Kazimierska's 'Huge Question Mark' Wiped Away By Strong Season Opener At Hayward Field

By Lori Shontz for DyeStat

Kim Spir photos

RESULTS/VIDEOS | INTERVIEWS 

EUGENE - When Klaudia Kazimierska got up Friday morning, she said, she didn’t feel quite right. But she still wanted to race.

Kazimierska, who finished third in the 1,500 at NCAAs last June and then competed in the Olympics for Poland, finishing 10th in the Paris 1,500 final, had injured something in her right hip in the fall. It got significantly worse in December. She hadn’t raced in months, and she was ready to get back on the track.

“We decided to trust our instincts and just race,” she said. “There was no pacer. Just to compete.”

It all worked out. Opening her outdoor season with an 800 for the first time, Kazimierska made her move after one lap and pulled away for a victory in 2:02.80 Friday night at the Oregon Open. It’s the fastest 800 she’s run in college.

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“To open my season this way, it’s so rewarding and encouraging because I didn’t know if I was going to be able to toe the line this season,” she said. “It’s very surprising, and I’m so happy with that.”

Kazimierska finished ahead of two Oregon teammates and training partners, Mia Barnett, who was second in 2:03.28, and Samantha McDonnell, who was third in 2:05.96. When she made her move, neither of her teammates could follow.

“Moving at 400 to go in the 800 is actually a very brave move,” she said. “Because I feel like I can do a 1,500, I do that all the time, and it’s safe for me. But the 800, halfway through to kick – that’s very, very brave for me. But it felt good.”

Kazimierska, who raced with a short sleeve on her right thigh, said that the hip still isn’t 100 percent; sometimes she still has trouble sleeping. She has found the injury particularly difficult to rehab because there didn’t seem to be a protocol.

During cross country season, she said, she could run at tempo without much pain. But in December, when she went to the track, she said, “it kind of popped.” She spent a lot of time cross-training and in the pool.

“It’s just been a huge question mark waiting for it to go away,” she said.

She said she did her first real speed workout on Tuesday, and she had some tightness after that. She was prepared to dial back in the race if necessary, but she didn’t need to. When she made her move, she wasn’t even thinking about the injury.

“It felt so good,” she said. “The adrenaline, the atmosphere at Hayward just pushed me.”

As always, Kazimierska appreciated the Hayward crowd; her family is back in Poland, so she said the crowd and her friends and her mentor provide her with the support she needs. Her mentor is University of Oregon professor Ellen Schmidt-Devlin, who ran for the Ducks in the late 1970s, built Oregon’s Sports Product Management Program and also mentored former Oregon star Raevyn Rogers.

Kazimierska plans to compete Saturday in the 1,500 at the Oregon Team Invitational, then run the 800 at the Drake Relays.

“I want to get into fitness through races since I missed lots of training,” she said.

In other highlights from Friday’s action:

Oklahoma State’s Fouad Messaoudi, who won the NCAA Indoor 3,000-meter title in 2023, cruised to a victory in the men’s 1,500 meters, winning in what he called an easy 3:36.85. “Like a hard workout, I guess,” he said.

Oregon’s Simeon Birnbaum, who ran just one race at Hayward last season as a freshman because of injury, returned to the track as a pacer for the race; he took the field through 700 in 1:43.06.

An NAIA runner from Multnomah, Willy Mabena, won the 200 in 21.28 and was overcome with emotion after the race. He said it was his fastest 200 since his high school days in South Africa – and it came from Lane 9.

“When I found out I was in Lane 9, a lot of things came into my mind,” he said. “I wanted to false start, I wanted to fake a hamstring injury. But there’s a dog in me, and something inside that kept telling me, ‘You know what? Go out there and run that race. It’s yours.’” 

Oregon swept the steeplechases that started the track portion of the meet. Katie Clute won the women’s race by more than six seconds in 10:13.16. Benjamin Balazs said he had hoped to go under 8:40 in the men’s race, and he surpassed his expectations with a time of 8:34.72 and a margin of victory of more than 15 seconds.

Sophia Iakushina of Texas A&M, a freshman who placed second in the NCAA Indoor pentathlon, won the women’s 100 hurdles in 13.52, and Jerome Campbell of Northern Colorado won the men’s 110 hurdles in 13.54.

Jourdin Edwards of Kansas State won the women’s 400 hurdles in 58.36, and Bryce McCray of Texas A&M won the men’s event in 50.69.

Ariana Jackson of Kansas State won the women’s 400 in 55.83, and Eric Hemphill III won the men’s race in 46.17.

Oregon freshman Mihaly Akpamgbo won the men’s 100 in 10.61, and Caden Norris of Texas A&M won the men’s 800 in 1:47.48.

Utah swept the women’s short sprints, with Emily Martin winning the women’s 100 in 11.54 and Chelsea Amoah winning the 200 in 23.46.

Anika Thompson, running unattached, won the women’s 5,000 in 15:58.59, and Evan Bishop of Oregon ran a personal best 13:42.79 to win the men’s event.

Isabelle Esler of Oregon State broke the school record in the javelin with her winning mark of 175-0 (53.35m).

Abigail Martin of Texas A&M launched a big throw in the discus with 186-0 (56.71m).

Other winners in the women’s field events were Heather Abadie of Texas A&M in the pole vault with a jump of 13-10.50 (4.23m), Kiana Van Haaren of Northern Colorado in the long jump in 20-5.75 (6.24m), Ryann Porter of Oregon in the triple jump with 43-5.25 (13.24m) and Grace Proudfoot of Oregon State in the high jump with 5-7 (1.70m).

In the men’s field events, freshman Travon Williams of Wichita State won both the long and the high jumps with leaps of 23-8.25 (7.22m) and 6-4.75 (1.95m), respectively.

Other winners were Pat Vialva of Oregon in the javelin with a throw of 226-11 (69.16m), Tanner Nett of Eastern Oregon in the shot put with 53-9.25 (16.39), Selva Prabhu of Kansas State in the triple jump with 50-10.75 (15.51m) and Ridge Estes of Wichita State in the discus with 179-2 (54.61m).

Aleksandr Solovev of Texas A&M didn’t enter the pole vault until only two athletes were left, and he won with a jump of 18-2.75 (5.56m). He missed three attempts at 5.70m.