IT SOUNDS SIMPLISTIC, but defending 200 champ Divine Oduduru came to Austin just to execute a race plan. And the plan was… do what you are used to. Well, he won last year’s Outdoor and this year’s Indoor. Plus, he had already sped to a world-class 9.86 in winning the 100. But only 45 minutes was scheduled between the century and the half-lapper, and the weather was warm and sweaty.
“The weather is similar to Nigeria, so that wasn’t a problem,” the Texas Tech junior said. “And it’s something we’ve been doing in practice, so we are just here to execute and go through what we’ve been doing.” Simple, right? Well, that’s the appearance he gave. A quick start in lane 5 and by the apex of the curve, he had made up the stagger on Houston’s Mario Burke in 6. “I wanted to drive the first 30 hard and then go hard down the stretch,” said the winner. Check and check.
At the head of the stretch, he was already past those who had been closest to him in the 100, Florida soph Hakim Sani Brown (8) and Oregon senior Cravon Gillespie (9). Oduduru may not be a super-smooth runner, but he is fast. And determined. He burst across the line in 19.73, the No. 2 collegiate time ever, trailing only Walter Dix’s CR 19.69. It also moved him to No. 3 on the yearly world list, which caused him to smile, “Third in world makes me feel good!”
Some other battles were being contested. Pac-12 champ Gillespie edged past Brown with about 30m left to take 2nd and dip under 20 for the first time (19.93 to 20.08).
Gillespie was especially proud of dropping under 20 seconds. “It’s all about confidence at this level,” he said. “There are times in the winter when you might want to quit and give up during workouts, but then you hear this crowd and exceed your expectations—it’s awesome.”
The race was fast top to bottom, with the fastest marks-for-NCAA-place ever in every position. The semis had also been fast, with fastest qualifier Oduduru (19.97) joining Tyson Gay (’05) as the meet’s only sub-20 prelim runners. Devin Quinn of Illinois ran 20.31 to become the equal-fastest non-qualifier in meet history.
NCAA MEN’S 200 RESULTS
FINAL
(June 07; wind +0.8)
1. *Divine Oduduru’ (TxT-Ngr) 19.73 NR (CL) (2, 2 C) (MR) (10.2/9.5);
2. Cravon Gillespie (Or) 19.93 PR (=8, =9 C; =7, =7 AmC) (10.3/9.6)
3. **Hakim Sani Brown’ (Fl) 20.08 PR (10.3/9.8);
4. Mario Burke’ (Hous) 20.11 (10.4/9.7);
5. **Micaiah Harris (Tx) 20.13 (10.4/9.7);
6. *Joseph Amoah’ (Copp) 20.19 (10.4/9.8);
7. Andrew Hudson (TxT) 20.25 (10.5/9.8);
8. Mustaqeem Williams (Tn) 20.56 (10.4/10.2).
(best-ever mark-for-NCAA-place: 1–8)
SEMIS
(June 05)
I(2.0)–1. Oduduru’ 19.97; 2. Amoah’ 20.08; 3. Gillespie 20.19; 4. Devin Quinn (Il) 20.31; 5. **Marcus Parker (Clem) 20.59; 6. Matthew Likely (Troy) 20.74; 7. Nick Gray (OhSt) 20.86; 8. ***Rashad Boyd (Ar) 21.31.
II(0.6)–1. Williams 20.38; 2. Sani Brown’ 20.44; 3. Kahmari Montgomery (Hous) 20.49; 4. *Samson Colebrooke’ (Pur) 20.49; 5. *Karayme Bartley’ (Ia) 20.51; 6. *Antonio Woodard (Ia) 20.68;… dnc—*Akeem Sirleaf (NCAT), Jaron Flournoy (LSU).
III(0.7)–1. Burke’ 20.08; 2. **Harris 20.09; 3. Hudson 20.09; 4. Oraine Palmer’ (Or) 20.37; 5. *Akanni Hislop’ (LSU) 20.42; 6. Andre Ewers’ (FlSt) 20.43; 7. Rodney Rowe (NCAT) 20.47; 8. ***Eric Allen (USC) 20.89.◻︎
