Oregon Middle Distance Runner Mac Fleet:

Oregon Head Coach Robert Johnson:

Oregon Assistant Coach Andy Powell:

Courtesy: Oregon Sports Information

EUGENE, Ore. – Mac Fleet flew to victory in the men’s 1,500 meters as the Oregon men’s and women’s track team took home a pair of trophies Saturday at the NCAA Track and Field Championships.

The women finished third with 43 points for their unprecedented fifth straight top three finish, while the men earned a trophy for the first time in four years, taking fourth with 44 points.

“It was a big push by the men today,” said Oregon head coach Robert Johnson. “It was a big finish and for them to do that was huge.

“(The women) tried their hardest today and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

Florida and Texas A&M tied for the men’s title with 53 points. Arkansas was third with 46.5, followed by the Ducks.

Kansas won it’s first ever NCAA women’s title with 60 points, followed by Texas A&M with 44 and Oregon.

The men’s charge to the podium began with Fleet’s victory in the 1,500 meters, one of the more impressive feats of the Championships.

The junior from San Diego, Calif., hid near the back of the pack before making a pair of big moves to win. He galloped up to sixth on the second-to-last lap to move into position to make his impressive charge. With 300 meters to go, Fleet began picking off runners one-by-one before dashing to the lead as he came off the Bowerman Curve.

With the sold out Hayward Field crowd of 11,482 rising to its feet, Fleet crossed the line in a winning time of 3:50.25.

Zach Perkins of Air Force was second in 3:50.39 and Patrick Casey of Oklahoma took third in 3:50.60.

“This is an amazing feeling,” said Fleet. “I came close in the outdoors as a freshman, but it was tough having everything taken away the past two years. It really puts things into perspective on how hard it is to win at this level. Such a fantastic day.

“The first week of September, I had a long talk with a friend looking forward to today. We discussed what I needed to do over the weeks in between to win today. It’s been long months of dedication and focus.”

Sam Crouser added another six points to the men’s total with a third-place finish in the javelin. The sophomore from Gresham, Ore., had a best throw of 239-8/73.07m on his third attempt.

Sophomore Johnathan Cabral then came through with four points in the 110 meter hurdles. The Calabasas, Calif., native finished fifth with a time of 13.41.

“I had a little trouble staying level, but I came and got a fifth place finish. I’m happy with that,” said Cabral. “Going over the last hurdle, I started nicking a couple of people. It was a close race.”

The men closed out their scoring by finishing third in the 4×400 meter relay. The team of Jack Galpin, Arthur Delaney, Kevin Anding and Mike Berry ran 3:03.61, which was the fourth fastest time in school history.

“We wanted to come here to get a trophy,” said Berry. “I knew we had an opportunity. We came out and performed. This is a good place for us. It is a big thing for us to bring a trophy to TrackTown USA.”

The women got just enough points from the two relay teams to finish third in the overall standings.

The 4×100 relay team scored five points for the women with their fourth place finish. The team of Phyllis Francis, English Gardner, Jenna Prandini and Chizoba Okodogbe timed 43.80.

Then the Ducks wrapped up the meet by running fourth in the 4×400 meter relay. Prandini, Okodogbe, Laura Roesler and Phyllis Francis finished in 3:28.24.

The two Duck runners in the women’s 1,500 meters had a tough go of it in their final races in an Oregon uniform. Senior Becca Friday was 11th in 4:20.85, while senior Anne Kesselring, who was in a scoring position, fell near the finish line and was 12th in 4:28.17.

“In big meets like this there are always going to be highs and lows,” said Friday. “Obviously this is a low for me, but I’m still happy for Oregon and what we’ve done here.”

Sophomore Lauren Crockett cleared 5-7.75/1.72m and tied for 19th in the women’s high jump.

“The teams in the 4×400 were really good teams, fourth place is by no means a disappointment for us,” said Roesler.

Oregon sprinter English Gardner:

Oregon runner Jordan Hasay:

Oregon runner Elijah Greer:

Oregon runner Laura Roesler:

Oregon sprinter English Gardner:

Oregon javelin thrower Liz Brenner:

Oregon sprinter Jenna Prandini:

Oregon 400 meter runner Phyllis Francis:

Oregon decathlete Dakotah Keys:

Oregon head coach Robert Johnson:

Head coaches from institutions competing for the 2013 men’s and women’s NCAA national titles preview the upcoming meet.

Coaches include: Chris Bucknam (Arkansas), Pat Henry (Texas A&M), Mike Holloway (Florida), Robert Johnson (Oregon) and Stanley Redwine (Kansas)

A.J. Acosta:

Andrew Wheating and A.J. Acosta relive their magical Oregon 1-2-3 sweep in the Men’s 1500 NCAA Track & Field Championship final.

Courtesy: Oregon Sports Information

EUGENE, Ore. – Rice scored seven runs in the first three innings and (8) Oregon never really recovered as the Owls won 11-4 in the Eugene Regional Tournament on Monday at PK Park.

The Ducks (48-16) ended their season with a school record in wins, while the Owls (44-18) advanced to play at North Carolina State in the NCAA Super Regional. Four Ducks—Ryon Healy, Tyler Baumgartner, Scott Heineman and Cole Irvin—were named to the all-tournament team. Rice placed five players on the all-tournament team including Most Valuable Player Jordan Stephens.

Rice put three runs on the board in the first inning against Jake Reed, who was making the start on two day’s rest after starting Friday’s Ducks’ opener. Shane Hoelscher drove a two-RBI triple to center field and scored when J.J. Altobelli’s relay throw bounced off Hoelscher and got away from third baseman Ryan Hambright.

The Ducks got a pair of runs back in the bottom half of the first. Mitchell Tolman made it 3-1 with a RBI single scoring Aaron Payne, and then escaped a rundown on a ground out by Heineman allowing Healy to score from second.

The Owls answered with two more runs in the top of the second to push the lead back to three. Reliever Christian Jones walked Keenan Cook with the bases loaded to make it 4-2 and then Ford Stainback scored on a Hoelscher fielder’s choice where Christian Stringer beat Hambright to third base.

Rice tacked on two more runs on three hits and two walks in the third for a 7-2 lead. Baumgartner kept it from getting worse when he threw out catcher Hunter Kopycinski trying to score to end the inning. Tolman pulled the Ducks within four on a sacrifice fly in the bottom half of the third.

Rice added a run in the fifth before Oregon got it back with a Baumgartner RBI single. The Owls tacked on three runs in the top of the ninth to seal the victory.

EUGENE, Ore. — English Gardner is one of the most charismatic and confident athletes at the University of Oregon. And she enters the 2013 NCAA Track & Field Championships as the favorite to defend her 100 meter title.

But Gardner false started and was disqualified at the Pac-12 Championships – Erik Elken talks to Gardner about how she’s handling that heading into NCAAs.

Courtesy: Oregon Sports Information

EUGENE, Ore. – Jeff Gold did his part to keep Oregon’s season alive and he got plenty of help from (8) Oregon’s offense in a 11-0 win over Rice in the Eugene Regional Tournament on Sunday at PK Park.

Oregon (48-15) forced the “if necessary” game on Monday night at 6 p.m. at PK Park against Rice (43-18) with the winner advancing to the NCAA Super Regional next weekend against North Carolina State.

Gold, making his first start since April 30, allowed just two hits in five innings while striking out four with no walks. He moved to 4-0 with the win.

Ryon Healy gave Gold and two Oregon relievers all the offense they would need. The first-team All-Pac-12 pick went 4-for-4 with four RBI and two runs scored. Scott Heineman finished 2-for-4 with three RBI and a run scored while Tyler Baumgartner and Aaron Payne both had two hits. Baumgartner went 2-for-5 with two runs scored and a RBI, finishing the day 5-for-10 with five runs scored and three RBI in the Ducks’ two wins on Sunday. He combined to hit for the cycle in the two games with a home run, double and single against San Francisco in the early game and a triple and a double in the game against Rice.

Healy gave the Duck an early 1-0 lead when he launched his 11th home run of the season to left-center field in the bottom of the first.

Oregon extended the lead to 4-0 in the bottom of the fourth with three runs on four hits. Heineman singled to center scoring Healy from second after a leadoff single for the Ducks’ slugger. Heineman moved to second on a Ryan Hambright single and scored on a Shaun Chase squeeze bunt to make it 3-0. Connor Hofmann wrapped up the inning with a RBI double scoring Hambright from second

The Ducks added two more runs in the bottom of the fifth. Baumgartner tripled deep to center field to score Payne who led off the inning with a hit. Healy drove in Baumgartner with a double to give Oregon a 6-0 lead.

Oregon tacked on four more runs in the bottom of the seventh to blow the game wide open. Healy pulled a RBI double into the left-field corner to make it 8-0 and then after Mitchell Tolman was hit by a pitch, Heineman drove in pinch runner Kevin Minjares and Tolman with a double to right center. Minjares picked up the final RBI with a base hit in the eighth for the Ducks.

Courtesy: Oregon Sports Information

EUGENE, Ore. – The (8) Oregon Ducks dropped a 1-0 pitcher’s duel to the No. 20 Rice Owls on Saturday night in the Eugene Regional Tournament at PK Park.

The Ducks (46-25) face San Francisco Sunday at 12 p.m. in a loser out game with the winner advancing to play the Owls at 4 p.m.

Jordan Stephens bested Tommy Thorpe in a battle between the two hurlers on the mound. Stephens threw a complete-game two-hitter with 11 strike outs. He didn’t allow a runner past second base. Thorpe was nearly as sharp allowing just a first inning run in seven innings with four strike outs

Rice (43-17) got all the offense it would need in the bottom of the first off Thorpe (7-5) on a Shane Hoelscher double that scored Ford Stainback. The run snapped a 15-inning scoreless streak for Thorpe dating back to May 11 when he allowed a run in the sixth inning against Ohio State. Stainback’s leadoff base hit also snapped a 13.1-inning hitless streak by Thorpe. The last hit against Thorpe came when Oregon State had a bunt single in the third inning on May 17.

Stephens (8-4) retired the first 13 batters he faced to set the tone early for the Owls. Tyler Baumgartner finally got the Ducks’ first hit with a ground ball up the middle with one out in the fifth, but he was thrown out at second trying to steal. Oregon’s only other hit came when Ryon Healy beat out a bunt to lead off the seventh inning.

Oregon will send freshman Cole Irvin (11-3) to the mound tomorrow against the Dons in an effort to advance to Sunday’s second game.