Markus Sanders hit the 'A' mark in the discus Saturday.
EUGENE – The NAIA spotlight followed Eric Avila to another event Saturday night at Hayward Field. He was plenty worthy of it as usual.
Competing in the 1,500-meter race for the first time this year, Avila wiped out his own school record, topped a third NAIA Track and Field chart and was bested only by Olympian Matthew Centrowitz on the final day of the Oregon Relays. He was joined in nailing down an NAIA automatic qualifying mark by Raider junior Markus Sanders, who now also has 'A' marks in multiple events after his runner-up showing in the discus.
Centrowitz – a silver medalist in the 1,500 at the 2013 World Championships who was representing the Nike Oregon Project – finished in 3:41.85, a shade better than Avila's 3:42.18. The latter time is two seconds faster than the No. 2 time in the NAIA this season and 1.4 seconds faster than the top NAIA time Avila recorded last season to set an SOU record.
Avila – who possesses the NAIA's top times in the 800, the 1,500 and the 5K on top of winning the cross country title last fall – was in a field of 12 that included four University of Oregon runners.
"Eric ran very well," SOU head coach Grier Gatlin said. "To race that tough against the World Championships silver medalist shows he has some courage and savviness."
Sanders threw the discus 158 feet, 4 inches for his 'A' mark, a 15-foot improvement over what he did at Linfield in his debut two weeks ago. He's also a qualifier in the hammer.
Jonz Olander finished third in his attempted defense of the 400-meter race he won last year. He improved his NAIA 'B' standard qualifying mark by a tenth of a second and nearly tracked down winner Marcus Chambers (46.88) of Oregon. It was the No. 3 time in Raider history, though he already has the record (47.70).
SOU's women's 4x400-meter relay team got better, too, clocking 3:55.57 to claim fourth place in a field of nine. The performance just missed an 'A' mark but was a slight improvement on the 'B' time most recently posted (3:56.18) by the Raider quartet, which consists of Rachele Bedsole, Tierra Barrett, Aspen Abbott and Amelia Maguin.
"The (relay team) keeps improving week to week which is fun to watch," Gatlin said. "Markus is also getting better week to week and that's good to see."
Elsewhere for the Raiders, Cameron Bremner took seventh of 14 in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.99 seconds. Oregon's Devon Allen won in 10.55.
Holy Haga threw 117-10 in the discus, an event in which she's already qualified for the NAIA Championships.
Oregon Relays
MEN
100m (14 entrants)
7. Cameron Bremner, 10.99*
400m (13)
3. Jonz Olander, 48.20#
1500m (12)
2. Eric Avila, 3:42.18^
Discus (11)
2. Markus Sanders, 48.25m (158-4)^
WOMEN
4x400m Relay (9)
4. SOU (Rachele Bedsole, Tierra Barrett, Aspen Abbott, Amelia Maguin), 3:55.57#
Discus (12)
12. Holly Haga, 35.93m (117-10)*
^ NAIA 'A' standard qualifying mark
# NAIA 'B' standard qualifying mark
* Cascade Conference qualifying mark