Now, one week out from the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Championships in Geneva, OH, we at D3GD are still reeling from the emotional high of all the performances. Two world records, three athletes under the previous national record and several surprising victories were among some of the highlights of this year's championships. Thank you for letting us ride.
Vaught, Traore and Gregory rewrite the record book in the men's 200m race
In what was clearly the most historic event of the weekend, Centre's JP Vaught, Rama's Cheick Traore and Gallaudet's Eric Gregory all ran under the previous 200m national record of 20.62 set by Gregory last month. Their times of 20.55, 20.56 and 20.60 are now the first through third fastest performances at this event in D3 history.
All three had incredible weekends, each scoring 16 points in two events. Vaught competed in the 100m and 200m sprints, taking bronze in the 100m and defending gold in the 200m. His time of 20.55 regained his place as the national record holder in the 200 meters. Traore took two close second-place finishes in the 400m and 200m sprints, clocking 46.54 and 20.56 to move up to No. 16 and No. 2 all-time in each event. Gregory won the 400m with a No. 8 all-time time of 46.19 and took bronze in the 200m, lowering his personal best to 20.60, No. 3 all-time. Both times they set new world records for the deaf.
Hogue sweeps the women's short sprints
In the women's sprints, Nebraska Wesleyan's Bella Hogue had a stellar weekend, adding two more national championship trophies to her trophy case in the 200 meters indoors. In the 100m and 200m sprint prelims, Hogue made history, her time of 11.74 in the 100m was 8th all time and her time of 23.79 in the 200m was the 6th best time in D3 history.
These performances shocked Hogue himself, who said in an interview with D3GD: “I just can't believe it. I crossed the line and I wasn't sure what time it was, but I knew I had been doing what I had in mind all week. It's just exciting to see all my hard work pay off."
And it paid off as she won the short sprint events on Saturday to take victory in the 100m in 11.57, the fourth-fastest time in the women's 100m in D3 history in all conditions. A few hours later, she won the 200m in a very impressive time of 23.56, bettering her 6th all-time performance two days ahead of the 3rd fastest time in D3 history.
Marks gets her gold...twice
Anyone who has followed this year knows that Ari Marks' national title has been a long time coming. The Wellesley standout has finished second to Kassie Parker of Loras three times in a row – once in fall cross country and twice indoors after two strong efforts to win. This time Marks used a new strategy:
"I didn't want it all to come down to a shot in the last 100 meters, because I don't think I have the strongest shot in the group, so I decided to take a step and just go and try the Polish bridge," she said.
In the 10km, Marks covered Parker's move attempt by making a move of her own with two miles to go. With this move, Marks turned 85-second laps into 79-second laps and never looked back. The determination of this move was enough to end the race and create a significant lead over Parker and the rest of the field. Realizing the win was hers, Marks pushed even harder, clicking steady solo 77s. Her last lap was a quick 76 seconds, and since she crossed the finish line 25 times, she would be the national champion. She beat the state 10 kilometer record holder Parker by 27 seconds.
Two days later, Marks used the same strategy at 5km and made a big move with 1200m to go. Fans could feel deja vu as the growing rift between Marks and Parker was known since two days ago. With a 5:01 final mile, Marks captured her second national title of the weekend and crossed the finish line with a new PR of 16:08.90, the fourth-fastest women's 5K time in NCAA D3 history. Once there was a time when Marks never finished higher than second place, she will now leave Geneva as a two-time national champion and become the eighth woman in D3 history to win both the 5k and 10k at the same championship.Hear what she had to say about the weekend in the latest episode of the podcast.
Verkerke rides 1500 m with men
When the first to third seeds in the 1500m fall in qualifying, anyone can win the title. UW Eau Claire's Sam Verkerke was on a perfect trajectory for the title. His 3:46.18 win at the WIAC Championships was an eight-second PR, and his 1:50.01 win in the third heat of the last-chance St. Francis just two weeks before the NCAAs was a PR of five seconds in the 800m. Besides, the man has confidence. He told D3GD in an interview after his preliminary victory that he was "going for the win" on Saturday. I'm only a sophomore, I'm looking forward to Verkerke being on the list of the best in the years to come, not only in the 1500 but also in the 800.
Ryan Wilson will not be overslept
After winning the indoor title and nobody in oursdelivery forecast(we're taking the hit here), MIT's Ryan Wilson won his second straight national title in the men's 800 meters, winning in 1:50.19. Wilson said in an interview with D3GD that his strategy with the NCAAs is always to be patient for the openings, save some energy for the last 100 yards of the race and be ready for anything. "Any situation that could happen, I try to be prepared for it," he said. "When I'm out last, when I'm leading the whole thing, I'm just trying to be ready for whatever happens."
Not only is Wilson a great championship runner, but his PR of 1:48.49 (which he ran unattached last year because MIT couldn't compete due to COVID) makes for a deadly combination. He beat a packed field of seven athletes under 1:50 on Saturday, showing for the second time that he deserves to be in the conversation for the national 800m title.
JCU men appear on the home field
Only one men's team had a better day in Geneva than local favorites John Carroll, and that one team brought home the national team title. The Blue Streaks finished second to repeat national champion UW-Eau Claire, who won the men's title with a whopping 73 points (more on the historic Blugolds weekend later). John Carroll scored in five events, three of which featured two individual scorers. The biggest event of the weekend for JCU was the men's 10km race, with the distance duo of Alex Phillip and Jamie Dailey going 1-2. There's only one feeling better than crossing the line like a champion, and that's crossing the line like a champion and then turning around to see your teammate crossing right behind you. To add to the excitement of Saturday's weekend, first-time individual national qualifiers Cormac Peppard-Kramer and Ethan Domitrovich scored big points in the men's steeplechase final, finishing third and fourth respectively, for a combined total of 11 points. as the day wore on, the Blue Streaks made five more All-American honors in the sprint events, four with the men's 4x100m relay team of Mick Doyle, Garrett Clark, Mark Zahren and Jimmy Kartsonas placing fifth, and one from Clark's fifth-place finish in the fast final at 200 meters for men.
In grand final form, Dailey and Phillip doubled up in the 5km race, the penultimate event of the meet, for the last chance to collect team points. Both were in the lead pack at the bell lap. XC runner-up Elias Lindgren of Williams looked like he was running away with the win until the last 100 meters as the chase began to close in on him. Like an empty car with a gas station in sight, a desperate Lindgren began to sink. Then a determined Dailey charged down the home stretch, closely followed by Williams' Grahm Tuohy-Gaydos. Two crossed the finish line, Tuohy-Gaydos taking second and Dailey becoming national champion for the first time. With shouts of celebration, Dailey immediately ran to his coach, who fell to the floor with him in a lavish embrace in front of dozens of JCU team members and fans. With a few seconds to spare, Phillip would grab the final All-American spot and the two would add 11 final points to their team tally.
“The support we've received from the John Carroll community is second to none,” Dailey said. “They were electric during that 5km and also that 10km. It's always a great opportunity when the National Championship is in your backyard - it's about a 45 minute drive for us - so we had a lot of support.
Dailey also stated that the team goal was to finish higher than their distance team did in the fall with their fourth place finish in the field. They were successful in this endeavor, their combination of team points in five events and eight athletes being enough to secure a team second place finish for the JCU men, the first podium finish in the history of the JCU track and field program.
The MIT folks are bringing four national titles back to Cambridge
Of all the teams that took the podium last weekend, the men from MIT scored the fewest points in the events. However, when three athletes win a total of four national titles, they have a pretty good chance of winning the team trophy. The Engineers were led by Kenneth Wei, who won both the long jump and 110m hurdles, becoming the first man in championship history to win both events in the same event. His leap of 7.88 meters is the third longest long jump in D3 history, and his mark of 14.05 in the high hurdles currently ranks 18th all-time. In a post-race interview with D3GD, Wei said he wanted to succeed for his coach and his teammates.
"My teammates put in a lot of effort to get here, and seeing them succeed and run really gave me a boost," he said. "It allows me to keep going even when I feel tired or sore or tired."
Along with Wei's 20 points and Wilson's 10 points in the men's 800m, Luka Sršić rounded out the team's scoring by winning the pole vault championship with a PR leap of 5.10 meters to lift MIT to the third-place trophy.
Kadiri jumps to a double victory
Victoria Kadiri became the first indoor state champion in Johns Hopkins program history when she won the long jump in the winter. After this weekend, Kadiri added two more national titles to the Hopkins history books, becoming just the third person for Hopkins to win a title away from home. With these victories, Kadiri surpassed Sylke Knuppel, a two-time national javelin champion, for the most national titles in the history of the women's program, both indoors and outdoors.
Her winning jumps of 6.06 meters in the long jump and 12.43 meters in the triple jump are number 12 and number 18 respectively of all time. Only a sophomore, expect Kadiri to increase her presence in the Hopkins program and in the D3 books of national history for years to come.
Carroll dominates the pitching ring
Carroll entered the game with a whopping seven innings and left with two National Champions and two All-Americans. Steven Hermsen set the tone on day one, winning the men's discus with a throw of 54.93 meters on his fifth attempt. Although it was a championship throw, the throw was still four yards short of Hermsen's season best of 58.60 yards, which placed him an impressive eighth all-time in D3 history.
Discus duo Vanessa Uitenbroek and Cate Gudaitis followed Hermsen's victory in the discus event with two All-American finishes. Uitenbroek was second and Gudaitis sixth with a total of 11 points contributing to the team score.
Emily Uitenbroek defended her national hammer title on the final day with a throw of 57.12m. Her PR jump of 58.61 meters from last season puts Uitenbroek at 15th on the all-time list. We would have to do a thorough check to confirm this statistic, but the Uitenbroeks are undoubtedly the most successful siblings in this year's championship based on their total of 18 points.
St. John Fisher's Rollins wins fourth straight high jump title
Kyle Rollins of St. John Fishera won his fourth consecutive high jump title last weekend. With this accomplishment, he has the second most state titles in the high jump in D3 history. Only Wheaton's Dan Olson has had more, winning five indoor and outdoor titles in a season.
When asked how he achieves consistent success at the NCAA meet, Rollins replied:
"It's a different game every year," he said. "The boys immediately jumped really high, so I knew it was going to be a good day for all of us. I am happy that I can stay consistent and continue to jump high. As things got over 2'10, "height became really important, so I'm happy to come here and perform."
Rollins also competed in the triple jump competition on Saturday, placing sixth overall. Rounding out his time in St. John Fisher with 12 All-American honors to his name and will continue to compete this summer in hopes of qualifying for the USA Championships in Eugene.
Lora's women and UW-Eau Claire repeat as team champions
The team fights were again won by the Loras women and the UW-Eau Claire men, this time without the protest drama and fruit snacks.
Loras was led by the relay team of Stevie Lambe, Alyssa Pfadenhauer, Elayna Bahl and Marion Edwards, who both won relay titles. They beat Wash U's all-time No. 6 and Redlands' all-time No. 9 in the finals, winning in 46.29. Just like indoors, Loras sealed the deal for the team title with a convincing win in the 4x400m relay. The team won in a blistering 3:41.77, the fifth-fastest time in D3 history. Pfadenhauer and Bahl also scored points in their individual events, as Pfadenhauer won bronze in the women's 400m and Bahl finished seventh in the women's 400m hurdles final.
In the distance events, Parker was second in the 10km and 5km, adding 16 valuable points to the team score, and on the field, Grace Alley was second in the women's high jump and sixth in the heptathlon.
UW Eau Claire convincingly won the men's team trophy, this time winning outright instead of as runner-up. The Blugolds were led by Marcus Weaver, who repeated as a two-time state champion in the men's javelin and decathlon. This win comes after a devastating DQ in the indoor hurdles that forced the indoor heptathlon national record to be better than the rest of the competition. He was joined at several events by teammates Abrahm Schroedl and Mitch Stegeman, who finished third and fourth respectively. Schroedl also finished second in the men's pole vault to round off a big weekend. With Verkerke's national title in the 1500m, Yakob Ekoue's two All-American finishes in the discus and shot put, and Connor Dolan's fifth-place finish in the hurdles, the Blugolds earned their highest number of points in the national competition. in program history and the highest of any program at the championship since 2007.
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Like every championship meeting, the weekend was filled with a wide variety of emotions. We invite you to view some of these captured moments through our photo collection. To view our photos,fill out our form via the following link. Don't forget to mention @madison_bahr or @KyleLauff when you post on social media. We would also appreciate a small donation of at least $1 to our wonderful photographers in exchange for the use of their images. You can also find their Venmo information on this page.
Until the next round of the D3 national championship, in the days of glory.