Weekend Recap

10.96!

(Kayla White-North Carolina A&T)

This past weekend was the first step towards the post season. The MEAC is the first noted conference to hold their conference championship. The conference consists of historically black colleges/universities which are making a resurgence in today’s African-American youth not only in enrollment but in athletics as well. With the major conferences conducting their conference championships this coming weekend it allowed for the smaller conferences to take center stage along with a few non-scored meets. 

Kayla White is perhaps the most well-known sprint queen out of the talent laden conference. The senior who is primarily a hurdler and 200-meter runner pulled off an impressive double winning the 100 in a time of 10.96 and the 200 in a time of 22.52. Both are NCAA number ones and perhaps more impressive is that 200 was in a strong head wind. White is now among the fastest in the world and the only woman under 11 seconds. With this being a world championship year that is quite an accomplishment albeit early in the season.

White’s teammate Trevor Stewart has turned into quite the long sprinter. He dominated the MEAC Championships by winning the 400 with a full second lead. His winning time of 44.38 is number one in the NCAA and currently number three in the world. The talented junior is another sprint talent coming out of North Carolina A&T that is expected to make big noise later in the post season.

Rodney Rowe of North Carolina A&T also had quite the weekend pulling off an impressive sprint double winning the 100 in a time of 10.05 and the 200 in 20.12. His 200-meter time is currently ranked number two in the NCAA and the 100 is currently ranked number four. Rowe now a senior has a been a fixture among the top tier of the NCAA for quite some time but this season he is rounding into form at the perfect time.

All the great distance races were clearly at the Payton Jordan Invitational in Palo Alto, California. On the men’s side there were two number one performances, Tyler Day of Northern Arizona in the 5,000 and Connor McMillan of BYU in the 10,000.

The Payton Jordan Invitational has become a mainstay on the distance running calendar and always seems to produce quality performances year end and year out. Day stepped into the race competing against several professional athletes all of whom hope to be competing at the World Championships later this summer. Day finished 13^th in a loaded field with his time of 13:25.06. Conner Mantz of BYU also competed finishing 16^th overall with a time of 13:29.73 good enough for third in the NCAA.

Connor McMillan of BYU competed in an equally loaded 10,000 that included Lawi Lalang. McMillan still ran a heroic race finishing ninth overall with his NCAA leading time of 28:11.30. The 10,000 is not a race were athletes run it a lot so a time of this quality at this point in the season is a good sign for McMillan moving forward.

Senior Jessica Hull of Oregon is the defending champion in the 1,500 and made her season debut at the Payton Jordan Invitational. Like the men Hull stepped into a loaded field full of professionals. Hull however, came out the victor winning with an impressive time of 4:12.08 defeating Nike professional Karissa Schweizer. Her gutsy race and strong performance is reminiscent of the great talent she has consistently displayed and proof why she is still the one to beat in the 1,500.

There were no new number one performances in the field events but there were a few performances of note. In the women’s discus Obiageri Ameachi of Princenton won the Ivy League Championships with a throw of 190 feet 1 inch. Her mark is good enough for her to sit tied for sixth nationally.

From West Point sophomore August Cook won the Patriot League Title in the Javelin with a mark of 238 feet 8 inches. He is currently tied for eighth in the nation. He is the highest ranked military athlete in the nation.

We are now in the post season and it is officially conference championship weekend with the Power 5 conferences all conducting their championships this week. The team title picture should become clearer after this weekend. With weather cooperating and our recent track record, we should have at least one NCAA record broken from this weekend.