EUGENE, Ore. - The first day of the women's competition at the NCAA Outdoor Championships was highlighted by two collegiate records and Dom Scott-Efurd's long overdue NCAA outdoor title in the 10K. Catch up on the top performances, disappointments, and breakthroughs from Thursday's action at Hayward Field. 

Dom Scott-Efurd Dominates 10K Final

On a rainy night in Eugene, Dominique Scott-Efurd threw down a 68 on lap 24 to win her first NCAA outdoor title. New Mexico's Alice Wright cranked the pace at a deceptively solid tempo--Scott's finishing time of 32:35.69 is No. 5 in meet history--but once Scott made her move, the women's 10K was over. The Arkansas senior gained eight seconds on the field from 9200 to 9600 meters, closed in 2:16 for her final 800m, and blew a kiss to her husband in the stands with 100 meters to go. It was an utter thrashing.


For the first time in NCAA history, all eight scorers broke 33 minutes. The previous record for most women sub-33 was six.

Scott will try to win the 5K on Saturday evening, where she's certainly the favorite. She has just under 46 hours to recover.

Strong Women Throw Things Very Far

Former Southern Illinois teammates DeAnna Price and Raven Saunders (now at Ole Miss) defended their outdoor titles in the hammer and shot put, respectively. Price threw 71.53m (234-8) to break her own year-old meet record by two inches, while Saunders tossed the shot 19.33m (63-5) to break a 33-year-old collegiate record. Price was emotional after defending her title despite her coaches and best training partner departing in the summer:



Saunders' throw is the performance of the meet so far. It is the first time a collegian has thrown over 19 meters outdoors, the biggest margin of victory in meet history. The performance makes her the No. 7 outdoor performer in American history.

She starts her career with two NCAA outdoor shot put titles in two years. Only one woman has won three, and none have won four.

The Olympic Trials are next. She's well clear of the standard and No. 3 in the U.S. this year, and it sounds like she's been preparing for a Trials peak all along:



Saunders wasn't the only SEC thrower to break a collegiate record. Texas A&M's Maggie Malone threw the javelin 62.19m (204-0) to break a 12-year-old meet and NCAA record.

Lindon Victor Wins the Men's Decathlon on Ladies' Night

After a breakout win at the SEC decathlon where he PR'd in nine out of ten events, Texas A&M's Lindon Victor backed it up in Eugene. He won the event with 8,379 points, beating out day one leader Zach Ziemek of Wisconsin. Victor beat a loaded field - he knocked off two-time defending champion Maciel Uibo, and places two through four all posted the best ever scores for each place.

Before the 1500m--the tenth and final event--Victor called his older brother Kurt Felix. But this was no casual call for fraternal advice: Felix was the 2012 NCAA decathlon champ for Boise State.

Team Battle Remains Tight

Heavy pre-meet favorites Arkansas mostly took care of business. In prelims, projected scorers Taylor Ellis-Watson (400), Jessica Kamilos (steeple, joined by Devin Clark), and the 4x400m qualified for Saturday's finals. We had hurdler/heptathlete Payton Stumbaugh projected to take second in the 100H and she failed to qualify--but that loss was offset by Taliyah Brooks taking an unexpected third place in the long jump.

In the other two finals for the Razorbacks tonight, Scott won the 10K and freshman Lexi Weeks won the pole vault. Weeks is the first frosh ever to sweep the indoor and outdoor PV titles, and she tied the biggest margin of victory in meet history. 

Arkansas's main rival Oregon had a mixed bag of a day. Star 100m sprinter Hannah Cunliffe shut it down with apparent injury halfway through her 100m semifinal. Cunliffe was at worst a co-favorite to win the 100m and she was the third leg on Oregon's favored 4x100m.

#NCAATF 100m favorite Hannah Cunliffe of Oregon pulled up in her semifinal race. pic.twitter.com/YqfukAx3Iq

— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) June 10, 2016

When asked after the meet if the Ducks had enough bullets in the chamber for Saturday, Oregon head coach Robert Johnson bluntly responded "No."  But we only had Ariana Washington projected for two total points, and she made the 100m and 200m finals with the top time in the former and the No. 2 time in the latter. Her inevitable points will cancel out the loss of Cunliffe. 

So this team battle is right where it was before the meet started: Arkansas is favored to win by 20 or so points.

Official #NCAATF Team Projections: pic.twitter.com/rHTBft7Dsy

— FloTrack (@FloTrack) June 10, 2016

In other prelim action...

Texas's Courtney Okolo broke her own meet record for the fastest time in the 400m prelims. She went 50.48, 0.3 faster than she ran in the semis before winning in 2014. No woman has ever broken 50 seconds at the NCAA meet; Okolo ran 49.71 in April.

The big favorites all advanced in the distances. Courtney Frerichs stayed upright in the steeple, Marta Freitas and Kaela Edwards auto-qualified in the 1500, and Claudia Saunders, Raevyn Rogers, Cecilia Barowski, and Olivia Baker all advanced to the 800m final. Saunders has been fourth at the Pac-12 final the last three years and second at NCAAs the last two.

The 4x100m final was hardest ever to qualify for. Three squads that went sub-44 (Arkansas, Texas, and Purdue) didn't make it; sub-44 had been fast enough to make every previous NCAA final.