Auburn off to great start
Tigers had leading qualifier in four events in NCAA championships on Wednesday
Based on the semifinal results from the NCAA Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon, on Wednesday, members of the Auburn University men’s squad could win four titles in the meet. But it remains to be seen if the 40 points amassed from that potential scenario will be enough to propel the Tigers to their first-ever team title.
That’s because USC, Texas A&M, and Arkansas are capable of scoring points in a greater number of events than Auburn during the remainder of the men’s meet that will include the second day of the decathlon today and the remaining 14 finals on Friday.
Minnesota, paced by a 1-2 finish in the hammer throw, had a first-place total of 23 points after the opening day of the men’s competition at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field on Wednesday, with New Mexico and Florida tied for second with 18.
Auburn athletes produced the top performances in the semifinal rounds of the 100 and 200 meters, the 110 high hurdles, and the 4 x 100 relay.
In the 100, sophomore Kanyinsola Ajayi set a personal best of 9.92 seconds while running a tenth of a second faster than anyone else who advanced to the nine-competitor final.
In the 200, senior Makanakaishe Charamba’s 19.94 clocking was .07 seconds faster than the 20.01 times produced by USC junior Garrett Kaaland and Arkansas sophomore Jordan Anthony, the next two fastest qualifiers.
In the high hurdles, sophomore Ja’Kobe Tharp’s 13.15-second clocking in the second of three semifinals was .11 seconds quicker than the second-fastest overall qualifying mark of 13.26 produced by junior Kendrick Smallwood of Texas in the third semifinal.
And in the 4 x 100 relay, an Auburn squad that included Ajayi and Charamba set a school record of 37.97 while running .15 seconds faster than No. 2 qualifier South Florida and moving into a tie for third on the all-time collegiate list.
While producing the top marks in a semifinal of an event does not guarantee a win in the final, Auburn’s top performers are experienced national championship competitors as the Tigers are the defending champion in the 400 relay and Tharp was the runner-up in the high hurdles in last year’s meet. In addition, Ajayi placed third in the 100 and Charamba finished fifth in the 200.
Texas A&M was awarded 10 points on Wednesday when junior Aleksandr Solovev won the pole vault by clearing a personal best of 5.78 meters (18 feet 11½ inches).
Solovev was in first place after he cleared 5.33 (17-5¾) and 5.53 (18-1¾) on his first attempts. But he fell into a tie for second when he needed three tries to get over 5.63 (18-5½).
Junior Ashton Barkdull of Kansas had the lead after clearing 5.63 (18-5½) on his first attempt and he remained in that position following an initial make at 5.68 (18-7½) and a second-attempt clearance at 5.73 (18-9½). But Solovev overtook him when he made 5.78 (18-11½) on his first attempt at that height after he had missed one jump at both 5.68 (18-7½) and 5.73 (18-9½) before passing to the next bar because Barkdull had already cleared those heights.
Solovev’s first-attempt clearance at 5.78 (18-11½) prompted Barkdull, who had missed his first attempt, to pass his final two attempts at that height and he finished second when he missed his two remaining attempts at 5.83 (19-1½).
Solovev missed his first attempt at 5.83 (19-1½), but after Barkdull missed his second try at that height, he had the bar raised to 5.85 (19-2¼) before he missed his two remaining attempts.
Texas A&M could score points in the 400, 800, 3,000-meter steeplechase, 400 intermediate hurdles, and the 4 x 400 relay on the final day of the men’s meet on Friday.
The Aggies won their semifinal of the 1,600 relay in 3:03.09 on Wednesday and senior Sam Whitmarsh also looks capable of contending for a title in the 800 after he finished second in the second of three semifinals with a 1:47.29 clocking that gave him one of two automatic berths into the final from that race.
Although Whitmarsh’s time was the slowest of the nine runners who advanced to the final, he could be more full of run than some of his fellow competitors on Friday, as four of them ran under 1:46 in the first semifinal.
USC, which won its first NCAA indoor title since 1972 in March, will have finalists in nine events on Friday. But the Trojans suffered a couple of blows on Wednesday when senior Johnny Brackins did not advance to the final of the high hurdles and junior teammate JC Stevenson, the defending champion in the long jump, finished 11th with a best of 7.75 (25-5¼).
The bulk of the Trojans’ points are expected to come in the 100, 200, and 400, as well as in the 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 relays. However, they could also score points in the intermediate hurdles, high jump, triple jump, and discus.
The Trojans won their semifinal of the 4 x 400 relay in 3:02.76 and they also had two qualifiers in both the 100 and 200, with Kaaland winning the first semifinal of the 200 in 20.01 and fellow junior Max Thomas finishing third in the third semifinal in 20.02.
Arkansas’ title chances are expected to be greatly influenced by the performances of Anthony.
The sophomore who won the NCAA indoor title in the 60-meter dash in March will anchor the Razorbacks’ 4 x 100 relay team and also compete in the 100 and 200.
He ran personal bests of 9.95 in the 100 and 19.93 in the 200 in winning Southeastern Conference titles in those events before clocking a wind-aided 9.75 in the 100 in the NCAA West Preliminary Round meet on May 31. But he finished fourth in 10.06 in the third semifinal of the 100 on Wednesday before placing second in 20.01 in the third semifinal of the 200.
The 800 and the 4 x 400 relay are two other events that will be critical to Arkansas’ chances as junior Tyrice Taylor won the first semifinal of the 800 in 1:45.23, the fastest time of the day, and senior Rivaldo Marshall placed second in the third semifinal in 1:47.14.
Arkansas posted the fastest semifinal time in the 4 x 400 relay with a 3:02.53 clocking and it’s possible that the team title could still be up for grabs when the Razorbacks, USC, and Texas A&M all race each other in the final event of the men’s meet.
Peyton Bair of Mississippi State, the runner-up in the decathlon last year, got off to fantastic start in the combined event on Wednesday when he won the 100 meters in 10.25 seconds, the best collegiate performance ever by a decathlete in the that event.
That time was worth a whopping 1,035 points and he followed it with efforts of 7.28 (23-10¾) in the long jump, 14.22 (46-8) in the shot put, 2.01 (6-7) in the high jump, and a sparkling 46.00 in the 400 that earned him 1,008 points.
His first-day total of 4,479 points left him well ahead of senior Brad Thomas of UC Santa Barbara, who was in second place with 4,192.
Thomas was followed by junior Ben Barton of BYU with 4,190 points, junior Colby Eddowes of Arkansas State with 4,112, and senior Marcus Weaver of Arkansas with 4,090.
In addition to the men’s pole vault, finals were also held in the 10,000 meters, long jump, shot put, hammer throw, and javelin on Wednesday.
As mentioned previously, Minnesota athletes placed first and second in the hammer and New Mexico also had the top two finishers in the 10,000.
Senior Kostas Zaltos set a personal best of 78.08 (256-2) in winning the hammer for Minnesota and sophomore teammate Angelos Mantzouranis placed second at 76.96 (252-6). Junior Tarik Robinson-O’Hagan of Mississippi finished third at 76.78 (251-11).
Zaltos’ mark was a personal best and it moved him to fifth on the all-time Greek performer list.
New Mexico was heavily favored to go 1-2 in the 10,000 and the Lobos did so when freshman Ishmael Kipkurui and sophomore Habtom Samuel posted times of 29:07.70 and 29:08.73, respectively. They were followed by sophomore Ernest Cheruiyot of Texas Tech, who placed third in 29:10.37.
Kipkurui and defending champion Samuel had entered the 10,000 with the two fastest times in the world this year at 26:50.21 and 26:51.06, respectively. But they were content to let the pace dawdle so they could conserve as much energy as possible for the 5,000 on Friday.
That led to Notre Dame junior Ethan Coleman leading the field through the first two kilometers in 6:09.26 and Furman senior Dylan Schubert being in front when he passed 4,000 meters in 12:22.14 and 6,000 in 18:09.58.
Freshman Bernard Cheruiyot of Tulane was in the lead when he went through 8,000 meters in 23:48.72 and sophomore Evans Kurui of Washington State was in first place when he began the bell lap at 28:14.16. But no one could keep pace with Kipkurui and Samuel over the last lap as the former clocked a brisk 53.37 seconds for his final 400 and Samuel had a split of 54.08.
The other three winners were seniors Malcolm Clemons of Florida in the long jump, Jason Swarens of Wisconsin in the shot put, and Devoux Deysel of Miami in the javelin.
Clemons won the long jump with a wind-aided leap of 8.04 (26-4½) after finishing third in the event last year. Blair Anderson of Oklahoma State placed second with a wind-aided mark of 8.02 (26-3¾) and fellow senior Henry Kiner of Arkansas finished third at 7.96 (26-1½).
Swarens won the shot put at 21.23 (69-8) after finishing second last year.
He was in third place after the first three rounds of the competition with a best of 20.17 (66-2¼) before he produced his top mark in the fourth round.
Senior Thomas Kitchell of North Carolina placed second at 20.74 (68-1½) and defending champion Robinson-O’Hagan finished third at 20.41 (66-11½).
Deysel placed first in the javelin with a best of 81.75 (268-2) after finishing third last year.
Sophomore Keikel Cabrera Gay of Florida placed second at 79.05 (259-4), followed by senior Callan Saldutto of Missouri at 76.88 (252-3).
As often happens in the NCAA championships, some big-name performers were eliminated in the semifinals of their respective events on Wednesday as senior Abdul-Rasheed Saminu of South Florida, sophomore Will Floyd of Georgia, and senior Liam Murphy of Villanova did not advance to the finals of the 100, 400, and 1,500 respectively.
Saminu finished a non-qualifying fourth in 10.11 seconds in his 100-meter semifinal after running 9.86, the second-fastest time in the collegiate history, in the NCAA East Preliminary Round meet in Jacksonville, Florida, on May 31.
Floyd, the NCAA indoor champion in the 400, placed a non-qualifying fourth in his semifinal in 45.47.
Murphy, who had set a collegiate record of 3:33.02 in the 1,500 in March, finished a non-qualifying sixth in his semifinal when he ran 3:52.44 in a race that was won by senior Jack Crull of Bradley in 3:51.96.
In addition to the notable non-qualifiers listed above, collegiate leader Micahi Danzy of Florida State did not run in the semifinals of the 400 after clocking a personal best of 44.38 in the Atlantic Coast Conference championships last month.
The meet began today at 12:45 p.m., Eastern Daylight Time, with the running of the 110-meter high hurdles in the decathlon.
The first field event will be the women’s hammer throw at 4:30, with track events starting at 7:05 with the semifinals of the women’s 4 x 100 relay.
You can click here for an event schedule and results for the meet.