2018 DI NCAA Outdoor Championships

2018 NCAA DI Outdoor Track & Field Championships Day 1 Recap

2018 NCAA DI Outdoor Track & Field Championships Day 1 Recap

Live updates from Day 1 of the 2018 NCAA DI Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

Jun 6, 2018 by Johanna Gretschel
2018 NCAA DI Outdoor Track & Field Championships Day 1 Recap

The NCAA DI Outdoor Track & Field Championships are here! Keep this page refreshed for updates on every event from Day 1 at Hayward Field, as the men's first day of competition goes down. 

LIVE RESULTS

Men's Distance PreviewMen's Sprint Preview

FloTrack PredictionsIndividual Rankings | Team Rankings

Running Events

Men's 4x100m Relay semi-finals | 4:32 PM PT

Advance top 2 from each heat, plus next best 2 to final.

Heat 1: Andre Ewers gives Florida State a nice anchor leg boost for the win in 39.00. North Carolina A&T takes the second automatic qualifying spot in 39.05. TCU (39.26) and Arkansas-Little Rock (39.31) will play the waiting game.

Heat 2: Florida blasts 38.49 NCAA leader! Arkansas just behind in 38.54, the second-fastest time in the nation this season. Ohio State (38.67) and Northwestern State (38.92) are potential time qualifiers.



Heat 3: Reigning national champions Houston win by a landslide in 38.53 ahead of Southern Miss in 38.91. A botched second hand-off sees No. 2 ranked LSU fail to finish the race.

Final Qualifiers: 

1. Florida, 38.49Q
2. Houston, 38.53Q
3. Arkansas, 38.54Q
4. Ohio State, 38.67q
5. Southern Miss, 38.91Q
6. Northwestern State, 38.92q
7. Florida State, 39.00Q
8. North Carolina A&T, 39.05Q

Men's 1500m semi-finals | 4:46 PM PT

Advance top 5 from each heat plus next best 2 times.

Heat 1: Lots of love from the crowd for Oregon's Sam Prakel and Mick Stanovsek. Field passes through first 300m in 50, 400m in 66.95.

With two laps to go, Diego Zarate of Virginia Tech and Prakel lead the field through 800m in 2:12.39. At the bell lap, Stanovsek and Prakel have broken away with Oliver Hoare of Wisconsin on their shoulder, 3:08 at 1200m.

At 300m, it's Prakel, Hoare, Stanovsek, Kiprotich and Zarate. Those five will hold on to auto spots as Prakel is first across the line in 3:49.33.

Heat 2: Collegiate record holder and three-time NCAA champion Josh Kerr of New Mexico is the star here.

Vincent Ciattei of VA Tech, NCAA indoor mile runner-up, is making sure this race is much quicker than the first section as they cover the first lap in 61.26. Luis Grijalva of NAU and Robert Domanic run 2-3 behind Ciattei; they pass 800m in 2:08 and now Kerr is moving up to the front.

Bell lap - 2:53.2/3:07 at 1200m, Ciattei, Kerr, Domanic

Kerr makes that final stretch look as easy as ever, coasting to the win in 3:47.47 ahead of Domanic, Ciattei, Sam Worley of Texas and Cameron Griffith of Arkansas, all of whom will qualify automatically to the final.



Final Qualifiers:

1. Josh Kerr, New Mexico, 3:47.47Q
2. Robert Domanic, Ole Miss, 3:47.61Q
3. Vincent Ciattei, Virginia Tech, 3:47.73Q
4. Sam Worley, Texas, 3:47.84Q
5. Cameron Griffith, Arkansas, 3:47.93Q
6. Amos Bartelsmeyer, Georgetown, 3:48.00q
7. Mike Marsella, Virginia, 3:48.01q
8. Sam Prakel, Oregon, 3:49.33Q
9. Oliver Hoare, Wisconsin, 3:49.42Q
10. Mick Stanovsek, Oregon, 3:49.83Q
11. Diego Zarate, Virginia Tech, 3:49.95Q
12. Justine Kiprotich, Michigan State, 3:50.03Q

Men's 3K Steeplechase semi-finals | 5:02 PM PT

Advance top 5 from each heat plus next best 2 to the final.

Heat 1: Mihret Coulter of Charlotte is the early leader but with a mile to go, Jamaine Coleman of Eastern Kentucky takes over the lead. 

With two laps to go, the five in auto-qualifier position are Coleman, Clayson Shumway of BYU, John Rice of Texas, Brian Barraza of Houston and NCAA leader Obsa Ali of Minnesota. With the bell lap coming up now, that last auto spot looks precarious as Aidan Tooker of Syracuse pulls even with Rice. 

Ali passes Coleman on the last water jump and he will capture this section win in 8:39.14 as a dramatic finish sees Rice and Tooker battle each other to the 4-5 spots, forcing Barraza, a pre-race NCAA favorite, out of the auto qualifier spot.

Heat 2: Tom Nobles of Charlotte leads the crew with one mile to go; Max Benoit, Matt Owens, Steven Fahy and Andrew Bowman are in auto qualifying spots.

With two laps to go, it's Benoit of Michigan State leading Owens of BYU, Fahy of Stanford, Andrew Gardner of Washington and Emmanuel Rotich of Tulane.

At the bell, Noah Affolder of Syracuse comes out of nowhere to take the lead! But Fahy of Stanford is running side-by-side and now in the lead on the backstretch. Owens of BYU, Gardner, Rotich make up the rest of the autos.

Fahy stumbles a bit on the water jump and Affolder passes him on the homestretch for the win in 8:40—with a celebratory flourish before crossing the line! Oof, that might give Fahy some fire for the finals...



Final Qualifiers:

1. Obsa Ali, Minnesota, 8:39.17Q
2. Clayson Shumway, BYU, 8:39.97Q
3. Jamaine Coleman, Eastern Kentucky, 8:40.06Q
4. John Rice, Texas, 8:40.22Q
5. Aidan Tooker, Syracuse, 8:40.24Q
6. Brian Barraza, Houston, 8:40.25q
7. Noah Affolder, Syracuse, 8:40.36Q
8. Steven Fahy, Stanford, 8:40.53Q
9. Andrew Gardner, Washington, 8:41.48Q
10. Matt Owens, BYU, 8:42.35Q
11. Riley Osen, Portland, 8:43.22q
12. Max Benoit, Michigan State, 8:44.94Q

Men's 110m Hurdles semi-finals | 5:32 PM PT

Advance top 2 from each heat plus next best 2 to final.

Heat 1: Grant Holloway up in the first section!!! Leggggo flamingo. The Florida sophomore is the second-fastest man in collegiate history with his PB of 13.15. He wins in 13.42 (+2.2), but with a bit of a fight from Texas' John Burt, the Big 12 champion who appears to be wearing a cast on his left arm. Burt runs 13.46.

Heat 2: Ruebin Walters of Alabama storms to a dominant win in 13.38 (+0.6). Antoine Llyod of Nebraska takes the other auto qualifier in 13.61.

Heat 3: Chad Zallow of Youngstown has the best start, but he gets relegated to just fourth place as David Kendziera of Illinois and LSU's true freshman Damion Thomas close hard to steal the top two spots, 13.43 to 13.44. Thomas' mark is a PB. Daniel Roberts of Kentucky, the No. 2 ranked man in the NCAA this year at 13.27, trips and falls on a hurdle in a spot of bad luck. He will not advance, though this section is currently under review.

Final Qualifiers:

1. Ruebin Walters, Alabama, 13.38Q
2. Grant Holloway, Florida, 13.42Q
3. David Kendziera, Illinois, 13.43Q
4. Damion Thomas, LSU, 13.44Q
5. John Burt, Texas, 13.46Q
6. Antoine Lloyd, Nebraska, 13.61Q
7. Trey Cunningham, Florida State, 13.64q
8. Luke Siedhoff, Nebraska, 13.71q

Men's 100m semi-finals | 5:46 PM PT

Advance top 2 from each heat plus next best 2 to final.

Heat 1: False start! No one will be charged. Houston's Cameron Burrell and Eli Hall take the top two spots in 10.07 and 10.10 (-0.9). Hall's time is a new PB, which is fairly surprising given that the reigning NCAA indoor 200m champion and American record holder did not qualify for nationals in his specialty event—leading many to think he may be injured.

Heat 2: Jaylen Bacon of Arkansas controls the race early, but the finish is nearly impossible to call as Bacon, Mario Burke of Houston, and McKinely West of Southern Miss all finish in 10.10. Divine Oduduru, the 200m favorite, finishes just fourth in 10.12. Nice for the Cougars—Houston will qualify three men to the 100m final.



Heat 3: Another super-close finish sees Andre Ewers of FSU win in 10.00 over Cravon Gillespie, 10.02.

Final Qualifiers:

1. Andre Ewers, Florida State, 10.00Q
2. Cravon Gillespie, Oregon, 10.02Q
3. Cejhae Greene, Georgia, 10.05q
4. Raheem Chambers, Auburn, 10.05q
5. Cameron Burrell, Houston, 10.07Q
6. Mario Burke, Houston 10.10Q
7. McKinely West, Southern Miss, 10.10Q
8. Elijah Hall, Houston, 10.10Q

Men's 400m semi-finals | 6:00 PM PT

Advance top 2 from each heat plus next best 2 to final.

Heat 1: Michael Norman time! The reigning NCAA indoor champion and world record holder from USC will take on sub-45 second performer Nathan Strother of Tennessee. Wow, he just made that 44.66 look super smooth. He's definitely got something special in store for the Hayward Field crowd this weekend. Strother, meanwhile, is never in the race and finishes outside of qualifying in fifth place, 45.72. The next three guys behind Norman all set PBs, including runner-up Tyrell Richard of South Carolina State who blows away his prior PB of 45.21 to run 44.7.



Heat 2: NCAA leader Nathon Allen of Auburn barely holds on to win in 44.83 over fast-closing Kahmari Montgomery of Houston in 44.92 and Wil London of Baylor in 44.98. London, who ran on Team USA's silver medal-winning 4x400m relay at worlds last summer, should be safe to make the final unless something super crazy happens in this last section...

Heat 3: The statuesque Akeem Bloomfield of Auburn just gobbles up the track with his lengthy stride (dude must be 7 feet tall), winning in 44.71. Obi Igbokwe of Arkansas takes second and London is safely qualified to the final. AMAZING—it took sub-45 to make the final this year.

Final Qualifiers:

1. Michael Norman, USC, 44.66Q
2. Tyrell Richard, South Carolina State, 44.70Q
3. Akeem Bloomfield, Auburn, 44.72Q
4. Nathon Allen, Auburn, 44.83Q
5. Kahmari Montgomery, Houston, 44.92Q
6. Obi Igbokwe, Arkansas, 44.94Q
7. Mar'yea Harris, Iowa, 44.94q
8. Wil London, Baylor, 44.98q

Men's 800m semi-finals | 6:14 PM PT

Advance top 2 from each heat plus next best 2 to final.

Heat 1: NCAA record holder Michael Saruni of UTEP in our first section! Check out today's sick Workout Wednesday for an inside look at his training alongside 2017 champ Emmanuel Korir.

51.3 for the opening lap via Dixon from Texas A&M. 200m to go, it's 1:19 with Dixon, Saruni and fellow UTEP Miner Jonah Koech. Saruni cruises to the lead in the final straight as he and Dixon will take the two auto qualifiers in 1:46.98 and 1:47.12.

Heat 2: Dejon Devroe of Miss State has a huge lead at the bell, 51.79 for the 400m. Bryce Hoppel of Kansas is moving well now with 200m to go, he will lead Robert Heppenstall of Wake Forest to the auto spots in 1:46.9 (PB) and 1:47.4; Heppenstall reportedly closes in 54.34. 

Heat 3: Miss State freshman Marco Arop takes over the lead from Erik Martinsson just before the bell lap in 51.99; at 200m, he surrenders the advantage to Isaiah Harris of Penn State. Harris and Arop will take the 1-2 spots in 1:46.99 and 1:47.14.

Final Qualifers:

1. Bryce Hoppel, Kansas, 1:46.9Q
2. Michael Saruni, UTEP, 1:46.98Q
3. Isaiah Harris, Penn State, 1:46.99Q
4. Devin Dixon, Texas A&M, 1:47.12Q
5. Marco Arop, Miss State, 1:47.14Q
6. Jonah Koech, UTEP, 1:47.28q
7. Robert Ford, USC, 1:47.38q
8. Robert Heppenstall, Wake Forest, 1:47.40Q

Men's 400m Hurdles semi-finals | 6:30 PM PT

Advance top 2 from each heat plus next best 2 to final.

Heat 1: Woof... as effortless as Michael Norman makes a sub-45 400m seem, his USC teammate Rai Benjamin is basically his equal over 400m hurdles. He runs 49.66 and makes it look like a jog. Jacob Smith of Northern Iowa runs 50.85 to grab the other auto qualifier.

Heat 2: Ugh, you hate to see that. Texas Tech's redshirt freshman Norman Grimes falls on the very first hurdle. He ran 49.38, the fifth-fastest time in the NCAA this year, to win the Big 12 individual title after overcoming a broken foot last year. Kenny Selmon of UNC wins the heat in 49.27 was David Kendziera (49.54) and Infinite Tucker (49.84) also break 50 seconds.

Heat 3: Kemar Mowatt of Arkansas dips below 50 seconds to win this section as Taylor McLaughlin—yep, brother of Sydney—nabs the second auto spot by a wide margin.

Final Qualifiers:

1. Kenny Selmon, UNC, 49.27Q
2. David Kendziera, Illinois, 49.54Q
3. Rai Benjamin, USC, 49.66Q
4. Infinite Tucker, Texas A&M, 49.84q
5. Kemar Mowatt, Arkansas, 49.98Q
6. Taylor McLaughlin, Michigan, 50.27Q
7. Maksims Sincukovs, Arizona, 50.49q
8. Jacob Smith, Northern Iowa, 50.85Q

Men's 200m semi-finals | 6:44 PM PT

Advance top 2 from each heat plus next best 2 to final.

Heat 1: Divine Oduduru of Texas Tech will hope to redeem himself after failing to make the 100m final. Well, he was closer this time—third behind Kendal Williams of UGA (20.23) and Jaron Flournoy of LSU (20.26), so he'll have to wait it out to see if he qualifies.

Heat 2: Mustaqeem Williams controls this race with a nice personal best of 20.23, but Andre Ewers has an impressive close to bypass NCAA leader Ncincilili for the final auto spot.

Heat 3: Keitavious Walter of Arkansas controls the first half of this race before getting run down by Rodney Rowe of North Carolina A&T and McKinely West of Southern Miss. Walter will not make the final.

Final Qualifiers:

1. Kendal Williams, Georgia, 20.23Q
2. Mustaqeem Williams, Tennessee, 20.23Q
3. Jaron Flournoy, LSU, 20.26Q
4. Andre Ewers, Florida State, 20.31Q
5. Divine Oduduru, Texas Tech, 20.33q
6. Kenzo Cotton, Arkansas, 20.38q
7. Rodney Rowe, North Carolina A&T, 20.49Q
8. McKinely West, Southern Miss, 20.54Q

Men's 10K Final | 7:08 PM PT

Analysis: Our first track final of the Championships!!!! This one should be super fun. I am personally predicting part deux of NCAA XC, where we saw NAU's Matthew Baxter and Tyler Day battle Alabama's army for control of the pace and ultimately place 2-3 behind Justyn Knight of Syracuse. No Knight tonight, so I'm picking Baxter FTW. Now, let's go!

YEP, Alabama's trio of Vincent Kiprop, Gilbert Kigen and Alfred Chelanga are getting things going with opening splits of 60.9 and 2:05.4.

1200m - 3:12.2, Kiprop, Kigen, Chelanga with NAU's Day leading the pack back up to the Crimson Tide

1600m - 4:21, Chelanga, Kiprop, Kigen, Day, Jacob Thomson of Kentucky, Baxter

2K: 5:34  (kilometer split slowed from 2:38 for the first 1K to 2:55.2 for the second K)

3K: 8:35.7 (2:57.1 kilometer split), Chelanga, Kiprop, Kigen, Day, Thomsen, Baxter

3200m: 9:06, no change in order

3600m: Here we go! Having some NCAA XC deja vu right about now as Day and Baxter charge to the lead with a 69.5 split

4K: 11:23.7 (2:53 kilometer split), Day and Baxter lead Kiprop, Kigen, Chelanga, Ben Flanagan of Michigan

4400m: 68.9 split for Day, leading Baxter, Kiprop, Flanagan, Thomsen, Kigen, Chelanga

5K: 14:15.9 as Baxter now takes over pacing duties up front for Day

6K: 17:10 (2:54 kilometer), Day takes over leading again with Baxter running No. 2 

7K: 20:06 (2:52.6 kilometer), Day, Chelanga, Flanagan, Baxter

7600m: 21:48, Kiprop and Flanagan pass Day, who now sits in third with Thomsen, Baxter, Connor McMillan of BYU and Dillon Maggard of Utah State just behind

8K: 22:59 (2:56.8 kilometer), Kiprop, Flanagan, Day, Thomsen

8400m: There's 7 men legitimately in contention right now—Kiprop, Flanagan, Day, Thomsen, Baxter, Maggard, McMillan

8800m: 25:23. With three laps to go, the front pack narrows to six as McMillan falls off the pace and gets swallowed up by Kigen, who could still pass anyone else who dies off the front pack.

9K: 25:57.2 (2:57 kilometer)

9220m: There's still six men up front and now they're starting to kick with two laps to go. Baxter is moving back up to Kiprop and now, with the bell lap coming up, Maggard pulls even with Kiprop! Flanagan follows in pursuit! It's Maggard, Flanagan and Kiprop with a 65-second penultimate lap! Baxter and Day are still fighting but it looks like a two-man race!

With 200m to go, Kiprop leads Flanagan but both are closing hard!!!

WOW Flanagan powers by Kiprop for the win in 28:34.53!!!! 56.95 closer! 2:37.4 final kilometer! 

Kiprop hangs on for second, Maggard in third and Day and Baxter go 4-5! 

Final Results:

1. Ben Flanagan, Michigan, 28:34.53
2. Vincent Kiprop, Alabama, 28:34.99
3. Dillon Maggard, Utah State, 28:38.36
4. Tyler Day, NAU, 28:39.03
5. Matthew Baxter, NAU, 28:39.35
6. Jacob Thomsen, Kentucky, 28:40.5
7. Gilbert Kigen, Alabama, 28:55.66
8. Robert Brandt, UCLA, 29:13.12

Men's 4x400m Relay semi-finals | 7:48 PM PT

Advance top 2 from each heat plus next best 2 to final.

Final Qualifiers:

1. Texas A&M, 3:01.13Q
2. USC, 3:01.3Q
3. Florida, 3:01.61q
4. LSU, 3:02.68Q
5. Arkansas, 3:03.98Q
6. Stanford, 3:04.82q
7. Houston, 3:06.51Q
8. Baylor, 3:06.52Q

Field Events

Men's Decathlon

Standings through five events at the conclusion of Day 1:

1. Tim Duckworth, Kentucky, 4495
2. Johannes Erm, Georgia, 4321
3. Harrison Williams, Stanford, 4311
4. Scott Filip, Rice, 4278
5. Karl Saluri, Georgia, 4268
6. Tim Ehrhardt, Michigan State, 4185
7. Trent Nytes, Wisconsin, 4131
8. Joe Delgado, Louisville, 4112



Men's Hammer Throw Final | 2:00 PM PT

Analysis: Denzel Comenentia of Georgia leads the series from his very first throw of 244-11/74.65m. Attempt No. 5 sees him improve his NCAA No. 10 all-time mark to 250-8/76.41m. His previous best was 250-3/76.29m, set back in March of this year.



LSU freshman Jake Norris places third with a best of 73.24m, a British U20 record.

Final Results:

1. Denzel Comenentia, Georgia, 76.41m
2. Anders Eriksson, Florida, 73.76m
3. Jake Norris, LSU, 73.24m
4. Rudy Winkler, Rutgers, 72.74m
5. Daniel Haugh, Alabama, 72.72m
6. Morgan Shigo, Penn State, 72.47m
7. Thomas Mardal, Florida, 72.20m
8. AJ McFarland, Florida, 71.29m

Men's Pole Vault Final | 5:00 PM PT

Analysis: After two hours of competition, there are four men alive and fighting for the NCAA outdoor title. Reigning outdoor champion Matthew Ludwig of Akron is the only one who can boast a pefect record so far, as he, Torben Laidig of Virginia Tech, Chris Nilsen of South Dakota and Jacob Wooten of Texas A&M have all successfully cleared 5.55m/18-2.5.

At 5.60m, Ludwig misses for the first time (due to a big tailwind, according to Pole Vault Power) and Nilsen takes over a lead that he would not relinquish. No one else would complete a clean clearance for the rest of the day, but Nilsen successfully cleared not only 5.60m, but 5.65m, 5.70m and 5.83m—breaking a 22-year-old NCAA meet record—to win his second national title and first outdoors. The sophomore from South Dakota won the 2017 NCAA indoor title and was third outdoors last year and second indoors this year.

The previous NCAA meet record was 5.82m/19-1, set by Lawrence Johnson of Tennessee in 1996.

Final Results:

1. Chris Nilsen, South Dakota, 5.83m
2. Matthew Ludwig, Akron, 5.55m
3. Torben Laidig, Virginia Tech, 5.55m
4. Jacob Wooten, Texas A&M, 5.55m
5. Tray Oates, Samford, 5.45m
5. Hussain Al Hizam, Kansas, 5.45m
7. Deakin Volz, Virginia Tech, 5.45m
8. Joel Benitez, Virginia Tech, 5.45m

Men's Javelin Final | 5:45 PM PT

Analysis: Mississippi State freshman Anderson Peters set a new NCAA meet record of 82.82m/271-9 to win the competition by nearly three meters. The previous meet record was set just last year by Ioannis Kyriazis of Texas A&M at 82.58m/270-11.

Final Results:

1. Anderson Peters, Miss State, 82.82m
2. Nicolas Quijera, Miss State, 80.21m
3. Sindri Gudmundsson, Utah State, 76.37m
4. Trevor Danielson, Stanford, 71.80m
5. Michael Criticos, Memphis, 71.25m
6. Elijah Marta, Kentucky, 70.81m
7. Fabian Dohmann, Texas, 70.58m
8. Aaron True, Wichita State, 70.26m

Men's Long Jump Final | 6:00 PM PT

Analysis: The turnaround proved to be just a little too tight for Florida's super-soph Grant Holloway, who entered these championships hoping to win the 110m hurdles and long jump. He remains the favorite for the hurdle title on Friday, but finished just outside of a scoring position with a ninth-place performance today. 

Zack Bazile of Ohio State set a huge personal best of 8.37m/27-5.5 to win the title, demolishing his prior record of 8.13m. He has finished 22nd and 23rd at the past two editions of the NCAA Outdoor Championships, though he was fourth indoors.

Final Results:

1. Zack Bazile, Ohio State, 8.37m
2. Jordan Latimer, Akron, 8.02m
3. Odaine Lewis, Texas Tech, 7.99m
4. Rayvon Grey, LSU, 7.96m
5. Charles Brown, Texas Tech, 7.90m
6. Kyle Darrow, Northeastern, 7.88m
7. KeAndre Bates, Florida, 7.86m
8. Tahar Triki, Texas A&M, 7.86m

Men's Shot Put Final | 6:40 PM PT

Analysis: Georgia's Denzel Comenentia makes it two national titles on the day, as he becomes the third man in collegiate history to win both the hammer throw and the shot put. Unlike the hammer, which he dominated from throw No. 1, the shot put took Comenentia until Round 5 to move into the lead after hovering around fifth-sixth position for most of the competition.




Final Results:

1. Denzel Comenentia, Georgia, 20.61m
2. Josh Awotunde, South Carolina, 20.57m
3. Mostafa Hassan, Colorado State, 20.44m
4. Adrian Piperi, Texas, 20.41m
5. Jordan Geist, Arizona, 20.32m
6. Oghenakpobo Efekoro, Virginia, 20.28m
7. Austin Droogsma, Florida State, 20.23m
8. Nicholas Demaline, Ohio State, 20.18m