BSU HEPTATHLETE NO HEIGHTS IN POLE VAULT, DROPS OUT
Boise State senior Kurt Felix ended his run at All-American honors despite being second after the first day and fifth after five of seven events. He ran through the pole vault pit on his first two attempts at 12 feet, 5.5 inches and hit the bar on his last attempt. The pole vault has always been his weakest event.
?Coming into today, my ankle was really sore and I tried to get by in the hurdles,? Felix said. ?When I went to the pole vault, it didn?t happen.?
Felix could have earned second-team All-American honors by running the 1,000 to complete the event but he said his ankle had started to swell. He was one of four athletes in the 16-man field who didn?t finish, including No. 2 seed and first-day leader Gray Horn of Florida.
?I?ve still got outdoors,?? Felix said. ?This week I?m going to start my favorite event, which is javelin. ? I?ve definitely got some great stuff in store. I?ve just got to put it all together.?
BLUE DEVIL DOES IT
All Duke junior Curtis Beach needed to win the heptathlon was a world record in the 1,000-meter run, the closing event. Fortunately for him, he was chasing his own record.
Beach sprinted away from his competition at the gun and ran the 1,000 in 2 minutes, 23.63 seconds ? beating his record by 4 seconds.
Beach finished more than 25 seconds in front of Wisconsin?s Japheth Cato, the event leader. He needed to beat him by roughly 21.5 seconds.
?I?m still trying to absorb it,? Beach said. ?Maybe when I get back to Duke it will really hit me.?
Beach set personal bests in five of seven events, including the pole vault, where he topped 16 feet for the first time. His score of 6,138 points made him the sixth collegian to top 6,000 points. Cato scored 6,082. The top seven all set personal bests.
?The bigger meets with the better competition, you always perform better,? Beach said. ?I have to thank all my competitors for making me perform better here.?
VANDAL GETS 13TH
Idaho sophomore Hannah Kiser finished 13th in the 3,000. She closed well for a time of 9 minutes, 26.88 seconds. Emily Infeld of Georgetown was the surprise winner. Top-seeded Katie Flood of Washington never factored into the race and finished ninth.
FAVORITES WIN IN HURDLES
Both 60-meter hurdles races went to the No. 1 seeds, with Jarret Eaton of Syracuse winning the men?s race and Christina Manning of Ohio State capturing the women?s title.
It was the first NCAA title of Eaton?s career. The senior finished in 7.54 seconds, edging Miami?s Devon Hill and LSU?s Barrett Nugent by one-hundredth of a second.
?This is one of the fastest races there?s been at the NCAA finals,? Eaton said. ?So to come out with a win is very special to me. This is my only national title, and I?m proud of it.?
The women?s race also was fast and close. Manning, also a senior, claimed the first national title of her career by running a personal-best 7.91, narrowly topping defending champ Brianna Rollins of Clemson (7.93).
HISTORIC MILE CHAMPS
Tulsa junior Chris O?Hare held the lead wire to wire in the men?s mile final, holding off a challenge from defending champion and collegiate recordholder Miles Batty of BYU on the final lap.
O?Hare, who finished second to Batty last year, is the first national track champion in school history.
?We didn?t really want to take it right from the gun, but I didn?t want to get stuck either,? O?Hare said. ?I expected somebody to take it from me a little bit, but I was like ? ?I?ll take it.? I wasn?t scared. I know that?s where I?m comfortable, out running in front.?
O?Hare learned from his loss to Batty last year.
?Coming into the last lap, I was like ? ?I don?t know if I've got this,? ? he said. ?I?ve been working on straightening out my arms and really going for it. Last year, watching the race with Miles, his arms were going crazy. That?s what I need, so that?s what I did.?
The women?s race featured a similar story line. Lucy Van Dalen of Stony Brook in New York dashed past defending champion Jordan Hasay of Oregon in the final 30 meters. She won the first Division I individual national title in any sport in her school?s history.
That was one of her goals when she chose to leave New Zealand to compete at the college level. ?Definitely it was,? she said. ?I?m very overwhelmed to have won a title.?
Van Dalen entered the meet as the No. 1 seed. Still, she was the underdog against the firepower of the Ducks, who placed three athletes in the 10-woman final.
Hasay was the defending champ in the mile and 3,000.
?I just wanted to stay on the back of Jordan,? Van Dalen said. ?I knew she?d fight to the line. I wanted to do the same thing. ? We were going pretty fast. I knew I had to wait until the last minute to get my second gear going or third gear, I don?t know what it was. I was on the outside. I just stayed in my position and went as hard as I could.?
LALANG DOUBLES UP
Arizona distance star Lawi Lalang capped a stellar weekend with a victory in the men?s 3,000 meters. The sophomore from Kenya finished in 7:46.64, earning his second national championship in as many days. He also won the 5,000 on Friday.
Text by Chadd Cripe and Jordan Rodriguez, Idaho Statesman
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