Ducks Open Weekend With Eight Wins

Friday, April 18

Eugene, OR

All Day

University of Oregon

Oregon Open

04/18/25 | Track and Field

The Oregon Team Invitational begins Saturday at 4 p.m.

EUGENE, Ore. – The UO track and field team racked up eight wins and a pair of top-10 program marks Friday during the Oregon Open at Hayward Field. Benjamin Balazs, winner of the steeplechase, added his name to the Ducks' top 10 in the event while Isabella Nilsen improved her standing on the Oregon all-time list in the pole vault.

The home weekend continues Saturday with the Oregon Team Invitational. Field events begin at 4 p.m. followed the 1500 meters kicking off running events just after 5 p.m. The Oregon Team Invitational will play out over a four-hour window and a truncated schedule that includes 11 events for both men's and women's competitions.

Along with the Ducks, the field features Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Oregon State, Texas A&M, Utah and Wichita State. Tickets for Saturday's Oregon Team Invitational are currently on sale. Click HERE for more details.

Balazs lowered his lifetime best by more than 10 seconds Friday, stopping the clock in 8:34.72 to move into 10^th place on the UO all-time steeplechase list. The Portland native entered the meet with a best of 8:45.36 from last year's Oregon Twilight.

The Ducks swept the event with Katie Clute winning the women's race in the first race of the afternoon. She crossed the finish line in 10:13.16, more than six seconds clear of the field.

The wins kept coming with the women's 4x100 team of Shaniya Hall, Lily Jones, Brazil Neal and Amirah Shaheed. The quartet got the baton around the track in 44.25, a season's best. The Ducks won the first three events on the track. Individually, Shaheed and Hall returned to the track to finish in third and fifth, respectively, in the 200 meters.

Mihaly Akpamgbo added another win for the sprints group with his first-place effort (10.61) in the 100 meters. He was also the Ducks' top performer in the 200 meters, clocking in at 21.51 good for fourth.

Nilsen, already positioned in side the UO top 10, established an outdoor best of 4.18m/13-8.5 to move from 10^th to fifth on the Oregon all-time list. She needed some third-attempt heroics to extend her day at 3.98m/13-0.75 and then went on to clear the next two bars. Nilsen finished third in the competition, just ahead of teammate Emily Fitzsimmons who cleared the same height but had one more miss during her series of jumps.

Klaudia Kazimierska, in her first race since the cross country season, used a second-lap split of 1:00.5 to come away with the victory in the 800 meters. She stopped the clock in 2:02.80 and helped the Women of Oregon sweep the top-three spots in the field. Mia Barnett and Samantha McDonnell both tallied PBs of 2:03.78 and 2:05.96, respectively.

The first win of the weekend came from Pat Vialva in the men's javelin. On his second throw of the day, he registered a season's best of 69.16m/226-11 to take the lead. Vialva led a 1-3-5 finish for the Oregon men with Asher Krauel in third (62.52m/205-1) and Zach Young in fifth (59.77m/196-1). The measure by Krauel was his farthest since his freshman season in 2022.

Ryann Porter registered a second win in the field events, taking the top spot in the women's triple jump. She got out to a season's best of 13.24m/43-5.25 on her second attempt, good for the No. 6 measure in the NCAA based on marks entering the weekend. Porter's jump was also just shy of her outdoor best of 13.27 meters from last year's Olympic Trials.

The Ducks posted their eighth win of the Oregon Open by way of Evan Bishop's lifetime-best showing in the 5,000 meters. With four laps to go, he began to pull away from teammate Evan Burke and eventually crossed in 13:42.79, taking down his previous best of 13:45.59 during his career at Wisconsin. Ironically, that time also came at Hayward Field during the 2022 Oregon Relays.

NOTABLE: In his first 1500 since June 2023, Koitatoi Kidali lowered his lifetime best to 3:38.26, good for 10^th in the NCAA early in the outdoor season … Kidali and Matthew Erickson—3:40.54 in Friday's race—are scheduled to compete in the 800 meters during Saturday's Team Invitational … Will Heslam posted his first sub-1:50 collegiate effort (1:49.51) in the 800 meters; finished fourth … Annaleise Taylor, in the 400-meter hurdles, put together a second-consecutive race of under a minute—59.93—to finish fourth.

FRIDAY RESULTS
Oregon Open (Eugene, Ore.)
MEN
100 Meters
1. Mihaly Akpamgbo – 10.61
5. Reggie Witherspoon III – 10.89

200 Meters
4. Mihaly Akpamgbo – 21.51 [21.503]
5. Andrew Walker – 21.51 [21.504]
10. Jaelon Barbarin – 21.91
13. Reggie Witherspoon III – 22.25

800 Meters
4. Will Heslam – 1:49.51 (PB)
6. Ben Greene – 1:51.86

1500 Meters
4. Koitatoi Kidali – 3:38.26 (PB)
5. Matthew Erickson – 3:40.54 (PB)
6. Jeffery Rogers – 3:40.76 (PB)
13. Evan Dorenkamp – 3:46.44 (SB)

5,000 Meters
1. Evan Bishop – 13:42.79 (PB)
2. Evan Burke – 14:07.47

400m Hurdles
10. Ethan Bartee – 55.34

3,000m Steeplechase
1. Benjamin Balazs – 8:34.72 (PB, UO #10)
2. Sergio Del Barrio – 8:46.02
4. Vincent Mestler – 8:56.27 (PB)

4x100m Relay
--. Simpson/Witherspoon/Walker/Barbarin – DNF

Pole Vault
3. Kyle Gibbs – 5.16m/16-11
5. Joey Bonacci – 4.76m/15-7.25

Javelin
1. Pat Vialva – 69.16m/226-11 (SB)
3. Asher Krauel – 62.52m/205-1 (SB)
5. Zach Young – 59.77m/196-1

WOMEN
200 Meters
3. Amirah Shaheed – 23.80
5. Shaniya Hall – 24.35

800 Meters
1. Klaudia Kazimierska – 2:02.80
2. Mia Barnett – 2:03.78 (PB)
3. Samantha McDonnell – 2:05.96 (PB)

1500 Meters
12. Allura Markow – 4:32.00 (PB)

400m Hurdles
4. Annaleise Taylor – 59.93
13. Madyson Kannon – 1:07.11

3,000m Steeplechase
1. Katie Clute – 10:13.16
3. Kendall Martin – 10:21.72 (PB)
7. Hannah Seubert – 11:0920

4x100m Relay
1. Hall/Jones/Neal/Shaheed – 44.25

Pole Vault
3. Isabella Nilsen – 4.18m/13-8.5 (outdoor PB, UO #5)
4. Emily Fitzsimmons – 4.18m/13-8.5 (SB)
11. Noreen Hussain – 3.58m/11-9
13. Isabella Abrahams – 3.43m/11-3

Long Jump
6. Hannah Ganashamoorthy – 5.37m/17-7.5

Triple Jump
1. Ryann Porter – 13.24m/43-5.25 (SB)
5. Cassie Atkins – 12.52m/41-1 (SB)

Javelin
6. Kohana Nakato – 47.03m/154-3
7. Josephine Krohn – 46.38m/152-2 (PB)

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