LSU’s Echols Set Lofty Long Jump Record

Celebrating A Century of NCAA Track & Field Championships

LSU’s Echols Set Lofty Long Jump Record

June 5, 1987

The most intriguing aspect about Sheila Echols setting the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships meet record in the long jump might not be that her leap of 6.94m (22-9¼) has remarkably endured 33 years since 1987.

Interestingly, Echols’ jumps at the NCAA Championships were her first legal marks of the outdoor season. After winning the NCAA Indoor title in March, Echols’ season took a detour in her first outdoor competition in April, fouling three times and injuring her quad in the process. Fortunately the injury wasn’t season-ending, as she was able to continue sprinting.

Echols’ participation in the 1987 NCAA Championships was crucial to LSU, which aimed for is first outdoor team crown and hosted the meet at a newly-renovated Bernie Moore Track Stadium. Her first effort of 6.58m (21-7¼) ended up being far enough to win – but went much farther in Round 4 with her record – a PR by 24 centimeters (9½”).

The effort was – and still is – third on the all-time collegiate list, as only Jackie Joyner of UCLA (6.99m/22-11¼) and Carol Lewis of Houston (6.97m/22-10½) have gone farther.

Meanwhile, Echols continued earning points for the Lady Tigers, finishing third in the 100 (behind future Olympic gold medalists Gwen Torrence of Georgia and Gail Devers of UCLA) and leading off the second-place 4×100 relay team. Echols ended up with a team-high 18 points as LSU won its first outdoor women’s team title. LSU, of course, would win many more, and their 11-year streak of victories (1987-97) is the longest in meet history, men or women.

A year later, Echols ran the second leg on the U.S. 4×100 relay team that beat East Germany for gold at the Seoul Olympic Games.

posted: August 24, 2020
1921-2021
The NCAA's First Championships

The NCAA and collegiate track & field will mark a momentous milestone in the spring of 2021 -- the 100th anniversary of the NCAA Championships and with that, the NCAA Track & Field Championships. In June 1921, the University of Chicago hosted the first track & field championships in NCAA history.

This point can’t be emphasized enough: Not only was the event the first for NCAA track & field, but the first championships for any sport under the sponsorship of the NCAA.

To celebrate, over each of the next 365 days, the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) will celebrate moments, student-athletes, and coaches that have made a century’s worth of championships special. From humble beginnings to important historical milestones to the modern-day, collegiate track & field has evolved with the American society.

The 2021 edition of the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships begin with preliminary round action on May 27-29 in Jacksonville, Fla., and College Station, Texas. The championships final site and culmination of the celebration is slated for June 9-12, 2021 at the newly rebuilt Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.

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Lindgren Had No Peer In NCAA

Gerry Lindgren of Washington State swept the 3-mile/5K & 6-mile/10K at the NCAA Outdoor Championships three consecutive times between 1966 and 1968.