Oduduru blasts to 100/200 double at NCAA Championships, Holloway sizzles 12.98

Relocating the NCAA Championships from often cold Oregon to always hot Texas had predictable results: college sprinters and hurdlers assaulted the record book and world lists Friday (7) night, led by Divine Oduduru and Grant Holloway.

Oduduru won the 100m in 9.86 seconds at Austin, Texas, tying Noah Lyles and Christian Coleman for the 2019 world lead and coming within .04 of Coleman’s collegiate record. Oduduru won the 200m in 19.73 to trail Michael Norman and Lyles this year, and also broke the championships record of 19.87. (Walter Dix got to keep his 19.69 collegiate record from 2007.)

COLLEGIATE LEADER ✅
WORLD LEADER ✅#ncaaTF Champion ✅

9️⃣.8️⃣6️⃣ pic.twitter.com/nXDx3vWDiQ

— NCAA Track & Field (@NCAATrackField) June 8, 2019

For the first time in meet history, three men ran under 10.00 in the 100m. Cravon Gillespie was second in 9.93 and Japan’s Hakim Sani Brown, a student at the University of Florida, third in 9.97. There was a reprise of the top three in the 200m, with Gillespie at 19.93 and Sani Brown at 20.08.

Oduduru a 22-year-old Nigerian, said his coach told him “don’t be scared” and to do what he had done all season. Do that, the sprinter said, “and everything is going to be fine.”

He led Texas Tech to its first men’s team title. Texas Tech scored 60 points to 50 for runner-up Florida, led by Holloway. Houston was third with 40.

Impressive evening for Holloway, too

Holloway, too, had a night for the ages. In order, he:

- Ran in the 4x100 relay for the first college team ever to break 38 seconds -- 37.97, another world leader.

- Won the 110m hurdles in 12.98, breaking Renaldo Nehemiah’s 40-year-old collegiate record of 13.00. Holloway had to run that fast because fast-closing Daniel Roberts was second in 13.00, tying Nehemiah. Holloway tied for 18th on the all-time performers list, ninth among Americans. Together, Holloway and Roberts ran eight of the 10 fastest times in collegiate history this season.

WOW WOW WOW 😱😱😱

1️⃣2️⃣.9️⃣8️⃣ 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/7y9pwpNgq8

— NCAA Track & Field (@NCAATrackField) June 8, 2019

- Ran a 43.75 anchor, fastest of the race, in the 4x400 relay. Four teams ran faster than Trinidad and Tobago’s previous world leader of 3:00.81, led by Texas A&M’s 2:59.05. Next were Florida, 2:59.60; Houston, 3:00.07; Iowa, 3:00.14.

Holloway became the second hurdler to win three times, padding his total to seven individual NCAA titles. (Jack Davis of Southern California won in 1951-52-53.)

Elsewhere

JuVaughn Harrison, after leaping 8.20m in Wednesday’s long jump, became the first in meet history to win a long jump/high jump double. He jumped to a PB of 2.27m Friday. Eight jumpers cleared at least 2.21m, which had not happened since 2001.

In the 400m, Kahmari Montgomery climbed to No. 8 on the all-time collegiate list to win in 44.23, just edging Trevor Stewart who clocked 44.25, also a personal best.

Bryce Hoppel completed an indoor/outdoor sweep of the 800m, becoming the No. 5 collegian ever in 1:44.41.

Australia’s Morgan McDonald ran the closing 400 in 52.91 to win the 5000m in 14:06.01. He also had titles in the indoor 5000 and cross-country, making him the third to win such a triple in the same academic year. The others were Edward Cheserek (2015-16) and Galen Rupp (2008-09).

Adrian Piperi took the shot put Wednesday with a distance of 21.11m, a personal best and his second effort over 22 metres. He was silver medalist at last year’s IAAF U20 World Championships. Defending champion Denzel Comenentia of the Netherlands was second at 20.77m. Comenentia, also defending champion in the hammer, finished fifth.

Johannes Erm, a 21-year-old Estonian, scored 8352 points to win the decathlon and meet the standard for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Decathletes endured long delays on Day 1 because of storms. Erm was in the top three of six events, winning the long jump (7.72m/990 points) and 1500m (4:33.38/723 points).

Anderson Peters of Grenada broke his own championships record with a javelin throw of 86.62m (old mark 82.82m last year). Curtis Thompson (78.43m) and Trinidad and Tobago’s Tyriq Horsford (75.59m) made Mississippi State the first school to finish 1-2-3 in the javelin since Oregon did so in 1964.

Nilsen upsets Duplantis in pole vault

The biggest upset of the championships came during Wednesday’s opening night, when Chris Nilsen cleared 5.95m in the pole vault to break his own championships record of 5.83m. Armand Duplantis, who represents Sweden internationally, was second at 5.80m. On 11 May, Duplantis set a world lead of 6.00m, also a collegiate record. 

Seven vaulters cleared 5.70m, most ever at the NCAAs. Previous record was three in 1991.

Roy Jordan for the IAAF