AUSTIN, TEXAS, June 05-08—Sure, there were weather delays and when the sun came out it was hot-hot-hot (and steamy) but so were the athletes at the 98th NCAA Championships. Two long-in-the-tooth Collegiate Records were smashed and close calls rolled past in abundance. On the track Divine Oduduru missed the dash CRs each by just 0.04, Daniel Roberts trailed Grant Holloway’s new 110H mark by half that, 0.02. Texas A&M’s 2:59.05 long relay time struck 0.05 shy of the CR that USC set last year, and in the vault Chris Nilsen soared within 5cm of Mondo Duplantis’s CR set this season, upsetting the wunderkind in the process.
LSU frosh Sha’Carri Richardson, responsible for the stunning women’s 100 CR, also tore down a pair of World Junior Records. Janeek Brown of team titlist Arkansas hurdled 0.01 off the CR. Oklahoma State’s Sinclaire Johnson ran the No. 2 all-time collegiate 1500 in a thoroughly unexpected race to the event crown.
Tight, dramatic contests juiced the cheers and applause from the ample and boisterous crowd in Mike A. Myers. Two falls, one heartbreaking, the other a miraculous save, in the last 150 of the men’s steeple? Hollywood stuff, incredible and real. Weini Kelati’s 10K win watched like a game 7 World Series save over the last lap, crowd in full throat as Carmela Cardama Baez nearly stole it with a fire alarm rush before the New Mexico soph woke up. All of 0.003 separated the lead pair in the men’s 1500. There was scantly more daylight between finishers in the men’s 400, 0.02 the lap title settled at the line.
On the field? Juvaughn Harrison’s high jump/long jump double. That doesn’t happen but did this time. An unexpected Razorback won the women’s vault. Not the twin you expected even if you did expect that, and she needed an outdoor PR to tie it down. Another twin won the triple jump, though on the formchart her sister looked a more likely champion—in the discus.
This NCAA will live long in the memory banks. As a capsule of the greatness that was, check out our chart of winners, with the extra signifance of so many of the marks:
| MEN | WOMEN | ||
| Teams | Texas Tech | Arkansas | Teams |
| 100 | Divine Oduduru (Texas Tech) 9.86 =WL; CL | Sha’Carri Richardson (LSU) 10.75 CR, WJR | 100 |
| 200 | Oduduru 19.73 CL | Angie Annelus (USC) 22.16 AL, CL | 200 |
| 400 | Kahmari Montgomery (Houston) 44.23 | Wadeline Jonathas (South Carolina) 50.60 AL, CL | 400 |
| 800 | Bryce Hoppel (Kansas) 1:44.41 CL | Jazmine Fray (Texas A&M) 2:01.31 CL | 800 |
| 1500 | Yared Nuguse (Notre Dame) 3:41.39 | Sinclaire Johnson (Oklahoma State) 4:05.98 CL | 1500 |
| Steeple | Steven Fahy (Stanford) 8:38.46 | Allie Ostrander (Boise State) 9:37.73 CL | Steeple |
| 5000 | Morgan McDonald (Wisconsin) 14:06.01 | Dannie Jones (Colorado) 15:50.65 | 5000 |
| 10,000 | Clayton Young (BYU) 29:16.60 | Weini Kelati (New Mexico) 33:10.84 | 10,000 |
| 110 Hurdles | Grant Holloway (Florida) 12.98 CR, WL | Janeek Brown (Arkansas) 12.40 WL, CL | 100 Hurdles |
| 400 Hurdles | Quincy Hall (South Carolina) 48.48 CL | Anna Cockrell (USC) 55.23 CL | 400 Hurdles |
| 4 x 100 | Florida 37.97 CR, WL | USC 42.21 WL, AL, CL | 4 x 100 |
| 4 x 400 | Texas A&M 2:59.05 WL | Texas A&M 3:25.57 CL | 4 x 400 |
| High Jump | JuVaughn Harrison (LSU) 7-5¼ =outdoor CL | Zarriea Willis (Texas Tech) 6-1½ | High Jump |
| Pole Vault | Chris Nilsen (South Dakota) 19-6¼ CL | Tori Hoggard (Arkansas) 14-11½ | Pole Vault |
| Long Jump | Harrison 26-11 CL | Yanis David (Florida) 22-5¼ CL | Long Jump |
| Triple Jump | Chengetayi Mapaya’ (TCU) 56-2½ | Shardia Lawrence (Kansas State) 45-10¾ | Triple Jump |
| Shot | Tripp Piperi (Texas) 69-3¼ | Samantha Noennig (Arizona State) 59-6¼ | Shot |
| Discus | Duke Kicinski (Texas Tech) 205-2 | Laulauga Tausaga (Iowa) 207-6 | Discus |
| Hammer | Daniel Haugh (Kennesaw State) 244-10 | Camryn Rogers (Cal) 234-7 | Hammer |
| Javelin | Anderson Peters (Mississippi State) 284-2 CL | Mackenzie Little (Stanford) 195-0 | Javelin |
| Decathlon | Johannes Erm (Georgia) 8352 CL | Ashtin Zamzow (Texas) 6222 CL | Heptathlon |
Men competed on June 05-06-07, women on June 06-07-08. Attendance—7742/8156/11,037/10,163: 37,098. Weather—Wednesday—high 91, intermittent light rain, significant weather delay; Thursday—high 94, intermittent heavy rain, windy, weather delay; Friday—high 95; Saturday—high 98 ◻︎
| NCAA News Story Links | |||||||||||||
| NCAA Men: | Teams | 100m | 200m | 400m | 800m | 1500m | Steeple | 5000m | 10,000m | 110H | 400H | 4×100 | 4×400 |
| HJ | PV | LJ | TJ | SP | DT | HT | JT | Dec | |||||
| NCAA Women: | Teams | 100m | 200m | 400m | 800m | 1500m | Steeple | 5000m | 10,000m | 100H | 400H | 4×100 | 4×400 |
| HJ | PV | LJ | TJ | SP | DT | HT | JT | Hept | |||||
