In his three previous trips to Eugene, Zack Bazile was anything but over-the-top successful, finishing 23rd as a frosh, 8th as a soph and 22nd as a junior (after being formcharted as No. 5 coming in). This year the Ohio State senior was crystal-balled at No. 7, and he far exceeded expectations.
At the other end of the spectrum were the imposing Florida pair of Grant Holloway & KeAndre Bates, projected for 16 points off a 1–3 finish. Instead, the Gator guys finished 7th (Bates) and 9th (Holloway), scoring just 2 and turning what had looked like a runaway team win for their squad into something much more perilous.
Once he appeared as the eighth jumper in flight I, the 22-year-old Bazile never trailed as he put together a brilliant series of 26-9¾ PR, 27-5½ PR, 26-3¾, 25-11½, foul, 26-10 (8.17, 8.37, 8.02, 7.91, foul, 8.18). The final jump was also over his lifetime best coming into the meet.
The second jump, a PR by 9¼ inches, moved him to =No. 11 on the all-time collegiate list and =No. 4 in meet history as he took over the yearly collegiate lead.
“It’s something special,” said Bazile. “I think it’s kind of that Hayward Field magic.” The magic certainly worked in the wind department, as the New Jersey native had consistent readings of 0.0, +1.9, +0.9, +0.3, +1.0, +0.4. Others weren’t so lucky as the readings ranged from +4.2 to –2.5 and PRs/seasonal bests were exceedingly hard to come by.
While Bazile was off in his own world, the battle for the lesser podium positions was an exciting one. At the end of the first round Bazile was trailed by Odaine Lewis of Texas Tech (26-2¾/7.99w) and Jordan Latimer of Akron (26-1½/7.96 PR). Holloway and Bates were in 5th and 7th, with No. 2 seed Damarcus Simpson of Oregon fouling. After the second, Bates had dropped to 10th and Simpson fouled again, much to the dismay of the partisan crowd.
The third stanza found 13 of the 24 jumpers getting their best of the day, most notably Bates making the final 3 rounds with his 25-9½ (7.86) and Simpson not with his 25-7½ (7.81). Those final rounds were rather anticlimactic, although Gator fans just knew that Bates and/or defending champ Holloway would finally put it all together. In round 5 Indoor bronze medalist Charles Brown of Texas Tech used a 2.4 wind to stretch out to 25-11w (7.90) and move from 9th to 4th behind Rayvon Grey of LSU. And then in 6, Latimer scored his second PR of the day, 26-3¾ (8.02), to slip by Lewis for 2nd. Bazile finished things off with the second-longest leap of his career and the magic show was over.
NCAA MEN’S LONG JUMP RESULTS
(June 06)
(winds ranged from +4.2 to –2.5)
1. Zack Bazile (OhSt) 27-5½ (8.37) PR (CL; out AL) (=11, x C; =10, x AmC; =4, =6 NCAA)
(26-9¾ PR, 27-5½, 26-3¾, 25-11½, f, 26-10) (8.17, 8.37, 8.02, 7.91, f, 8.18);
2. *Jordan Latimer (Akr) 26-3¾ (8.02) PR
(26-1½ PR, 25-8¾, 25-2¾, f, f, 26-3¾) (7.96, 7.84, 7.69, f, f, 8.02);
3. *Odaine Lewis’ (TxT) 26-2¾w (7.99)
(26-2¾w, 24-9¾, f, 25-7¼w, 25-1¾, 25-6¾) (7.99w, 7.56, f, 7.80w, 7.66, 7.79);
4. **Rayvon Grey (LSU) 26-1½w (7.96)
(f, 25-4½w, 26-1½w, 24-5½, 25-8w, f) (f, 7.73w, 7.96w, 7.45, 7.82w, f);
5. *Charles Brown (TxT) 25-11w (7.90)
(25-8, f, 25-8w, 24-5½, 25-11w, 25-2) (7.82, f, 7.82w, 7.45, 7.90w, 7.67);
6. Kyle Darrow (NEn) 25-10¼ (7.88)
(25-2, 25-2½, 25-10¼, 24-8¼, 25-3¼w, 25-8¾) (7.67, 7.68, 7.88, 7.52, 7.70w, 7.84);
7. KeAndre Bates (Fl) 25-9½ (7.86)
(25-1¾, 24-9¼, 25-9½, 25-8¾, 25-6, f) (7.66, 7.55, 7.86, 7.84, 7.77, f);
8. **Tahar Triki’ (TxAM) 25-9½
(24-11¼, 25-6¼w, 25-9½, 25-3½, 25-0, f) (7.60, 7.78w, 7.86, 7.71, 7.62, f);
9. **Grant Holloway (Fl) 25-8¼ (7.83)
(25-4¾, 25-3½, 25-8¼, 25-2, 25-3½, 24-10½) (7.74, 7.71, 7.83, 7.67, 7.71, 7.58);
10. Damarcus Simpson (Or) 25-7½ (7.81);
11. Terrell McClain (Akr) 25-6w (7.77);
12. Julian Harvey (SIUE) 25-5½ (7.76);
13. *Yann Randrianasolo’ (SC) 25-4½ (7.73);
14. **Harrison Schrage (Ar) 25-3¼ (7.70) =PR;
15. *Jonathan Wells (Il) 25-1¼ (7.65);
16. Kenneth Fisher (FlSt) 25-1¼ ;
17. *Jacob Fincham-Dukes’ (OkSt) 24-11¼ (7.60);
18. Saladin Nasser (LBSt) 24-6½w (7.48);
19. ***JuVaughn Blake (LSU) 24-6½;
20. **Jason Smith (LBSt) 24-4¼ (7.42);
21. Marcus Flannigan (GCan) 24-2½ (7.38);
22. Fred Dorsey’ (Ky) 24-1½ (7.35);
23. ***Carter Shell (ArSt) 23-11½ (7.30);
… 3f—***Tyler Jones (Kenn). □