Pac-12 Women — With New Coach Ducks Defend

WALNUT, CALIFORNIA, May 12–14 — How does it feel for Jerry Schumacher, still a rookie coach at Oregon, to lead the Duck women to the Pac-12 team title in his first year on the job? “It’s fantastic,” he told the Pac-12 Networks. “We knew we were up for an epic battle and our team really stepped up and did a great job top to bottom.”

En route to a 158½–127 victory over USC, the successful Oregon defense relied heavily on assistant Brian Blutreich’s throwers, who piled up an impressive 54 points and delivered 3 wins. On Saturday junior Shelby Moran grabbed the hammer crown with her 226-3 (68.96) and Jorinde van Klinken broke the school record in the shot at 61-0 (18.59) over teammate Jaida Ross and her 60-6¾ (18.46). The next day van Klinken also took her prime event, the discus, at 206-10 (63.05).

Depth became key for the Ducks as they only scored 3 other wins: Jadyn Mays in the 100 at 11.20, Lexi Ellis in the triple at 44-10¾ (13.68), and the 4 x 100 in 43.31.

Allie Jones successfully defended her heptathlon title, but this time she wore the colors of USC after moving from Stanford for her grad work. Her collegiate-leading 6246 made her No. 10 among collegians all-time, getting a jump start from a blazing 12.81 PR hurdle run. On day 2, she added lifetime bests in the long jump (20‑5¼/6.23) and javelin (133-3/40.63).

Another Jones, Stanford’s unrelated Alyssa, continued with her impressive frosh campaign in the long jump. She triumphed with a 22-3½w (6.79) but her final effort of 22-1½ (6.74) registered legal for a PR that moves her to No. 5 all-time among U.S. Juniors.

The only double winner on the track was Oregon State’s Grace Fetherstonhaugh. The Canadian senior took the steeple in 9:39.23 in a 1–2 sweep with teammate Kaylee Mitchell (9:45.21). Then the next day she handled the 5000 competition with her 16:01.78.

As always, USC’s sprints crew impressed, with Caisja Chandler winning the 200 (22.38) and Jan’Taijah Jones the 400 (50.44), leading the 70-point impact the Trojans had in the 1-2-4. The only blemish came when the 4×1 team failed to connect on its final pass and didn’t finish. A 4×4 win in 3:30.83 helped soften that blow.

PAC-12 WOMEN’S RESULTS

(5/12—10K, JT; 5/13—St, PV, LJ, SP, HT)

Teams: 1. Oregon 158½; 2. USC 127; 3. Washington 85½; 4. Stanford 84; 5. UCLA 61½; 6. Cal 60;…