Romero falls off the pace on Day 3
At the U.S. Open at Erin Hills Golf Course in Erin, Wisconsin, Kiara Romero stumbled to a 12-over 84 in the third round, 13 over par and last among the players who made the cut. Maja Stark of Sweden leads the tournament at 7-under with the final round Sunday on NBC.
The U.S. Open is the most difficult test in golf, particularly on the weekend as the rough grows and the greens dry out.
Big Ten and NCAA Regional Champion Romero started on the second nine Saturday. She posted double bogey on 10, a bogey on 11, then rallied for a birdie on the par-4 12th. Double and triple bogeys on 13 and 15 dropped her to +10.
She made one more birdie at 17 to finish her first nine in 45, her second in 39.
Sabrina soars in Liberty win over Mystics
Friday night in Washington, Oregon great Sabrina Ionescu poured in 28 points with three rebounds and five assists as New York demystified Washington 85-63, running their season record to 6-0.
Oregon men, women punch their ticket for NCAA Championships
At the NCAA West Regional Track and Field Championships in College Station, Texas, the Oregon men's and women's teams gained 17 qualifying spots for the NCAA Championships at Hayward Field June 11-14.
Eight men and nine women have qualified for Nationals.
NCAA Championships women's qualifiers
Silan Ayyildiz – 1500 meters
Mia Barnett – 1500 meters
Diana Cherotich – 10,000 meters (from Thursday)
Emily Fitzsimmons – pole vault (from Thursday)
Klaudia Kazimierska – 1500 meters
Aaliyah McCormick – 100m hurdles
Ryann Porter – triple jump
Annika Williams – heptathlon
Shaniya Hall, Lily Jones, Brazil Neal, Amirah Shaheed – 4x100m relay
On the men's side, former Oregon football player Rodrick Pleasant (he's transferring to UCLA) blazed to a time of 10.16 in the 100 meters, but only the top 12 reach Hayward. Pleasant fell just shy with the 12th spot going to Travis Williams of USC at 10.15.
These Oregon men made the field at Hayward:
Men's 800m
6 Matthew Erickson, Oregon, 1:47.07
9 Koitatoi Kidali, Oregon, 1:47.17
Men's 3000m Steeplechase
4 Benjamin Balazs, Oregon, 8:31.13
Men's Triple Jump
12 Safin Wills, Oregon, 15.88m
Men's Discus
12 Aidan Elbettar, Oregon, 58.25m
Men's Shot put
5 Kobe Lawrence, Oregon, 19.38m
Men's Long Jump
11. Safin Wills, Oregon, 7.67