Cole Hocker, Luis Peralta, Charlie Hunter and Cooper Teare combine for 9:19.42 performance in Ducks’ return to Razorback Invitational, eclipsing 1989 outdoor effort of 9:20.10 by Arkansas at Penn Relays, along with surpassing 9:19.93 mark produced indoors by American all-star lineup at 2015 Armory Track Invitational

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

The last time Charlie Hunter and Cooper Teare were part of an Oregon men’s distance medley relay, they ran the final two legs behind James West and Jacob Miller for the Ducks when they set the collegiate indoor record at the Razorback Invitational.

A year later and paired Friday with Cole Hocker and Luis Peralta, Hunter and Teare were back at the Randal Tyson Track Center and contributed to another memorable DMR effort, this time achieving the fastest performance in world indoor history and the absolute collegiate record.

Oregon clocked 9 minutes, 19.42 seconds to eclipse the 1989 outdoor collegiate DMR mark of 9:20.10 set by an Arkansas lineup that included Ruben Reina, Charles Williams, Robert Bradley and Joe Falcon at the Penn Relays.

The Ducks, who ran 9:24.52 last year, also surpassed the 2015 world indoor all-time best of 9:19.93 established at the inaugural Armory Track Invitational in New York by an American all-star lineup of Matthew Centrowitz, Mike Berry, Erik Sowinski and Pat Casey.

Oregon will not be eligible for the world indoor record since Hocker and Teare are Americans, Hunter is from Australia and Peralta represents the Dominican Republic.

A similar scenario played out in 2018 when USC ran the fastest indoor 4x400-meter relay in history at the NCAA Division 1 Championships at Texas A&M, but since Rai Benjamin had yet to officially gain his eligibility to represent the United States in international competition, the Trojans’ mark of 3:00.77 is not considered the world indoor record, instead that mark is officially recognized as 3:01.51 by Houston, which boasted a lineup of four Americans at the 2019 Tiger Paw Invitational at Clemson.

Hocker led off the relay in 2:49.89 for the first 1,200, well ahead of West’s 2:53.53 leadoff last year.

Peralta followed with a 400-meter split of 47.29, also an improvement from Miller’s 47.47 a year ago.

Hunter was a better version of himself Friday, clocking 1:47.65 for the 800 leg after running 1:48.08 last season.

And Teare anchored in 3:54.61, covering the final 1,600 meters faster than his 3:55.45 split from 2020.

Although the final outcome Friday was closer than the Ducks’ 11-second victory last year over Texas, Iowa State took second in 9:27.90, elevating the Cyclones’ lineup of Jason Gomez, Cebastian Gentil, Alexander Lomong and Wesley Kiptoo to the No. 8 school on a 200-meter banked track in collegiate history.

Ole Miss was third in 9:30.62, just missing its 2016 program record of 9:30.48.

Katie Izzo and Lauren Gregory led an Arkansas sweep of the top four spots in the women’s 5,000 meters, clocking 15:36.22 and 15:36.51, the two fastest collegiate times this season.

Georgia sophomore Matthew Boling won the men’s 200 meters in an indoor personal-best 20.53.

USC senior Twanisha “Tee Tee” Terry won the women’s 200 meters in 23.35.

Another Georgia sophomore, Jasmine Moore, won the women’s long jump with a leap of 21-1.50 (6.44m).

Ole Miss senior Allen Gordon prevailed in the men’s long jump with a 25-4 (7.72m) effort and took second in the high jump at 7-2.25 (2.19m).

USC senior Earnie Sears cleared 7-5 (2.26m) in the men’s high jump to equal a 2013 meet record, with freshman Morgan Smalls securing her first collegiate victory in the women’s high jump by clearing 5-11.50 (1.82m).

Arkansas freshman Ruben Banks won the men’s weight throw with a performance of 69-9.50 (21.27m).