Devin Hart, Dalia Frias put together regional qualifying times at Oregon Twilight

Oregon distance runners Devin Hart and Dalia Frias took somewhat differing paths to get there, but ultimately accomplished the same goal by putting together NCAA West Preliminary qualifying times in the 5,000-meter performance window of the Oregon Twilight at Hayward Field Friday.

Hart, who transferred from Texas to Oregon just before the outdoor season due to undisclosed circumstances, finished third in a crowded field in the meet’s finale in 13 minutes, 47.56 seconds. Racing alongside teammates Aiden Smith, Izaiah Steury, Rheinhardt Harrison, Elliott Cook and Bowerman Track Club pros Charles Hicks, Mohammed Ahmed, and Sean McGorty, Hart did just enough to hit his time in rainy conditions.

“It feels good to finally be back in the full swing of things after not racing during the indoor season,” Hart said.

The transfer arrived days before the Stanford Invitational in March and finished a 10,000 race that he called “pretty rough.” Since then, he’s adjusted to a new training style at Oregon and said he began to hit his stride again at the Bryan Clay Invitational in April.

Friday’s 5,000 was his first attempt at that distance since 2023 indoor nationals, when he finished 15th.

A cross country all-American last fall at Texas, Hart said he accomplished everything he set out to do before he plans to run the 10,000 and 5,000 next week at the Pac-12 Championships in Boulder.

Hicks won the race in 13:29.36, with Portland’s Matt Strangio finishing second in 13:41.64. Every other pro and Duck runner did not finish the race.

Frias, meanwhile, was helped along by Oregon record holder Maddy Elmore in her 5,000 win. Originally tasked with just pacing the race, Elmore ended up finishing it to help Frias hit her qualifying mark after recovering from an injury earlier in the season.

It was Elmore’s second race of the day after she finished second (4:11.05) in the 1,500 behind BTC’s Kaylee Mitchell (4:09.45).

Frias beat Elmore by six tenths of a second in 15:56.33.

“The plan was to make sure I could get her to a 16-minute pace through 3 or 4K and if I felt good, I could go the whole way,” Elmore said. “Then I could kind of hear her breathing and it was starting to get a little hard, but I couldn’t leave her.”

Next week, Elmore will run at elevation in Boulder, something she’s not used to. She said that Friday’s races helped her feel more confident she could tackle that challenge while running in both the 10,000 and 5,000 next week.

Finally healthy, steeplechase legend Evan Jager eyeing run at Paris Olympics

For the first time in six years, American steeplechase recordholder Evan Jager is healthy. Fully healthy.

The 35-year-old has battled several injuries since taking second at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. After missing the 2020 games in Tokyo, Jager is ramping up to make a run at the 2024 games in Paris.

Friday night in a downpour at Hayward for the Oregon Twilight, Jager took another step and finished fourth in a crowded McChesney men’s 1,500 featuring fellow Bowerman Track Club training partners Duncan Hamilton and Ahmed.

“It was OK,” Jager said. “I just feel like the older I get the harder it gets to run really hard in these kinds of conditions. It honestly wasn’t terrible, just when the race really started going and I got into that next gear I tightened up more than I would’ve liked.

“I wasn’t trying to run a fast time or win a race. Just get in, compete, and get back in that racing mentality. It checked those boxes.”

Jager ran the race in 3:46.26, with Hamilton winning the event in 3:42.28 and Ahmed finishing second in 3:42.54. Oregon’s Tomas Palfrey finished third in 3:42.63.

Jager said that while he’s still ramping up the competition for the U.S. Olympic Trials at Hayward Field in June, this is the healthiest he’s been in six years for a consistent stretch.

“We started doing double workouts pretty consistently since the fall,” Jager said. “For me that’s been a great change. We would typically do massive amounts of volume all in one session and that really was wearing on my body … I knew I needed to change something. I couldn’t keep handling the massive amount of volume at such a high effort at the same time. It’s been good for me. My body has really appreciated it.”

Jager plans to run a pair of steeplechase races over the next month, starting with Sound Running’s Track Fest in Los Angeles next Saturday, before settling in with his training to prep for the trials back at Hayward Field.

Personal bests keep coming for Oregon throwers Jaida Ross and unattached Kobe Lawrence

Just a week following one of the best series of shot put throws in collegiate history , Oregon thrower Jaida Ross recorded a personal-record 192 feet in the discus at the Oregon Twilight on Friday.

Ross recorded the PR on her first throw and won the event by over 40 feet, posting the 11th best outdoor mark in the country just a week away from the Pac-12 Championships in Boulder.

Though he was participating unattached, Oregon thrower Kobe Lawrence finished first in the men's shot put with a 65-10¼ throw on his final toss.

That mark would have ranked fifth in Oregon outdoor history if Lawrence were not competing unattached and redshirting.

Other notable results and notes

• Junior Duck Colleen Uzoekwe won the women’s shot put with a 46-2¾ toss.
• Sophomore Isabella Nilsen won the women’s pole vault with a 12-4¾ clearance.
• Oregon senior Melissa Berry won the 1,500 collegiate race in 4:22.50, with Samantha McDonnell taking second in a season-best 4:26.53, and Katie Clute finishing third with PR 4:27.07.
• Ella Nelson won the 800 during the performance window in 2:07.35, followed closely by teammate Mia Barnett, who finished in 2:07.83.
• Oregon freshman Benjamin Balazs won the collegiate steeplechase with a personal-best 8:45.36. The time currently ranks 36th in Division I as of race time.

Alec Dietz covers University of Oregon football, volleyball, women’s basketball and baseball for The Register-Guard. You may reach him at adietz@registerguard.com and you can follow him on X @AlecDietz .

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Devin Hart, Dalia Frias put together regional qualifying times at Oregon Twilight