By Citius Mag Staff
June 9, 2023
Everlyn Kemboi claimed the first-ever NCAA track and field title for Utah Valley with her victory in the NCAA 10,000m final on Thursday night at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas.
Here’s what you need to know:
– Utah Valley’s Everlyn Kemboi claimed her first NCAA title with a 32:39.08 win. She split a 69 for the penultimate lap and closed the last mile of the race in 4:51.
– Utah’s Emily Venters, the collegiate leader heading into the race, finished second in 32:47.70.
– Defending champion Mercy Chelangat rounded out the top three and finished just two seconds behind Venters in 32:49.62.
How it happened:
In a similar fashion to the men’s 10,000m the night before, the women’s 10,000m final started off slowly and the field remained tightly bunched until 10 minutes into the race. The lead changed several times in the early laps but it wasn’t until two miles into the race that a breakaway pack formed. The lead group split 16:44 through 5000m and continued ratcheting down the pace to close out the second half.
With 2 miles remaining, a pack of nine remained and it was cut in half just four laps later. Kemboi made her final move with 800 meters to go and quickly put 25m between her and the rest of the field. She increased her lead by 40m at the bell lap and closed the race eight seconds ahead of Venters.
What she said afterward:
Everlyn Kemboi: “I would say trusting my coaches and the UV program in general and having them believe in me..sometimes I felt like, ‘am I going to do it?’ And they were like ‘Everlyn you will do it, just be patient’ — and I’ve been patient the whole time”
– Texas’ Leo Neugebauer was overcome with emotion as he crossed the finish line of the decathlon 1500m in 4:48.00 to close out the best collegiate decathlon performance in history for 8836 total points in front of the home crowd. Neugebauer broke Kyle Garland’s 8720 collegiate record and Ashton Eaton’s 8457 NCAA Championship record. The German star moved to No. 8 on the world all-time list and set a new national record. Watch his post-competition interview here.
“The pole vault was the most emotional moment of my life,” Neugebauer said. “I never cry. When I cleared that 5.20m bar, I ran away because I couldn’t even control my body. I just wanted to takeoff. There was a tear of two involved. I was actually surprised that I cried because I had never done that. It just shows how much it means to me…once I cleared it, I was like, ‘Holy shit. This is it.’”
His marks across all 10 events:
•100m – 10.61 PB
•LJ – 7.68mw
•SP – 16.27m
•HJ – 2.04m
•400m – 47.08 PB
•110H – 14.10w
•DT – 55.06m PB
•PV – 5.21m PB
•JT – 57.45m PB
•1500m – 4:48.00
– The Texas women immediately reminded the country what homefield advantage looks like by breaking the NCAA 4x100m record with a 41.55s performance. They broke their own record of 41.89 from the Big 12 Championships in May. Watch the race here. Julien Alfred was the Longhorns’ sprints star of the day with the fastest 100m and 200m times of the semifinals.
–Arkansas star Britton Wilson went 49.53 to break the NCAA Championship record for the 400m. The previous record of 49.57 was held by Athing Mu from 2021 before she went on to win Olympic gold in the 800m at the Tokyo Games. 30 minutes later, she was back on the track to win her 400m hurdles semifinal in 54.67, which was the fastest time of the day by nearly a full second. She will have about 25 minutes of rest between both finals on Saturday.
– Texas’ Ackelia Smith won the women’s long jump on her final attempt of the night with a 6.88m leap. Last year’s champion Jasmine Moore of Florida finished third with a best of 6.66m on her final jump.
– Nebraska’s Axelina Johansson won the women’s shot put with a 19.28m facility record. Her teammate Rhema Otabor claimed the women’s javelin title with a 59.49m throw, which is the best in the NCAA this year.
– Virginia Tech sophomore Julia Fixsen cleared a personal best of 4.45m to win the women’s pole vault.
Citius Mag Staff
