The Men and Women of Oregon won eight events and recorded a flurry of personal bests in their outdoor opener Friday and Saturday in San Diego

SAN DIEGO - Oregon track and field got its 2018 outdoor season off to a fast start on Friday and Saturday at the SDSU Aztec Invitational, winning eight events and recording a flurry of personal bests during the two-day meet at SDSU Sports Deck.

How it Happened - Women: The Women of Oregon came away with five victories on Saturday after a light day of action on Friday. Freshman Keira McCarrell (below) got the day going with a win in the women's invite javelin, throwing a personal-best 154-8 (47.16m), after Alexis Rigmaiden and JoJo Ananouko finished first and third, respectively, in the open javelin on Friday.





The UO women went 1-2 in the 4x100 meter relay. The quartet of Alaysha Johnson , Venessa D'Arpino , Shae Anderson and Lauren Rain Williams won in 44.38, and Jasmin Reed , Ariana Washington , Kaylah Robinson and Hannah Waller took second in 44.94.

Johnson picked up another win not long after the relay, as the defending Pac-12 champion won the 100-meter hurdles in 13.48 while Robinson placed sixth (14.02). Washington won a 100 meters that featured seven Ducks in 11.25, getting off to a good start outdoors after struggling indoors. Williams took third in 11.50, and Venessa D'Arpino was fourth in a PR 11.53.

Defending Pac-12 triple jump champion ChaQuinn Cook (below) earned the win in the long jump on Saturday, moving into eighth in UO history with a PR mark of 20-7.25 (6.28). On Friday, sophomore Maddie Rabing moved into sixth all-time at Oregon in the hammer throw, taking third with a big PR throw of 190-7 (58.09m). Kiana Phelps hit a PR in the discus, reaching 168-5 (51.34m).





How it Happened - Men: The Men of Oregon started Saturday with a win (39.94) in the 4x100 meter relay from the team of Braxton Canady , Cravon Gillespie , Julius Shellmire and Spenser Schmidt . Like Johnson on the women's side, Canady quickly turned around after the relay and earned another victory, winning the 110-meter hurdles in 14.32.

Redshirt sophomore Jackson VanVuren was second overall but first among collegians in the men's invite javelin. Exactly one year removed from elbow surgery, VanVuren threw a nearly 20-foot PR of 225-4 (68.70m). John Nizich took sixth at 203-3.





Rieker Daniel (10.51), Schmidt (10.52) and Shellmire (10.57) all ran PRs in the 100 meters while finishing fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively. Orwin Emilien and Cameron Stone went 1-2 in their heat of the 800 meters, an off-event for the quarter-milers. Daniel (21.35) and Stone (21.37) both came back later and ran PRs in the 200 meters.

On Friday, freshman Jared Briere threw a PR of 178-9 (54.55m) to win his flight of the hammer throw and finish eighth overall. Sophomore Sebastian Barajas (below) hit a PR 55-1 (16.82m) on Saturday in the shot put.





What it Means: After an indoor season that didn't meet the Ducks' expectations, head coach Robert Johnson talked about the need to get back to "The Oregon Way." UO's throwers, jumpers and sprinters seemed to embrace that challenge in San Diego, and Oregon will look for its distance crew to do the same next weekend in their outdoor opener.

Notable: The NCAA lead in the women's 100 meters entering Saturday was 11.27 … Reed (11.64), Waller (11.73) and Shae Anderson (11.87) all finished in the top 12 of the women's 100 meters … Kylee O'Connor ran a PR in the women's 400-meter hurdles (1:00.70) … Chin Ng recorded a PR in the men's 400 meters (48.80) … Ashlyn Hare hit an outdoor PR in the high jump (5'5.25").

Up Next: Oregon's distance runners will make their outdoor debuts next weekend at the Stanford Invitational (March 30-31).