Oregon teammates Simeon Birnbaum and Koitatoi Kidali finish first and second, respectively, in the second heat of the men’s 1,500m. Photo by Rian Yamasaki.

By Owen Murray, TrackTownUSA

It took until the final men’s race of the day to fully emerge, but the first day of the Big Ten Outdoor Track and Field Championships blossomed when a stumbling, reaching pair fell across the finish line of the men’s 10,000m race.

Evan Jenkins, a sophomore from the University of Washington, out-leaned University of Oregon sophomore Aiden Smith to earn victory. The surprise?

They were both horizontal.

After over 29 minutes on the track, the two long-distance runners lost their footing over the final 20 meters of the race — but still managed to cross the finish line…just not on their feet. Smith was followed by two Oregon teammates, Evan Bishop and Evan Burke, in the Ducks’ highest-scoring race of the day (23 points).

The Men of Oregon finished the first day of the conference championships in second place overall, with 27 points, while the women earned 10 points and sit fourth — the University of Minnesota leads both categories, with 28 and 20 points, respectively. The three meet records from the day, in the women’s hammer throw, men’s pole vault and women’s 10k, set the standard, but it was the nightcap long-distance competitions that paid it off.

The conference’s first champion was crowned by mid-afternoon: Minnesota senior Kostas Zaltos took home his fourth-straight Big Ten trophy in the men’s hammer throw. Zaltos, who threw 77.67m (254 - 10) with his third attempt, was one of three Gophers on the podium; sophomore Angelos Mantzouranis earned second place 75.11m (246 - 5) and senior Isaiah Schafer placed seventh, 66.57m (218 -5) joined their teammate in the point-earning places.

It was Zaltos’ teammate, Anthonett Nabew, who set the meet record in the women’s event. A sophomore, Nabwe threw 69.85m (229 - 2) on her third attempt in the hammer throw to win the event despite both the second and third-place athletes also setting personal-best marks.

University of Illinois sophomore Cody Johnston won the men’s pole vault with a meet-record 5.64m (18 - 6) clearance ahead of second-place finisher Jak Urlacher (5.59m/18 - 4).

“It’s a relief,” Johnston said afterward. “I was expected to win it freshman year, indoor and outdoor. I was expected to win it at indoors this year, but I didn’t come through. I’m happy that I came through today.”

Even though it’s not his home track, he said that the facility made the difference on Friday. He’s been at Hayward Field before for high school championship events, but “It’s always a blessing…this is Track Town, U.S.A.,” he said. “It’s just great being here.”

Oregon freshman Koby Kessler leads the decathlon through the first five events with 4,028 points. Photo by Rian Yamasaki.

Oregon freshman Koby Kessler leads the decathlon through the first five events — Kessler placed first in both the 100m race (10.69 seconds, personal best) and the long jump (7.37m) before finishing 10th in the shot put (12.41m, personal best), second in the high jump (2.02m, personal best), and 12th in the 400m (51.62 seconds).

“It’s definitely a rewarding feeling when you’ve got something you have to push through,” said Kessler, who added that he has been battling a knee tendonitis injury since Oregon’s indoor season. The effects meant that he had to pass some flights of the high jump, but the freshman from Canby, Oregon still leads the decathlon by 34 points at the end of the day.

“Yes, one hundred percent it is (an advantage to compete at home),” Kessler said. “I love having the home crowd — it’s awesome, and my family comes down and supports.”

It wasn’t just Kessler who was thriving at home, either. Oregon heptathlete Annika Williams built on an eighth-place finish in her 100m race with a second-place performance in the high jump (1.78m) to take the lead in the heptathlon.

The lead wasn’t one that Williams, a senior who placed eighth in the heptathlon at last year’s NCAA Championships, would relinquish for the rest of the day. She added a 14.15m (46 - 5 ¼) effort in the shot put, good enough for second place, and a 24.83-second 200m race (ninth place) to push her advantage to 99 points by the end of the day on Friday.

All four Oregon men in the field largely eased through qualification in the 1500m preliminary round — after spending the first two laps trailing the pack, Simeon Birnbaum strode to the front of his heat alongside Koitatoi Kidali to seize the Ducks’ first two automatic qualification slots.

“I said that I’m just going to go to the front and control it,” Birnbaum said. “Just stay in lane one, don’t run any extra distance, and just forget about the race.”

Birnbaum and Kidali will be joined in Sunday’s final by Rheinhardt Harrison and Evan Dorenkamp, who finished first and third, respectively, in their heat. Harrison ran the fastest time of the evening — 3:42.47; Dorenkamp placed third with the best non-auto qualifier time (3.42.88).

Minutes later, Mia Barnett secured her place in the women’s 1500m final with a dominant 4:15.91-second win. Şilan Ayyildiz, Oregon’s NCAA record holder in both the indoor and outdoor mile, booked her place in the next heat with a 4:15.52 cruise.

Both Evan Jenkins and Aiden Smith, the men’s 10,000m pair who hurled themselves past the line, said they couldn’t remember anything after they began the final straightaway — ”I just blacked out,” Smith said. “My last thought was, with 100m to go, just to move my knees.”

“I don’t remember much about the last lap,” Jenkins said. “With a lap to go, you’ve just got 400m left…already did 5 ¾ of a mile — one more lap won’t hurt. I took the lead with 200m to go, and then just started going as hard as I could.”

Oregon freshman Diana Cherotich won the women’s 10,000m final with a meet record time of 32:00.48. Photo by Rian Yamasaki.

The Women of Oregon continued their charge toward a conference championship triple crown (Oregon won both the Big Ten cross country and indoor track & field titles earlier this season) with a 10,000m race that saw Oregon freshman Diana Cherotich dominate the field and set a meet-record time of 32:00.48.

Cherotich, who won by more than 32 seconds, wasn’t worried about her lead. “It’s not bad, because I get to go alone,” she said. “I wasn’t struggling. I was going easy.”

“She’s very well known in Kenya,” Cherotich’s coach, Shalane Flanagan, said. “Now, she’ll be very well known in Eugene, I think. She’s exceptionally good for her age, but we knew that when she arrived here.”

The Big Ten Championships continue tomorrow, headlined by the completion of the multis and field event finals.