Ducks Sweep Big Ten Indoor Titles

Saturday, March 1

Indianapolis, IN

All Day

University of Oregon

Big Ten Indoor Championships

03/01/25 | Track and Field

First conference sweep for the program since the 2022 Pac-12 Championships in Eugene.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Men and Women of Oregon swept the team titles Saturday at the 2025 Big Ten Indoor Championships in Indianapolis, Ind. The Ducks have now won three of the four conference titles available to them coupled with the women's cross country victory in November.

The Big Ten indoor sweep is the program's first conference sweep since winning both titles at the 2022 Pac-12 Championships in Eugene.

The UO women out-distanced the competition with 131 points, nearly 50 points clear of the field while the Oregon men—106 points—were locked in a team battle with familiar foe USC—99.5—all weekend long. The Ducks won three titles Saturday and relied on its depth to rack up the points across all events.

RAISE IT… TWICE. Men and Women of Oregon. B1G Champions. #GoDucks pic.twitter.com/HeSQZQF9UY
— oregontf (@OregonTF) March 2, 2025

The women scored in 14 of 18 events during the two-day while and the men scored in 12 of 18.

Matthew Erickson won the men's 800 meters, Wilma Nielsen took first place in the women's mile and Aaliyah McCormick registered a narrow victory in the 60-meter hurdles.

In the women's first event on the track, Nielsen and Mia Barnett—both members of Friday's winning distance medley relay—led a 1-2 Oregon finish in the mile. Freshman Ali Ince added a seventh-place effort to give the team 20 points in the event. Nielsen stopped the clock in 4:38.77 with Barnett right behind in 4:39.35.

McCormick captured her first individual conference title Saturday with a victory in the 60 hurdles, out-leading Michigan's Aasia Laurencin by .005 at the tape. Both anxiously stared at the scoreboards while the timers situated the photo finish before McCormick was declared champion. McCormick ran a new personal best of 7.97 which keeps her second on the program's all-time list.

Due to a damaged lane on the straightaway, the 60 and 60 hurdle finals were run in two time sections using lanes one through four.

For the UO men, Erickson ran his way to a Big Ten indoor title at 800 meters. He crossed the finish in 1:46.86, ahead of teammate Koitatoi Kidali (1:47.07) in second and James Harding (1:48.00) in fourth. The trio scored a crucial 23 points toward the men's team total.

The top two were back on the track roughly 50 minutes later to pull double duty in the 600. Kidali was the runner-up (1:15.89) in the event, taking the top spot in the first of two sections. He finished second, just .006 behind Penn State's Olivier Desmeules who won the second section of the timed final. Erickson finished sixth in the race and the Oregon men had another 11 points.

Jadyn Mays and Ella Nelson had two finals Saturday for the women's team. Mays came away with a pair of runner-up finishes in the 60 and 200 meters. She ran a season's best 7.15 in the 60. Nelson accounted for 12 points of her own with two bronze finishes in the 600 and 800 meters. Her time of 2:03 was a new lifetime best and good for No. 6 on the program's top-10 list.

In the men's sprints, PJ Ize-Iyamu finished third in the 60 meters. After dropping a new lifetime best of 6.63 in the prelims, he nearly matched that with a 6.64 Saturday to garner six points. The UO junior came into the weekend with a best of 6.67 which put him tied for 12th in the conference seeding.

The Ducks also got big points with runner-up finishes from Elliott Cook in the men's mile, Juliet Cherubet in the women's 3,000 meters, Ryann Porter in the women's triple jump and Jaida Ross in the women's shot put. The men's mile was another big event for Oregon with Cook and Tomas Palfrey finishing fourth for a combined 13 points.

Both Porter (13.37m/43-10.5) and Ross (18.47m/60-7.25) used late-round, season-best efforts to move into second place in their respective events.

USC led Oregon, 99.5-97, heading into the men's 3,000 meters. Benjamin Balazs and Tayson Echohawk delivered nine points to push the Ducks into the lead, 106-99.5, with just the 4x400 relay left on the Big Ten schedule. The Trojans finished second but, after an official's review, were disqualified which left the score as it was a the top of the team standings.

In what turned out to be an important 15 points, Safin Wills in the triple jump, Kobe Lawrence in the shot put and Aiden Carter in the heptathlon all posted fourth-place showings Saturday. Wills also had fourth-place points from Friday's long jump. He entered the weekend outside the conference top 10 in each event.

Carter started the day in eighth place in the heptathlon but used lifetime bests in the pole vault and 1,000 meters to finish fourth overall. Lawrence, on his final throw of the competition, moved from a would-be sixth place into fourth, a two-point difference.

After conference meet results have been submitted, the top 16 declared athletes in each event—and top 12 relays—advance to the 2025 NCAA Indoor Championships (March 14-15) in Virginia Beach, Va.

B1G Indoor Championships (Indianapolis, Ind.)
MEN
60 Meters
3. PJ Ize-Iyamu – 6.64 [6 points]

600 Meters
2. Koitatoi Kidali – 1:15.89 [8 points]
6. Matthew Erickson – 1:16.98 [3 points]

800 Meters
1. Matthew Erickson – 1:46.86 [10 points]
2. Koitatoi Kidali – 1:47.07 [8 points]
4. James Harding – 1:48.00 [5 points]

Mile
2. Elliott Cook – 4:03.79 [8 points]
4. Tomas Palfrey – 4:05.03 [5 points]

3,000 Meters
4. Benjamin Balazs – 7:58.85 [5 points]
5. Tayson Echohawk – 7:59.38 [4 points]
9. Evan Bishop – 8:01.17
14. Aiden Smith – 8:04.94
16. Connor Burns – 8:05.55

4x400m Relay
12. Omer/Kessler/Katahdin/Carter – 3:25.22

High Jump
--. Trey Tintinger – DNS

Triple Jump
4. Safin Wills – 15.70m/51-6.25 (SB) [5 points]

Shot Put
4. Kobe Lawrence – 19.06m/62-6.5 [5 points]

Heptathlon
4. Aiden Carter – 5,489 points (PB, #9 UO) [5 points]
               4. 60m Hurdles – 8.24 [922 points]
               1. Pole Vault – 4.75m/15-7 (PB) [834]
               3. 1,000 Meters – 2:49.01 (PB) [776]
9. Arthur Katahdin – 5,072 points (=SB)
               10. 60m Hurdles – 8.52 (=PB) [855 points]
               3. Pole Vault – 4.65m/15-3 [804]
               9. 1,000 Meters – 2:55.88 [705]
10. Koby Kessler – 4,972 points
               8. 60m Hurdles – 8.41 (PB) [881 points]
               --. Pole Vault – NH
               2. 1,000 Meters – 2:41.93 [852]

WOMEN
60 Meters
2. Jadyn Mays – 7.15 (SB) [8 points]

200 Meters
2. Jadyn Mays – 22.66 [8 points]

400 Meters
7. Ella Clayton – 53.06 [2 points]

600 Meters
3. Ella Nelson – 1:29.53 [6 points]

800 Meters
3. Ella Nelson – 2:03.53 (PB, UO #6) [6 points]

Mile
1. Wilma Nielsen – 4:38.77 [10 points]
2. Mia Barnett – 4:39.35 [8 points]
7. Ali Ince – 4:43.43 [2 points]

3,000 Meters
2. Juliet Cherubet – 9:10.22 [8 points]
4. Anika Thompson – 9:11.65 [5 points]
16. Ella Thorsett – 9:19.79 (PB)
--. Silan Ayyildiz – DNS
--. Mia Barnett – DNS

60m Hurdles
1. Aaliyah McCormick – 7.97 (PB) [10 points]

4x400m Relay
9. Clayton/Oliveira/Taylor/Hall – 3:39.99

Triple Jump
2. Ryann Porter – 13.37m/43-10.5 (PB) [8 points]
T17. Cassie Atkins – 12.35m/40-6.25

Shot Put
2. Jaida Ross – 18.47m/60-7.25 (SB) [8 points]

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