Weekend Recap: All-Time Marks Aplenty Across The Nation

EDITOR’S NOTE: We’ll continue to update this post throughout the weekend.

The collegiate outdoor track & field season is off to a blistering start.

Collegiate track & field athletes have hit the ground running, jumping and throwing during the first few weeks of the new campaign.

From The USTFCCCA InfoZone: Meets & Results | Records & Lists

Business is picking up with a number of relay carnivals around the nation.

Here are some moments that stood out the most to us from this weekend.

Hook ‘Em Horns: Three Texas CRs

The Texas women’s sprinters smashed three collegiate records – the sprint medley, 4×200 and 4×100 – in a tremendous display of speed at the Texas Relays.

Julien Alfred and Rhasidat Adeleke ran legs on all three of the record-setting efforts, and Kevona Davis was on two.

Alfred – indoor CR setter in the 60 and 200 at the NCAA Championships – led off all three foursomes. She clocked a 22.4 split in the opening 200 of Friday afternoon’s sprint medley, handing off to Adeleke, who responded with a 21.7 leg. Kennedy Simon sizzled a 49.9 400-meter split and Valery Tobias closed with a 2:01.6 800-meter anchor as the Longhorns stopped the clock at 3:36.10, winning by 5.41 seconds. That 3:36.10 obliterated the previous CR by over two seconds – Texas A&M’s hard-fought 3:38.93 by two hundredths over Texas in this meet last year.

Just after noon on Saturday Alfred blasted out of the blocks again in the 4×200, handing off to Adeleke. Lanae-Tava Thomas carried the baton on the third leg with Davis anchoring the Longhorns home to 1:28.05 to win by 3.72 seconds. The time smashed the 1:28.78 CR set by Oregon in 2017.

Some 90 minutes later, record speed was on display again in the 4×100. Alfred got UT out to a strong lead, handing off to Ezinne Abba. Adeleke handled the third leg while Davis anchored again, finishing a 42.00 effort that bettered the 42.05 CR of LSU in 2018.

Thomas, Simon, Alfred and Adeleke closed out track action with a fourth win – 3:23.27 to win the Sanya Richards-Ross 4×400. For Alfred and Adeleke, it was also a fourth title on their home track. Adeleke’s anchor split was 49.47.

Russell Has A Classic: CR 12.36

No one was in Masai Russell’s class at the Texas Relays in the 100-meter hurdles. She won by 0.21 seconds as she lowered her PR by a massive 0.35 seconds.

Her winning time of 12.36 was also special – setting a collegiate record that took down the 12.39 set by Brianna Rollins of Clemson from 2013.

This was Russell’s first 100H after a winter where she also set a CR – 7.75 in the 60 hurdles. That mark was later bettered but remains the fastest by a collegian at low altitude.

Georgia Rattles All-Time Relay Lists

The Georgia men had relay teams near-CR levels in winning the men’s 4×200 and 4×400 at the Texas Relays.

The Bulldogs set meet records in both – first in the 4×200 at 1:20.22 to become the No. 3 collegiate program all-time, then closing out to win the Cleburne Price Jr. 4×400 in 2:58.82.

That 4×4 time is second only in collegiate history to Florida’s CR of 2:58.53. Matthew Boling and Elija Godwin ran on both UGA foursomes.

Neugebauer Moves to No. 5 in Decathlon

Leo Neugebauer of Texas won his second-straight Texas Relays decathlon, PRing by over 100 points to score 8478 points that rates him as No. 5 on the all-time collegiate list.

Neugebauer, the NCAA runner-up last year, won by 659 points and registered PRs in the 100 meters, shot put, 110 hurdles and pole vault. His shot mark of 16.66m (54-8) was just off the best-ever by a collegian in the decathlon, that of George Mason’s Rob Muzzio, who put 16.67m (54-8¼) in 1984.

Neugebauer’s total portends to a dynamic year in the 10-eventer, with CR holder Kyle Garland of Georgia (8720) and reigning NCAA champion Ayden Owens-Delerme of Arkansas (8528) among the few ahead of him all-time collegiately.

El Bouchayby Just Misses NCAA DII Record

Oussama El Bouchayby didn’t wait long to leave his mark outdoors.

El Bouchayby, who set the NCAA DII indoor 800-meter record in a winning effort at the NCAA Championships earlier this month, came within 0.07 seconds of tying the 28-year-old outdoor standard on Thursday at the Texas Relays. The Angelo State freshman turned two laps of the track inside Mike A. Myers Stadium in 1:45.31 to win the Men’s 800m Invitational and set a meet record.

Savieri Nghidi of Abilene Christian established the current NCAA DII record of 1:45.24 back on April 1, 1995.

Indoors? Outdoors? Doesn’t Matter For Tinch

Cordell Tinch picked up where he left off indoors.

Tinch, who won the 60-meter hurdles title at the NCAA DII Indoor Championships earlier this month and rewrote the division’s record book throughout the indoor campaign, ripped a wind-aided 13.33 (+3.9) at the Texas Relays on Friday afternoon. That is the second-fastest all-conditions mark in NCAA DII history behind a hand-timed 13.0 (+2.2) by Rodney Milburn in 1971.

If you’re only counting electronically-time performances, Tinch is now the fastest man in NCAA DII history. Tinch went under the previous all-time best of 13.35 set by Jahmaal Wilson of West Texas A&M last year, which is also the wind-legal NCAA DII record.

NCAA DIII Distance Records Tumble

It didn’t take long for the best in NCAA DIII to leave their mark.

Kassie Parker and Alex Phillip, who both won individual titles at the NCAA DIII Cross Country Championships earlier this year and own several divisional records between them, added or improved upon their tally at the Stanford Invitational on Friday.

Parker smashed her own NCAA DIII record in the 10,000 meters and became the first woman in divisional history to clock a sub-33 minute mark in the event. She stopped the clock at 32:36.22, which improved her previous all-time best of 33:03.61 by more than 25 seconds. Before last year, no athlete in NCAA DIII history came closer than 23 seconds to the previous NCAA DIII best of 33:21.80. Now Parker has gone under that standard twice.

Phillip, who set several records indoors, covered 5000 meters in 13:47.41, shaving nearly four seconds off the previous standard of 13:51.40 set by Dhruvil Patel of North Central (Ill.) four years ago. The John Carroll star had been No. 8 in NCAA DIII history going into the race, but everybody could see he’d soon be at the top based off what he did indoors.

South Plains Rides Again: NJCAA Record

South Plains (Texas) made history last year in becoming the first junior college to win the 4×800 at the Texas Relays.

This year the vaunted men’s Texans squad moved to another level, winning by 5.96 seconds and crushing the NJCAA record in the process with a meet-record time of 7:15.66.

Aron Tanui opened up with a 1:49.72 split and was followed by Trayquan Francis (1:52.07) and Chevonne Hall (1:48.32) before Kimar Farquharson blew the doors off with a 1:45.57 anchor. Farquharson and Tanui returned from last year’s foursome.

The Texans’ 7:15.66 rates No. 15 all-time among all college programs. The previous NJCAA best was 7:19.94 by Blinn (Texas) in 1992.

Strong Marks For Ourega

Marie-Jeanne Ourega’s last outdoor season ended with a national title in the long jump, two additional podium finishes in the triple jump and 100 hurdles, and an All-American finish in the 4×100 relay.

Early in this outdoor season, the Academy of Art sophomore seems well on her way to improve on her efforts last year.

At the Stanford Invitational this weekend, Ourega jumped into the national lead in the long jump with a 6.30m (20-8) effort and launched the second best triple jump effort in the nation with a 12.81m (42-0½) mark. She added even more on the track, running 13.91 in the 100-meter hurdles preliminary round.