Virginia’s Henry Wynne was the victor in a tactical NCAA men’s mile, as the junior zoomed to a 1:54 final 800 to capture his first ever National title in 4:06.63.

Henry Wynne of @UVA_Track is the NCAA men's mile title! 55 last two laps pic.twitter.com/a9QR1gJlTF

— FloTrack (@FloTrack) March 12, 2016

 
The pace was brutally slow early on even by championships standards, as Wynne led the field through halfway in 2:11.87. He was met with serious heat in the form of UTEP’s Jonah Koech when the Kenyan freshman hit the bell even with Wynne, but Koech would pay for the hard move that got him to the front— a 26.98 penultimate lap— as he could only manage a 28.26 last circuit. 

Koech would settle for sixth.

But the challengers were still aplenty for Wynne over a lightning quick last lap. 

Oregon’s Blake Haney— who entered with the top seed of 3:56.36— was second in this kicker’s race, with Penn’s Tommy Awad and Haney’s Duck teammate Sam Prakel falling in line in 3rd and 4th respectively. 

Haney closed in 27.27, but came up just .12 seconds short of the crown in 4:06.75. Awad also hammered home like a freight train, and even his eye-popping 27.00 final 200— quickest in the field— was not enough to catch Wynne. The Penn Quaker finished in 4:06.97.

Men's mile #NCAATF results.. Big time points for @OregonTF pic.twitter.com/0QgwLeFeLC

— FloTrack (@FloTrack) March 12, 2016

We’ll have more shortly…