Raevyn Rogers Holds the NCAA Record, But Not Oregon's School Record in 800 Meters

By Adam Kopet, DyeStat Editor

Raevyn Rogers, an Oregon junior, broke the 27-year-old collegiate record in the 800 meters Saturday at the 59th Mt. SAC Relays. Her time of 1:59.10 bested the old record by 0.01 seconds.

However, according to Chris Hansen of the Register-Guard, Rogers is only the third fastest on the all-time list at Oregon.

The reason for this oddity is what the NCAA and Oregon require to be counted in the record book. The NCAA requires the mark to be achieved during the outdoor season. Had Rogers run that time at the Portland Track Festival, a meet historically held the day after the NCAA Outdoor Championships conclude in June, it would not have counted.

Oregon, on the other hand, considers any mark achieved in a Duck uniform to be valid.

Laura Roesler (1:59.04) and Claudette Groenendaal (1:58.33) each ran faster than Rogers, but they did so after the NCAA season had finished. Roesler achieved her mark at the USATF Outdoor Championships in 2014, with Groenendaal running hers during the summer of 1985. Both had just finished their senior seasons.

The Pac-12 follows similar rules to Oregon when it comes to track and field records, although those records only date back to 1987, leaving off Groenendaal. However, the Pac-12 record of 1:58.51 by USC's Brigita Langerholc in 2000 pushes Rogers back to third on the conference list as well, with Roesler second.

Despite the oddities in track and field record keeping, Rogers left El Camino College with a new personal best, her first since the 2015 NCAA Outdoor Championships when she won the Division 1 title as a freshman in 1:59.71. She has not lost an NCAA 800-meter final since and she seems primed to win another June 10 at Hayward Field.