Meet Recap: 2024 NCAA DI Indoor T&F Championships

Champions were crowned at the 2024 NCAA DI Indoor Track & Field Championships!

The meet was held at the TRACK at New Balance in Boston and the stunning performances included a new Collegiate Record in the women’s 5000 meters along with an =CR in the women’s high jump.

See below for some of the great highlights.

From The USTFCCCA InfoZone: Meets & Results | USTFCCCA Scoreboard
Related: National Championships Central

Men’s Recap

Texas Tech earned its first-ever team title in this meet. Their previous best finish here was fifth – three times (last year, 2015 and 2013). The Red Raiders scored 47 of their 50.5 points in the sprints and hurdles in turning back defending champ and top-rated Arkansas (41).

Two double winners were dominant in doing so – Nico Young in the 5k/3k and Terrence Jones in the 60/200.

The 5000 had an all-star lineup, and Northern Arizona’s Young – CR holder in this event – turned them all away with a scintillating last 400 of 54.39 to win in 13:25.29 – more than two seconds over his nearest pursuer. He followed up with the 3k title on Saturday in a meet-record 7:41.01 in becoming the first men’s distance doubler since the Lumberjacks’ Abdihamid Nur in 2022.

Team champion Texas Tech got 20 big points from Jones, first with a 6.54 title in the 60 – an event in which he is co-CR holder – that led a 1-3-6 finish by the Red Raiders before taking the 200 some 40 minutes later in 20.23.

In the heptathlon, Leo Neugebauer of Texas won with a 100+-point PR, scoring 6347 points in moving to No. 4 on the all-time collegiate list. Michigan State’s Heath Baldwin PRed by over 200 points for second with 6238 in becoming No. 6 all-time. The heptathlon also saw Houston’s Grant Levesque set an all-time collegiate best in a heptathlon pole vault, clearing 5.46m (17-11).

Wayne Pinnock made his repeat victory in the long jump look easy – any one of his four measured jumps would have won, and his world-leading best of 8.40m (27-6¾) made him No. =5 in collegiate indoor history.

Georgia’s Christopher Morales Williams – who set an all-time world best in the 400 two weeks ago at 44.49 – won here in “only” 44.67, which is the No. 5 performance ever by a collegian indoors.

Women’s Recap

Arkansas won for the third time in four years, scoring 55 points to hold off 2022 champ Florida (50) as high-ranking all-time performances seemed to come from everywhere. The Razorbacks got 24 of their points with the meet’s first 1-2-3 sweep in the women’s 400.

How could anyone beat Parker Valby’s Collegiate Record of 14:56.11 in the 5000 from back in December?

Valby could, and the Florida star did so emphatically with a time of 14:52.79 as she won by over 22 seconds. That was on Friday – she came back Saturday to win the 3k in a meet-record 8:41.50 in moving to No. 3 collegian all-time.

Rachel Glenn of Arkansas joined the CR club in winning the high jump at 2.00m (6-6¾), defeating Texas A&M’s Lamara Distin (1.97m/6-5½). Two weeks ago at the SEC Indoor Championships, Distin set the CR at 2.00m in a victory over Glenn, who jumped a then-PR 1.94m (6-4¼).

Brianna Lyston of LSU won the 60 meters in 7.03 to become the second-fastest collegian behind only the 6.94 set by last year’s The Bowerman winner Julien Alfred.

Harvard’s Maia Ramsden won the mile in a meet-record 4:25.13 – not a PR but the No. 3 performance in collegiate indoor history (she’s No. 2 with a 4:24.83 from earlier in the year).

Juliette Whittaker of Stanford overtook LSU’s Michaela Rose in the homestretch of the 800 as two collegiate women ran sub-2 for the first time in an indoor race. Whittaker’s MR 1:59.53 is No. 3 all-time among collegians indoors, while Rose’s 1:59.81 now gives her three of the five fastest on the all-time collegiate indoor list.

Jasmine Jones of Southern California broke her tie for No. 3 all-time on the 60-meter hurdles list, clocking 7.77 for sole possession in that position. She beat Florida’s Grace Stark, whose 7.81 is her fastest since a then-CR-tying 7.78 in 2022.

South Carolina’s JaMeesia Ford took the 200 in 22.34, improving her position at No. 4 all-time and fastest-ever freshman in the event.

Also moving to No. 4 all-time was Ruta Lasmane of Texas Tech in the triple jump at 14.47m (47-5¾). Any of her three fair jumps would have won.

The pole vault saw the meet’s first-ever women’s freshman winner, and it wasn’t close. Washington’s Hana Moll cleared two bars higher than anyone else – best of 4.60m (15-1) – and even attempted a new CR 4.73m (15-6¼).

A fantastic pair of performances finished off an exciting long jump. Florida’s Claire Bryant moved from fourth to first with her last-round 6.71m (22-0¼) only to see Sydney Willits of Iowa State follow with the meet’s final effort – a PR 6.74m (22-1½) to claim the title.