(Andre DeGrasse-USC)
So the men have officially completed the 2015 NCAA Outdoor season. This season has been full of amazing performances and the championship meet lived up to the hype. This is also the first time that the meet was split, a finals day for the men and a finals day for the women. Let's recap a great men's meet.
SPRINTS
Andre DeGrasse of USC is a junior from the country of Canada. Heading into this meet not much was known about the talented sprinter other than that he would potentially challenge Travyon Bromell of Baylor. Bromell has been the talk of the American sprinting world since he was a high school senior. He won the 100 meter dash as a freshman last season running a 9.97. He earned high praise from just about everyone after running a 9.90 in the preliminary race. He is the fastest 19 year old in world history. However no one saw him getting handily beat, but that's what happened.. Bromell got off to his usual solid start and was technically superb, however at the 40 meter mark it was clear who the better sprinter was and it was DeGrasse who ran a wind-aided 9.75.
DeGrasse lined up in the 200 to face another defending champion in Dedric Dukes who had the only sub 20 second time of the year in the NCAA. DeGrasse led from start to finish. His time also wind-aided was 19.58, the wind just slightly over the allowable limit.
DeGrasse is still a raw talent. He did not start sprinting until his the final two months of his senior year in high school. That was just a few years ago. He is now one of the fastest sprinters in NCAA history. Although his times were wind-aided it still a special performance since he is the first athlete to complete a sprint double since Walter Dix of Florida State in 2007.
In the 400 Deon Lendore of Texas A&M was expected to defend his national title. However after running the first turn Lendore pulled up limping clearly in pain in his legs. This left the door open for Najee Glass of Florida and Vernon Norwood of LSU. Coming off the turn with 100 meters to go it looked as if Glass as going to win it. However he appeared to have gone out to hard against was a tough headwind on the backstretch. The senior Norwood reeled him in and passed him up for the win clocking in at 45.10.
HURDLES
Omar McLeod of Arkansas had been the story all season. After breaking the NCAA 60 hurdle record it remained to be seen of McLeod could translate that race to the 110 hurdles. McLeod has blazing speed and could be a top tier 100 sprinter had he not been a hurdler. Without defending champion Devon Allen in the race McLeod was thought to not have a real challenge. However senior Johnathan Cabral of Oregon gave the fans and his teammates something to smile about. At the gun McLeod got out of the blocks quickly hitting the first hurdle hard. Cabral was able to keep up with McLeod until late in the race around the 7th hurdle were McLeod asserted himself and took the lead win with a wind-aided time of 13.01.
For senior Kyle Stigler of Kansas this was his last opportunity to win the NCAA title. Stigler been the runner-up at this meet twice. This year he has been the odds on favorite from the start. At the beginning of the race Stigler seemed to be not bothered by the wind and went out early attacking the hurdles. He was able to hold off fellow senior Jordan Andrade of Boise State with a winning time of 48.84 and the only hurdler under 49 seconds.
DISTANCE
The distance events were as expected heavy crowd pleasers. Host Oregon was loaded in the distance events with plenty of points available. But, in the shortest distance event the 800 the Ducks didn't have anyone available to pick up points. This was a prime opportunity for Florida to pick up valuable points.
Similar to that of the 400 the headwind was a factor on the times ran. Defending champion Brandon McBride of Mississippi State who normally leads from the gun changed his tactic and sat back. The result was disastrous, McBride finished 6th. Andres Arroyo of Florida never seemed to establish himself in the race and fell to the back of the pack were he remained finishing 8th earning 1 point for the Gators who were hoping for more. Edward Kemboi of Iowa State proved to be the top tactician in the race winning in a slow 1:49.26.
The 1,500 featured NCAA leader Chad Noelle of Oklahoma State. Noelle a senior is the next in line to represent distance power Oklahoma State. Noelle ran a great race against crowd favorite, freshman Blake Haney of Oregon and Zach Perkins. Noelle claimed the title running a smart race winning in a time of 3:54.96, also a slower time than expected.
The story in the 3,000 meter steeplechase was could Arkansas senior Stanley Kebenei avenge himself after last season. Kebenei fell over the last hurdle at the last year's meet resulting in a 2nd place finish when he is great position to seize the lead and win. The two time defending champion in this event Anthony Rotich of UTEP also wanted to prove that he was capable of beating Kebenei at his best. After a race were several athletes stumbled over the water jump Rotich and Kebenei put on a show on the last lap. Coming off that faithful final jump Rotich had a slight lead with Kebeni charging. Rotich however asserted himself and validated his dominance in the event by out sprinting Kebenei to the finish to win a time of 8:33.90.
The 5,000 and 10,000 meter races were events were Edward Cheserek of Oregon could extend his dominance over the NCAA even further. Cheserek and his teammate Eric Jenkins were rumored to be at odds after Cheserek stated he let his teammate win during the indoor championships. They however finished 1st and 2nd in both races and embraced each other at the completion of the 5,000. In each race Cheserek was able to showcase his devastating kick out sprinting Jenkins to the finish in times of 13:48.67 and 28:58.92.
FIELD EVENTS
Marquis Dendy of Florida maybe perhaps the greatest collegiate jumper ever. Dendy entered the meet as the favorite to win the men's long jump and triple jump. Dendy is the defending champion in both events and trying to complete a feat only matched by Mike Conley by winning both long jump and triple jump back to back. He made early noise in the men's long jump by leaping 27'8 early on. Although his mark was wind-aided it remained the leader throughout the rounds and Jarrion Lawson of Arkansas drew close but was unable to surpass the mark. In the triple jump Dendy led from his first mark on with outstanding leap of 57-5. He performed so well throughout the competition that four of his jumps were better than the best jump of the runner up. On his final attempt he leaped to 58-1.75, although slightly wind-aided it still is a school record and one of the best jumps ever.
Shawn Barber of Akron has dominated the pole vault all year long. However early in the competition Barber had some trouble surpassing 17-8.50. This is shocking since he has jumped over 19 feet and been solid all year long. On his third and final attempt he made it over. He kept going until he surpassed 18-4.50 were he make his final clearance and win the event. Barber missed all three attempts to clear 18-10.25.
*WINNERS
High Jump- Jacorrian Duffield Texas Tech 7-5.75
Decathlon- Maicel Uibo Georgia 8,356
Shot Put- Johnathan Jones Buffalo 68-2.25
Hammer Throw- Connor McCullough USC 252-4
Discus Throw- Sam Mattis Penn 205-0
Team Battle Oregon 85 Points claims the event title over Florida. Oregon has now dominated back to back outdoor titles. There are quite a few heavy hitters graduating but a lot of talent returning. Early season favorite looks like Florida but if this meet tells us anything Oregon always finds away and steps up at the Championship meets. This was a great season. Next year is an Olympic year and that generally means record breaking performances at every level. I expect 2016 to be a great year.
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