Trio of Ducks Take Home Pac-12 Honors

Devon Allen, from Phoenix, Ariz., set a Pac-12 record in the 110-meter hurdles at the NCAA Championships, clocking a personal-best 13.16 seconds

Jenna Prandini, from Clovis, Calif., swept the women’s track and field awards after winning three individual Pac-12 titles and a NCAA title. Photo: goducks.com

(WALNUT CREEK, Calif.) - Oregon sprinter Jenna Prandini, hurdler Devon Allen and head coach Robert Johnson each were honored with Pac-12 track and field awards, the conference announced, Tuesday.

Prandini was named the Women’s Track Athlete of the Year as well as the Field Athlete of the Year, Allen was awarded the Men’s Newcomer of the Year and Johnson was tabbed both the men’s and women’s Coach of the Year.

Prandini (Clovis, Calif.) swept the women’s track and field awards after winning three individual Pac-12 titles and a NCAA title. The sophomore earned the Pac-12 Championships Women’s Athlete of the Meet after accounting for 32 of her team’s 176 total points.

She captured league titles in the 100 meters, 200 meters and long jump, breaking the meet’s record in the 200-meter race, becoming only the fourth woman athlete in Conference history to win at least three titles in one meet. She went on to capture the individual national championship in the long jump, becoming the first Duck to win the event crown while finishing second in the 200 and third in the 100 at the NCAA meet.

Allen (Phoenix, Ariz.) set a Pac-12 record in the 110-meter hurdles at the NCAA Championships, clocking a personal-best 13.16 seconds to become the first-ever Duck to claim the individual title in the event and the first Pac-12 hurdler since 2003.

His time set an NCAA Championships record and is the second-fastest time ever run in NCAA history. Allen nearly captured a pair of individual Conference titles at the league meet, placing second in the 110-hurdles and the 400-meter hurdles. He was edged by just .12 seconds at the shorter distance and was even closer in the 400-meter hurdles, crossing the finish line just .05 seconds behind the winner.

Johnson is the Pac-12 Men’s Track & Field Coach of the Year and Pac-12 Women’s Coach of the Year for the second-consecutive year, with both honors going to a UO head coach for the third-straight year.

Johnson led the Ducks to a sweep of the Pac-12 Men’s and Women’s Track & Field Championships title, then led the men’s squad to claim the program’s first NCAA title since 1984 while putting up a meet record, 88 points.

The men’s team won four individual national titles while the women won two in a third-place team finish. An Oregon coach has been named the women’s coach of the year for the fifth time in six years, and nine times out of the last 13 years on the men’s side.

Source: goducks.com