Day one of the MPSF Championships ended with a number of big personal bests from multiple Oregon athletes.
Highlighting some of the Ducks best performances was Jillian Weir’s runner-up showing in the women’s weight throw. Weir recorded a pair of personal bests in the weight throw Friday night at the Dempsey Indoor Facility. She threw 66-11.25/20.40m in the preliminary round before improving to 67-6.25/20.58m on her final throw.
That was a personal best by more than a foot for the sophomore. Her throw was the second best throw in school history. Her performance, moved her into a tie for 14th nationally in the event, an important ranking as the top 16 individuals will receive a bid to the NCAA Championships.
“There were lots of good efforts all over the place for us today,” head coach Robert Johnson told goducks.com. “It’s the championship season and this is the time of year you want to see those types of efforts.”
The men also saw a personal best in the weight throw as senior Miles Walk went 59-11.25/18.27m to finish fourth overall.
One of the biggest surprises of the meet was by the Ducks in the men’s pole vault. Senior Austin Ouderkirk and freshman Matt Hidalgo both had personal records. Both Ducks cleared the bar at 16-10/5.13m. Hidalgo earned a fifth place finish based on fewer misses with Ouderkirk sixth.
The men also got a point from Trevor Ferguson who finished eighth in the long jump by virtue of his indoor best of 23-8.75/7.23m.
Football players, Dior Mathis and B.J. Kelley both won their 60 meter heats to move into Saturday’s finals. Mathis won his race in a personal best 6.79 seconds, while Kelley took his in 6.83.
In the men’s 60 meter hurdles, Johnathan Cabral won his heat in 7.82 seconds and advanced.
Dakotah Keys stood in third place with 3,104 points after the first day of the heptathlon. He had a personal best of 7.13 in the 60 meters and just missed a PR in the high jump, clearing 6-6.75/2.00m.
Blake Kemp set personal records in three events ad was fifth in the heptathlon with 2,994 points.
The women had a third place finish in the distance medley relay. Laura Roesler, Alexandria Davidson, Megan Patrignelli and Ashley Maton finished in 11:30.54.
Alyssa Monteverde finished ninth place in the women’s heptathlon. The freshman set three pentathlon PRs and tied a fourth on the way to a personal best 3,642 points. That was the fifth best total in school history.
Monteverde took a break from the pentathlon to run a personal best 8.47 in the open 60 meter hurdle preliminaries, finishing second and earning a spot in Saturday’s final. Monteverde’s time moved her to No. 2 on Oregon’s indoor list.
In the women’s 60 meters, English Gardner and Jenna Prandini both timed 7.35 in winning their respective heats to advance to the finals.
“The bulk of what we came here to do happens on Saturday,” said Johnson. “We’ll know a lot more after tomorrow how we stand for the NCAAs. But we did a great job today of setting the table and now we need to go out there and have another big day.”
The MPSF Championships continue Saturday morning.