On Friday, March 8, Wayne Pinnock triumphed, capturing not only a share of the longest leap this year but also the NCAA title and the global lead.
Representing Arkansas at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Boston, the Jamaican athlete secured his second NCAA indoor title and the third long jump crown of his collegiate career with a stellar leap of 8.40m. This remarkable feat surpassed Pinnock’s previous mark of 8.34m in February, which had jointly held the world lead alongside Italy’s Mattia Furlani until this latest accomplishment.
Pinnock’s winning jump not only solidified his standing at the pinnacle but also matched the Jamaican indoor record, equalling the 8.40m set by James Beckford and Carey McLeod. In an evening marked by extraordinary achievements, other athletes also reclaimed their NCAA champion status on Friday.
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Florida’s Parker Valby dominated the women’s 5000m, clocking an impressive time of 14:52.79. This victory added an indoor title to her accolades, complementing her NCAA cross country title and outdoor 5000m win. Valby’s performance, which lapped multiple competitors in her field, shattered her own collegiate record from December by over three seconds and secured a 22-second lead over the second-place finisher.
Nico Young of Northern Arizona secured the men’s 5000m title, achieving a long-awaited individual victory in a time of 13:25.29. Young, recognized as one of the country’s top young runners, closed the race with a powerful final 400m in 54.3 seconds. This capped off an impressive indoor season for Young, who lowered the NCAA record in January to 12:57.14, currently the world’s third-fastest time this year.
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Jadin O’Brien of Notre Dame emerged triumphant in the pentathlon with a score of 4497 points, propelled to first place by her outstanding 2:13.30 performance in the closing 800m. Meanwhile, Texas’s Leo Neugebauer, the German decathlon record-holder, leads the heptathlon after the first day with 3664 points.
In the field events, Washington’s Hana Moll, the youngest athlete on the US team in Budapest, concluded her debut collegiate indoor season by winning the women’s pole vault at 4.60m.
Other noteworthy victories included Oklahoma State’s men’s distance medley relay triumph in 9:25.24, BYU’s women’s crown in 10:51.42, Kentucky’s Keaton Daniel winning the men’s pole vault at 5.70m, and Iowa State’s Sydney Willits claiming the long jump with a personal best of 6.74m on her final attempt.
Thursday’s finals witnessed the breaking of facility records, with Kenneth Ikeji of Harvard winning the men’s weight throw at 24.32m, and Jalani Davis of Mississippi claiming the women’s weight throw at 24.80m.
