The Oregon Women Are On Their Way To Indoor History

The Oregon Women Are On Their Way To Indoor History

Next month in College Station, the Oregon women have a chance to make history at the NCAA Championships.

Feb 21, 2017 by Meg Bellino
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Next month in College Station, the Oregon women have a chance to make history at the NCAA championships. The Ducks have won six of the last seven NCAA indoor titles, but if their sprint and mid-distance corps stay healthy, they could be chasing not just the competition but all-time great team scores.

FloTrack 2017 NCAA Projections (FULL LIST HERE):

Event Athlete Points
60m Hannah Cunliffe 10
60m Deajah Stevens 4
200m Deajah Stevens 10
200m Hannah Cunliffe 8
200m Ariana Washington 6
400m Elexis Guster 4
800m Raevyn Rogers 10
3K Katie Rainsberger 10
3K Alli Cash 2
60mH Sasha Wallace 10
60mH Alaysha Johnson 2
DMR - 10
4x4 - 6

The Texas team of 1988--only the sixth year of the women's championship--still holds the record for most points scored at the championship. Their 71 points included victories in the 800m, 4x400m, high jump and long jump.

The Oregon team of 2011 scored 67 points--the next highest winning score--to win in College Station. Led by Jordan Hasay's triple efforts in the mile (first), 3K (first), and DMR (second), the Ducks big event in 2011 was the mile with Hasay (10), Zoe Buckman (6), and Anne Kesselring (5) scoring 21 points. Additionally, Brianne Theisen won the pentathlon, but still that's only three event victories.

The 2017 Ducks may not have a Jordan Hasay-like distance triple to work with this season--assuming Katie Rainsberger doesn't qualify in the mile at MPSF this weekend--but they do have monster sprinters in Hannah Cunliffe, Deajah Stevens, and Ariana Washington.

Related: Hannah Cunliffe Has Incredibly Rare Range

We're projecting six Oregon titles at the 2017 NCAA championships and over 90 points scored. The big difference-maker this championship could be the women's 200m, where Cunliffe, Stevens, and Washington are projected to sweep and tally 24 points. That's never been done before.

Year Team Points How
2000 South Carolina 21 Miki Barber (1st), Me'Lisa Barber (3rd), Demetria Washington (6th), Mechelle Lewis (7th)
1999 Texas A&M 16 Nanceen Perry (2nd), Suziann Reid (3rd), LaKeisha Backus (7th)
2014 Florida 14 Kyra Jefferson (2nd), Destinee Gause (5th), Shayla Sanders (7th)
2009 Texas A&M 13 Porscha Lucas (2nd), Gabby Mayo (5th), Allison George (8th)
2003 South Carolina 11 Aleen Bailey (4th), Miki Barber (5th), Erica Whipple (7th)
2005 Tennessee 9 Courtney Champion (3rd), Cleo Tyson (7th), LaTonya Loche (8th)

Source: USTFCCCA Single-Season Team Finalists By Event

There have only been five 1-2-3 event sweeps at the NCAA indoor championships. The most recent? The Oregon men's 3K dominance featuring Eric Jenkins, Ed Cheserek, and Will Geoghegan in 2015. If the Oregon women pull off the sixth 1-2-3 sweep, it could fuel one of the most dominant team performances in the history of NCAA women's track.