byLarry Eder
Image via Wikipedia
The second day was even better in College Station, at the NCAA Indoor Champs. We hope that you enjoy the thoughts and words of James Dunaway, editor of American Track & Field and correspondent extraordinaire for the IAAF:
Drouin tops 2.33m, Hasay takes double in College Station – NCAA Indoors, Day 2
“track” on the second and final day of the NCAA Indoor Championships on
Saturday (12).
Drouin scales 2.33m, Claye triples 17.32m
Canadian
Derek Drouin of Indiana University completely dominated the men’s High
jump, winning the event with a clean sheet through 2.23m, and proceeding
to clear 2.26m and 2.30m without a miss, and 2.33m on his second try
before failing at 2.37m. The height was there on every jump; the 2.33m
winning jump equaled Mark Boswell’s Canadian indoor record.
Will
Claye of the University of Florida set a personal best and a meet
record in the men’s Triple Jump with a final-round jump of 17.32m,
passing his teammate, Christian Taylor’s 16.79m. Then, on the last jump
of the competition, Taylor reached 16.99m. Behind them were Jamaican
Julian Reid of host Texas A&M, third with 16.71m and Chris Carter of
Houston, at 16.70m.
The women’s Triple Jump was won by Jamaican
Kimberly Williams of Florida State, whose winning 13.96m was just one
centimetre better than her winning mark a year ago – and half a metre
better than today’s second-place performance of 13.46m by April Sinkler
of Clemson.
Tina Sutej of Slovenia and the University of
Arkansas completed the day’s jumping with a winning 4.45m clearance in
the Pole Vault, edging the 4.40m jump by Katerina Stefani of Greece and
Stanford. Sutej, who came into the meet a strong favorite, said, “It
wasn’t the best, but it was good. I was jumping better two weeks ago.
Today it was more about the winning a national championship.” Sutej, the
2006 World junior silver medallist, raised her own national record to
4.54m at the SEC championships in 27 February.
Beard dominates women’s 400m, Brookins wins second 60m title in 7.09
On
the track, three women stood out. Texas A&M senior Jessica Beard
won the women’s 400m by 12 metres in 50.79. Surprisingly, it was Beard’s
first national championship. She said, “The talk was that I had never
won an individual title. I wanted to win my first title and get a PR. I
can’t ask for more.”
But there was more. Beard came back to run
the anchor leg in Texas A&M’s 4x400m Relay victory. Although she ran
an almost cautious leg, running in fourth for the first 300m, she still
split 51.4 to cross the line first in 3:29.72.
In the women’s
60m, Lakya Brookins of South Carolina tied Angela Williams’ collegiate
record with a sizzling 7.09 to win by nearly a metre, proving that her
7.13 in yesterday’s heats was no fluke. “The race was a big blur. I felt
good going in. It felt good to run in the same place I won two years
ago.”
Hassay takes Mile/3000m double
The third
outstanding woman was Oregon’s sophomore distance star, Jordan Hasay,
who began the day’s racing with a 4:33.01 victory in the mile, coming
from behind with a 63.4 finishing 400m. An hour-and-a-half later she
came back in the 3000m, determined to beat Sheila Reid of Villanova and
Canada, who had beaten her in two previous races. As they approached the
bell, New Zealander Lucy Van Dalen of Stony Brook was first, with Hasay
second and Reid third. When Reid moved up to equal second, Hasay shot
through a tiny gap and flew into the lead with Reid in hot pursuit. But
Hasay held the one-metre lead she had seized all the way to the finish,
eking out a close, but very satisfying victory, 9:13.77 to 9:13.86.
Hasay
didn’t have to run the 3000 because Oregon had already clinched the
team title, but this was score-settling time. “I wanted to give it a
shot and see how I felt. She (Reid) is a great runner.”
Demps successfully defends at 60m
Jeff
Demps, who won last year’s men’s 60m dash as a Florida freshman, did it
again, in a close finish with Michael Granger of Mississippi, 6.53 to
6.55. Co-favorite Rakieem “Mookie” Salaam of Oklahoma could not recover
from a terrible start. Demps said, “It took me a while to adjust to the
track’s surface. Coach just set me aside and told me to run my race.”
Andy
Riley of Illinois, fifth last year in the 60m Hurdles but the 2010 NCAA
outdoor champion, won this time in 7.58, holding off Louisiana State’s
Barrett Nugent’s late charge which took second in 7.61. Said Riley, “I
wanted to get to the first hurdle first,” and he did just that.
Pinder takes 400m title as James tumbles
The
men’s 400 was won by Texas A&M’s Demetrius Pinder (BAH) who won his
section of the final in 45.33. In the second section, Kirani James of
Alabama, who came into the meet with a season-leading 44.80, looked like
a possible sub-45 as he went through the 200 in 21.23 (!); but just
past the 200 mark he was apparently clipped on the heel by Tabari Henry
of Texas A&M and fell to the track.
Pinder said, “I’m happy I
got the win.” That’s indoor track for you, where, as the saying goes,
the race is not always to the swift.
Texas A&M (including Pinder and Henry) came back strong in the 4×400, winning in a season-leading 3:04.24.
Miller
Moss of Clemson University won the men’s Heptathlon with a tally of
5986 points, literally vaulting into the lead with clearance of 4.90m in
the sixth trial of the seven-eventer. Moss then held on to win by 84
points from Norwegian Lars Rise of Missouri, second with 5902, with
Frenchman Romain Martin third at 5897.
The team championships,
which are fiercely contested at the NCAAs, were won by Florida’s men for
the second year in a row with 52 points to runner-up Texas A&M’s
40, and the Oregon women, who dominated with 67 points to second-place
Texas’ 38.
James Dunaway for the IAAF
For complete results of the 2011 NCAA Indoors, please click on:http://www.iaaf.org/news/kind=100/newsid=59507.html
