Record Book Update: Big Changes After Conference Championships Weekend

NEW ORLEANS – Lindon Victor of Texas A&M had himself a weekend at the SEC Championships.

He posted career-best marks in nine of the 10 components of the decathlon (with an additional season’s best) en route to scoring a whopping 8446 points. That total is the fourth-best in collegiate history, making him the fourth man in collegiate history to surpass the 8,400-point barrier, and is just 19 points shy of Trey Hardee’s collegiate record from a decade ago.

The score is a nearly 1,000-point improvement over his previous career-best of 7,453 from last summer’s Pan-Am Games in Toronto.

Perhaps even more impressively, he managed to outclass two-time defending national champion Maicel Uibo of Georgia – who, himself, posted a score of 8,315 for the No. 8 point total in college history. For Uibo, it was his third career score of 8,300 points or more in collegiate competition, surpassing Ashton Eaton of Oregon for the most all-time.

Not too bar behind was third-place finisher Devon Williams of Georgia, who posted a total of 8,116 for the No. 25 spot on the all-time college performers list.

Victor’s performance wasn’t the only historic performance of the weekend. Nope, not by a long shot. We cover the rest of the movers and shakers in this week’s edition of the record book update below.

Women’s Triple Jump

Windy or not, what Keturah Orji did in this weekend’s SEC Championships triple jump competition was truly special. On her fifth attempt, the reigning indoor and outdoor national champion uncorked an enormous — albeit wind-illegal — leap of 14.60m (47-10¾) with a tailwind of 2.9m/s.

How big was that mark? So big that it is only equaled in all-conditions collegiate history by Erica McClain’s mark of the exact same distance at the 2008 NCAA Championships. The then-Stanford senior had slightly more tailwind behind her, however, at 3.4m/s.

Orji is making a habit of surpassing 14 meters these days. She kicked off the competition this weekend with a wind-legal 14.02m (46-0) leap and posted a huge 14.19m (46-6¾) on her third attempt. Reportedly, she was on track for an even bigger leap on attempt No. 6, but she fouled.

The latter jump is significant for several reasons. First, it’s the fifth-longest wind-legal jump in collegiate history and it solidifies her spot at No. 4 on the all-time college performers list. And second, she surpassed the Olympics entry standard of 14.15m in the triple jump — and is the only American to have done so this year. If that holds, she is a likely Olympian for Team USA.

Speaking of the world stage, she’s currently ranked No. 8 worldwide on the wind-legal list and No. 5 on the all-conditions list.

Men’s 200 Meters

Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake became the ninth man in collegiate history to dip below the 20-second threshold with the 13th individual sub-20 performance in collegiate history.

At the ACC Championships, Tevin hester checked in at No. 22 on the all-time college performers list at 20.13, making him the 25th man in college history to run faster than 20.15.

Women’s 200 Meters

Running 22.26 over 200 meters is an impressive feat in its own right for Tennessee’s Felicia Brown. After all, only nine women have run faster a combined 12 times in collegiate history than did Brown on Saturday. But to do it into a 1.3m/s headwind? That’s especially impressive, and it foreshadows perhaps even faster runs in Eugene next month.

Further teasing that possibility was the windy 22.19 she ran in the prelims, aided by a slightly illegal 2.6m/s tailwind. On the all-conditions collegiate list, hers is tied for the ninth-fastest time in college history.

Women’s Throws

Kelsey Card of Wisconsin continued her historic outdoor season at the Big Ten Championships, making history several different ways.

On Friday she finished third in the hammer throw with a career-best mark of 61.67m (202-4), on Saturday she tossed 18.22m (59-9½) to win the shot put, and she capped the weekend Sunday with a career-best 62.22m (204-2) to win the discus.

That combination of results makes her the only woman in collegiate history over the course of a career to have thrown 18.50m in the shot, and 60 meters in both the discus and hammer throw. And she has done it over the course of the past two weeks.

Specifically referring to her discus mark, it moved Card to No. 10 on the all-time collegiate performers list.

Meanwhile in the javelin, conference championships weekend added two more top-15 all-time performers to the collegiate list. Avione Allgood of Oklahoma threw 58.81m (192-11) to win the Big 12, moving to No. 11 on the performers list with the 18th-best collegiate throw ever.

At the SEC Championships (where Maggie Malone of Texas A&M added the 12th-best collegiate throw ever at 59.90m / 195-2), Marjia Vucenovic of Florida moved to No. 15 on the all-time performers list with a heave of 57.81m (189-9).

Men’s 4×100 Relay

Mitchell-Blake also played a key role in nearly toppling the collegiate record of 38.23(A) set by TCU way, way back in 1989. The Tigers ran 38.33 for the seventh-fastest time in collegiate history – though it only checked in at No. 3 on the LSU all-time list.

The LSU women had similar success in the one-lap relay, clocking in at 42.77 for the 17th-fastest time in college history – though it’s only No. 7 on the all-time LSU list. Meanwhile at the ACC Championships, Miami (Fla.) ran 43.63 to become the 22nd-fastest school on the all-time list.

Men’s 4×400 Relay

LSU nearly made history in the longer sprint relay, as well. The Bayou Bengals (this time without Mitchell-Blake) ran 3:00.48 for the 15th-fastest time in collegiate history – but again the third-fastest time in school history. The Tigers were less than half a second away from becoming just the seventh team to crack the three-minute barrier.

Men’s High Jump

A new frontrunner has emerged in the men’s high jump, and he’s already entered his name into the record books. Avion Jones of East Carolina became the 29th man in college history to clear 2.31m (7-7) or higher during the NCAA season, winning the American Athletic Conference title along the way. He’s currently in an eight-way tie at No. 22 on the all-time college performers list – with, among others, three-time reigning NCAA DII champ Jeron Robinson of Texas A&M-Kingsville, from whom he wrested the 2016 collegiate lead.

Men’s Long Jump

Stefan Brits of Florida State needed only one jump at this weekend’s ACC Championships to make history. On his very first attempt, the senior leaped 8.22m (26-11¾) to move into a share of the No. 22 spot on the all-time college performers list.

Men’s Hammer Throw

It has been a long time since we’ve seen Nick Miller throwing the hammer in the Oklahoma State orange and black – since the 2014 NCAA Championships, to be precise. But his return did not disappoint, as he moved to No. 13 on the all-time college performers list at 74.81m (245-5) with a win at the Big 12 Championships. He’s still ranked No. 2 among collegians this year behind Rudy Winkler of Cornell, and just ahead of former NCAADIII champ Sean Donnelly, now competing at Minnesota.

Women’s 100 Hurdles

Watch out Cindy Ofili, an outdoor NCAA title might be as hard to come by as was your indoor crown this year. That’s because Kentucky frosh Jasmine Camacho-Quinn won the SEC title Sunday with a blistering 12.69 to move her to No. 12 on the all-time college performers list. She checks in behind only Priscilla Lopes of Nebraska in 2004 among freshmen on the list.

Women’s Pole Vault

Morgann Leleux of UL-Lafayette continues to inch closer to becoming the ninth woman in collegiate history to crack the 15-foot barrier, and the fourth to do it this season. She cleared 4.52m (14-10) to win the Sun Belt title this weekend, moving to No. 9 on the all-time performers list.