EUGENE — Even as her team disintegrated around her, University of Oregon mid-distance star Jessica Hull had no doubts, no second thoughts, made no plans to leave.

She had come to the United States from Albion Park, Australia, to run for Oregon. She won the 2018 NCAA outdoor 1,500-meter title in a UO kit. A Duck she was. A Duck she would stay.

“I couldn’t see anything else,” Hull says.

Hull was the bright spot in a tumultuous offseason in which Oregon’s husband-and-wife distance coaching tandem of Andy and Maurica Powell decamped for Seattle to take over the Washington track and cross country program.

Standout UO distance runners Lilli Burdon and Katie Rainsberger followed Maurica Powell north and became Huskies.

Oregon sprinter Lauren Rain Williams transferred to USC. Hurdler Alaysha Johnson left for Cal State Northridge.

It was a serious talent drain. Burdon is No. 2 on the UO career outdoor list in the 5,000 and seventh in the 1,500. Rainsberger is sixth outdoors in the 1,500 and was the fourth individual finisher in the 2016 NCAA Cross Country Championships.

Williams is No. 5 on the career outdoor list in the 200 and 10th in the 100. Johnson is the school record-holder in the 100 hurdles.

Hull says she understands the bond Burdon and Rainsberger have with Maurica Powell. She doesn’t second guess their decisions and wishes them well. But she had her own reasons to stay.

“I’m a bit of a track nerd,” says Hull, who was aware of Oregon’s reputation as a track powerhouse while growing up Down Under. “I know the history of this sport. I love the history of the sport, of being part of this program, of all that has come before me. I’m very proud to be a part of it.”

But she concedes she was nervous when Burdon, her friend and training partner, made up her mind to go.

Hull went to UO coach Robert Johnson for answers.

She remembers telling him: “’I need to know I’m going to have some training partners.’ He was like, ‘You know, it’s going to take care of itself. It will.’ And, he was right.”

The Ducks reloaded, bringing in successful University of San Francisco coach Helen Lehman-Winters to take over the women’s distance program.

An international cast of transfers came along in Lehman-Winters’ wake. There was Philly Bowdon from Britain, Weronika Pyzik from Poland via USF and Isabelle Brauer from Sweden via USF.

Darned if Oregon’s rebuilt distance crew didn’t finish third in last fall’s NCAA Cross Country Championships. Hull was third individually after finishing 79th in 2017.

“It’s a testament to Helen Lehman-Winters and what she has brought to our program this year,” Johnson says. “Not only for Jessica, but for all of those cross-country girls to run the way they did and make such huge improvements.”

There was an adjustment in coaching style. But Hull says the transition wasn’t difficult, because Lehman-Winters was willing to listen and did not attempt to tamper with what already was working.

When Lehman-Winters wants to make a change, she explains it in a way Hull says makes sense.

“She makes it very simple for you to buy in,” Hull says. “She comes to practice every day and you can see the purpose and why behind everything we’re doing. Once you have buy-in, you can develop a relationship from there.”

Hull went through her first speed-and-endurance track workout last week as a UO athlete without Burdon alongside.

“It felt very strange,” she says. “But it’s OK, because I’ve got some awesome teammates.”

She rooms with Bowdon and doesn’t lack for training partners.

“Sometimes we laugh about how much we get out of a workout and how well we work together when there are like five or six different languages in the group,” Hull says. “It’s been great.”

Johnson likes the United Nations makeup of his women’s distance contingent, because he feels Oregon’s international reputation in track gives him a recruiting advantage.

While the Ducks have made a name for themselves nationally in football and basketball, overseas it’s different.

Internationally, Johnson says, Oregon’s athletic reputation is “100 percent track and field.”

It was for Hull, who has become the centerpiece of the women’s program.

She will compete indoors for the first time since contributing a leg to Oregon’s 2018 NCAA champion distance medley relay and placing third in the 3,000 indoor final when the Ducks go to Fayetteville, Arkansas, on Friday and Saturday for the Razorback Invitational.

She jokes it will be like ripping off a Band-Aid.

It’s an interesting metaphor, because Hull stopped the offseason bleeding in Oregon’s program by choosing to stay.

“She never wavered throughout the entire process,” Johnson says. “It’s a testament to her. I couldn’t be more happy or more proud.”

-- Ken Goe

kgoe@oregonian.com | @KenGoe