Stevens equals world-leading 22.09 in 200 as Ducks sweep

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

EUGENE -- The Oregon men won the Pac-12 Outdoor Track and Field Championship for the 11th straight year and the women won their ninth straight title Sunday at Hayward Field. 

Oregon's array of talent continues to impress, but the Duck that shined brightest was Olympian Deajah Stevens, who ran a world-leading time of 22.09 seconds in the 200 meters, led a 1-2-3 finish for her team in the 100 and anchored the winning 4x100 relay.

"I feet very confident running (the 200)," Stevens said. "(The world leading time) is exciting. It gives me high hopes for trying out for Worlds and finishing my season."

Stevens won the 100 meters in 11.05 seconds, just .02 off the conference meet record.  Reigning NCAA champion Ariana Washington was second in 11.10 and last year's Pac-12 champion, Hannah Cunliffe, was third in 11.11 in her first serious outdoor competition of the season. 

Cunliffe said she is 100 percent after fending off a bout of the flu. She also finished third in the 200.

Arizona State's Maggie Ewen was the meet's highest scorer with 30 points after dominating wins in the hammer, shot put and discus. 

Ewen threw 230-4 (70.20m) to smash the meet record by seven feet. She then won the discus with 196-2 (59.81m). The Sun Devils senior won the shot put Saturday with 56-4.50 (17.18m).

Colorado showed off its power in the distance events. The men grabbed 28 points out of the 5,000 meters on the way to a fourth-place overall team finish (73 points). 

And sophomore Dani Jones, building on the momentum of a 10,000-meter victory Saturday by Erin Clark, used her wheels late in the 1,500 and 5,000 to claim both victories. 

In the 1,500, Jones won a mad dash to the finish after a pedestrian couple of laps by clocking 4:22.09. With 450 to go, Washington's Amy-Eloise Neale was tripped and crashed the ground. Neale got up and caught several people to salvage sixth place.

In the 5,000 meters, it came down to Jones and Neale. Jones got the win in 16:12.76 to 16:12.78. Oregon freshman Katie Rainsberger, second in the 1,500, was third in the 5,000.

USC freshman Michael Norman produced his first big-time result for the Trojans as he ran down Oregon veteran Marcus Chambers on the home straight of the 400 and ran a personal-best 45.15 seconds. Chambers was second in 45.19.

Kyree King didn't let the Oregon women steal all of the sprint headlines. The transfer from Western Kentucky swept the 100 (10.09w) and the 200 (20.27w). The Oregon men went 1-2 in both events, a rare show of sprint power for the historical distance-driven program. 

King is the first Oregon athlete to win the short dash since Roscoe Cook won the 100 yards in 1959.

In a compelling 1,500 meters, Stanford sophomore Grant Fisher ran his final 400 meters in 51 seconds to take command and pull away for the win in 3:54.67. Oregon's Blake Haney was second.