USTFCCCA News & Notes
BLOG UPDATES: NCAA Division I Indoor Championships – Day One
The USTFCCCA will be keeping a running blog of some of the highlights of the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships, March 13-14 in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Day 1 Track Finals | Day 1 Track Prelims | Day 1 Field Events | Day 1 Heptathlon
Day One Track Finals
Men’s 5000
Oregon’s Eric Jenkins pulled out the first leg of Oregon’s attempt to become the first men’s team to win four distance events at the same NCAA Championships, taking the 5000 meters title Friday night over a hard-charging Kemoy Campbell in front of his home crowd.
Jenkins won in 13:48.36, holding off Campbell by just over a second in 13:49.55. Parker Stinson gave Oregon six more crucial points in their hunt to defend their national team title, finishing third in this event for the second year in a row, this time in 13:53.79. Will Geoghegan gave the Ducks two more points with a seventh-place finish, while Florida’s Mark Parrish finished outside the scoring by four seconds in ninth place.
Between those three men, Oregon finished with 18 points, which is equal to the fourth-most points ever scored by one men’s team in a distance event behind Stanford with 22 at 5000 in 1999, and Arkansas with 19 at 5000 in 2002 and 19 at 5000 in 1994, and equal to the 18 posted by UTEP in the three-mile in 1978.
Jenkins, Geoghegan and Stinson join Edward Cheserek and Jeramy Elkaim for the 3000 final in attempt to score enough points to secure their team title.
Men’s Distance Medley Relay
This was a back-and-forth affair, but when it came down to the final 1600 meter leg, no one could match Oregon’s Edward Cheserek as the Ducks took the second leg of their quest for four distance titles. The sophomore kicked home in 3:57.67 to secure a two-second win in 9:30.53 over Penn State, unleashing his signature kick on the final lap to drop the field.
Before Cheserek’s anchor leg annihilation, the Ducks hung around near the front for the entire race. Iowa State and Georgetown traded the lead back and forth throughout the meet. Edward Kemboi came through 1200 meters in 2:55.38 to give Iowa State the lead after the first leg, but Georgetown would take over before the end of the 400-meter leg after a 46.72 from Joseph White. Iowa State would regain the lead entering the 1600-meter leg in 1:46.52.
For Oregon, Coly Alexander came through the 1200 in 2:59.05, followed by Marcus Chambers in 46.82, Niki Franzmair in 1:46.99 and Cheserek in 3:57.67.
Penn State was second in 9:32.21, while Iowa State crossed the line third in 9:32.48.
Women’s 5000
Just two weekends after setting the collegiate record at 5000 meters at the BIG EAST Championships, Emily Sisson of Providence came through Friday night for her first career individual NCAA title. No one was even close as she crossed the line in 15:32.15 for the fifth-fastest time in meet history and the No. 4 spot on the all-time NCAA Championships performers list.
Rachel Johnson of Baylor finished runner-up in 15:40.35, missing the all-time top-10 meet performers list by just .05. Sisson and Jonson ran at the front of the pack from essentially the gun, with the two of them sticking together through about 3k before Sisson made a move to drop her by about 3400 meters. The two crossed the 3k mark at 9:17.84 and 9:18.22, respectively – 12 seconds ahead of the rest of the field – but by 3400 Sisson had opened up a three second lead that grew to six by 4000 meters. Sisson came through in 12:23.27 to Johnson’s 12:29.72.
Notably in third-place was Sarah Disanza of Wisconsin, who ran a 15:20 in December to beat Sisson in a head-to-head showdown but has since battled injuries. The frosh (this is her first year of track, but she’s run two cross country seasons) closed the quickest among a group of three other women to finish in 15:47.32. She’s the best-finishing frosh since Alicia Cragg of Stanford took third in 2003.
Women’s DMR
Of the four distance events tonight, the women’s DMR was the fastest. Arkansas defended their title in front of the home crowd, coming within two seconds of taking down the collegiate and meet record in 10:51.89, less than two seconds ahead of runner-up Stanford in 10:53.66.
Arkansas’ time made them the No. 2 school in collegiate history with the second-fastest time, while Stanford came in at No. 5 in meet and collegiate history.
How’d they get there? Largely because of their fantastic anchors in Dominique Scott and Elise Cranny, respectively. Cranny got the stick for her 1600-meter leg in 6:22.17, just ahead of Arkansas in 6:23. Scott made up ground on Cranny quickly, and hung with her for much of the leg. Scott blew past the frosh on the final lap to complete the leg in 4:28.90, way ahead of Cranny in 4:31.50.
Michigan was a distant third in 10:58.64, though the Wolverines were well ahead of Baylor at 11:04.21.
Plotlines from the Track Prelims
The Men’s Mile is Going to Be Fast
Never in meet history have more than six men gone 4:00 or faster in a men’s mile final at the NCAA Indoor Championships. What if I told you that 10 men were right on or faster than the legendary four minute barrier in the preliminary rounds?
Cristian Soratos of Montana State ran the meet’s all-time fastest qualifying time at 3:57.94 as five men in his second section went below the four-minute threshold, while Edward Cheserek of Oregon won his heat in 3:58.69 ahead of three more guys who went sub-four and another in Brannon Kidder of Penn State who hit 4:00.00 square on the nose.
The first three times out of the final were 4:00.25 (Julian Oakley, Providence), 4:00.79 (Elmar Engholm, New Mexico) and 4:00.80 (Robert Denault, Villanova).
Could a meet or even collegiate record be in the offing tomorrow evening? One thing’s for certain, it’s going to be fast.
The women’s mile should also be good, as all of the favorites will toe the line on Saturday. Michigan State’s Leah O’Connor took the top time in 4:34.17 in a fast second heat that featured four women at 4:35.36 or faster.
Shelby Houlihan of Arizona State took the top time in the first section, going 4:36.17 to beat out New Mexico’s Sammy Silva by just over half a second. The lone casualty among the top contenders was Mississippi State’s Rhianwedd Price, who was disqualified post-race and had to surrender her qualifying spot.
Jenna Prandini of Oregon Was Everywhere
You can read about her long jump exploits below as she won her second career national title in that event, but she truly shined in the sprints on Friday.
First up was the 60 meters, in which she out-ran collegiate record holder Remona Burchell of Alabam to win the first heat, 7.15 to 7.16. Whether she can topple Burchell in the final tomorrow is another matter entirely. But she did just miss out on the top overall seed in the event into the finals by .002 as Dezerea Bryant of Kentucky won the second section.
Prandini’s teammate Jasmine Todd took the fourth seed at 7.17, giving Oregon a shot at the points it’ll need to defend its national title for the sixth year in a row.
Later at 200 meters, Prandini put on an even more fantastic show. After watching Kyra Jefferson run a 22.64 to take down defending champ Bryant of Kentucky and (temporarily) move to No. 10 on the all-time meet performers list, Prandini crushed her third heat by nearly a full second, winning in 22.52. That effort made her the No. 5 performer in meet history with the sixth-fastest time.
On the all-time collegiate list, Prandini became the No. 6 all-time indoor performer with the ninth-fastest time, moving .02 ahead of three-time indoor 200 champion and 2012 Bowerman Trophy winner Kimberlyn Duncan of LSU.
Trayvon Bromell’s Up-And-Down Day, and the Men’s Short Sprints
The Baylor superstar sprinter started his day off on the very wrong foot. He (and USC’s Andre De Grasse) false started in the second heat of the 60 meters prelims, denying him a chance to follow up on his NCAA 100 meters outdoor title from 2014. He had entered the meet as the No. 2 seed.
Beyond Bromell, though the field was lightning quick. Jalen Miller of Ole Miss went 6.54 to take the top qualifying time in Bromell’s heat and move to No. 8 on the all-time meet performers list. He was followed in his heat and the qualifying list by Big 12 champ Senoj-Jay Givans of Texas and Ronnie Baker of TCU at 6.57, while collegiate leader John Teeters of Oklahoma State won his heat in 6.58.
In total, seven of the eight finalists went 6.60 or faster, and frosh Kendal Williams of Florida State missed the final at 6.62. Never before have more than four men gone 6.60 or faster in the same NCAA final; that will likely change tomorrow.
Bromell more than redeemed himself at 200 meters later in the evening. He won the first section in a blistering 20.23 by nearly half a second over Bryce Robinson of Tulsa, moving him to No. 2 on the all-time meet performers list with the third-best time in meet history, and No. 3 on the all-time world performers list with the seventh fastest time in world indoor history.
Only Arkansas’ Wallace Spearmon in 2005 has ever gone faster as a collegian, qualifying in 20.21 and winning the final in 20.10.
Also getting some redemption was Andre De Grasse of USC, who took the second spot in 20.55 to win the second heat. In total, all of the eight qualifiers crossed the line in 20.77 or faster. Needless to say, it’ll be another fast final. (Of course it’ll be a fast final. All NCAA Championship sprint finals are fast, especially at Arkansas.
Don’t Worry, Deon Lendore is Back.
After pulling up with an injury in the 400-meter prelims at SECs late last month, there were questions swirling around the health of reigning Bowerman winner Deon Lendore of Texas A&M. Those questions are all but gone now.
Despite a slight trip-up on the final lap, Lendore ran 45.92 to win his opening section of the 400 prelims, securing the second-fastest time of the prelims. He won by more than half a second over Christopher Giesting of Notre Dame, an All-American a year ago.
His teammate Bralon Taplin took the top spot of the day, leading from start to finish en route to a 45.64 in the fourth heat of the day to win by more than a second over Cody Rush of Nebraska.
LSU’s Vernon Norwood took the third spot in 46.00 in the third heat, and collegiate-leading Najee Glass of Florida nailed down the fourth spot at 46.11. Glass was joined by Arman Hall in the final, and both Gators will need to perform well to reclaim the team title they last won in 2012.
Texas Gets Two of Three To 400-meter Women’s Final
Texas’ title hopes were dealt a significant blow Friday as the Longhorns only managed to get two of their three quarter-mile stars to tomorrow’s final. Top-ranked Coutney Okoklo at 51.89 and No. 3 Ashley Spencer at 52.06 made it through safely, but Kendall Baisden finished outside the top eight in 12th to seriously diminish Texas’ point-scoring capability – she had been the No. 4 seed coming into the meet.
Also falling victim to the bubble was No. 5 Shakima Wimbley of Miami (Fla.). Could this be the curse of the U.S. Junior 4×4? Both women ran legs of that gold-medal winning relay in Eugene this past summer. Combined with the fact that Morolake Akinosun didn’t make either the 60- or 200-meter finals, the Longhorns will be hard-pressed to make the podium, let alone win the title.
Arkansas’ Taylor Ellis-Watson did her part to contribute to the Razorbacks’ first-ever team title, clocking the No. 2 time at 51.97 to win by two-thirds of a second.
Collegiate leader Shamier Little of Texas A&M advanced easily in her heat, winning in 52.66.
McLeod and Owens Dominate the Hurdles Prelims
It was another race, another dominant performance for Arkansas’ Omar McLeod. In his quest to defend his national title, he ran 7.55 in the prelims for a share of the second-fastest qualifying time in meet history. Overall, his time is equal to the eighth-fastest in meet history.
Next up was Chris Caldwell of Texas Tech in 7.64, With a group of men between 7.77 and 7.80 rounding out the finalist field.
Bridgette Owens of Florida was similarly dominant in the women’s hurdles race, winning the first section in 7.94 – a PR by .01 – for a share of the No. 9 spot on the all-time meet performers list.
She was way ahead of the rest of the field, including heat two winner Dior Hall of USC in 8.01. Hall was well ahead of the next best finisher in Texas’ Morgan Snow in 8.08. One of the pre-meet favorites, Cindy Ofili of Michigan, posted a DNF in the first heat after tripping over one of the hurdles.
Oregon’s podium/potential title defense was boosted by Sasha Wallace taking the final spot by thousandths of a second.
800-Meter Prelims Promise Close Finals Races
The difference between qualifying for the men’s final and not qualifying for the men’s final was a narrow one. Less than one second separated top seed Edward Kemboi of Iowa State at 1:48.04 from eighth qualifier Ryan Manahan of Georgetown 1:48.91. Another quarter of a second encompassed the first three men out of the final – one of whom was Andres Arroyo of Florida, who was the No. 2 seed entering the meet and a key component of Florida’s title chase.
The women’s race was a bit more spread out, with top seed and 2013 champion Natoya Goule of Clemson taking the second section in 2:02.77 and her ACC conqueror Hanna Green of Virginia Tech finishing a narrow second in 2:03.18. Those two pulled the second section along to a quick race, as both non-auto qualifiers came out of that section and two more women didn’t qualify but race faster than everyone in heat one.
Day 1 Field Event Recaps
Men’s Pole Vault
What a fitting way to cap off the men’s portion of the indoor Year of the Vault. Not only did Shawn Barber of Akron defend his national title, he did it in style. His third-attempt clearance at 19-4¾ (5.91m) was a new collegiate record – his fourth of the season – (and of course a meet record) and a new Canadian National Record.
Watch his collegiate record vault here:
He took three very close attempts at becoming the first collegian ever to vault six meters, but missed on all three.
He had competition, too. Jake Blankenship of Tennessee finished runner-up at 19-¼ (5.80m), a new career-best for him that moved him into a share of the No. 5 spot on the all-time collegiate performers list with the =No. 5 performance in NCAA Championships meet history.
Two-time NCAA champion Andrew Irwin settled for third at 18-½ (5.50m).
Women’s Long Jump
It’s shaping up to be quite a weekend for Oregon’s Jenna Prandini. We’ll get to her sprints prowess in a moment, but in the midst of posting blazing times at 60 and 200 meters she found enough time to win her second career long jump title, dating back to her 2014 outdoor crown.
It didn’t take her long to secure the title, as she leapt 21-5¼ (6.53m) on her first attempt, and then went 21-10 (6.65m) on her second time down the runway to take a commanding lead with the best collegiate long jump mark of 2015.
She passed each of her four final attempts to focus on the sprints, and only Sha’Keela Saunders of Kentucky came close at 21-5½ (6.53m) on her fifth attempt.
Men’s Long Jump
One of several closely contested field events throughout the first day of competition, this one might have been the closest – it came all the way down to the final round with a single centimeter deciding the title.
Marquis Dendy of Florida reclaimed the NCAA title he won in 2013 with an identical jump of 27-2 (8.28m), but got a sixth-round scare from defending NCAA champ Jarrion Lawson of Arkansas. The Razorback leapt 27-1¾ (8.27m) to come agonizingly close to the title, though he did knock Dendy’s teammate KeAndre Bates from the runner-up spot. The frosh Gator went 26-3¾ (8.02m) on his sixth attempt.
Dendy broke down the competition afterward here:
Men’s Weight Throw
If the men’s long jump wasn’t the most dramatic event of the day, it was most certainly the men’s weight throw. Through five rounds, collegiate record holder Michael Lihrman of Wisconsin – who had been shooting for the world record – needed a big throw just to defend his NCAA title.
And a big throw he got. The senior threw a meet-record 80-10¼ (24.64m) on his sixth attempt to hold off runner-up Connor McCullough of USC at 80-3¾ (24.48m) and Chukwuebuka Enekwechi of Purdue at 79-4 (24.18m) – the latter of whom had been the leader through five rounds.
The trio combined for six of the nine best throws in meet history (three coming from Enekwechi), the top three all surpassed the old meet record, and the entire field was historically deep. Of the top eight finishers, all but fifth-place Greg Skipper of Oregon posted the best-ever marks in meet history for their respective finishing spots.
Lihrman broke down the competition here:
Women’s Weight Throw
It wasn’t meant to be for UCLA’s Ida Storm, who finished runner-up for the second year in a row and the third time in four years. Instead, it was collegiate leader Kearsten Peoples of Missouri who took the event win for her first national title.
Storm threw 74-¼ (22.56m) in the third round, but the last three rounds belonged to Peoples. After only throwing 22.18m in the first three rounds, the senior Tiger went 22.31m on her fourth attempt and then launched the eventual winner at 74-6¼ (22.71m) to seal the victory. Storm, meanwhile, went 21.67m, 21.33m and a foul to finish her day.
Peoples finished as the No. 8 performer in meet history, while Storm finished No. 10 in meet history.
Defending national champion Brea Garrett of Texas A&M finished fourth.
Peoples talked about her competition afterward here:
Women’s High Jump
It was back-to-back indoor titles for Georgia’s sophomore Leontia Kallenou, who outdueled Akron’s Claudia Garcia Jou to win with a career-best 6-4 (1.93m) clearance to check in equal to No. 5 on the all-time NCAA Championships performers list.
After a flurry of women went out at 1.84m, Kallenou cleared 1.90m on her first attempt, while Garcia Jou needed three to get over the bar at the same height. One height later, it was Kallenou who went over on her third attempt at the winning height, while Garcia Jou bowed out. Kallenou decided to not attempt any further heights.
You don’t have to go back far for the last back-to-back winner. Arizona’s Brigetta Barrett won three in a row from 2011 through 2013. The last woman to start her collegiate career with two NCAA indoor high jump titles was Erin Aldrich of Texas in 1998 and 1999.
Kallenou discussed the competition afterward here:
Day 1 Men’s Heptathlon Recap
Who’s the greatest all-around men’s athlete in NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field? In other words, who will be the NCAA Champion in the heptathlon? That answer will be decided tomorrow, but the pool was narrowed down to four men have emerged as frontrunners.
Minnesota’s No. 4 Luca Wieland finished the first four events in the lead at 3472 points after a series of career-bests and near career-bests, followed by the tightly packed trio of No. 3 Mike Morgan of Buffalo at 3372, collegiate-leading Garrett Scantling of Georgia at 3368 and the surprise No. 11 Bilal Abdullah of Kennesaw State after several career performances of his own.
Check out the full heptathlon day one scores here.
Here’s how the action went down on Thursday.
How Day One Went Down
Georgia’s duo of collegiate-leading Garrett Scantling and defending outdoor decathlon champ Maicel Uibo was the story of the event heading into Friday’s day one action, but day one belonged to some of the meet’s lesser known heptathletes.
Kennesaw State’s Bilal Abdullah – not even the most high-profile on his own team, that’d be Andre Dorsey – dominated the two opening events with all-time performances.
He blazed to a 6.90 and 918 points in the day’s first event, the 60 meters, for a share of the ninth-fastest time run in NCAA Championships heptathlon history with 2013 champion Kevin Lazas of Arkansas. Notable from this event was the withdrawal of Uibo of Georgia and Marcus Nilsson of UCLA, last year’s eighth-place finisher.
Next up was the long jump, in which Abdullah again outdid himself. He soared 25-1¼ (7.65m) for 972 points and a share of the fourth-best jump in NCAA Championships heptathlon history. That was an improvement of nearly 50 centimeters over his previous season’s best of 7.17m.
The speedy/springy Abdullah struggled in the shot put, however, going just 36-¼ (10.98m) for a mere 545 points.
The slip-up in the shot put allowed for another non-Georgia contender to step into the spotlight: Minnesota’s No. 4 Luca Wieland. The sophomore ran a career-best 7.01 (879 points) at 60 meters and got a big long jump PR of 24-11¾ (7.61m) for 962 points – both just behind Abdullah’s leading marks.
Wieland, however, shined in the shot put. Behind another career-best of 47-9¼ (14.56m), he took the three-event lead with 2604 points by 134 points over a different Georgia heptathlete in Devon Williams – older brother of defending NCAA pentathlon/outdoor heptathlon women’s champion Kendell Williams.
Scantling made up some ground with a big day in the shot put, going 50-6 (15.39m) for the event win and the no. 8 NCAA Championships heptathlon shot put score in meet history.
Wieland kept his lead with 3472 points to finish the day with the third-highest clearance in the high jump at 6-9½ (2.07m) – just a centimeter shy of his career-best – but it was Buffalo’s Mike Morgan, as well as Scantling and Abdullah, who owned Friday’s final component.
Competing in the first section of the high jump that started at a lower bar, Morgan worked his way all the way up to 6-11¾ (2.13m) for the third-highest clearance in NCAA Championships meet history. The three-centimeter career-best pushed the MAC representative into second-place, 100 points behind Wieland with 3372.
Morgan wasn’t the only man over 2.13m today, though. Minutes earlier in the other flight, both Scantling and Abdullah cleared 6-11¾ (2.13m) to move into third and fourth in the overall standings. Scantling has 3368 points, while Abdullah is at 3360.
Looking Ahead to Day Two
How’s day two, which starts at 11:45am ET/10:45am CT, shaping up? It could wind up being a two-horse race between collegiate leader Garrett Scantling and Buffalo’s Mike Morgan, and it could end well in excess of 6000 points. Based on the career PRs of the top four men after day one, here’s how the final three events could shake out:
| Athlete | Potential Day Two Score (Using Career PRs) |
Potential Final Score |
| Mike Morgan, Buffalo | 2761 pts | 6133 pts |
| Garrett Scantling, Georgia | 2724 pts | 6092 pts |
| Luca Wieland, Minnesota | 2517 pts | 5989 pts |
| Bilal Abdullah, Kennesaw State | 2504 pts | 5864 pts |