2021 NCAA Outdoor Recap Week 4

1:57.73! 

(Athing Mu-Texas A&M)

The marathon continues, literally. That is a basic description of the regular outdoor season, it is a marathon. Our theme of breaking NCAA records continued. In this recap we will review the previous weekend and speak on a few noticeable outdoor absences.

SPRINTS

The men did not have a major weekend but did have some headlining performances. Perhaps the most impressive of this weekend came in the 100-meter dash. Florida State is no stranger to developing great 100 sprinters and JoVaughn Martin is just the latest star to prove that fact. The sophomore clocked a winning time at the Tom Jones Memorial of 9.94. He is just of many that have run sub 10 for Florida State and he is only a sophomore. I doubt that is his peak, I expect him to better that time.

On the women’s side talented freshman at LSU by way of Nigeria, Favour Ofili, continues to impress the season. The true freshman clocked a winning time of 22.30, although wind-aided to take the number one 200-meter time in the country. She was an All-American indoors and is having quite the outdoor season. She has hit the A standard for the Olympics and will likely compete for her native Nigeria.

DISTANCE

Athing Mu is the biggest headliner this past weekend. The super freshman broke yet another NCAA record, in cold weather. The Texas A&M star wowed the crowd at the Michael Johnson Invitational on the campus of Baylor. Against Aaliyah Miller who won the NCAA Indoor title when Mu decided to focus on the 400. Mu dashed to a winning time of 1:57.73. Breaking the previous NCAA record of 1:59.10 by Raevyn Rogers. It is still the regular season and the weather was less than ideal. Expect for Mu to break that NCAA record again at some point this season.

Maudie Skyring of Florida State introduced herself to the nation. She has All-American pedigree, but she went a step further this past weekend at the Tom Jones Memorial. She ran a solid race in the 1,500 to win and clock a national leading time of 4:11.43. A time that good will not go unnoticed and certainly should be everyone on notice of a new national title threat.

Hannah Steelman of NC State is a repeat from last week. Just last week she was the number one steeplechaser in the country. This week she is now the number 5,000-meter runner. She dominated the field at the Virginia Challenge to clock a winning time of 15:30.87. She lost her number one ranking in the steeplechase, but this is a solid effort. It remains to be seen if she is only going to compete in one event or both. With a time of this quality I expect for Steelman to certainly consider the 5k.

Steelman lost her number one ranking to indoor 5,000-meter champion Joyce Kimeli of Auburn. None for her speed and unique race strategies Kimeli showed her versatile of a distance runner she is. She competed in the 3,000-meter steeplechase on her home track at the War Eagle Invitational. She dominated the field with a time of 9:37.97 and won the race by almost 40 seconds. Kimeli is currently the only athlete this season to have run sub 9:40. It is still early in her season and remains to be seen what she is going to do.

The lone distance performance came on the men’s side and did not come from a power five school. Ahmed Jaziri of Eastern Kentucky ran an impressive race on his home track. He defeated his teammate, who is now ranked number two in the country, to a time of 8:23.14. He has nearly a 15 second lead on the rest of the field further cementing his talent. This event is wide open on the national level but Jaziri has the top time to date. For now, he should be considered a contender.

FIELD EVENTS

There were no new number one jumping mark but there were a few in the throws. On the men’s side Washington Turner continues to lead the country in the discus throw. The super sophomore had another impressive throw at the West Coast Classic launching the disc 217 feet 5 inches (66.26m). Turner is currently number one in two events with a NCAA title already in his trophy case. It certainly looks as if he will continue to carry the Championship throwing torch that Arizona State has developed over the years.

In the hammer throw another National Champion continued his hot season. Thomas Mardal of Florida, on what is his last home meet as Gator impressed the crowd and further cemented his number one status. The star senior launched a throw of 249 feet 11 inches (76.18m). He currently has over 10 feet lead on the number two ranked athlete and continues to impress each time he steps up to throw. He is clearly the favorite to win the NCAA title in June.

I am detecting a theme here of NCAA Champions making statements, not just on the men but the women also. Samantha Noennig of Arizona is another defending champion who made a statement this week. She again improved upon her number one ranking with her winning throw of 59 feet 7 ½ inches (18.17m) in the Shot Put. Noennig earned her previous national titles at rival Arizona State and is clear she is rounding back into championship form.

Camryn Rogers of California, who is also a defending champion, continued to impress in the hammer throw. Her season continued to get better after her winning performance at the West Coast Classic. The sophomore hit mark of 239 feet 9 inches (73.09m) defeating number two ranked Alyssa Wilson of UCLA who finished second. Rogers has been number one from the start of the outdoor season and defeating Wilson her biggest challenger further cements her as the obvious favorite.

MISSING IN ACTION

There are a few athletes who have noticeably not competed so far, this outdoor season, one in particular is Raymond Ekevwo of Florida. Although he has not registered a time this outdoor season, I do honestly believe that the delay is likely due to the Olympics. Ekevwo has Olympic aspirations and is not looking to burn out before then. There has been no injury news reported as well. Look for him to show up right before the post season.