Emmanuel Bamidele won the 400m and formed part of Florida's record-breaking 4x400m team in Texas (© Kirby Lee)
The University of Florida retained the men’s team title at the NCAA Championships in Austin, Texas, on Friday (9), with a collegiate 4x400m record capping their victory in style.
The quartet of Jevaughn Powell, Emmanuel Bamidele, Jacory Patterson and Ryan Willie combined to clock 2:57.74, taking 0.02 off their own previous record to narrowly beat Arizona State and clinch the team title.
Florida and Arizona were pretty evenly matched on the first two legs, run by Powell and Bamidele for Florida, but a third leg of 44.94 by Patterson extended Florida’s advantage. Willie then clocked 44.28 for the anchor leg to hold off Arizona’s Justin Robinson, who ran 43.92.
Nigeria’s Bamidele had earlier won the 400m title in a PB of 44.24, having improved his previous best of 44.71 set at the SEC Championships in May to 44.67 when finishing second in his semifinal on Wednesday. His Florida teammate Willie was second in 44.25, Emmanuel Bynum of Tennessee was third in 44.49 and Robinson was fourth in 44.51 as the top four all set PBs.
After improving his PB to 19.76 in the 200m semifinals on Wednesday, Nigeria’s 2021 world U20 champion Udodi Onwuzurike returned to win the final for Stanford in 19.84 (0.9m/s) as the top four all dipped under 20 seconds. Courtney Lindsey was second (19.86), Terrence Jones third (19.87) and Robert Gregory fourth (19.89).
Lindsey won the 100m earlier in the programme, dipping under 10 seconds for the first time with 9.89 (1.8m/s) to take the title for Texas Tech by 0.01 ahead of LSU’s Godson Oghenebrume as the top seven all went sub-10 seconds.
Australia’s Ky Robinson completed a 5000m and 10,000m double for Stanford University, winning the 5000m in 14:04.77 after his 10,000m triumph in 28:10.96 on Wednesday. Kicking before the bell, Robinson moved into the lead and eased away, claiming a clear win ahead of Harvard’s Graham Blanks (14:06.53).
Georgia’s 19-year-old Will Sumner ran an impressive negative split to win the 800m, leading through the first 400m in 53.12 and then storming a 51.15 second lap to win in a PB of 1:44.26. NCAA indoor champion Yusuf Bizimana was second for Texas in a 1:45.74 PB.
Nathan Green led a Washington 1-2 in the 1500m, winning in 3:42.78 ahead of Joe Waskom (3:42.93).
In the field events, Jamaica’s world U20 champion Jaydon Hibbert won the triple jump for Arkansas, leaping 17.56m in the first round and backing it up with a 17.38m second jump.
Romaine Beckford won the high jump on countback ahead of Vernon Turner as both cleared 2.27m, while Turner Washington took the discus with a 66.22m throw.
Ball State’s Jenelle Rogers leads the heptathlon with 3840 points at the end of the first day, with Beatrice Juskeviciute in second on 3675 and Allie Jones third on 3665.
The championships continue on Saturday with the remainder of the women’s finals.
