Meet Recap: 2023 NCAA DII Outdoor T&F Championships

Champions were crowned at the 2023 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Pueblo, Colo.

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Bring home the team titles, Pittsburg State’s men, who won their first title last year, defended the crown, while Azusa Pacific’s women won its second outdoor crown in three years.

Men’s Recap

The Pittsburg State men took a convincing victory at the 2023 NCAA DII Outdoor Track and Field Championships, marking their third straight national title between the indoor and outdoor seasons. Their dominance continued even as the meet was faced with weather delays and intense wind, on top of the competition’s location at altitude at CSU Pueblo.

The headliner for the Gorillas, as he has been all season, is sophomore sensation Cordell Tinch who became the first to win three individual titles at a single NCAA DII outdoor championships. With tailwinds of 6.0 meters per second, Tinch cruised to victory in the 110 meter hurdles in a dominant 12.87 on Saturday, good for No. 4 world all-time, all-conditions. Just after that performance, Tinch headed back over to the high jump, clearing 2.21m (7-3) on his final attempt to win the event. His third event title of the meet came on Thursday in long jump, where he jumped a meet record 8.16m (26-9¼) on his fifth attempt to move from third place into first. All told, Tinch’s three event wins accounted for 30 of the Gorillas’ 62 total points.

Other point scorers include Xavier Carmichael, third place finisher in the 100 meters (10.04w), who was joined by Tevin Wright-Rose, Dre’shaun Sanders, and Makai Blades in a 4×100 relay team that finished fifth in the nation (39.49). In addition to Tinch, the Gorillas featured a third place finish in long jump from junior Henry Kiner (7.97m/26-1 3/4), and fourth and seventh place finishes in the 110 meter hurdles by TJ Caldwell (13.51w) and Daylin Williams (14.56w). Caleb Calvin’s sixth place finish in javelin (67.51m/221-6) and Hunter Jones’ third place finish in the decathlon (7394) round out the point scorers for Pittsburg State.

Standout performances also took place for a number of individuals throughout the meet. Angelo State sophomore Devoux Deysel set a new DII record in the javelin, on his way to convincingly winning a national title, throwing the javelin a monster 79.14m (259-8), before ending with all six of his throws above 75 meters. West Texas A&M’s 4×100 meter relay team, featuring Joseph Mau, Jerry Japka, Jalen Purcell, and Isaac Botsio, recorded its own all-time performance, setting another DII record with a blazing fast 38.70. Wes Ferguson of Nebraska-Kearney contributed the final meet record in the 800 meters, facing off against both wind and altitude to champion the meet in a 1:45.46 effort.

The rest of the top-5 teams included West Texas A&M in second with 47 points, Adams State in third with 44 points, Grand Valley State in fourth with 34.5 points, and Missouri Southern and Lincoln (Mo.) tied for fifth with 34 points.

Women’s Recap

The women of Azusa Pacific have retaken the team title at the 2023 NCAA DII Outdoor Track and Field Championships, two years after narrowly taking the 2021 title over Grand Valley State. As the 4×400 relay concluded, the Cougars stood alone atop the podium after racking up 66 points.

The Cougars had a pair of national champions to lead them to their team title. Molly Olson launched her javelin 50.54m (165-10) on her way to an individual title. Olson ended up well over 2 meters clear of second place, and was the only competitor to throw over 50 meters. The second national champion for the Cougars came later on Saturday. Star hurdler Jaylah Walker took home a national title in the 400 meter hurdles, winning in a time of 57.61, a tenth of a second clear of the next closest finisher. She added her national title to an All-American finish earlier in the day in the 100 meter hurdles, where she finished fourth in a time of 13.32w. Walker was also joined by Trinity Miller, Kiayra Holmes, and Alayna Verner in a fifth-place finish for the Cougars’ 4×100 relay team (44.72), while Holmes, Verner, and Walker were joined by Esther Conde-Turpin in the 4×400 relay, taking second in a 3:34.48 effort.

Other individual point scorers for the Cougars included Conde-Turpin, third place finisher in the 100 meter hurdles (13.14w). Notably, Conde-Turpin, DII No. 2 all-time in the heptathlon opted out of the multi event for the championships, instead competing in a slate of four individual events, totaling six points. Alayna Verner narrowly missed a national title of her own, placing second in the 400 meters (52.78), finishing just four hundredths of a second out of first place. Eliana Saunders placed fourth in high jump, with a mark of 1.71m (5-7 1/4), while Alysa Henry placed sixth in javelin (46.55m/152-8) and third in heptathlon (5551), rounding out the scorers for the Cougars.

The incredible marks seen this week were not limited to the Cougars. Pittsburg State’s Auna Childress, who tied the DII triple jump record with a 13.31m (43-8) earlier this season, bettered her record, jumping a wind-legal 13.37m (43-10½), giving her sole control over that DII record. Taylor Nelloms of West Texas A&M also climbed the DII triple jump rankings, moving from fifth to third all-time with her 13.30m (43-7¾) effort that put her in second at the meet. Lindsay Cunningham of Winona State contributed a massive double for her team, winning both the 5000 meters (16:23.08) and the 10000 meters (33:55.79) at altitude, and helping the Wazoos finish strong. 

The rest of the top-5 teams featured Minnesota State in second with 57 points, West Texas A&M in third with 49 points, Winona State in fourth with 38 points, and Grand Valley State in fifth with 35 points.