Big Performances at NCAA D1 and D2

Published by Adam Schneider/DyeStatCollege.com editor on March 14, 2016

Big performances by Edward Cheserek led to an NCAA team title for Oregon. Courtney Okolo of Texas ran #3 all-time in the 400m (50.69) and on the winning 4x400m relay. Kendell Williams set a collegiate record in the Pentathlon with 4703 points and then finished fifth in the long jump later that afternoon.

Edward Cheserek Oregon - In the 5000m on Friday the Oregon junior say on Thomas Curtin until he pushed the pace with two laps to go, 28.50 and 29.13, to win in 13:47.89. 25 minutes later he was ready to run the anchor leg on the 4000m distance medley relay and faced collegiate leader Izaic Yorks of Washington, who had the lead (.67 seconds) with the 1600m to go. Cheserek ran 3:52.84 for that final 1600m. The next day, in spite of his coach's assurances that he didn't have to run to win the team title, he ran the 3000m and won after sitting behind the leader until 600m remained. He ran 200m laps of 28.22, 29.16, and 29.83 to win in 8:00.40. 

Myles Hunter Minnesota State - He ran the fastest time of the weekend to win the NCAA D2 title in 7.53. He reset his own NCAA D2 collegiate record and now holds the top four times all-time in D2.

Akela Jones Kansas State - After falling in the Pentathlon 60m hurdles (10.98) she got up to finish but lost any chance of winning the Pentathlon (she was down more than 500 points). In the high jump she set a collegiate record and nearly broke the Pentathlon world record with a clearance of 1.98m, 6-6, a high jump collegiate leader. In the long jump she set another Pentathlon collegiate reocrd with a jump of 6.80m, 22-3 3/4, another 2016 collegiate leader. She came back the next day to win the high jump with a clearance of 1.87m, 6-1 1/2. 

Courtney Okolo Texas - Courtney won the 400m title in 50.69, third fastest all-time, and then anchored the winning Texas 4x400m relay team (3:28.27) with a 50.77 anchor leg.

Raevyn Rogers Oregon - Raevyn won the 800m title (2:04.68). With the team title in the balance she anchored the Oregon women (3:29.77) to a third place overall finish and a team victory with a 51.41 leg.

Molly Seidel Notre Dame - First she won the 5000m on Friday in dominating fashion, 15:15.21, #3 all-time on a banked track. On Saturday she came back to win the 3000m in 8:57.86. 

Lexi Weeks Arkansas - She moved to third on the all-time pole vault list with a winning clearance of 4.63m, 15-2 1/4

Kendell Williams Georgia - Kendell won the NCAA Pentathlon title, with 4703 points, for the third consecutive year and set the collegiate record in the process (breaking her own record). Later that afternoon she finished fifth in the long jump (21-2) to help lead Georgia to a third place team trophy.

Zach Ziemek Wisconsin - The 2015 World Championships competitor faced others with international experience (Maicel Uibo also competed at the World Championships) and another, Pau Tonneson of Arizona, that has already been chosen by Spain to compete in the Olympics. Zack started the competition with a personal record 6.75 and either held the lead or was second throughout the competition until he cleared a pr in the pole vault at 5.40m, 17-8 1/2 and took the lead for good. He totaled 6173 to win and moved to #5 on the all-time collegiate list.