NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships - Day Two Report

By Tom Cascky

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DES MOINES, IOWA —-- Five Drake Stadium records were set during the second day of competition at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships Thursday. An epic thunderstorm early Thursday morning preceded a partly cloudy, warm and only slightly windy day — much better conditions for the athletes and the 9,618 spectators.

Oregon's Ashton Eaton won the decathlon on Thursday (Kirby Lee)

Decathlon: Tennessee’s Jangy Addy opened the second day’s proceedings with the fastest 110 Hurdles ever in an NCAA decathlon championship. A near-PR in the discus increased his lead over Oregon’s Ashton Eaton. The lead narrowed but held through the pole vault. Then Eaton began a comeback, besting Addy in the javelin. Going into the final event, the 1500, Addy’s lead was 55 points, but Eaton was not to be headed. He ran 4:33.05 to Addy’s 5:05.13, to finish with a huge PR of 8055 points — the 62nd American to top 8000 points in the decathlon. Addy totaled 7916, just ahead of Florida State’s Gonzalo Barriohlet (7907).

Women’s 100 Hurdles: Defender Tiffany Ofili (Michigan) began the track portion of Thursday’s meet with a bang, establishing a PR of 12.73 with a very slight aiding wind. With the withdrawal of both Virginia Tech hurdlers, she becomes the prohibitive favorite. Her closest challenger appears to be Nickiesha Wilson (LSU), a 12.95 heat winner.

Men’s 110 Hurdles: Top-seeded Jason Richardson (South Carolina) looked the part, blasting a Drake Stadium record 13.26 in heat two. Drew Brunson (Florida State) should make a substantial contribution to his team’s point total: He ran a PR 13.40 to lead the other qualifiers.

Women’s 200 Meters: Texas A&M’s Porscha Lucas, the leading entrant on time, was the top qualifier in the heats with her 22.91. No one else broke 23 seconds. Two hours later, Lucas easily won her semifinal in 22.89, ahead of LSU’s Samantha Henry (23.04) and Texas’ Alexandria Anderson (23.07). The fastest semifinalist was Kansas senior Nickesha Anderson (22.76), ahead of Texas A&M’s Simone Facey (22.96) and LSU’s Kelly-Ann Baptiste (23.20). The final may decide the women’s team title.

Men’s 200 Meters: Displaying no effects of his recent hamstring problems, Florida State’s Walter Dix jogged through his heat in 21.01. Chris Dykes (Texas A&M) had the fastest heat time with his 20.76. Dix looked even better in his semi, winning easily in 20.51 from Richard Thompson (LSU, 20.62) and teammate Charles Clark (20.71). In the second semifinal, Texas A&M’s Chris Dykes posted the day’s fastest time, 20.48, beating Tennessee’s Evander Wells (20.50) and Cal State Long Beach’s Brent Gray (20.53). Tennessee’s indoor 200 winner Rubin Williams ran a fine 20.59 from the tight confines of lane one to qualify.

Brittney Reese claimed the long jump with a U.S. leading mark of 22-9 (Kirby Lee)

Women’s Long Jump: Defending champion Rhonda Watkins (UCLA), hampered by a bad hamstring, was not a factor. Brittney Reese (Mississippi) broke the competition open with her third jump, a stadium record (and U.S.-leading) 22-9. She recorded two additional jumps better than second-placer Natasha Harvey (Jacksonville), who leaped a wind-aided 21-10 on her first jump. Blessing Okagbare (UTEP) edged Stanford’s Erica McLain for the bronze medal by just over an inch.

Women’s 400 Hurdles: The two favorites, World Championships fourth-placer Nickiesha Wilson (LSU) and defending champion Nicole Leach (UCLA), cruised easily through their semifinal races, winning in 55.89 and 55.98, respectively. North Carolina freshman Latoya James (56.82) and Auburn sophomore Danielle Gilchrist (56.84) both established personal records in the first semi.

Men’s 400 Hurdles: The stage is set for a fast and competitive final, as all qualifiers ran sub-50 second times in the semis. Freshmen Jeshua Anderson (Washington State, 49.51 in his semi)) and Robert Griffin (Baylor, 49.46) could threaten Georgia’s Justin Gaymon, this year’s time leader, and Florida’s experienced Rueben McCoy (leading semifinal qualifier at 49.12). Don’t overlook South Carolina’s Jussi Heikkila and Hampton’s Terry Thornton, two other medal contenders.

Women’s 800 Meters: The big story in the semifinals was the non-appearance of defending champion Alysia Johnson (Cal), who injured her foot in her heat. In Johnson’s absence, Oregon’s Zoe Buckman (2:03.64), Western Michigan’s Becky Horn (2:03.73) and Michigan’s Geena Gall (2:04.02) led the qualifiers, followed by Washington State freshman Anna Layman (2:04.03) and BYU’s Carlee Clark-Platt (2:04.10). Add Heather Dorniden (Minnesota) and Latavia Thomas (LSU) to the mix, and the final should be very close and competitive.

Shadrack Songkok edged Shawn Forrest for the men's 10k title (Kirby Lee)

Men’s 800 Meters: No one looked better in the semifinals than Oregon sophomore Andrew Wheating, who won his race in an easy 1:47.15, easing past pacemaker and 2008 time leader Jacob Hernandez (Texas) in the homestretch. Kenyans Elias Koech (UTEP) and Elkana Kosgei (LSU) also qualified from the first semi. In the second, USC’s Duane Soloman led from the gun to win in 1:47.60, ahead of Northern Iowa’s Tyler Mulder (1:48.45). Soloman and Hernandez should vie for the lead in the final, attempting to deflate the finishing kicks of Wheating and the Kenyans. This could be a fast race.

Women’s 1500 Meters: All of the main players advanced. Defending champion Brie Felnagle (North Carolina) led the qualifiers with her 4:15.56. The two considered her chief challengers, Sally Kipyego (Texas Tech) and Hannah England (Florida State), eased through in the other semi.

Men’s Long Jump: Florida State’s Ngoni Makusha demolished the Zimbabwe national record with a superb 27-2 ¾ jump — into the wind. His second-best jump, just over 27 feet, would have sufficed for an easy victory over Arizona State’s Matt Turner, who established a PR at 26-3.

Women’s 10,000 Meters: a.k.a., The Lisa Koll Show. The Iowa State sophomore took the lead at the gun and was never remotely threatened, finishing 300 meters (and one minute) ahead of her closest pursuers, Danette Doetzel (Providence) and Alexandra Gits (Stanford).

Men’s 10,000 Meters: A large pack of runners stayed together for most of the race. With 800 left, the serious racing began, and in an all-out sprint, defending champion Shadrack Songkok (Texas A&M CC) narrowly prevailed over surprising Arkansas junior Shawn Forrest and Tyson David (Alabama).

Women’s 4x400 Relay: The top two teams, Penn State and LSU, easily qualified, more than two seconds ahead of the rest of the field.

Men’s 4x400: The three fastest entrants — Baylor, Texas A&M and Texas Tech — were also the first three qualifiers, led by A&M’s 3:04.17. However, Baylor held out two regulars, so they will be even more formidable in the final.