Oregon Men & Arkansas Women Win NCAA Division I Indoor T&F Team Titles

FAYETTEVILLE, ARK – Oregon’s men won their second consecutive team title behind a core group of distance runners Saturday night at the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships, while the Arkansas women utilized a full team effort to win their first team title in program history.

Oregon won 74-50 over pre-meet USTFCCCA National Team Computer Rankings favorite Florida, while Arkansas performed to its No. 1 rank took a 63-46½ win over five-time defending NCAA Women’s Champion Oregon.

FULL RESULTS | FULL TEAM STANDINGS

Behind a 10-man distance crew that generated a whopping 24 points at 3000 meters, 18 in the mile, 18 at 5000 meters and 10 in a distance medley relay win, the Ducks scored 74 points and became the first team in men’s meet history to win four different distance events at the same indoor championships.

That 24-point effort at 3000 meters – tied for the most by any men’s team in any one event in meet history – clinched the title for the Ducks.

Oregon got titles from Eric Jenkins both at 3000 and 5000 meters, from Edward Cheserek in the mile, and in the distance medley relay. Cheserek was the meet’s top men’s scorer with 20.5 points, while Jenkins was tied for the No. 2 man with 20. Those harriers led Oregon to a share of the fourth-highest score in meet history, and the largest margin of victory (24 points) since 2003 Arkansas men also won by 24 in a 54-30 win over Auburn.

The pre-meet No. 1 Florida finished runner-up with 50 points. Marquis Dendy swept the long jump and triple jump for the Gators to tie Jenkins as the meet’s No. 2 men’s scorer, while Stipe Zunic upset defending NCAA champ Ryan Crouser in the shot put.

Arkansas’ women were the polar opposite in scoring their winning 63 points, getting significant points from the sprints, mid-distance events, distance events, jumps events and the pentathlon. That total team effort led to the highest winning score since Oregon won its second of five in a row in 2011 with 67 points, and is the third-highest winning score in meet history.

Dominique Scott anchored the Razorbacks’ winning distance medley relay team to the No. 2 time in collegiate history and came the next day to win the 3000 meters title that clinched the overall team crown for the Razorbacks. Sandi Morris won the pole vault, tying the meet record in the process.

The Razorbacks’ first-ever title snapped a half-decade winning streak by the Oregon women. Though the Ducks didn’t get their sixth in a row, they did finish runner- up with 46½ points to significantly outperform their pre-meet No. 6 rank.

Lifting the Ducks was a long jump win by Jenna Prandini to go along with a runner-up finish at 200 meters and a fourth-place effort at 60 meters for 23 team points – making her the top scorer of the meet for either gender.

Rounding out the fop-four podium spots for the men were Arkansas in third-place with 39 points and Texas A&M with 33. Texas Tech finished just off the podium with 31 points.

There was a logjam of teams that finished on and near the podium for the women. Georgia finished third with 37 points, just ahead of Florida with 36. Just missing the podium with 35 points was Kentucky, who was itself just ahead of Texas with 33.

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