The Oregon Duck mascot runs alongside children during the Kids Half-Lapper at the Oregon Twilight presented by TrackTown USA Kids Club. Photo by Rian Yamasaki.

By Owen Murray, TrackTownUSA

Everybody can run fast at the Oregon Twilight, it seems. First, it was the collegiate student-athletes who set their personal-best times on the track. Then, the middle schoolers.

Then, the gingerbread men.

The doors were open to everyone — elementary and middle-school-age runners, unattached high schoolers, professionals and collegiate athletes — at the 2025 Oregon Twilight meet on Friday evening. The Kids Half-Lapper and Middle School Mile at the Oregon Twilight presented by TrackTown USA Kids Club, plus the Warsaw Business Club Costume Relay, ran alongside Duck athletes and a local high-schooler as they shared the historic track together.

Those student-athletes, though, weren’t the youngest competitors at Hayward Field on Friday. The Middle School Mile at the Oregon Twilight presented by TrackTown USA Kids Club saw 6th-8th graders battle for four laps on a grand stage. Their performances, though, proved more than grand enough.

Harper Fawcett after her win in the Middle School Mile at the Oregon Twilight presented by TrackTown USA Kids Club. Photo by Rian Yamasaki.

The girls’ mile saw Alma Galicia dominate for nearly the entire race — she ran a personal-best 5:36.27 time, but was outkicked by Harper Fawcett over the final 100 meters for the win. Fawcett, who finished in 5:32.92, was followed minutes later in the boys’ mile by Ryder White, who cleared the field by more than 50 meters at the finish line to finish in 4:43.41.

Even younger were the competitors in the Kids Half-Lapper at the Oregon Twilight presented by TrackTown USA Kids Club: young athletes, 8th grade and under, took a 200-meter stretch alongside The Oregon Duck. Each customized their own bib pre-race underneath the Hayward Tower, and received a ticket to watch the rest of the meet.

Also among the unattached athletes at Twilight was Churchill High School junior Addison Kleinke, a pole vaulter who set a new personal-best mark at 14’ 0.75” — to also win the event. Currently uncommitted, Kleinke also competed in the long jump, where she jumped 5.39m to finish sixth overall.

The Warsaw Business Club Costume Relay was where the gingerbread men — and the bananas, the pizza chefs and the business executives — made their appearance. In a long-running tradition, one of Oregon’s business clubs sent costumed students in a 4x100m relay around the Hayward Field track.

The finishers, clad in soon-deflated inflatable gingerbread suits, aprons and formal wear, had their moment — as many have — at their stadium. The Ducks, though, took center stage by night’s end.

The early field events featured Oregon athletes in major roles: In the men’s javelin, Ducks junior Zach Young threw a season-best 204’5” to finish second — Oregon transfer junior Daniel Thrana, competing unattached, dominated the field with a 249’9” throw on his final attempt.

“It felt pretty good, man,” Young said. “I had a little breakthrough, and I’m thankful for the opportunity to come out here and compete.”

Oregon sophomore Ella Thorsett sat third for most of the race in the women’s 1500m (B) section, but pulled a nearly 400-meter kick over the final lap to stop the clock in 4:16.82 — a new personal-best time.

Oregon sophomore Ella Thorsett after her win in the Oregon Twilight Women’s 1500m. Photo by Rian Yamasaki.

She’s primarily a 5k runner — and had only run one 1500m race this season before Friday but gave the shorter race a shot at Twilight in order to potentially qualify for the NCAA regional round.

“I wouldn’t really consider myself a 1500m runner,” Thorsett said afterward. “It’s kind of scary going out hot in those first 800m, but I felt pretty good on the third lap. I kind of got a second wind, and it was nice to have people to hawk down.

“It was fun,” she said. “I love the 1500. It’s just different than a 5k — 1500 is a little bit more exciting, a little less pain in my opinion.”

Indoor 2024 NCAA men’s 800m champion Matthew Erickson also tried his hand at a relatively unfamiliar event, the 400m race — for a different reason. Erickson dusted the field, winning with a personal-best 47.04 seconds (more than two seconds ahead of second place), but for him, the race was an opportunity to train his mental acuity ahead of next weekend's Big Ten Outdoor Championships in Eugene.

“My idea was just to come in and run as fast as I can,” Erickson said. “The faster I can run in the 400m, and the faster my 1500m personal best is, it kind of comes together to make a good 800m race.”

Erickson’s middle-distance partner, sophomore Simeon Birnbaum, closed out the night against a gallery of professional runners in the newly named McChesney 1500m race. It was Birnbaum, though, who kicked over the last lap to finish in a personal-best 3:37.02.

Oregon sophomore Simeon Birnbaum after his win in the 1500m at the 2025 Oregon Twilight at Hayward Field at the University of Oregon — “I just wanted to win. That’s all that really mattered.”

– Oregon sophomore Simeon Birnbaum following his win in the McChesney 1500m

“Tactically, yeah, it’s (the best race of my college career),” Birnbaum said. “This one, the first one back after an injury, it’s been circled in the calendar for a while. It meant a lot.”

He didn’t have an NCAA regional-qualifying time yet, either, but he “took care of that” on Friday, too.

“I just wanted to win,” he said. “That’s all that really mattered.”

Next at Hayward Field is the 2025 Big Ten Outdoor Track and Field Championships, scheduled for May 16-18.