UO release by: Rob Moseley - EUGENE, Ore. — Success was slow to emerge for Aaliyah McCormick. Ultimately, it showed up right on time. Saturday's 100-meter hurdles final at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships unfolded a bit like McCormick's outdoor career to this point in the junior's time at Oregon. At first, she didn't stand out from the pack. But in the end, McCormick was at the top of the heap. Finally healthy for an outdoor postseason, and racing in the friendly confines of Hayward Field, McCormick was crowned queen of the hurdles Saturday. Though she was slow out of the blocks and watched the runner in the lane to her left fall early on, McCormick maintained her focus and exploded over the final few hurdles to win in 12.81 seconds. "I have been literally praying and working for this all season long," McCormick said. "This is actually my first full season ever injury-free, healthy and everything, and I was able to be here at the big moments, which is what I really wanted. "I really just wanted to put my name out there and to let everybody know, you know, Oregon is here to represent. I think I definitely did that today." McCormick's 10 points for winning the hurdles helped the UO women score 20 total on the final day of the championship meet. Along with the sixth-place finish Thursday from Emily Fitzsimmons in the pole vault, the Ducks finished the meet with 23 points, tied for 10th in the team standings. Unlike Thursday's semifinal, McCormick wasn't particularly quick out of the blocks Saturday. But she brought home Oregon's first-ever women's 100 hurdles title in the style of the last Duck to win an NCAA hurdles title outdoors, Devon Allen in 2016 — there was nobody better over the final few barriers. "I did not have as best of a start as I should have, and I know my coaches are going to get on me for that," McCormick said with a smile. "But the one thing I continued to keep telling myself is just to stay calm. I know that later on in the race, I tend to get quicker and faster. So I just decided to stay calm. And no matter what happened, I knew at the end of the day I was going to be a champion." That she was, despite chaos out of the blocks. McCormick was running in lane six, and the runner in lane five fell over the first hurdle. Lane four was empty due to a scratch, and so McCormick ran her race with two open lanes just to her left. "Hurdles can be a very difficult race; you're running and jumping at the same time, and that can be a little bit of an obstacle," she said. "So I knew not to worry about anything else that is going around me, but to just stay composed in my lane." Oregon also got nine points in the 1,500 meters, with Silan Ayyildiz taking fourth and Klaudia Kazimierska finishing fifth. Ryann Porter also picked up a point with an eighth-place finish in the triple jump; Annika Williams was in position to score as well before pulling out of the heptathlon before the final event, the 800. It was a frustrating 1,500 for the trio of Ducks who made that final. Ayyildiz, Kazimierska and Mia Barnett were looking to become the first trio of teammates all to score in the event — and to compete for the title — but none was in position to challenge in the end as Sophie O'Sullivan pulled away to win. "I was trying to stay top-three, which I mostly stayed the last two laps," said Ayyildiz, who ran 4:09.75. "But yeah, just the last 400 was kind of fast, I think." Kazimierska finished in 4:10.42, while Barnett was 12th in 4:13.43. Kazimierska had to put in work to move up from eighth to fourth during the penultimate lap, and needed to move to the outside of the track to do so. All that effort might have cost her in the end. "I was in good position, and then I was pushed back and, like, all the time in lane two," she said. "I just feel like, yeah, it was just a messy race for me." Porter posted her best effort in the triple jump right from the start, soaring 43 feet, 4.5 inches on her opening attempt. She posted two other jumps beyond 43 feet but ultimately didn't improve on that opening mark and finished eighth. "That's my first time being a first-team all-American, so I can't complain too much," she said. "Obviously I think I can jump a little bit further, but not too bad of a day." For McCormick, it was the best of days. "Oh my gosh, it's amazing," she said. "I can't even express words to you. I am in love with Oregon. I love Oregon. I love the gimmicks, the stickers, the O earrings. I love the uniform. I love everything about the supporters, the fans, the crowd. So it means so much to me that I was able to go out there and win for them — it's not just for me. The crowd pushes me through the race, and just feeling that as soon as I cross the line, it's amazing. I just, I love it."