Blistering Boston: Bosley, Phillip Run To All-Time Bests

It took someone 18 years to break Alistair Cragg’s legendary collegiate indoor record of 7:38.59 in the Men’s 3000 Meters.

Yared Nuguse finally relegated Cragg’s mark to second-best last year when he dipped under it by 0.46 seconds at 7:38.13. Before Nuguse, the closest any other athlete came was Edward Cheserek at 7:40.51 in 2016.

You’d think Nuguse’s record would last just as long as Cragg’s. Not so fast.

Drew Bosley turned 15 laps of the 200-meter track in the Boston University Track & Tennis Center in 7:36.42, taking nearly two full seconds off Nuguse’s one-year-old marker. Bosley and Nuguse were in the same race on Friday night: Nuguse set an outright American record of 7:28.24 (faster than both the indoor and outdoor best); Bosley took fifth in a loaded field.

Not too far behind Bosley was Tennessee’s Yaseen Abdalla in 7:42.23 to become the sixth-fastest collegian over the distance indoors.

Phillip Leaves His All-Time Mark

Alex Phillip wouldn’t be denied on Friday afternoon.

Phillip, a five-time NCAA Division III champion for John Carroll, set the divisional record in the Men’s 3000 Meters when he traversed 15 laps in 7:53.24. That was a little more than one second faster than Aidan Ryan ran on the same track last year for the previous best of 7:54.48.

Next up for Phillip? Possibly Dan Mayer’s 5000-meter record of 13:53.17. Phillip went 13:58.42 on an oversized track two years ago for the second-fastest all-conditions effort in NCAA DIII history behind Ian LaMere’s 13:54.88.

We’d be remiss not to mention MIT’s Sam Aquaviva and RPI’s Matthew Leckly, who ran in the third and fourth sections, respectively, and became the third-fastest and fifth-fastest men in NCAA DIII history at 8:00.41 and 8:07.26, respectively.

Webster-Freeman Debuts At No. 2

Juanita Webster-Freeman made her first pentathlon for Indiana Tech one to remember.

Competing in the Illini Challenge, Webster-Freeman racked up a score that is No. 2 in NAIA history. Her total of 3936 trails only the NAIA best of 4194 set by Akela Jones of Oklahoma Baptist in 2014.

Webster-Freeman is all over the NAIA list in individual events this year – =No. 3 in the high jump at 1.67m (5-5 3/4) and No. 8 in the 60-meter hurdles (8.72). She also has top-20 marks in the long jump and shot put, plus runs on the Warriors’ No. 5-rated 4×400.

Near-Misses At NJCAA Records

Hossam Hatib came “this” close to an NJCAA record in the 600 meters.

His South Plains teammates also came close to a record in the 4×400 relay.

Hatib won the 600 meters at the Texas Tech Open in 1:16.23, just 0.01 seconds off the 1:16.22 NJCAA best set in 2015 by Jaymes Dennison of ASA (N.Y.).

The Texans also scared their own NJCAA indoor record in the 4×400, clocking 3:05.91 for second in the same meet. SPC owns the NJCAA all-time best of 3:05.16 from 2012.

Hatib had company from his Texan teammates in joining the all-time list in the 600. Mehmet Celik – recent NJCAA record-setter in the 800 – clocked 1:16.88 to move to No. 4 all-time, while Chevonne Hall’s 1:17.59 rates No. 8 all-time.

Underscoring SPC’s depth in the middle distances, Kimar Farquharson – reigning NJCAA Indoor 800 champion – moved to No. 3 all-time NJCAA in the 800 at 1:48.90, finishing second by just 0.06 seconds to Will Sumner of Georgia. Farquharson was the anchor on the Texans’ 4×400 as well.