Historic Doubles In Play At NCAA DI Indoor Championships

History seems to be made every year at the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships and 2019 is shaping up to be no different than years past.

That’s because a number of athletes who are entered in multiple events have chances to complete doubles that have either never been done or only done once in a generation.

USTFCCCA InfoZone: National Championships Central
Full List of Athletes Entered in Multiple Individual Events

Let’s take a closer look at some of those doubles and those athletes who have a chance to accomplish potentially incredible feats this weekend at the Birmingham CrossPlex in Birmingham, Alabama.

Men’s Athletes

Events: 60 & 60 Hurdles
Last: Terrence Trammell, 2000

Florida’s Grant Holloway enters the NCAA Championships as the top-ranked male athlete in both the 60 and the 60 Hurdles. If Holloway wins both, he would be only the second male athlete to complete the double in NCAA DI history (South Carolina’s Terrence Trammell was the first to do so 19 years ago). Fun fact: Holloway swept those events at the SEC Championships, which is the same feat Trammell accomplished the same year he doubled up on national glory.

Events: 60 or 60 Hurdles & Long Jump
Last: Never Been Done

Oh, look: It’s Grant Holloway again. Holloway is the only athlete, male or female, entered in three individual events. No male athlete in NCAA DI history has won any combination of the 60, 60 Hurdles and long jump. And if Holloway wins all three, he would also shatter the single-meet scoring record of 28 points, set by Edward Cheserek two years ago (Cheserek swept the 3000-5000 and finished runner-up in the mile).

Events: Shot Put & Weight Throw
Last: Dan Taylor, 2004

North Dakota State’s Payton Otterdahl enters the NCAA Championships as the top-ranked male athlete in both the shot put and weight throw. Otterdahl isn’t only the national leader in the shot put: He owns the collegiate record after smashing it two weeks ago at the Summit League Championships. With a victory in both the shot put and weight throw, Otterdahl would become just the second man to accomplish the double in NCAA DI history (Ohio State’s Dan Taylor did so in 2004).

Events: High Jump & Horizontal Jump
Last: Never Been Done

LSU’s JuVaughn Harrison and Texas Tech’s Jah-Nhai Perinchief have a chance to do something no male athlete has ever done in NCAA DI history. If Harrison or Perinchief win the high jump and then capture the long jump (Harrison) or triple jump (Perinchief), they would be the only athlete to win an NCAA title in both the high jump and a horizontal jump in NCAA DI history.

Women’s Athletes

Events: 60 & 200
Last: Kerron Stewart, 2004

Five different athletes are entered in both the 60 and 200: Florida State’s Jayla Kirkland, LSU’s Kortnei Johnson, Tennessee’s Maia McCoy, LSU’s Sha’Carri Richardson and Alabama’s Tamara Clark. If any of them win each individual title, they’d be just the third woman to do so in NCAA DI history, joining Muna Lee in 2003 and Kerron Stewart in 2004. It’s a tough double to complete as there are only 40 minutes between each event.

Events: 60H & 200
Last: Never Been Done

No man or woman has doubled as an NCAA champion in the 60 Hurdles and 200. Arkansas’ Payton Chadwick will try to become the first this weekend. Chadwick enters NCAAs ranked fourth in the 60H and seventh in the 200, and won the individual title in the former and runner-up in the latter at the SEC Championships two weeks ago. FYI: Chadwick is the reigning champ in the 60H, so the pedigree is there.

Events: Pentathlon + Jump
Last: Hyleas Fountain, 2004

Only one woman in NCAA DI history has ever won the pentathlon and a variation of an event in the jumps discipline: Georgia’s Hyleas Fountain in 2004. Fountain won both the pentathlon and the long jump that year. Kennesaw State’s Jordan Gray is entered in both the pentathlon and the long jump, while Georgia’s Aliyah Whisby and UC Davis’ Erinn Beattie will try their hand at the pentathlon and the high jump.

Events: Shot Put & Weight Throw
Last: Never Been Done

Ohio State’s Sade Olatoye enters the NCAA Championships ranked first nationally in both the shot put and weight throw. If Olatoye lives up to her billing, she’d be the first woman in NCAA DI history to sweep the throws at the biggest meet of the season. Olatoye won’t be alone, though, as UCLA’s Alyssa Wilson, Wisconsin’s Banke Oginni and Iowa’s Laulauga Tausaga are doubling as well, not to mention all of the other entrants in the events.