Benjamin Balazs wins again, Oregon men in 1st at Big Ten track champs
Benjamin Balazs did it again.
The Oregon junior won his second straight conference title in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase May 16 during Day 2 of the Big Ten Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Nebraska Outdoor Track in Lincoln.
Balazs held off Minnesota’s Emmett Gerres to win a tactical race in 8 minutes, 49.02 seconds to 8:49.89.
Benjamin Balazs is your #B1GTF steeplechase champion…again.#GoDucks
📺 @runnerspacepic.twitter.com/n5jTpaWGVq
— oregontf (@OregonTF) May 16, 2026
It was just the second steeplechase competition of the outdoor season for Balazs, who one week ago at the Oregon Twilight meet ran a personal-record 3:36.23 to win the Bill McChesney 1,500 at Hayward Field.
Balazs’ win Saturday was 21 seconds off his PR but he was able to kick away from the lead group over the final lap to comfortably cross the finish line in first.
Other notable Oregon performances on Day 2 of the Big Ten outdoor championships
- NCAA indoor pentathlon champion Liisa-Maria Lusti was the runner-up in a tightly contested heptathlon competition. Lusti scored 5,917 points to finish just 77 points behind JaiCieonna Gero-Holt of Illinois. Along the way, Lusti set a PR of 134 feet, 8 inches in the javelin.
- Freshman Ben Smith threw a PR 192-4 on his first attempt and held on to finish third in the men’s discus.
- Oregon will have two competitors in the women’s 100 hurdles final Sunday. Reigning NCAA outdoor champion and NCAA indoor 60 hurdles champion Aaliyah McCormick had the fastest qualifying time of the day with her heat-winning performance in a season-best 12.87. Micaela De Mello also won her heat in a season-best 13.02.
- Kai Graves-Blanks was the fastest qualifier in the men’s 110 hurdles as he won his heat in 13.49 to automatically advance to Sunday’s final.
- Lily Jones and Amirah Shaheed both qualified for the final in the women’s 100. Jones ran 11.45 and Shaheed ran 11.46 as both advanced on time.
- PJ Ize-Iyamu posted the second-fastest time in the men’s 100 prelims to advance to Sunday’s final. Ize-Iyamu won his heat in 10.07 to get the automatic qualifier.
- Titouan Bizet scored one point for the Oregon men with his eighth-place finish in the long jump. Bizet jumped 24-6½ on his third attempt to get into scoring position.
- Wilma Nielsen will race in two finals on Sunday after the senior qualified in the women’s 800 with a 2:03.30 performance in the prelims to advance on time. Nielsen qualified for the 1,500 final on Friday.
- Lakely Doht-Barron ran a PR 52.59 in the women’s 400 prelims but finished one spot out of qualifying for Sunday’s final.
- Aiden Carter finished 12th in the decathlon after going scoreless in a pair of events. Carter started the day in third place and opened with a solid performance in the 110 hurdles. But he fouled on three attempts in the discus and didn’t clear a bar in the pole vault as he tumbled down the standings. The Big Ten indoor heptathlon champion ultimately finished with 6,114 points.
Where are the Ducks in the team standings after Day 2 of the Big Ten outdoor championships?
The Oregon men added 17 points to their team total Saturday and remain in first place with 55 points, 14 ahead of second place Minnesota.
Lusti’s eight-point performance in the heptathlon increased the Oregon women’s total to 19. They’re in a tie for fifth place with Michigan State and far behind Illinois, the leader with 73 points.
What’s next for the Oregon Ducks?
The Big Ten outdoor championship meet concludes Sunday. The women’s triple jump kicks off the final day at 8:10 a.m. and the 4×400 relays will bring the meet to a close before 2 p.m.
The meet will be televised live on Big Ten Network beginning at 10:30 a.m. The entire final day is also being streamed on B1G+.
Helpful links for the Big Ten Outdoor Track & Field Championships
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: Benjamin Balazs wins again, Oregon men in 1st at Big Ten track champs
