On March 25, the Oregon track and field program announced the signing of Diana Cherotich, a freshman distance runner from Kenya.
On Friday, in her Ducks' debut, Cherotich demolished the school record in the 10,000 meters and moved into the collegiate all-time top-10 with a time of 31 minutes, 45.22 seconds for the win at the Stanford Invitational.
Cherotich's time, ninth-fastest in collegiate history, was more than 21 seconds faster thank Jordan Hasay's previous program record of 32:06.64 from 2013.
Oregon's Juliet Cherubet also ran under Hasay's best Friday with a third-place finish in 32:02.78.
Other notable performances for Oregon track and field
- The Oregon men also had a trio of top-10 times in the 10,000 at Stanford, led by Aiden Smith, who ran 28:21.32 to become the No. 6 performer in school history. Quincy Norman (28:27.08) and Abdel Laadjel (28:29.17) moved to seventh and ninth on the UO all-time list, respectively.
- At the Battle at the Beach meet in Long Beach, Calif., Kyle Gibbs became the first Duck since 2017 to clear 18 feet in the men's pole vault when he went over 18-1 to move into fifth on the program’s all-time list.
- Oregon swept the triple jump at the Battle at the Beach, with Safin Wills winning the men's event with a mark of 51-10, and Ryann Porter winning the women's event at 42-8 1/4.
- The Ducks also swept the javelin in Long Beach, with wins from Kohana Nakato (162-4) in the women's event and Pat Vialva (225-11) in the men's event.
Chris Hansen covers University of Oregon football, men’s basketball, track and field, cross country and softball for The Register-Guard. You can reach him at chansen@registerguard.com and you can follow him on X @chansen_RG
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Oregon track freshman demolishes school record in the women's 10,000
