NCAA: Upsets and New Faces

This has been, and remains, an astounding weekend in the world of Track and Field.
Today wrapped up 4 days of great Collegiate T&F at the NCAA meet in Eugene.
Today was also a day for the Professionals, with the Diamond League meet in NYC.
And it was the 2nd of 3 days of record-breaking action on the High School level, at the New Balance Outdoor Nationals.
Believe it or not, that's not all!!
Tonight is the 1st of 2 days of Portland Track Festival distance races, sort of a lower level Payton Jordan-style meet.
Thus, I'm forced to make some decisions as to how to present it all.
This post will be all about the NCAA.
A later post will cover the New York DL.
And either tomorrow night or Monday morning, I'll do one covering the NBN, plus whatever's left over!!

Upsets, at least on the individual level, were the order of the day(s) in Eugene.
The team wins went to the Texas A&M women and the Oregon men.
But read on!

Abbey D'Agostino's last Collegiate race (the 5000) was a LOSS!!
Shalaya Kipp's final Collegiate race was a loss too.
Nick Miller and Nick Ross both lost!
Indoor CR holder in the vault (with her 15-1), Kaitlin Petrillose, actually NH'ed!!
The Duck Women's 4X100R team DNF'ed, failing to complete their 1st pass!
Ashley Spencer suffered an injury, so didn't compete.
And on and on!!

But there WAS some great record action, albeit from some unexpected sources!

The Men's 5000 gave us the Meet Record, as well as a great race.
Lawi Lalang outlasted Ed Cheserek in a stirring homestretch duel.
His time of 13:18.36 was the MR, and moves him from 8th A-T Collegiate up to 3rd.

The MR he beat was by Sydney Maree, and it dated from 1979!

Cheserek's time was 13:18.71.
It's the Collegiate Frosh Class record (beating Dathan Ritzenhein's  2002 mark!).
It makes him 9th A-T Collegiate.

Oregon's frosh 110H guy, Devon Allen, became the 2nd fastest Collegian ever, behind only the legendary Renaldo Nehemiah!
His 13.16 win is the NCAA Meet Record.
It moves him from 6th A-T Collegiate (tied with 1 other) up to 2nd!!
He's now also 22nd A-T US!!

Gregg Swift ran 13.35, and became 17th A-T Collegiate, tied with 2 others.

Leah O'Connor is the one who beat Shalaya Kipp in the 3000SC.
Her 9:36.43 moves her from 13th A-T Collegiate all the way up to 3rd.
But maybe more significantly, it also gives her 12th place on my US DDD list!

Besides Kipp, who finished 6th after a last lap fade (I heard she stepped on the curb, and maybe injured her ankle!!), four others made the Top 24 list.

Marisa Howard ran 9:43.82, for 14th A-T Collegiate, and 24th A-T US!!
Rachel Johnson's 9:44.47 moves her from 21st A-T Collegiate up to 15th.
Grace Heymsfield improved to 9:49.01, giving her 22nd A-T Collegiate.
And Jessica Kamilos ran 9:49.25, for 23rd A-T Collegiate.

Trayvon Bromell blazed a legal 9.97 100 in his final.
He's now the best-ever Age 18 100 man in history!!
He's also the new Collegiate Frosh Class record holder.
And he moves from 19th A-T Collegiate (tied with 3 others) up to 8th, where he's tied with 4 others!!

Another upset (not mentioned above) was Shamier Little's 400H win over Kendra Harrison.
Her 55.07 PR rates her 23rd A-T Collegian.

The man who beat Nick Miller in the HT was Matthias Tayala.
His throw of 241-4 makes him 21st A-T Collegian.

Fawn Miller improved 8 inches in the JT, to 190-8, but there was no change of place on the Collegiate list.
But it does move her from 11th to 9th on the A-T US list!

Morolake Akinosun ran the 100 in 11.04, making her 14th A-T Collegiate, tied with 3 others.

The Women's PV was won by a relative unknown, Kelsie Ahbe, whose 14-5.25 makes her 20th A-T Collegiate, tied with 5 others!!

Phyllis Francis ran the 400 in 50.59 (behind Courtney Okolo's non-PR of 50.23).
She moves from 21st A-T Collegiate (tied with 1 other) up to 18th.

Finally, the Men's and Women's 4X400 Relays produced one mark each of note.

The Texas A&M men JUST missed the Collegiate Record, their 2:59.60 win a mere 0.01 short of the record!!
(And Florida had been favored, based on their early season 2:59.73!!)
But it does move them from number 8 Collegiate School to # 2 School!

And the Texas A&M Women didn't win their race, but their 3:25.63 is a School record, and leaves them as 3rd best A-T School.

There were no list-making times, but it was Marielle Hall beating Aisling Cuffe that pushed heavily-favored Abbey D back to 3rd!!

The Women's 10K came within 4 seconds of the MR in a negative split race won by Emma Bates.
She split 16:33 and 15:59!!
Erin Finn led only part of the way, and finished a creditable 6th as top Frosh!

Laura Roesler easily won the 800, but didn't go sub-2:00 in her final Collegiate 800.

Heptathlete Kendell Williams began her 7-eventer with a blazing 100H in 12.99, legal wind!!
But she was up and down the rest of the way, just missing 6000 points, but winning anyway.

All in all, an exciting 4 days of T&F action, with many additions and revisions made to my T&F Record Book.

Stay tuned for the Professional side of things, probably later this evening!