Going into the last race of the Pepsi Invitational, the Oregon women’s 4×400 meter relay team was running on little energy.
The four teammates – Alaysha Johnson, Deajah Stevens, Brooke Feldmeier and Raevyn Rogers had all competed in at least one event earlier on Saturday. Johnson, set to run the first leg for the Oregon ‘A’ team, had already won the 100-meter hurdles while also competing in the 400 hurdles and 4×100 relay.
“We’re all tired,” Rogers said. “We all ran something else today. We came together, prayed and were like, ‘Let’s just do this.’”
Rodgers anchored for the Ducks, and took the baton from Feldmeier trailing USC’s Jaide Stepter by two tenths of a second. Rogers was behind through 300 meters, but coming down the last turn, she ran down Stepter. Rogers finished her split in 51.5 seconds, giving the team a final time of 3:32.07, just ahead of USC at 3:32.16.
The 4×400 victory moved the Oregon women into the lead with 173 points, totaling seven more points than second place Penn State. The USC women figured to be Oregon’s biggest foe coming into the Pepsi Invitational ranked No. 4 to Oregon’s No. 2 ranking, but finished the meet with only 136 points in 19 events.
Despite their comeback win in the 4×400, Oregon still had not run their best relay of the meet.
The 4×100 team, comprised of Jasmine Todd, Deajah Stevens, Hannah Cunliffe and Ariana Washington, won their event in 42.88 seconds – the best mark in Oregon women’s history. USC finished second in 43.59 seconds.
“For them to do that this early in the year is definitely phenomenal,” head coach Robert Johnson said.
Cunliffe flew around the Bowerman curve in the third leg, passing both USC teams and setting up Washington for a comfortable finish.
“I was really excited,” said Cunliffe when she saw the time come across the Hayward Field screen. “When I run I don’t really think about the time – I just want to execute everything that we’ve been doing in practice. We executed and got the result we wanted.”
Elsewhere, Rogers placed first in the women’s 800 meter, finishing in 2:03.77, ahead of Washington’s Baylee Mires (2:05.95) and USC’s Mikaela Smith (2:07.50). With only an hour turnaround before the 4×400 relay, Robert Johnson contemplated giving the anchor spot to Stevens, but ultimately stuck with Rogers.
“When we talked about it, [Raevyn] said, ‘I’m going to run the same way no matter what,’ so I just left her in her traditional spot,” Johnson said.
Other Oregon women taking first included Ashante Horsley in the 400-meter dash and Washington, who broke Amber Purvis’s 2009 meet record in the 100 meter with a 11.34-second finish.
While the men’s side finished in a tie with Penn State, Johnson was encouraged by the overall team performance this early in the outdoor season.
“For us to compete the way we did today bodes well for us as we move forward,” he said.
