NCAA Men's Field Preview: Olympians, Freshmen Contenders, & Lots Of Gators
NCAA Men's Field Preview: Olympians, Freshmen Contenders, & Lots Of Gators
Field event preview for the 2017 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships this weekend in College Station, Texas.
The Florida Gators are projected to win the NCAA indoor men's team title this weekend in College Station, Texas, and a good portion of their points should come from the field events via KeAndre Bates and his freshman compatriots Grant Holloway and Clayton Brown. A fellow first-year, Chris Nilsen, owns the NCAA lead in the pole vault this year and could be the first freshman to win the event in five years. On the other end of the spectrum, Olympians Rudy Winkler and Filip Mihaljevi bring a bevy of experience to the weight throw and shot put fields. Read on for more highlights in each field event.
Freshman Grant Holloway is making an immediate impact on the NCAA after a record-setting prep career in Virginia. The Florida Gator could feasibly leave College Station with two NCAA titles at the end of the weekend, as he owns the top mark in the 60H at 7.58 and the No. 2 mark in the long jump at 8.05m (26-5).
On the other side of the spectrum, No. 1 ranked Julian Harvey's progression to the top of the NCAA has been a long and incremental journey. The senior at Southern Illinois Edwardsville never won a state title while in high school but advanced to the NCAA prelims in all three jumps (long, triple, high) as a freshman. Last year, he made the NCAA Championships for both indoors and outdoors in the long jump, where he placed 13th and 11th, respectively. In a year, he's improved almost a foot from 7.89m/25-10.75 to 8.17m/26-9.75, which leads the NCAA by nearly five inches.
Four other men have jumped farther than 26 feet this year: KeAndre Bates from Florida, Damarcus Simpson from Oregon, and Travonn White from Arkansas.
The last freshman to win the NCAA indoor pole vault was Andrew Irwin in 2012, his first of two consecutive titles. Chris Nilsen could repeat the feat this weekend; the South Dakota athlete's season-best mark of 5.70m/18-8.25 leads the NCAA by almost two inches.
His top competition is a familiar name: Deakin Volz of Virginia Tech. The duo roomed together at this past summer's IAAF World U20 Championships, where Volz was the surprise winner with a 6-inch PR over Olympics-bound Australian Kurtis Marschall.
Volz has cleared 18-6.75 this season. Kyle Pater of Air Force has cleared 18-6.5; no one else has has met 18-5.
Other notable names include Volz's teammate, No. 5-ranked Torben Laidig, who was runner-up at the NCAA Outdoor Championships last year, and No. 7 Devin King of Southeastern Louisiana, who was third at both the indoor and outdoor championships last year.
Randall Cunningham entered last year's indoor championship with the No. 2 mark in the NCAA. Instead of the coming-out celebration it was meant to be, the then-sophomore at USC cleared just one height -- 6-11.75, more than 5 inches below his PR -- and ended the competition in 13th place. A week later, his little sister, Vashti, won the IAAF world indoor title and turned pro at the tender age of 18. No pressure, right?
The opposite happened in the spring. Cunningham entered the outdoor championships ranked No. 5, more than 3 inches outside of Avion Jones' NCAA-leading mark of 7-7. But with the pressure off, Cunningham performed better: He was clean through five straight jumps and won his first national title with a mark of 2.25m/7-4.5. Jones placed fourth.
This season, Cunningham's 2.27m/7-5.25 leads the NCAA by slightly more than an inch.
Two competitors tie for the No. 2 spot at 2.25m/7-4.5: Clayton Brown of Florida, a freshman who hails from Jamaica, and Kyle Landon, a senior from Southern Illinois who took second at the U.S. Olympic Trials last summer. Landon did not meet the Olympic standard, so he did not compete in Rio.
Triple Jump: Clive Pullen stands in the way of a Florida sweep
Florida's star long jumpers, junior KeAndre Bates and freshman Clayton Brown, rank No. 2 and No. 3 in the NCAA this year with best marks of 55-2 and 54-4.75, respectively. But it will take some luck for the Gators to pull off the sweep, as Arkansas' Clive Pullen leads the NCAA by more than an inch with his best mark of 56-4.75.
The product of Kingston College High School in Jamaica is the defending indoor national champion. He placed just 23rd at NCAA Outdoors but bounced back to win the Jamaican national championships and qualify for the Rio Olympic Games.
Heptathlon: Harrison Williams returns, plus the SEC match-up we never got to see
Harrison Williams of Stanford is the top returner from last year's national indoor championship, where he took fourth in the pecking order with 5,937 points. Williams ranks No. 8 on the descending order list this season.
Three athletes have recorded over 6,000 points in competition this year: Luca Wieland of Minnesota (6,089 points), Devon Williams of Georgia (6,047 points), and Tim Duckworth of Kentucky (6,006 points). Wieland won't compete in College Station, but Devon and Duckworth are both entered. Duckworth's season-best set a new British national record in the heptathlon, but he did not enter the Southeastern Conference Championships against Williams, instead opting for individual field events. The NCAA final, then, will also be a battle for true SEC supremacy.
With the top eight placers from the 2016 NCAA Indoor Championships graduated and ninth-placer Vinny Gjokaj of Michigan State not competing this season, Cornell's Rudy Winkler is the top returner to the weight throw field after placing 10th last year. The senior is a hammer throw specialist during the outdoor season, and though he won the U.S. Olympic Trials and competed in the Rio Games in that event, he has never won an NCAA title.
This year, Winkler ranks No. 3 in the NCAA with his all-time PB of 23.32m/76-6.25. No. 2-ranked Gleb Dudarev of Kansas, the Belarus junior record-holder in hammer and weight throws, has a season-best mark of 23.44m/76-11, while No. 1 Johnnie Jackson of LSU, a two-time national junior college champion in the weight throw, owns a best mark of 23.56m/77-3.75.
Virginia's Filip Mihaljevic is the class of the field. The 2016 IAAF World Indoor Championships bronze medalist is the defending outdoor national champion and took runner-up honors at last year's indoor championship. He's garnered a total of eight All-American honors in shot put and discus and competed in the Rio Olympic Games last summer for his native Croatia.
His credentials make him the surefire favorite, but his 19.97m/65-6.25 actually ranks "just" third in the NCAA this year.
Colorado State's Mostafa Hassan leads the NCAA this year with his best of 21.30m/69-10.75, and Jared Kern of Southern Illinois ranks No. 2 on the descending order list with his 20.47m/67-2 mark.
Long Jump: Youth vs. experience
Freshman Grant Holloway is making an immediate impact on the NCAA after a record-setting prep career in Virginia. The Florida Gator could feasibly leave College Station with two NCAA titles at the end of the weekend, as he owns the top mark in the 60H at 7.58 and the No. 2 mark in the long jump at 8.05m (26-5).
On the other side of the spectrum, No. 1 ranked Julian Harvey's progression to the top of the NCAA has been a long and incremental journey. The senior at Southern Illinois Edwardsville never won a state title while in high school but advanced to the NCAA prelims in all three jumps (long, triple, high) as a freshman. Last year, he made the NCAA Championships for both indoors and outdoors in the long jump, where he placed 13th and 11th, respectively. In a year, he's improved almost a foot from 7.89m/25-10.75 to 8.17m/26-9.75, which leads the NCAA by nearly five inches.
Four other men have jumped farther than 26 feet this year: KeAndre Bates from Florida, Damarcus Simpson from Oregon, and Travonn White from Arkansas.
Pole Vault: could a freshman win?
The last freshman to win the NCAA indoor pole vault was Andrew Irwin in 2012, his first of two consecutive titles. Chris Nilsen could repeat the feat this weekend; the South Dakota athlete's season-best mark of 5.70m/18-8.25 leads the NCAA by almost two inches.
His top competition is a familiar name: Deakin Volz of Virginia Tech. The duo roomed together at this past summer's IAAF World U20 Championships, where Volz was the surprise winner with a 6-inch PR over Olympics-bound Australian Kurtis Marschall.
Volz has cleared 18-6.75 this season. Kyle Pater of Air Force has cleared 18-6.5; no one else has has met 18-5.
Other notable names include Volz's teammate, No. 5-ranked Torben Laidig, who was runner-up at the NCAA Outdoor Championships last year, and No. 7 Devin King of Southeastern Louisiana, who was third at both the indoor and outdoor championships last year.
High Jump: Randall Cunningham looks for first indoor title against talented field
Randall Cunningham entered last year's indoor championship with the No. 2 mark in the NCAA. Instead of the coming-out celebration it was meant to be, the then-sophomore at USC cleared just one height -- 6-11.75, more than 5 inches below his PR -- and ended the competition in 13th place. A week later, his little sister, Vashti, won the IAAF world indoor title and turned pro at the tender age of 18. No pressure, right?
The opposite happened in the spring. Cunningham entered the outdoor championships ranked No. 5, more than 3 inches outside of Avion Jones' NCAA-leading mark of 7-7. But with the pressure off, Cunningham performed better: He was clean through five straight jumps and won his first national title with a mark of 2.25m/7-4.5. Jones placed fourth.
This season, Cunningham's 2.27m/7-5.25 leads the NCAA by slightly more than an inch.
Two competitors tie for the No. 2 spot at 2.25m/7-4.5: Clayton Brown of Florida, a freshman who hails from Jamaica, and Kyle Landon, a senior from Southern Illinois who took second at the U.S. Olympic Trials last summer. Landon did not meet the Olympic standard, so he did not compete in Rio.
Triple Jump: Clive Pullen stands in the way of a Florida sweep
Florida's star long jumpers, junior KeAndre Bates and freshman Clayton Brown, rank No. 2 and No. 3 in the NCAA this year with best marks of 55-2 and 54-4.75, respectively. But it will take some luck for the Gators to pull off the sweep, as Arkansas' Clive Pullen leads the NCAA by more than an inch with his best mark of 56-4.75.
The product of Kingston College High School in Jamaica is the defending indoor national champion. He placed just 23rd at NCAA Outdoors but bounced back to win the Jamaican national championships and qualify for the Rio Olympic Games.
Heptathlon: Harrison Williams returns, plus the SEC match-up we never got to see
Harrison Williams of Stanford is the top returner from last year's national indoor championship, where he took fourth in the pecking order with 5,937 points. Williams ranks No. 8 on the descending order list this season.
Three athletes have recorded over 6,000 points in competition this year: Luca Wieland of Minnesota (6,089 points), Devon Williams of Georgia (6,047 points), and Tim Duckworth of Kentucky (6,006 points). Wieland won't compete in College Station, but Devon and Duckworth are both entered. Duckworth's season-best set a new British national record in the heptathlon, but he did not enter the Southeastern Conference Championships against Williams, instead opting for individual field events. The NCAA final, then, will also be a battle for true SEC supremacy.
Weight Throw: Olympian Rudy Winkler aims for first NCAA title
With the top eight placers from the 2016 NCAA Indoor Championships graduated and ninth-placer Vinny Gjokaj of Michigan State not competing this season, Cornell's Rudy Winkler is the top returner to the weight throw field after placing 10th last year. The senior is a hammer throw specialist during the outdoor season, and though he won the U.S. Olympic Trials and competed in the Rio Games in that event, he has never won an NCAA title.
This year, Winkler ranks No. 3 in the NCAA with his all-time PB of 23.32m/76-6.25. No. 2-ranked Gleb Dudarev of Kansas, the Belarus junior record-holder in hammer and weight throws, has a season-best mark of 23.44m/76-11, while No. 1 Johnnie Jackson of LSU, a two-time national junior college champion in the weight throw, owns a best mark of 23.56m/77-3.75.
Shot Put: Olympian, world indoor medalist Filip Mihaljevi the class of the field
Virginia's Filip Mihaljevic is the class of the field. The 2016 IAAF World Indoor Championships bronze medalist is the defending outdoor national champion and took runner-up honors at last year's indoor championship. He's garnered a total of eight All-American honors in shot put and discus and competed in the Rio Olympic Games last summer for his native Croatia.
His credentials make him the surefire favorite, but his 19.97m/65-6.25 actually ranks "just" third in the NCAA this year.
Colorado State's Mostafa Hassan leads the NCAA this year with his best of 21.30m/69-10.75, and Jared Kern of Southern Illinois ranks No. 2 on the descending order list with his 20.47m/67-2 mark.