By Steve Ritchie, SuperWest Sports

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For the first time in a while no Pac-12 women’s team is expected to challenge for the NCAA title this week at Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus.

A quick look back at the championship archives reveals that you have to go all the way back to 2003 to find a year when no Pac-12 team was in the top five at the outdoor women’s championships.

Over the past 20 years, Oregon had a nine-year streak of Top 5 finishes (2009-2017), which included two titles.

As the Ducks fell back a bit, USC began its own run of four consecutive Top 5 finishes with two national championships, including in 2021.

This year is a different story.

Jack Pfeifer of Track & Field News projects Arizona State as the highest-scoring Pac-12 team in 10th place with 20 points. The T&FN formchart also lists Colorado in 12th and Cal in 13th.

The final power rankings of the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) put Oregon in 9th, Colorado in 10th, and USC way back in 17th as the Top Three Pac-12 teams.

While it would take a minor miracle for one of the Pac-12 teams to be in the conversation for a title, Pac-12 athletes will still make plenty of noise in Eugene, with a chance to win as many as eight individual championships.

They trail Texas soph Julien Alfred and Texas Tech’s Rosemary Chukwuma by a few hundredths, but the margins are very small.

Nelson will be running at home for the final time as a collegian and shouldn’t be counted out.

With many teams in the hunt separated by just a few hundredths, this should be 42 seconds of utter excitement.

One sloppy handoff or poor leg will knock a team out. USC, Cal, and UCLA also qualified for the semifinals.

There are plenty of contenders here, but Heymach has the experience and the killer kick to win a very competitive metric mile final.

Rogers broke her own records with her first throw in the preliminary round—a massive 250’-10” (76.46) heave.

She is a two-time NCAA champion and comes to Eugene with an 11′ lead over her nearest rival, Alyssa Wilson, formerly of UCLA and now competing for Texas State.

Rogers’ teammate, Anna Purchase, is ranked third, giving Cal a potential of 16 points in this event.

Other Pac-12 throwers who will be in the competition are Shelby Moran and Beatrice Llano of ASU and Joy McArthur of USC.

Her throw of 208’-06” is more than 16’ ahead of her nearest competitor. She is not the favorite in the shot, but Van Klinken’s season-best is just a foot behind Ohio State’s Adelaide Aquilla.

No one else in the field has a realistic chance, and Van Klinken might just add the shot crown along with discus.

Senior Abby Nichols has been the top-ranked 5000-runner most of the season and has a great shot to win it at NCAAs.

Colorado has Pac-12 champ Madison Boreman and Gabrielle Orie, Oregon State has Grace Fetherstonhaugh and Kaylee Mitchell, and Oregon has Malia Pivec.

Boreman, Fetherstonhaugh and Mitchell are dark horse candidates, but all three are capable of scrambling the formcharts for the event.

Ruotolo finished ninth last year at NCAAs, and has the number five seed this year, with a best of 44-9.75 (13.66). Ellis won the Pac-12s for the first time this season and has a best jump of 44-6.25 (13.57).

The junior from Norway is talented enough to wind up on the podium, but first place is probably out of reach, as Florida’s sensational Anna Hall is in the midst of a record-breaking year.

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Women’s Entrants by School

School	Entries
Oregon	14
Colorado	12
USC	8
Stanford	7
Washington	6
ASU	5
Cal	5
UCLA	3
WSU	3
Arizona	2
OSU	2
Utah	2