Collegians Earn 11 Medals At IAAF U20 Championships

NEW ORLEANS — Collegiate underclassmen were front and center for their respective national teams last week at the IAAF U20 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

All told, collegians from the 2015-16 academic year captured six individual medals and five as part of relay teams over the six-day event.

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Two athletes brought individual gold medals back to their respective countries: Florida’s Yanis David (France) and Virginia Tech’s Deakin Volz (United States). David earned hers in the long jump, where she soared 6.42m (21-¾) on her first attempt and beat the closest competitor by two centimeters. Volz surprised everybody when he smashed his lifetime best of 5.46m on his way to a winning bar of 5.65m (18-6½) in the pole vault.

Gold medals were also nabbed by collegians as part of relay events: Tennessee’s Ari Cogdell, Baylor’s Wil London and Missouri’s Kahmari Montgomery in the men’s 4×400, Ohio State’s Karrington Winters in the women’s 4×400 and Baylor’s Taylor Bennett in the women’s 4×100. All of those relay athletes were part of Team USA.

Three athletes earned individual silver medals: Houston’s Amere Lattin (USA), London and Michigan’s Taylor McLaughlin (USA). Lattin capped his fine summer as he worked through three rounds in the 110 hurdles en route to a runner-up finish in the final thanks to a personal best of 13.30. London got his first medal of the championships last Friday when he took second in the open 400 with a time of 45.27. McLaughlin started a trend in the prelims and continued it through the finals as he took second in each heat in which he competed, including the final where he PR’d in 49.45.

One collegian hauled in a bronze medal and that was Houston’s Mario Burke. The Barbados national worked his way through the prelims and semifinals, then registered one of the fastest reaction times in the final and finished third.