2021 NCAA Outdoor Recap Week 3

 47-7!

(Ruth Usoro-Texas Tech) 

The season continues. This past weekend there 15 new number one performances and a few all-time collegiate best. The team title picture is still not clear but there are weekly rankings based on the available performances and I will discuss those rankings here in this weekly recap.

 

SPRINTS/HURDLES

Tamara Clark of Alabama has been a top tier talent for years now. She is not new to being at the top of the NCAA performance list. This past weekend she returned to the top of the 100-meter list with a time of 11.07. She won the race on her home track at the Crimson Tide Invitational defeating Symone Mason of LSU (11.21). We are still a month away from the start of the post season but a time of 11.07 will draw attention.

Also on the women’s side at the same meet is LSU senior Tonea Marshall. Marshall was having quite the senior indoor season last year and seemed to be well on her way to winning a national title. The Covid-19 pandemic derailed those plans. She began the season with a bang winning the Texas Relays title. She improved upon her time, albeit wind-aided, but improved her number one ranking. Her winning time of 12.70 ties her with one of the greats in NCAA and LSU history, Tananjalyn Staley. Marshall is the clear leader of the pack and it should remain that way.

On the men’s side there was only one change and that came in the 100-meter dash. Joseph Amoah of Coppin State ran a dominating race at North Carolina A&T to claim the NCAA Division 1 lead with a mark of 10.00. Coppin State is another HBCU success story producing strong sprinters. Amoah has an All-American season to his credit and has been a successful part of Ghana’s sprint core. With the recent push of sprinters from the continent of Africa, Amoah is just the latest star.

DISTANCE

On the women’s side there are two new number one performances in the distance events. First there is Gabrielle Jennings of Furman University. Jennings performance is not just impressive because of her time, 4:12.60 but because of who she beat. In that same race at the Joe Walker Invitational at Ole Miss, was indoor 5,000-meter champion Joyce Kimeli of Auburn. Jennings outgunned Kimeli to win the race 4:12.60 to 4:13.15. Although Kimeli is not a middle-distance runner she is still known for her closing speed which was not enough to defeat Jennings.

Hannah Steelman of North Carolina State was the lone competitor from her school in a meet against North Carolina, Wake Forest and Duke known as the Tobacco Road Challenge. Steelman was clearly not phased by being the only competitor from NC State. She won her race by nearly one minute with a dominant winning time of 9:46.35. Steelman is one of only five women who have gone under 10 minutes and she is currently the only woman to have gone under 9:50.

On the men’s side there were two changes as well. Finley McLear of Miami of Ohio continues to impress. The talented sophomore did not let the fact that he came from a smaller school phase him against the Oregon Ducks at the Indoor Championship last month. Remember he nearly claimed the NCAA title. This past weekend at the Joe Walker Invitational he reclaimed his number one ranking with a time of 1:46.51. This again was against bigger name programs and McLear continues to prove that means nothing to him.

Eliud Kipsang of Alabama had an impressive freshman indoor season. He finished 2^nd at the NCAA Championships as well as at the SEC Indoor Championships. Kipsang pulled off an impressive double on his home track at the Crimson Tide Invitational. He won the 800 in a time of 1:47.20 that placed him fifth on the national list. It was however his 1,500 time that will catch your attention. The freshman logged a time of 3:36.00 moving him to the top of the list. Distance events pan out differently outdoors it will be interesting to see how the competitors in the event will fill out later in the post season.

FIELD EVENTS

Ruth Osoro has had quite the 2021 season. She had a strong indoor season that included her winning the NCAA title in the triple jump. She continues her dominance in the event with her performance this past weekend. She leaped to a mark of 47 feet 7 inches (14.50m). That puts her in the top five performers all-time and draws her even closer to the NCAA record set by Keturah Orji. Osoro is currently the only athlete over 47 feet and she has greater than a foot lengths lead.

Tyra Gittens continues to perform at a high level. In her first Heptathlon of the season she scored a total of 6,274 points on her home track. Highlighting her great performance in each event will be her mark in the long jump that was 21 feet 10 ¾ inches (6.67m). Gittens scored over 6,200 points without going over 6 feet in the high jump. This indicates that we can expect and even better score later this season.

In the throwing events Marie Therese Obst of Georgia continues to climb up the all-time list. Her throw this past weekend improved upon her number one ranking. Her winning mark was 201 feet 4 inches (61.37m). Obst is having quite the season for the Georgia Bulldogs and looks to continue her success into the post season. She now has greater than a 10-foot lead on the rest of the field.

Samantha Noennig is never an unfamiliar face here. She has been mentioned perhaps more times than any athlete on this blog. Noennig again regained the number one mark in the women’s shot put for Arizona. Her NCAA leading mark of 59 feet 6 ¼ inches (18.14m) puts her back into the driver’s seat of the championship conversation.

On the men’s side Zack Anderson of South Dakota is proving that there is more than just great Pole Vaulters in their state. The senior tied with Darryl Sullivan of Tennessee for the number one mark in the nation in the High Jump with a leap of 7 feet 5 inches (2.26m). Both performed admirably this weekend and on their home tracks.

Zach Bradford of Kansas decided to take some of thunder being generated by KC Lightfoot all season long. After a record-breaking indoor season Lightfoot has already jumped over 19 feet this outdoor season. However, conference foe Bradford just leaped into the number one position with his leap of 19 feet ¾ inches (5.81m). He is only a half inch above Lightfoot, but it is reminder that Lightfoot will not have a cakewalk, even at the conference level he will face stiff competition.

Karel Tilga had perhaps the most impressive performance all weekend. He is yet another talented multi-event athlete from Georgia. Tilga claimed the NCAA’s number two all performance scoring a total of 8,484 points. He has almost an 800-point lead on the rest of the field and is competing a such a high level. This is remarkable seeing how he is at a program that specializes in developing champions in this event. Tilga will in all likelihood break the NCAA record if his teammate Kyle Garland doesn’t do it first.

Washington Turner of Arizona State has already broken an NCAA record this season, indoors. Turner moves to the other throwing event he is quite good at, the Discus. At the Jim Click Shootout at the University of Arizona, Turner launched the disc a total of 211 feet 10 inches (64.57m). He has over a 5-foot lead on the field and is currently ranked number one in both the shot put and discus.

RANKINGS

The rankings show that LSU is number one on both sides, men and women. It certainly can’t go without notice that this current iteration of LSU reminds me slightly of the LSU programs of the nineties. This is perhaps however the deepest hurdle group on the women’s side that I have ever seen. That includes the great LSU teams of the 90s, the Illinois group of the 90’s and early 2000’s and the great Texas A&M teams. This group I believe could potentially break the NCAA shuttle hurdle relay record and they may have four athletes run sub 13 seconds in the 100 hurdles and that does not even include the 400 hurdles.

With their relay strength high and their young sprint core getting better and better I see no real threat to them on the women’s side. Sure, there is Arkansas, but can Arkansas compete with LSU’s range. With it being outdoors LSU has more options, a strong core of jumpers, throwers and then of course are their sprinters/hurdlers. This is a solid well-rounded team.

On the men’s side however this is phenomenal collection. Once they can get their exchanges down on the 4x100 relay I think we could be looking at another sub 38 performance. They are deep in the 400 meters, 200 meters, hurdles, jumps and even have a competitive group of distance runners. I still feel you cannot ignore BYU or Florida. Florida will always be a threat and they have more options and better options to score. BYU has an incredible group of distance runners and will be scoring in such large bunches in many of the distance events. Do not forget the rest of the squad which is still formidable. I am not ready yet to declare a solid number one on the men’s side until more of the season has passed.