Isabella Whittaker on her way to 400m victory at the NCAA Indoor Championships (© Shawn Price)
Isabella Whittaker of Arkansas entered the NCAA Indoor Championships as the second-fastest 400m athlete in the field, but left as the second-fastest indoor women's 400m athlete in history.
Two weeks earlier, Whittaker finished second to Georgia’s Aaliyah Butler at their conference championships, both dipping under the 50-second barrier indoors for the first time. Butler ran a world-leading 49.78 to Whittaker’s 49.90, and there was much anticipation for a rematch this weekend in Virginia Beach.
The two-section final on Saturday (15) saw Whittaker in heat one and Butler in heat two. Whittaker led the first section from start to finish, separating from the field in the final 100m and crossing the line in 49.24. That not only smashed the two-year-old NCAA record of 49.48 but also broke the North American record and it moves her to No.2 on the world indoor all-time list, behind only Femke Bol with the world record of 49.17 she set at last year’s World Indoor Championships.
Butler won the second section with 49.97 for second place overall.
Whittaker later joined her Arkansas teammates in the 4x400m, anchoring them to a winning time of 3:35.20.
Elsewhere in the women’s sprints, Indya Mayberry set a PB of 22.30 to win the 200m, while Dajaz Defrand took the 60m title in 7.09. The 60m hurdles was decided by a photo finish with Jaiya Covington capturing the win in 7.90.
The men’s distance medley relay and 3000m saw Virginia’s Gary Martin and North Carolina’s Ethan Strand trade titles in two thrilling races. Friday evening saw Virginia win the men’s distance medley relay in a meeting record of 9:15.12, with Martin outkicking Strand on the anchor leg. The following day Strand turned the tables, this time outkicking Martin in the final metres of the 3000m to capture the title in 7:52.03.
The men’s mile came down to the wire with Georgetown’s Abel Teffra and Washington’s Nathan Green running stride-for-stride in the final 100m of the race. As they entered the final turn, Teffra kicked his way to the win, stopping the clock in a meeting record of 3:53.60 for his first NCAA title.
A few closely contested races highlighted the men’s sprints, first in the 60m prelims on Friday when JC Stevenson ran an indoor world lead of 6.46, with Jordan Anthony (6.47) and Kayinsola Ajayi (6.48) not too far behind. But in Saturday’s final, a close race saw Anthony lean for the finish, grabbing the title in 6.49.
In the 200m, Kentucky’s Carlie Makarawu and Auburn’s Makanakaishe Charamba, who both represented Zimbabwe in the men’s 200m final at last year’s Olympic Games, went one-two in the event this weekend. Makarawu crossed the line first in 20.13 while Charamba was close behind in 20.16.
Georgia’s Will Floyd ended the weekend with two NCAA titles after winning the 400m in 45.43 then later leading his team to a winning time of 3:03.44 in the 4x400m relay. Auburn’s Ja’Kobe Tharp set a PB of 7.45 to capture the 60m hurdles crown.
Alabama’s Doris Lemngole won the women’s 5000m in 15:05.93 on Friday, adding an indoor title to her NCAA cross country and outdoor 3000m steeplechase wins. But the next day Lemngole came up just short in the 3000m as a strong finishing kick by West Virginia’s Ceili McCabe secured the win in 9:01.18.
Also on Friday, the BYU women retained their distance medley relay crown in 10:45.34. Simen Guttormsen improved his PB by 4cm to win the men’s pole vault with 5.71m, while Oklahoma State’s Brian Musau upset many of the pre-race favorites to win the men’s 5000m title in 13:11.34.
Sisters Amanda and Hana Moll of Washington claimed the top two spots in the pole vault, both jumping a meeting record of 4.70m and with Amanda taking the title after clearing the height on her first attempt. Elena Kulichenko added to her outdoor high jump title by capturing the indoor crown with a jump of 1.94m, while Alexis Brown upset the favourites in the long jump with a 6.90m jump to secure the win. Jadin O’Brien lived up to expectations, winning her third consecutive pentathlon title in a PB of 4596 points.
In other finals, Peyton Bair scored 6013 points to capture the heptathlon title, while Kelsey Daniel jumped a PB of 8.16m to secure the long jump win. Jonathan Seremes also set a PB in the triple jump, taking the win with a mark of 17.04m.
Oregon won the women’s team championship with 55 points, while USC won the men’s team championship with 39 points.
Anderson Emerole for World Athletics
