PAC-10 CONFERENCE PAC-12 CONFERENCE 1350 Treat Blvd., Suite 500, Walnut Creek, CA 94597 // PAC-12.COM // 925.932.4411 For Immediate Release // Wednesday, June 25, 2014 Contact // Natalia Ciccone, Assistant Commissioner, Communications! ([email protected]) THIS YEAR IN PAC-12 TRACK & FIELD ! WALNUT CREEK, Calif. - The OREGON men capped the 2014 track & feld season capturing its frst NCAA title since 1984 and the Pac-12’s frst since 2000. The Ducks also swept the men’s and women’s Pac-12 team crowns for the !sixth consecutive year. It was the eighth-straight league title for the men’s squad and the sixth in a row for the women. In additional to the UO men, three more Pac-12 teams placed in the top 15 at the NCAA Championships, including a tie for fourth place for USC, a seventh-place showing for ARIZONA and ARIZONA STATE tied for 13th. On the women’s side, Oregon was the top fnisher, coming in third place, while STANFORD placed 11th. The Trojans were just out of the !top 15, tying for 16th in the fnal standings. Six men and three women claimed individual NCAA titles, including four UO men and two women. Individual champi- ons were UA’s Lawi Lalang (5000m), ASU’s Bryan McBride (high jump), and Oregon’s Mac Fleet (1500m), Edward Cheserek (10,000m), Devon Allen (110m hurdles) and Sam Crouser (javelin). For the women, UO’s Laura Roesler !(800m) and Jenna Prandini (long jump) took home NCAA crowns, as did ASU’s Shelby Houlihan (1500m). Pac-12 honors went to Lalang, who was voted Pac-12 Men’s Track Athlete of the Year and teammate Nick Ross was the Pac-12 Men’s Field Athlete of the Year for the second time in his career. Prandini became the frst male or female athlete to sweep the Conference’s track and feld honors, winning Pac-12 Women’s Track Athlete of the Year and Pac-12 Women’s Field Athlete of the Year honors. Freshmen Devon Allen of UO and Stanford’s Valarie Allman were tabbed the Pac-12 Men’s and Women’s Newcomers of the Year. The Ducks’ Robert Johnson was voted the men’s and !women’s Pac-12 Coach of the Year for the second-straight year. BOWERMAN WATCH LIST... Three men’s and three women’s Pac-12 track & feld athletes were named semifnalists for the prestigious The Bowerman Award, presented annually by the USTFCCCA to the most outstanding male and fe- male collegiate track & feld athletes in the nation. Both lists are well populated by OREGON Ducks, with freshmen duo Edward Cheserek and Devon Allen earning a spot on the 10-member men’s list. On the women’s side, all three Pac-12 women are Ducks, with Jenna Prandini, Phyllis Francis and Laura Roesler earning semifnalists honors. Joining the Duck contingency is ARIZONA’s distance runner Lawi Lalang. The three women semifnalists by one team is the most !ever in the history of the award. Lalang capped a successful collegiate track career winning the 5000 meters at the NCAA Championships in meet- record time (13:18.36), and was the runner up in the 1500 meter by just .04 seconds. Cheserek and Allen are two of three freshmen named semifnalists. The duo were among the four individual champions that helped Oregon claim the men’s NCAA title for the frst time since 1984. Cheserek was the national champion in the 10,000 meters and was runner-up in the 5000 meters by less than half a second. Allen set a NCAA Championships record en route to claiming !the 110-meter hurdles crown with a time of 13.16. The Duck women’s trio helped the team to a third-place fnish at the NCAA Championships with Prandini scoring 24 points, the most by a female student-athlete since 2001. She won the long jump individual title and was the runner up in the 200-meter race, while fnishing third in the 100 meters. Roesler was undefeated this year in the 800 meters, moving on to claim the individual national title in the event. Francis was the runner-up in the 400 meters at the NCAA Championships. She set the American and collegiate records! in the indoor this season, as well. - more - 2014 Pac-12 Track & Field Year in Review Page 2 The Bowerman Trophy, which was frst awarded in 2009, is presented annually by the USTFCCCA to the most out- !standing male and female collegiate track & feld athletes in the nation. PAC-12 HONORS ANNOUNCED... OREGON’s Jenna Prandini became the frst-ever Pac-12 track & feld athlete, men’s or women’s, to sweep the track and feld Conference honors when she was voted the Pac-12 Women’s Track Athlete of the Year and the Pac-12 Women’s Field Athlete of the Year. The feld award was created in 2005. Also earn- ing postseason honors was ARIZONA’s Lawi Lalang, who was tabbed the Pac-12 Men’s Track Athlete of the Year and Wildcat teammate Nick Ross was selected the Pac-12 Men’s Field Athlete of the Year for the second time in his career. UO’s Devon Allen was voted the Pac-12 Men’s Newcomer of the Year, while STANFORD’s Valarie Allman was voted the Pac-12 Women’s Newcomer of the Year. For the second-straight year, the Ducks’ Robert Johnson was named the Pac- !12 Men’s and Women’s Coach of the Year. OREGON COACHES TABBED NATIONAL COACHES OF THE YEAR... Oregon head coach Robert Johnson and as- sistant coach Andy Powell were named National Men’s Head Coach of the Year and National Assistant Men’s Coach of the Year, respectively. The duo led the men’s squad to claim its frst NCAA title in 30 years, winning by an 18-point !margin. USTFCCCA REGIONAL HONORS ANNOUNCED... Eight Pac-12 individuals earned high regional honors by the U.S. !Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). The following were recognized: West Region Men’s Track Athlete of the Year Aleec Harris, USC West Region Men’s Field Athlete of the Year Nick Ross, Arizona Mountain Region Women’s Track Athlete of the Year Shalaya Kipp, Colorado West Region Women’s Track Athlete of the Year Jenna Prandini, Oregon West Region Men’s Coach of the Year Robert Johnson, Oregon West Region Men’s Assistant Coach of the Year Andy Powell, Oregon West Region Women’s Coach of the Year Caryl Smith Gilbert, USC ! West Region Women’s Assistant Coach of the Year Curtis Taylor, Oregon OREGON CLAIMS NCAA MEN'S TITLE... The Oregon men captured the 2014 NCAA Men’s Track & Field Champi- onships crown, the team’s frst since 1984 and the Pac-12’s frst since 2000. It is also the Conference’s 46 men’s track and feld title, all-time. Six Pac-12 men in all collected individual titles. On the women’s side, Oregon was the Confer- ence’s top placer again, coming in third place, while three league athletes claimed individual titles. The Duck men had four individual champions lead the team to collect 88 total points, 18 points more than second-place fnisher Florida. Texas A&M was third with 41.50 points. Other top-10 team fnishers from the Pac-12 were USC, which tied for fourth (29), and Arizona placed seventh (23.50). On the women’s side, Texas A&M was the team champion with 75 points !and Texas scored 66 points to place ahead of UO who collected 59 points for third place. !THE RANKINGS... Here’s where the Pac-12 ranks in the USTFCCCA Top-25 as of June 4: MEN WOMEN 1. Oregon 3. Oregon 12. Arizona 10. Stanford 13. USC 13. USC ! 25. UCLA 23. Arizona !Here is where the Pac-12 ranks as a league in the national index. MEN Points Top 25 WOMEN Points Top 25 1. SEC 1750.51 8 1. SEC 1854.53 8 2. Pac-12 957.74 4 2. Big 12 967.00 5 3. Big 12 786.52 5 3. Pac-12 929.69 4 4. Big Ten 632.95 4 4. ACC 609.75 3 5. ACC 480.81 2 ! 5. Big Ten 510.84 1 - more - 2014 Pac-12 Track & Field Year in Review Page 3 TOP MARKS... The Pac-12 Track & Field Championships have featured many of the nation’s top-collegiate teams and athletes on a yearly basis. And this season is not any different. Five different athletes have posted the nation’s top times or marks, including OREGON senior Laura Roesler (2:00.54, 800m), STANFORD junior Aisling Cuffe (15:11.13), COL- ORADO senior Shalaya Kipp (9:39.12, steeplechase), ARIZONA senior Nick Ross (7-6.5/2.30m, high jump) and UA’s Lawi Lalang (3:36.34, 1,500m). The top three times in the country in the 800 meter belong to Pac-12 runners, with Stanford sophomore Amy Weissenbach posting the second-best time (2:02.60) and Oregon senior Samantha Murphy ranks third with a time of 2:02.61. A memorable 1,500-meter fnal at the Pac-12 Track & Field Championships turned in the top two times in the country, as UO’s Edward Cheserek fnished second in the race behind Lalang with a time of 3:36.50. USC’s Aleec Harris also posted the fastest time in the 100-meter hurdles at the NCAA West Regional, running !in a time of 13.18.