Yes, the Men's portion of the 2018 NCAA Championships were defined by 400 meters of track--in all its permutations--over the flat, over hurdles, and with a stick in your hand!
What that space brought us were times so incredible that even Dwight Stones could only say "WOW!".
On Friday--Finals Day for the Men--it began with those sticks!
And presented a dilemma for us Record Keepers!
Did Houston (with Cameron Burrell anchoring) break the Meet Record--or not?
If you saw the results page, the MR was listed as 38.23!
But the FAST Annual (and other sources) say it's TCU's 38.04 from 1998!
A brief explanation!
That '98 mark was apparently deleted because of several violations of NCAA's rules by TCU's coaches and athletics department--over several years!!
Yet it remains on the books--including mine!!
Thus, in THIS blogger's opinion, Houston did NOT break the NCAA Meet Record with its 38.17 Winner!!
However, it DOES move them from 6th A-T School to 2nd!
Ohio State followed far back in 38.75, with Florida next in 38.89!
BTW, Florida took the Semi's in 38.49, with Houston 2nd in 38.53!
But in 4th came Ohio State's 38.67, which moves them from 24th A-T School to 16th!
But that was just the beginning of a brilliant Record onslaught unheard of in Collegiate history!!
Michael Norman ain't normal!
In the best sense, he's a MONSTER!!
And he bared his fangs during 43.61 seconds of time in the flat 400!
And he appeared so relaxed!
Maybe it's his build--a lean but sturdy wide receiver's frame, and the calm demeanor of one watching Netflix on Saturday night!
When he was done, he held the Collegiate Record, the Soph Class Record, the Age 20 Record, and the NCAA Meet Record!!
He moved from 12th A-T Collegiate to the Top!
He's 5th A-T US, and 6th A-T World!!
On my US Combined Events list for the 100, 200, and 400, his times of 10.27, 20.06, and 43.61 add to 1:13.94, making him 3rd!
On the World C-E list, he's 5th!
But he wasn't completely alone in that stratosphere!
Coming in under 44 also was Akeem Bloomfield, whose 43.94 missed Jamaica's NR by 0.01 seconds!!
But it makes him 3rd A-T Collegiate, and 17th A-T World!!
In 3rd was Nathon Allen, with 44.13!
He moves from 8th A-T Collegiate to 6th!
And misses the World list by just 0.03 seconds!!
In the Semi's, Norman led with his 44.66 over Tynall Richard's 44.70, and Bloomfield's 44.72!
Steven Solomon was 9th, Nathan Strother 12th, and Dwight St Hilaire was a DNS, reason unknown!
Then they added hurdles to the track!
And one Rai Benjamin proceeded to slash 0.96 seconds from his recent PR!!
What was his PR?
47.98.
Do the math!!
Edwin Moses, that most venerable and amazing 400H Master, had run 47.02!
Yes, it was eventually broken, but Moses (an appropriate name!!) is still considered the best 400H man in history!
Mr Moses, I believe we've found our Joshua, the one who will lead us into the Promised Land you dreamt of and worked so hard for!!
Enter Rai (pronounced like Rye!) Benjamin, and his simply astounding run of 47.02 seconds!!
It's the Collegiate Record (by 0.54 seconds), and breaks his own Junior Class Record (by that 0.96 seconds!), and nails him the Age 20 Record, and the NCAA Meet Record!!
He also breaks his own National Record of Antigua!
(There was much discussion on the T&FN MB about whether this Antigua/US dual citizen can run for the US!! Up to the IAAF, they seemed to agree!)
He moves from 4th A-T Collegiate to 1st, and becomes 2nd A-T World, tied with my Biblical "brother" I spoke of earlier!!
Oh yes, on my World C-E list for the 400 & 400H, his times of 44.74 and 47.02 add to 1:31.76!
He's 3rd A-T World!
Over a second back came Kenny Selmon's 48.12, still an excellent time!!
It makes him 5th A-T Collegiate, and 20th A-T US!!
Next came David Kendziera's 48.42, which makes him 13th A-T Collegiate!!
In the Semi's, Selmon ran 49.27, while Benjamin jogged a 49.66!
Norman Grimes was a DNF!
But what about that race using batons where FOUR 400's are run--the 4X400 Relay?
Well, talk about ending your meet with a bang!
The Semi's just set it up!
Texas A&M's 3:01.13 beat the 3:01.30 of USC, and the 3:01.61 of Florida!
LSU came next in 3:02.68!
Two days later came the final!
The Trojans merely got the Collegiate and NCAA Meet Records with their 2:59.00!
This moves them from 10th A-T School to 1st!
They had to run that fast, as Texas A&M ran 2:59.91!
While not a PR, it did beat the 3:00.56 of LSU, and Florida's 3:01.83!
There WERE other quality events at Hayward Field, this soon-to-be razed stadium that has born witness to so many historic NCAA Championship moments!!
In the Decathlon, Tim Duckworth led the 1st day with 4495 points over the 4321 of Johannes Erm, and the 4311 of Harrison Williams!
Karl Saluri stood 5th with 4268 points!
But Williams had problems in the 110H, and was out of it!
Duckworth, while seemingly not able (or willing!) to run faster than 5:00 in the 1500, won with a big PR of 8336, despite running about 5:05!!
He moves from 22nd A-T Collegiate to 7th!
Saluri's 8137 gave him 2nd, and made him 24th A-T Collegiate!
Erm was 3rd with 8046 points!
Anderson Peters got the NCAA Meet Record with his JT of 271-9.
He moves from 8th A-T Collegiate to 7th!
Nicholas Quuera's 263.2 in 2nd made him 18th A-T Collegiate!
Denzel Comenentia was a double W man!!
He first took his specialty, the Hammer Throw, with a 5 inch PR of 250-8!
But he remains 10th A-T Collegiate!
Jake Norris, an LSU Frosh, reached 240-3, with Rudy Winkler hitting just 238-8 for 3rd!
Gleb Dudarev was 12th with 227-0!!
Then Denzel won the Shot Put with a good 67-7.50!
This nipped the 67-6 by Josh Awotunde!
Mostafa Hassan hit 67-0.75, while the Super Frosh pair of Adrian "Tripp" Piperi and Jordan Geist continued their fantastic duels, with Piperi's 66-11.50 nipping Geist's 66-8!
While not a total surprise (See my Men's Preview!), Zack Bazile DID surprise by reaching 27-5.50 in the LJ!!
This made him 8th A-T Collegiate, tied with 1 other!!
KeAndre Bates was just 7th with 25-9.50!
But the REAL shocker was Grant Holloway never finding his rhythm, finishing in 9th with a piddling (for him!) 25-8.25!!
Holloway won the 110H, but weather limited him to just 13.42!
And he needed all of that to just edge David Kendziera's 13.43!!
Wind was 1.7!
Reuben Walters had led the Semi's with 13.38, wind of 0.6.
The other sprint events were also affected negatively by weather!
The 100 Semi's went to Andre Ewers's 10.00, against a wind of 2.3!!
Cravon Gillespie of UO was next in 10.02!
The 200 Semi's went to Kendal Williams's 20.23, with Mustaqeem Williams also running 20.23, but in a separate race!
The final was even worse!
(This said, considering the vast history of sub-10's and sub-20's---windy or legal--run at Hayward over the decades!!)
Cameron Burrell fought hardest against the 0.9 draft, hitting the line in 10.13.
Andre Ewers was 2nd in 10.19!
A bit better over twice the distance, but still slow!!
Divine Oduduru's 20.28 just edged Ewers's 20.29, with K Williams getting the Bronze with 20.32!
Wind was 0.6.
The distance events were, for the most part, and to be a bit polite---sluggish!
The 10000 was the usual MoBot Festival, with everyone bunched up for over 22 laps, then (sort of) picking things up for a speed burst to the tape!
Winner of that "800" was Michigan's Ben Flanagan, time of 28:34.53!
Vincent Kiprop followed just 0.46 seconds back!
Oliver Hoare embarrassed elite Milers everywhere by taking the 1500 in 3:44.77.
Josh Kerr, the CR holder and heavily favored, took just 3rd with 3:45.12!
Obsa Ali won the 3000SC in 8:32.23 after Brian Barazza, who was winning with a lap to go, tripped and tumbled to the track over the 1st hurdle coming off the penultimate curve!
He wound up in 10th, time of 8:44.42!
He went down hard, so it's a wonder he was able to finish at all!!
Another surprise happened in the 5000!
A Cardinal was favored to take Justyn Knight of Syracuse on for the title!
But Grant Fisher--the Stanford man I speak of--wasn't the first to finish ahead of Knight!
That honor went to teammate Sean McGorty, whose better kick took out Sir Knight!!
Fisher wound up 3rd, with Andy Trouard fourth!
Oh yes, times were in the 13:54 and 13:55 range--no need to detail it!
The best distance race (though some call it a dash, or even sprint!!) was the 800!
A Kansas Frosh named Bryce Hoppel took the semi in 1:46.90 over the CR holder Michael Saruni's 1:46.98!
But the final was honestly run--and won!
Hitting the bell in 51, Saruni seemed relaxed and in control, waiting to pop!
But then tough 600 man Isaiah Harris's wheels spun into motion, and it was he who crossed the line first--time of 1:44.76!
This moves him from 21st A-T Collegiate, tied with 1 other, to 12th, also tied with 1 other!
Marco Arop was 2nd in 1:45.25.
But he misses my Collegiate DDD by 0.03 seconds!!
Saruni came third with 1:45.31.
The PV was also affected by Hayward's (wayward!) winds!
But it didn't prevent Chris Nilsen--who is having his best year since HS--from winning with an NCAA Meet Record height of 19-1.50!!
Everyone else---and it was a quality field!---was almost a full foot behind, with an 18-2.50 as the next best mark!!
Other field events were---
Taher Triki (a tricky name!! LOL) won the TJ with 55-1, beating favored KeAndre Bates's 54-6.50!
Luke Vaughn took the DT with a measly 198-2.
And Tejaswin Shankar might do better taking up the sitar (LOL), since his winning HJ height was just 7-4.25!
Though he tried thrice to clear 7-6.50!!
And that was the Men's division of this classic Collegiate showdown--in an arena that can NOT truly be called "historic" anymore---at least not after they've DESTROYED the specialness and the humanity of the place!
For what??
So they can hold ONE freakin' World Championship??
Pre is tossing and turning in his grave!!
The Women's wrap-up will follow in a few hours!!
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