AS THE DISCUS got underway, the first thing to do was figure out who was not there:
• Mykolas Alekna took the year off from collegiate competition to get ready for this summer’s Olympics. He threw 243-11 to break the World Record and establish himself as the favorite in Paris, where he will represent Lithuania. He has two years’ eligibility remaining at Cal.
• Ralford Mullings finished 3rd in the ’22 NCAA for Arizona State, won the SEC a year ago for Arkansas and now attends Oklahoma, where as a redshirt he threw 228-7 (69.67).
• Claudio Romero won the ’22 NCAA for Virginia. He now attends LSU and was collegiate list leader this year at 220-9 (67.29), but at Regionals he fouled out.
Who was left? South African Francois Prinsloo, for one.
The NCAA Championships, however, have not been kind to the senior from South Alabama.
“Last year in Austin,” Prinsloo said, “was traumatic.” After throwing 205-2 (63.53) during the season, he fell to 193-11 (59.10) at the NCAA and did not make the final.
“Actually,” he said, “my last 3 years have been terrible. I’ve been trying my best just to get on the podium.”
As a frosh in ’21 he threw a mammoth 216-0 (65.85) to win the East Regional, then fell to 11th at 184-5 (56.22) at Nationals. In ’22, 158-8 (48.36) for 44th place at regionals.
“This year… I came in so much safer, so much more confident,” Prinsloo said. “I’ve really been enjoying it, and my coach has been with me throughout…”
He won Texas Relays, was champion of the Sun Belt Conference, and here in Eugene opened up with 203-3 (61.95) and never looked back. “I was trying to get one out there,” Prinsloo said, “just set my authority in the beginning, establish my own rhythm, get the other people thrown off. That’s how it is in the discus.”
That’s just how it played out. None of the other throwers exceeded his poorest throw, and he won by 5½ feet over the USC frosh from Jamaica, Racquil Broderick, who reached 202-8 (61.77) in round 5. Prinsloo spun out his longest, 208-4 (63.51), in round 3.
Prinsloo, 22, was born in Nairobi and now hails from Worcester, South Africa, where he played rugby and threw the disc. “We’ve got a tight-knit South African family,” he said, “and we’re going to keep going for that on our road to the Olympics.”
He becomes the fourth South African to win the NCAA DT, joining Janus Robberts (’02) and Hannes Hopley (2003–04) of SMU and 3-time champion John van Reenen (1968–70) of Washington State.
MEN’S DISCUS RESULTS
(June 07)
1. Francois Prinsloo’ (SAl-SA) 208-4 (63.51)
(203-3, 204-0, 208-4, f, f, f) (61.95, 62.19, 63.51, f, f, f);
2. ***Racquil Broderick’ (USC-Jam) 202-8 (61.77)
(187-4, 193-8, 181-7, 186-10, 202-8, 199-6) (57.11, 59.03, 55.35, 56.96, 61.77, 60.81);
3. *Dimítrios Pavlídis’ (Ks-Gre) 200-0 (60.97)
(193-9, 190-9, 191-3, 200-0, 193-9, 196-5) (59.06, 58.15, 58.29, 60.97, 59.06, 59.86);
4. Mitchell Weber (Mo) 199-7 (60.85)
(183-11, 199-7, 197-7, 193-11, 197-11, 194-8) (56.07, 60.85, 60.23, 59.11, 60.32, 59.34);
5. Kai Chang’ (Fl-Jam) 198-10 (60.61)
(196-4, f, f, f, 198-10, 198-4) (59.85, f, f, f, 60.61, 60.46);
6. *Jacob Lemmon (Va) 198-3 (60.43)
(194-4, 198-3, 179-6, 190-4, 196-5, 196-5) (59.25, 60.43, 54.72, 58.03, 59.88, 59.86);
7. Milton Ingraham (Mia) 196-0 (59.74)
(196-0, f, f, 192-0, f, f) (59.74, f, f, 58.52, f, f);
8. Dallin Shurts (BYU) 193-8 (59.04)
(f, 186-10, 192-7, f, f, 193-8) (f, 56.96, 58.70, f, f, 59.04);
9. **Michael Pinckney (UCLA) 193-6 (58.98)
(f, 182-3, 193-6, 191-7, f, f) (f, 55.57, 58.98, 58.40, f, f);
10. Devin Roberson (TxT) 192-6 (58.69); 11. ***Aron Alvarez Aranda’ (Tn-SA) 189-9 (57.85); 12. **Casey Helm (Prin) 189-3 (57.68); 13. Aidan Elbettar (UCLA) 189-2 (57.67); 14. **Zane Forist (Mi) 188-3 (57.38); 15. Elias Foor (InSt) 187-11 (57.29); 16. Jordan Johnson (Ia) 186-2 (56.74); 17. Andrew White (KsSt) 185-1 (56.41); 18. **Seth Allen (Pur) 182-3 (55.55); 19. Diamante Gumbs’ (NWnLa-BVI) 180-8 (55.07); 20. Leo Neugebauer’ (Tx-Ger) 178-6 (54.41); 21. *Obiora Okeke (Col) 167-9 (51.15); 22. ***Roury Mccloyen (MsSt) 167-0 (50.90);… 3f—**Jeremiah Nubbe’ (Tx-Can), Kevin Sakson’ (IaSt-Est).