Distance Crew Heads to Arkansas

EUGENE, Ore. – The Oregon track and field team will look to improve its national standing in a handful of events Friday at the Arkansas Qualifier in Fayetteville, Ark. The UO men are scheduled for entries in the 800 meters, mile and distance medley relay.

Running events will start with the DMR at 12:30 p.m. PT with a field set to include Oregon, Iowa State, Kansas, Oklahoma State, Virginia, Washington and host Arkansas. The national leader heading into the weekend is 9:28.61 from BYU in January. It took 9:21.23 to get into the national meet last season.

The Ducks will also have Matthew Erickson and James Harding in the 800 meters, scheduled to start at 3:40 p.m. PT. Harding and Erickson rank among the top 20 nationally with season bests of 1:46.83 and 1:46.88, respectively, but sit just outside the top 16.

The men's mile is set to go off Friday at 5:00 p.m. PT with Tomas Palfrey and Simeon Birnbaum among the scheduled entries. Both enter the meet with top-10 national times in the 3,000 meters.

At the end of the qualifying window which runs through the conference weekend, the top 16 declared athletes in each event and top 12 relays advance to the NCAA Championships (March 13-14), hosted by the University of Arkansas.

The postseason begins next weekend at the Big Ten Indoor Championships (Feb. 26-28) in Indianapolis, Ind.

Oregon ranks third (men) and sixth (women) in this week's USTFCCCA national release.

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