2023 NCAA Indoor Weekend Recap 2

                                     7.02!                                                                         

(Julien Alfred-Texas) 

   

  7.75!

                                                     (Masai Russell-Kentucky)

Another season, another set of NCAA records are broken. Although record breaking has been the theme here it was primarily around long-standing records that have stood since the 80’s or 90’s. There are very few of those left, but the new records are not lasting long either. In this recap we will look at two new NCAA records and the new number one performances along with the NCAA rankings that have just released.

Sprints/Hurdles

Women

Julien Alfred of Texas seems to break a record every year. She has been the most consistent in the 60-meter sprint over the years and has been a reliable source of points for the Texas Longhorns. At the MLK Invitational at New Mexico University Alfred blasted out of the blocks riding a strong start to a NCAA 60-meter record time of 7.02. That breaks her own record set last year of 7.04. It is still January and Alfred could lower that mark even more, potentially under 7 seconds. She was the favorite going into this season and I see no reason for that to change.

Alfred’s teammate Rhasidat Adeleke made up for her second-place finish in the 60 of 7.20 to run a strong 200-meter race to a world leading time of 22.52. Adeleke was a strong member of Texas’ sprint core last season running on both the 4x1 and 4x4. Running a time of 22.5 this early in the season is only a promising sign of potential things to come.

Bailey Lear of USC is the Trojans latest 400-meter star. Under Olympic Gold Medalist coach Quincy Watts, the Trojans have produced scores of All-Americans and NCAA champions and Lear is the latest. Lear dominated and led a 1-2-3 finish at the MLK Invitational at the University of New Mexico with her winning time of 52.07. Lear is so close to running under 52 seconds. It is still January, and she has a month more of the regular season expect for that time to come down.

Masai Russell of Kentucky has been on tear this season. After running a national leading of 7.88 last week she followed that up with a NCAA record time of 7.75 at the Red Raider Open at Texas Tech. The senior is apart of an impressive group at Kentucky. Her time breaks the NCAA record held by Grace Stark/Brianna Rollins. Rollins has an Olympic Gold medal to her credit and the outdoor record as well. Whatever else lies in store for us, I look forward to seeing Russell lower that record.

Men

On the men’s side there was only one new number one mark. That comes from Cameron Murray of NC State. The senior lit up the Hokie Invitational with his national leading mark of 7.67 to win the 60-meter hurdle title. Although Allen Johnson is no longer the coach at NC State, some of the talent he recruited is still there and producing at a high level. Murray competed against a strong field, but he was certainly the class of it.

Distance

Baylor Franklin of Ole Miss is the latest middle-distance standout from Ole Miss. Each year the produce a strong half miler and miler. Franklin ran a national leading time of 1:46.74 to begin his season. His teammate, Tiarnan Croken, who finished second with a time 1:47.39 ran the nation’s second-best mark. Having run a sub 1:47 so early in the season is impressive. Expect to hear his name again and do not be surprises if it is in the mile and not the 800.

Jumps

Zach Bradford formerly of Kansas and now of Texas Tech is having another strong indoor season. The senior leaped to a mark of 18 feet 9 ¼ inches (5.72m) to win the Red Raider Open. Bradford has always been highly rated, and this season is no different, I believe this is the year he breaks through the mold. I doubt this is the last time we will hear his name again.

Throws

Jordan Geist of Arizona was expected to be here at some point during the season. Geist still a top tier performer continues to represent Arizona well and became the first athlete over 70 feet this season in the shot put. At the Lumberjack challenge Geist launched a winning throw of 70 feet 5 ¾ inches (21.48m). As a former number one recruit being at this level is expected, I hope we can continue to see him at the top of the list.

Relays

Texas Tech men’s 4x400 relay caused me to talk about relays earlier than I wanted to. Their impressive winning time of 3:04.52 at their home meet, the Red Raider open, could not go ignored. They are the new number one ranked team over Florida. With an incredible weekend slate coming up expect for that time to get lowered and not only by the Red Raiders. It looks as if it will be another fantastic year in the 4x400 relay.

Team Rankings

The Texas Women are ranked number one while the number one men’s team is Stanford. I approve of both these rankings. Texas has proven to have incredible depth in the sprints as well as the jumps. Stanford is loaded in every distance event and has a strong young sprints/hurdle core. Stanford can truly ride the wave of it’s strong distance core to a national title, I expect for the Cardinal to remain number one for a while, although I expect for Florida to make some noise this coming weekend, Stanford will be making noise as well.