3000 steeplechase - Kyle Perry of BYU ran in his sixth career steeplechase and won the NCAA championship in 8:29.24, a 10+ second pr.  He was fourth at the west regional mostly due to hayfever.  He chose to run the steeplechase because he felt it was unlikely he could beat Rupp in the 5,000.  He has the right build and good speed and likely has a huge future in the steeplechase.

5k/10k - Rupp was spectacular over the last 1000 meters of the 5k by running 2:25.  He has no idea how well he is running.  His focus was strictly on the team and he has no goals that he is working towards.  He said the secret to his success is uninterupted health the last year.  He used to occassionally miss workouts due to minor injuries but not this year as he runs 100 miles with more speed work than ever.  He also finished in 2:30 at the end of the 10k and jogged in the last 50 meters in both.  Until these sprints he looked like he was jogging most of both races while running 70 second laps with the other runners.

Personally, I think he will run under 13:10 (63.2 second laps) for the 5k and will break 27:00 (64.8 second laps) for the 10k.  He said he hasn't run that pace but I said the way he runs long stretches at a fast pace indicate it is possible.  I hope he believes it and goes after it.

Chris Derrick of Stanford will hopefully run US juniors.  The US junior record holder at 5k showed a good kick in the 5k (1:57.87 the last 800 meters) which he didn't show at Pac-10 or west regional meets.  It might have been due to the slow pace but it was a great sign for him.

Sam Chelanga finished third in the 10,000 but will be the top returner, 35 seconds faster than the next returning finisher, Girma Mecheso of Auburn.  He will work on speed for next year.  It is likely he will three or more NCAA titles each of the next two years.  He and Rupp were far ahead of everyone else at the NCAA cross country championships and ran the second fastest collegiate 5k ever indoors at 13:19.  He will be fun to watch the next two years and he is a really nice guy. 

110 hurdles - Sophomore Ronnie Ash of Bethune-Cookman made a breakthrough with his 13.27 win into a 2.0 m/s headwind.  This title goes with his indoor 60m hurdle title.  Before his senior year of high school he moved from New Jersey and he wanted to make friends at his new school.  So, for the first time ever he competed in any athletic endeavor and ran track.  His coach recommended him to Bethune-Cookman's coaches and now he is ranked 7th in the US but 8th in the world.  He has a huge amount of potential and he is a really nice kid. 

Senior Jason Richardson was the top seed from his time at the SEC meet (13.29, #9 US).  His times were off that but he also ran into the head wind and ran 13.49 for second.   

Two junior competitors, William Wynne of Florida was third (13.68) and Booker Nunley from South Carolina was sixth at the NCAA meet (13.84) and could run some great times at the US junior meet.

400 hurdles - Sophomores Jeshua Anderson (48.47) of Washington State and Johnny Dutch (48.62) of South Carolina renewed their rivalry and repeated their 1-2 finish from last year's world Junior championships.  Anderson said he will run at the US championships.  He is ranked third in the US and fifth in the world.  Dutch, plans unknown for US, is ranked fourth in the US and sixth in the world.  Anderson, in spite of his antics at the PAc-10 meet, is a nice respectful kid.  

High Jump -  Scott Sellers of Kansas State won his third NCAA title.  He knows competition in the US has increased with Manson at 7-8 1/2 (#1 world) and Williams at 7-8 (#2 world).  Sellers started his season late due to injury but said his form and timing are coming together.  His coach works with him on athleticism and he has several quality training partners, including Williams, Keith Moffatt, and  occassionally. 

Pole Vault - Jason Colwick of Rice won as he nearly pr'd (5.72) with a best clearance of 5.70m, 18-8 1/4.  He admits to have cleared 19 feet in practice and with Brad Walker and Tommy Skipper staying low key this year Colwick definitely has a shot of winning the US championship or making the team.  He is #5 in the world and #1 in the US.  He picked his school based on academics and then weather they had a track team even though he was the Texas 5A state champion.  He has steadily improved from his high school pr of 5.18m but last year's 18 foot vault at the Texas Relays changed the opinion of this 2x NCAA champion (indoor this year also) and now he is putting more focus into vaulting.  

Long Jump - Ngoni Makusha of Florida State won the outdoor title last year and indoors was sprinting and jumping very well but pulled a hamstring.  He finally recovered after the ACC meet and has improved under the watchful eye of Jonathon Edwards' coach (wr over 60 feet in the triple jump- only one over 60') Dennis Nobles.  He finished 12th at the west regional and had the sixth best jump of non-automatic qualifiers.  The NCAA took only 25 jumpers and head coach Bob Braman protested.  The NCAA added him June 4th.  Makusha was thankful to God for his good fortune and ability.  That ability put him only 2 centimeters from the bronze medal at last year's Olympics.  

2008 NCAA indoor champion Reindell Cole of Cal State Northridge had the top jump of the weekend by jumping 8.21, 26-10 w2.1 m/s in qualifying but fouled three times in the final.  His health injuries of the past year pluys seem to be over but he fouled out.  He should be in the final of the US championship if he can get consistency on the runway. 

Triple Jump - Will Claye came over after the triple jump with a straw hat on.  The freshman, who left high school early to join Oklahoma, set the American junior record of 56-4 3/4 to move to =#9 a-t WJ, #9 collegian, and #6 NCAA all time.  He is ranked 9th in the world and 1st among Americans but will jump in the junior meet.  He jumped 56-6 3/4 with a 2.5 m/s aiding wind.  He was so quiet it was hard to hear him, not a big ego kid.

Texas A&M's triple jumpers made a huge mark at the NCAA meet and scored 18 points. Jamaican Julian Reid jumped a wind legal school record 16.98m, 55-8 1/2 and 2.5m/s wind aided 17.10m, 56-1 1/4 (better than any winning mark since 2004).  Zuheir Sharif was fourth with a wind-aided 55-0 jump (#2 all-time Texas A&M all conditions). 

Florida freshman Christian Taylor won the NCAA indoor meet with the and set the American junior record (55-8 1/2).  He finished third at the outdoor meet with a wind-aided jump of 55-5 3/4 and wind legal jump of 54-7 1/2.  He could face Claye at the US juniors for the grudge match if both choose to compete.  He is ranked fourth among Americans.

Shot Put - Ryan Whiting won his third NCAA shot put title (first outdoors).  Because Reese Hoffa won the 2007 world championship the US will be taking four shot putters.  When he threw 71 feet indoors in 2008 it had been his longest stretch of healthy training.  His shoulder is bugging him now and all he can do is throw six times a day.  He won with a best throw of 20.11m, 65-11 3/4, the second worst winning throw since 1999.  He is ranked seventh in the world and fourth among Americans (best throw at west regional 20.99m, 68-10 1/2).  He will focus on the Shot Put and not throw the Discus.

Discus Throw  - Martin Maric of Cal threw the javelin early in the year but a shoulder injury convinced him to focus on the Discus since the Pac-10 meet.  He felt more comfortable with the Discus and threw a pr 61.53m, 201-10 in the prelims for fourth all-time among Bears.  Five of the top six competitors were from the PAc-10 meet and Maric commented that the final was just like the Pac-10 meet.  He is the top ranked Croatian and hopes to compete at the world championships.  To win he needed his last throw to nip Whiting by two centimeters, 59.82m 196-3, for the shortest winning throw since 1997.   

Daniel Scharer of Stanford threw a big pr 63.55m, 208-5 to win the Pac-10 meet and was only 48 centimeters short of the Swiss national record.  He will also hopefully compete at the World championship after finishing third at the NCAA meet.

Hammer Throw - Marcel Lomnicky of Virginia Tech was the favorite even though he was only the third seed.  He proved prognosticators correct. His four major championship experiences, including the third place finish at the 2007 European U-23 championships and 2006 world junior championships, gave him an advantage and Coach Jack at Virginia Tech has been highly successful and lured him to the states.  He expects to compete in Europe and is the second ranked Slovakian thrower. 

Walter Henning of LSU will likely participate in his first US national championship after finishing second at the NCAA meet.  Last year he won the world junior championship is the sixth ranked American this year.  Senior Chris Rohr of Missouri was the top ranked thrower at the NCAA meet and ranked fifth in the US but finished fourth at the NCAA meet.    Junior Jason Lewis of Arizona State finished sixth at the NCAA meet but made a 20 foot improvement in the hammer throw (#2 all-time ASU) after making a seven foot improvement in the indoor weight throw to win the NCAA indoor championship.  Coach Dumble was bouncing around because of how proud he was of his developing thrower. 

Javelin throw - Chris Hill of Georgia won his second straight NCAA title and is a threat to make the world championship team.  He is the third ranked American this year (81.80m, 268-4)  but is throwing better than the two ranked ahead of him.  He was fourth at the Olympic Trials last year after throwing 24 feet short of where he is at this time of year.  He is probably the favorite if Breaux Greer has not returned to the health that had him throw the American Record (299) at the US championships in 2007. 

Corey White of USC has not broken 250 feet since the UCLA dual.  He threw 248 at the NCAA championships for second and says he does not like to throw at Hayward Field. 

Cyrus Hostetler of Oregon has said his timing has been off since the Pepsi meet.  His run-up is longer and he doesn't hold his block at all.  His throws have been low because he is not getting the lift in his throws that a block would provide.  The javelin is flying extemely fast at a low trajectory and still he threw 72.71, 238-6.  If he can get back to the Pepsi form where he threw 272-10 but possibly slowing his run-up he has a good shot of winning the US championship. 

Decathlon - Junior Ashton Eaton of Oregon scored 8241 but it was a wind-aided 100 meters, 10.35 with 4.1 m/s aiding wind.  He was so fast down the long jump runway they pulled him back 2' then a foot foul and they moved him 6".  Another foul and they moved him back 1'6" and he was 3" behind the board on a 24-10 jump (25-7 easy).  His coach and he felt that he would break 26', not far-fetched at all.  He nearly set a pr in the shot put, 41-3, a bad high jump at 6-6 1/4 (four inches short of indoor best), but a 46.85 400 was a collegiate Decathlon record and he bettered the 1st day meet record although this was not official since it was wind-aided.  He tied the wind-aided meet record in the 110 hurdles, then threw a pr in the Discus throw at 137-1.  A 14-5 1/4 pole vault was due to bad communication with his coach and a change in the pole vault direction.  He had wormed up with clearances at 5.00m, worth 179 points more.  He threw a near pr 175-11 in the javelin and then answered his closest competitior in the competition, Matteo Sossah of North Carolina, with a near pr 1,500 meters in 4:20.75. His score of 8241 fell within his goal of 8200 to 8400 and he would have scored 8420 if he had cleared 16-4 3/4.  Last year he finished fifth in the Olympic Trials behind Brian Clay at 8832 points, Trey Hardee 8534, Tom Pappas 8511, and Jake Arnold 8130.  All are returning.

Tom Pappas - he advised me he is competing at the US championships because he was upset at how the Olympics went.  He said he is in great shape and ready to put up a great score. 

Matteo Sossah - North Carolina is a fast developing athlete.  He took this winter and last spring off.  He finished fourth at the 2007 European junior championships.  He had decathlon prs in 8 of the 10 events to score 8044 points.  He is close to Eaton because he is a much better thrower but Eaton is much faster in every event except for the 1,500 meters where they are practically equal. 

Wheating, Baker Lead Ducks to a Pair of Second Place Finishes at the NCAA Championships

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- The Oregon track and field teams fought to their best showing at the NCAA Track and Field Championship in a quarter century as Andrew Wheating won the men’s 800 meters and Keshia Baker scored in the women’s 400 meters Saturday at the 2009 national meet at John McDonnell Field.

The Duck women scored 43 points, trailing only Texas A&M’s 50. Arizona State was third with 41 points and Florida State was fourth with 40. It was the best finish for the University since winning the title in 1985 and the first trophy since 1992.

Oregon’s men’s tied for second with Florida and Florida State at 46 points in a wild finish that saw Texas A&M score 18 points in the triple jump and grab second in the 4x400 meter relay for 48 points and a two-point victory. Still, the Men of Oregon notched their best finish since 1984 and won their first trophy since 1991.

"The women were absolutely fantastic," said Associate Athletic Director Vin Lananna. "I never thought in a million years that we would actually be in a position to contend for the title with such great teams out there, so it was really great for the women. On the guys’ side, obviously we would have liked a different outcome, but they competed well and they competed with class.

"And to have both teams going home with a trophy is fantastic," said Lananna. "When the dust all clears, I’ll be enthusiastic about the performances and the accomplishments of a very special group of student-athletes who represented Oregon so well this week."

Wheating gutted out a victory in the 800 meters for his first career NCAA Championship. The junior from Norwich, Vt., ran 1:46.21 to clip Tevan Everett of Texas at the line by .06. Everett ran 1:46.27.

"I had to work for that one," said Wheating, who became the first Duck to win the NCAA 800 meters since Joaquim Cruz in 1984. "That was really hard. But more importantly, we got the 10 points."

In the first race of the day, Baker set the school record by running 51.29 in a fifth-place finish in the women’s 400 meters.

"I’m proud of myself, the team and everybody," said Baker. "I ran my race as if it was just me out there. I wasn’t paying attention to anybody else."

Baker became the first Duck to score in the 400 meters since Camara Jones in 1994. Baker also broke Jones’ 1995 school record of 51.44.

"I’m glad to follow in the footsteps of Camara Jones, who was an excellent runner, so I’m proud."

Also on Saturday, Jordan McNamara ran 11th in the men’s 1,500 meters in 3:42.42,

For the meet, Oregon produced six NCAA champions: Galen Rupp in the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters, Rachel Yurkovich in the javelin, Ashton Eaton in the decathlon, Brianne Theisen in the heptathlon and Wheating.

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