NCAA Weekend Recap 4

 7.47!

(Trey Cunningham-Florida State)

It is officially February, and we are drawing closer and closer to the postseason. This past weekend was quiet on the number one performances front with a total of six, but this coming weekend is expected to be major.  In this recap we will discuss the new number one performances, notable performances from this weekend and look at this week’s team rankings.

Sprints/Hurdles

There was only one new number one performance in the sprints/hurdles, and it came from Trey Cunningham of Florida State in the 60-meter hurdles. The senior competed at the New Balance Grand Prix in New York against the professionals. He was quite impressive finishing second with a time of 7.47. The only hurdler in the field to beat him was Olympic Medalist Grant Holloway. Cunningham has been incredibly dominant this season and at least for now no one seems capable of challenging him, but it is the hurdles.

Distance

It has been a busy few weeks for the University of Michigan regarding athletic news, some good and some bad. This recent weekend Aurora Rynda gave them some extremely good news. The super senior vaulted to the top of the rankings in the 800 this past weekend winning at the Meyo Invitational. Her winning time was 2:02.89 and is now a school indoor record. Considering the great 800 runners from Michigan this is an impressive feat. She won her race by over 2 seconds potentially signaling that she could go even lower.

Jumps

Women

Lisa Gunnarson of LSU is the defending champion in the Pole Vault, and she made an impressive seasonal debut. Gunnarson leaped to a mark of 14 feet 9 ½ inches to claim the number one ranking on her first outing of the 2022 season. LSU as always is prime position to compete for the team title and Gunnarson is a big piece in their hopes.

Men

Zach McWhorter of BYU improved upon his lead this past weekend. At the Dr. Sander Invitational McWhorter leaped to a mark of 19 feet 2 ¼ inches. He remains as the top of the rankings and is the only athlete in the country over 19 feet.

Chengetayi Mapaya of TCU again improved upon his number one ranking. At the New Mexico Classic Mapaya had a dominant weekend. He leaped to a mark of 55 feet 1 ½ inches. He had over a 4-foot lead on his closet competitor and further solidified his number one status.

Throws

Adrian Piperi of Texas had a big weekend competing in the shot put at the New Mexico classic. His winning throw of 70 feet 4 ½ inches is the only throw over 70 feet this season. Turner Washington of Arizona State is the defending champion put Piperi’s throw was great and worthy of recognition. Washington is still the favorite, but Piperi is coming on strong.

 

Notable Performance

Justin Robinson of Arizona State was highly sought-after recruit in 2019. He broke the U-18 world record runner 44.84 as a high school student. This past weekend he finally made his collegiate debut clocking in at 46.06 over Jonathan Jones of Texas who ran 46.10. Robinson has run under 45 seconds twice outdoors so there is certainly curiosity to how well he performs this coming season after missing last season. A time of that quality is great sign of things to come. Also, quite impressive of Jones to run a top time in 400 along with running a top 600-meter time in the same weekend.

Team Rankings

On the women’s side Florida is still number one and Texas is number two. Florida has such a loaded team. Two top jumpers in both the long jump and triple jump. Great in the heptathlon, sprints, relays, hurdles and even distance. The only thing missing from a traditional great Florida team is throwers and that will come as their new coach settles in. Texas incredible sprint depth reminds me of the Bev Kearney coached teams in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. They have six athletes in the 200 in the top 11 in the country. I think this team is going to be hard to beat.

On the men’s side I somewhat disagree with the rankings. North Carolina A&T did nothing to indicate they should have been moved to number two since they did not compete this past weekend. I do believe that Texas has a very strong team, but I think North Carolina A&T is still incredibly strong in the sprints and hurdles. Although Texas can score in many different areas the question is can, they score as high as North Carolina A&T. I also think that Florida ranked at 9 is very low. But with the Tyson Invitational this weekend it will be interesting to see what the performances due to the team rankings.