Trying to add a payment method? You can do this on the 
Overview:
More than 1,000 athletes, representing 272 different universities, are due to compete Wednesday through Saturday at Hayward Field. The Ducks aren’t considered favorites for either the men’s or women’s team title — but several individual stars could make things interesting.
Competition begins Wednesday at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships. The four-day meet is divided by day, with most of the men running, jumping and throwing on Wednesday and Friday, and most of the women competing on Thursday and Saturday. (The exceptions are the multi events — the decathlon for men, which is 10 events over Wednesday and Thursday, and the heptathlon for women, which is seven events over Friday and Saturday.)
The action begins at noon on Wednesday, with the first event of the decathlon, the 100 meters.
The hammer throw begins at 1:30 p.m., and the first track event, heats of the 4×100-meter relay, starts at 4:05 p.m. (It’s always exciting to see elite athletes running at full speed and trying to hand off a baton. Fumbles happen. But when exchanges are clean, it’s a thing of beauty.)
The four-day schedule is here.
How does it work?
These are the best college track athletes in the country, vying for individual and team titles. In each event, the top eight finishers earn points (10 for first, 8 for second, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 for eighth).
Athletes get to the NCAA meet by way of two qualifying meets held two weeks ago, one for the east region and one for the west.
Some universities are sending only a single athlete, like the University of New Hampshire, which has Ruth White in the 10,000 meters. Powerhouse teams like the University of Georgia (30 athletes between its men’s and women’s teams) send dozens of athletes. The defending men’s team champion is the University of Florida; the 2024 women’s team champion is the University of Arkansas.
What about the Ducks?
The women of Oregon have 12 women competing in seven events. Look for the Ducks to pick up major points in the 1500 meters, with three athletes competing, assuming they advance through the preliminary rounds on Thursday to get to the final on Saturday. Aaliyah McCormick had the fastest qualifier out of the regional rounds with her 100-meter hurdle time of 12.74. Here are the entries:
Silan Ayyildiz – 1500 meters
Mia Barnett – 1500 meters
Diana Cherotich – 10,000 meters
Emily Fitzsimmons – pole vault
Klaudia Kazimierska – 1500 meters
Aaliyah McCormick – 100m hurdles
Ryann Porter – triple jump
Annika Williams – heptathlon
Shaniya Hall, Lily Jones, Brazil Neal, Amirah Shaheed – 4x100m relay
On the men’s side, seven athletes are competing in seven different events. Jumping star Safin Wills qualified in the long jump and the triple jump. And the Ducks have two entrants in the 800 meters, Matthew Erickson and Koitatoi Kidali. Erickson is the reigning indoor 800-meter champion.
Benjamin Balazs – steeplechase
Simeon Birnbaum – 1500 meters
Aidan Elbettar – discus
Matthew Erickson – 800 meters
Koitatoi Kidali – 800 meters
Kobe Lawrence – shot put
Safin Wills – long jump
Saffin Wills – triple jump
How much are tickets?
Tickets range from $25 for general admission to $40 for reserved seating closer to the finish line, before fees. They’re available on Ticketmaster and at the Hayward Field box office on Agate Street.
Last year’s attendance over the four-day meet was 37,925.
The Oregon runners are counting on a home-field advantage. Erickson, in a press conference Tuesday, said he met Joaquim Cruz, the 1984 Olympic gold medalist in the 800 meters, who went to Oregon. Erickson called Cruz “one of the legends” of Oregon history.
“And we were talking about it together, how this Oregon crowd is second to none,” Erickson said. “He was saying his favorite place around the world, he’s run in an Olympic final, he’s run in multiple national championships. There’s nowhere he’d rather run than in Hayward Field with the Oregon crowd cheering behind him. And so he was telling me, ‘Just let that carry you.’”
