SPRINTS/HURDLES
Women
The women’s meet was competitive and there were some
shocking performances to say the least. The 60-meter dash began in the
preliminary round with a bang. Meet favorite Julien Alfred broke the NCAA
record with a time of 7.04. She looked in great shape and ready to repeat in
the finals. Well, that did not happen, Melissa Jefferson who represents Coastal
Carolina came through in the last 30 meters to surge ahead of the field to win
in 7.09. Abby Steiner of Kentucky finished 2nd with a time of 7.10.
Alfred would finish with a time of 7.15 in 5th place.
Steiner would redeem herself in the 200-meter dash winning with
a time of 22.16. Her time gives her the top three times run in NCAA history. Steiner
had an impressive meet winning the 200 and finishing second in the 60.
My prediction in the 400 came to fruition. Talitha Diggs was
the preseason favorite and proved why. She claimed the national title from the “slow”
heat winning with a time of 50.98. She was the only athlete to rub 51 this past
weekend and although it was considered the slow heat it produced the top two
times in the meet with Kennedy Simon finishing second with a tie of 51.46.
In the 60-meter hurdles I fully expected for Alia Armstrong
of LSU to redeem herself after a rough outing in the event at the SEC
Championships. Unfortunately, she would false start and disqualify herself, a
common story at the NCAA Championship. Grace Stark stepped up and simply ran a
dominant race. Stark tied the NCAA record set by Brianna Rollins of Clemson
with her mark of 7.78. Her 10 points here were a big part of Florida’s phenomenal
weekend.
Men
The 60-meter dash was a story for all the wrong reasons. The
lived feed crashed, and the officials did not call a great race along with the
two big false starts in the prelims. In the preliminary races both top seeds
Micah Williams of Oregon and Terrence Jones of Texas Tech false started
stunning everyone. In the finals the race was supposed to be called back but due
to all the noise a few of the athletes did not hear the call back and ran their
race completely. They had to run all over again. Davonte Burnett of USC did not
complain he won both races, 6.52 and then finally 6.50. Hopefully we can get a
better officiated meet coming this outdoor season.
The 200 was supposed to be Matthew Boling’s race to win.
Perhaps running the 60-meter dash, the 200, long and the 4x400 relay was
perhaps to much for the talented sprinter. He was favored to win at least two
events and came away empty. In the 200 he was disqualified after running in the
lane of his competitor Javonte Harding of North Carolina A&T for two steps.
Harding led the race the entire way running a blistering first turn and never
letting up. He certainly learned his lesson from his first race and clocked in at
20.46. Harding was a big part of North Carolina A&T’s runner up team trophy.
In the 400 Harding’s teammate and Olympian Randolph Ross left
no doubt he was the best runner on the track. His time is of 44.62 surpasses
Michael Johnson’s best time of 44.63. Although we did not get to see Ross
versus Champ Allison of Florida, the outdoor season will present a new opportunity.
Ross was a runaway winner with no one within sight of challenging. Ross will
again likely dip under 44 seconds and is a big part of America’s future in 400-meter
sprinting.
Senior Trey Cunningham of Florida State was another convincing
and dominant run. He has been virtually unbeatable all season long and has just
simply been solid. Cunningham was not able to break Grant Holloway’s record of
7.35 but he did become second all-time with 7.38. Cunningham was simply
flawless over the hurdles and never seemed to be bothered by the chaos around
him.
DISTANCE
Women
In the 800 we expected a battle between Shafiqua Maloney of
Arkansas and Lindsay Butler of Virginia Tech. It was more of the Lindsay Butler
show than we expected. Butler expertly navigated through the race and was able
to come away with the victory. She was in the top three through 600 meters and
the last 200 meters she outkicked the field. Her time was 2:01.37, a facility
record.
The mile was chaotic as usual. Emily Mackay of Binghamton
had been the top miler all season long. She was a heavy favorite to win entering
this meet. Mackay did not make it out of the preliminaries finishing fifth in
her heat getting beat at the line to the final qualifying spot. My predicted
champion Julia Heymach made it to the finals but only placed seventh. It was Colorado’s
Micaela Degenero that came away with the victory. The senior ran a personal best
to qualify to the finals and then ran a personal best again to win in the
finals with a time of 4:33.92.
Oklahoma State has had quite the distance program over the years
producing several NCAA Champions. Taylor Roe just became the latest to win for
the Cowgirls claiming the 3,000-meter run title. The junior sat comfortably towards
the back of the pack. She slowly crept up and around 2,000 meters began to get
into position. Just before she reached 2,400 meters she took over as the lead
and never relinquished it winning in a time of 8:58.95, she was one of three
athletes to win under 9 minutes.
The 5,000-meter favorite Courtney Wayment of BYU certainly
lived up to the hype. She has been the top runner in the 5k since the very
start of the Indoor season and capped off the indoor season with a title in the
event. The junior ran a time of 15:30.17 outdueling Mercy Chalengat of Alabama.
Wayment had several moments in the race where she ran the faster split, but it
was not until the 600 meters that she clearly took over the lead. Chalengat did
most of the heavy lifting and it resulted in a third-place finish.
Men
Brandon Miller of Texas A&M certainly was the 800-meter
king all season long. After an impressive freshman season where we watched a
freshman run a 1:44 800 outdoors he found a way to add a key title to his
trophy case. He outlasted the field winning with a time of 1:47.19. He took
over halfway through and never let up. It was not another 1:45 performance but
it was still great nonetheless, I for one look forward to seeing what he can do
outdoors.
I expected Mario Garcia Romo of Ole Miss to win this race
and he delivered. The junior ran a smart tactical race and out leaned senior Morgan
Beadlescomb of Michigan State for the title in a time of 4:07.54. Although not
an impressive time it is no shock that the race was more strategic after having
some strong qualifying times, including six qualifiers running a sub 4 minutes.
Abdihamid Nur of Northern Arizona was the king of the meet.
He was the only male athlete in the entire meet to complete a double. The super
sophomore began the meet by winning the 5,000-meter run Friday night. For a
good majority of the 5k, favorite Wesley Kiptoo led the race with a blistering pace.
It seemed to between him and Adrian Wildschutt of Florida State. Nur was
comfortably towards the front but not leading. Just before it hit 4,000 meters Nur
made his move to lead and made sure to close the door on anyone catching him. He
ran a personal best and meet record to hold off true freshman Ky Robinson on
Stanford with his winning time of 13:19.01. His time breaks the meet record
held by Wesley Kiptoo who clearly out of gas towards the end of the race finished
in 12th.
He returned Saturday to continue his great weekend by
claiming the title in the men’s 3k. He outdueled Amon Kemboi of Arkansas by
becoming the only athlete in the field to dip under 8 minutes with his time of
7:59.88 to Kemboi’s 8:00.21. Favorite and NCAA record holder Yared Nuguse of
Notre Dame finished 9th overall in this race.
RELAYS
Women
The times were not the same as at the SEC Championships, but
the intensity was certainly there. Arkansas anchor Britton Wilson got the baton
in second behind Kentucky. She ran a 50.6 anchor leg to outduel Kentucky with a
time of 3:27.23.
On Friday night Arkansas claimed their first relay title
rebounding from a disappointing defeat at the hands of Ole Miss at the SEC Championship.
They ran a season best 10:51.37 to Stanford’s 10:53.37.
Men
In the men’s DMR Texas anchor Yaseen Abdalla was able to
hold off Notre Dame’s Yared Nuguse to win with a time of 9:25.20 to 9:25.77 courtesy
of his 3:55 anchor. It is the first DMR title for the Texas Longhorns and the lone
victory for the team this past weekend.
The 4x400 relay was still solid but Florida was without
their top gun Champ Allison who was DNF in the 400 final. Texas A&M would
run a season best time of 3:04.16 to claim the NCAA title over Texas who
finished in 2nd.
JUMPS
Jasmine Moore of Florida completed one of the most impressive
performances this weekend in NCAA history. Moore on Friday night claimed the
title in the Long Jump with a mark of 21 feet 6 ¾ inches (6.57m). It was her Saturday
night performance that was so eye popping. The junior again broke her own NCAA
record with a mark of 47 feet 9 ¾ inches (14.57m). She won the event by almost
2 feet, with her teammate Natricia Hooper finishing second with 45 feet 10 ¾ inches
(13.99m).
In the high jump Tyra Gittens of Texas was beaten by her
former teammate Lamara Distin of Texas A&M. Distin had a flawless series
clearing every jump on the first try. She did not run into any challenges until
reaching the championship height of 6 feet 3 ½ inches (1.92m), she was able to
clear it on her final attempt to match her personal best.
In the pole vault Rachel Baxter of Virginia Tech entered the
meet as the favorite and the only athlete to have gone over 15 feet this
season. The senior remains the only athlete over 15 feet having won with a mark
of 15 feet 1 ¾ inches, a new personal best.
Men
Tennessee had a strong Friday night in the long jump
finishing 1-2. It was not favorite Carey McLeod but instead his younger teammate,
freshman Wayne Pinnock who claimed the title with a leap of 26 feet (7.92m).
McLeod was second with a mark of 25 feet 11 ½ inches (7.91m). It is the first
1-2 finish in the long jump for the Tennessee Vols.
In the triple jump it was the same story as last year.
Chengetayi Mayapa of TCU entered the meet the favorite and with the top mark
but left without the trophy after being outdueled by Emmanuel Ihemeje of
Oregon. Ihemeje of Oregon claimed the NCAA title with a mark of 55 feet 2 ¾ inches
(16.83m). Mayapa was third with a mark of 54 feet 2 inches (16.51m).
In the high jump my pick Roberto Vilches of Missouri ran
into a buzz saw this weekend. He finished fifth while Vernon Turner of Oklahoma
claimed victory with a mark of 7 feet 7 ¼ inches (2.32m). Turner’s mark is the
top mark this season. This is Turner’s first NCAA title and perhaps not his last.
In the Pole Vault Zach McWhorter of BYU was the top athlete for
majority of this season. However, he was not able to claim the NCAA title finishing
2nd. Princeton’s Sondre Guttormsen claimed the event title with his
mark of 18 feet 10 ¼ inches. He made several attempts at 19-foot mark but was
unable to. Guttormsen is one of the top tier athletes representing Princeton which
has been developing a strong track program.
THROWS
Women
Adelaide Aquilla of Ohio State was the defending champion in
the women’s shot put and was the overwhelming favorite heading into this meet.
She comfortably had built the best resume and had the top mark of the year. Jorinde
Van Klinken of Arizona State was not phased by any of that and proved it by
winning the shot put with her personal best throw of 62 feet 7 ¼ inches, a facility
record. Van Klinken is the lastest thrower from Arizona State to win a national
title and I am sure she will be ready to face off Aquilla who look to redeem
herself outdoors.
In the weight throw senior Shey Taiwo of Ole Miss rebounded
after finishing second at the SEC Championships to her teammate Jasmine
Mitchell. The senior had a throw of 83 feet 10 inches, just a quarter shy of
tying the NCAA record. Mitchell was not to far behind with a throw of 81 feet
10 inches. Two athletes over 80 feet should tell you just how quality the
program at Ole Miss is.
Men
Turner Washington of Arizona State lived up to reputation as
a championship level performer. He entered the meet third overall in the shot
put and left the NCAA Champion. He launched a throw of 71 feet ½ inch. He was
three inches off his NCAA record. He has now won back-to-back titles and will
look to carry that success into the outdoor season.
Bobby Colantonio of Alabama made me smile helping my
prediction to come true. He led the competition from his first throw, and it
did not result in being his best mark. He would improve upon that mark on his
final throw with a mark of 77 feet 5 ¼ inches to give him a comfortable victory.
MULTI’S
Women’s Pentathlon
Anna Hall of Florida has had quite the sensational season.
After transferring from Georgia, the junior has lived up to the hype
surrounding her. Hall scored a total of 4,586 points. She claimed event titles
in 2 out of the five events. She had seasonal bests in the high jump and in the
60-meter hurdles to give her a comfortable lead. Look for her to put it all
together this outdoor season and give us a great show in the Heptathlon.
Men’s Heptathlon
Ayden Owens of Arkansas had one of the greatest comebacks in
recent memory. Entering the final event, it looked as if Kyle Garland of Georgia
was going to win the title. Owens was in fourth position. Well, he scorched the
track in the 1,000-meter run with a time of 2:31.55. His performance was not
only first in the field but gave him enough points to be launched into first
place with a total of 6,211 points with Garland finishing in close second with
6,200 points. Owens appears to be the more fluid runner of the two and he will
likely have the advantage in the decathlon with their being more running
events.
TEAM TITLE RECAP
For the women what an impressive performance by the Gators.
The women earned the first NCAA title in 30 years and their first time under
Mike Holloway. They scored 68 points with four individual NCAA titles and that
is without a 4x400 relay. The outdoor season will come with more opportunities for
the Gators to score points, so it looks good for their first outdoor ranking to
be the number one team.
On the men’s side Texas throughout the year was a top five
team even garnering a number one ranking at one point. They proved the ranking right
winning with a total of 47 points. This is the first team title for Eldrick
Floreal and will likely not be the last.
No comments:
Post a Comment