Collegiate 800m record for Donavan Brazier, NCAA triple jump title for Latario Collie
Jun 10, 2016 | Track and Field
EUGENE – Texas A&M freshman Donavan Brazier broke a 50-year-old collegiate record in winning the NCAA 800m final with an amazing time of 1 minute, 43.55 seconds during Friday's action at the NCAA Championships while senior teammate Latario Collie claimed the triple jump title with a mark of 55 feet, 8 ¼ inches.
Those 20 points assisted the Aggies push to place third in team scoring with 50 points overall in front of the 12,244 fans at Hayward Field, the largest Friday crowd on record at an NCAA Championships. It's the third time in the past five years for Texas A&M to place third in team scoring at the NCAA Outdoor meet.
Florida reached a total of 62 points for the team victory with Arkansas runner-up at 56. Rounding out the top 10 schools were Oregon (48), LSU (41), Tennessee (30), Virginia (20), Virginia Tech (19), Houston (17) and Nebraska (17).
"We roared back today after not having a good day on Wednesday," stated Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry. "The kids really got after it today and showed who we were today. We scored a lot of points today (32) and Donavan Brazier topped it off with a huge run for that young man."
Usually a front-runner in two-lap races, this time Brazier decided to race behind 2014 NCAA champion Brandon McBride of Mississippi State. The strategy worked as Brazier passed McBride coming off the final curve and pulled away for a convincing victory.
As McBride led the field through splits of 24.10 (200m), 50.35 (400m) and 600m (1:16.37), Brazier remained steadfast with splits of 24.13, 50.48 and 1:16.46. Then a burst of 27.10 over the final 200m pushed Brazier past McBride (28.13).
In finishing with a 1:43.55, Brazier gained nearly a full second over McBride, who clocked 1:44.50 as runner-up. BYU's Shaquille Walker finished third in 1:45.17. Two other freshmen in the race included Penn State's Isaiah Harris, fourth in 1:45.76, and Robert Heppenstall of Wake Forest, eighth in 1:51.14.
"I knew since Walker and McBride were in the race it was going to be fast," noted Brazier. "I was mentally preparing the past couple of weeks, knowing this was going to possibly be the fastest 800m field.
"Coming through at 50 seconds felt comfortable and in the last 200m I felt strong. Once I passed McBride, I felt pretty sure that I had him. I just swung my arms like Coach Francique tells me to do in practice. He tells me that at least five times a day. If I put my shoulders down and drive, I knew I'd be just fine."
Legend Jim Ryun held the collegiate and American junior record of 1:44.3 set on June 10, 1966. In addition to breaking those two records, Brazier also topped the NCAA meet record of 1:44.70 set by Florida's Mark Everett in 1990 as well as the Hayward Field record of 1:43.5h set in 1974 by Rich Wohlhuter.
Brazier improved his Texas A&M school record of 1:45.07 he set in the NCAA semifinal on Wednesday. He ranks No. 7 on the all-time world junior list and is the only American among the top 10. His time also ranks him as the No. 8 American of all time.
"I was focusing on winning and getting 10 points for the team," said Brazier. "I really didn't know about the collegiate record until the prelims, when I ran the 1:45. It means a lot especially since it was a 50-year-old record."
For the 2016 season Brazier is the current American leader, moving ahead of the 1:44.20 by Boris Berian, who won the World Indoor Championships in March. Brazier also ranks third in the world this season behind two Kenyan marks set at altitude by Nicholas Kipkoech (1:43.37) and Jonathan Kitilit (1:43.48).
Brazier became the first frosh to win the NCAA final since Paul Ereng of Virginia in 1988 and is only the fifth freshman to win the 800m title in the history of the NCAA.
Collie had a masterful first attempt in the triple jump as his 55-8 ¼ (16.97) became the mark everyone else had to chase. On his second attempt, which he aborted as he reached the sand, Collie twisted his right ankle.
Passing the final four rounds, Collie watched as contenders started to surpass 54 feet, but none were able to eclipse his mark. Florida's KeAndre Bates finished second with a windy 54-10 ¾ (16.73) while South Florida's Matthew Oneal placed third at 54-5 ¼ (16.59).
"I didn't think I was going to be able to jump again after twisting my ankle on the second attempt," noted Collie. "I knew the competition was really good so I had to go really hard and just shock everyone. It was a lot of pressure to wait for the following rounds since there were some really good jumpers in the field.
"On the second jump, as I came off from the take-off, I just landed bad on my step phase. So, my ankle twisted a little bit."
Lathone Collie, the twin brother of Latario, placed seventh with a leap 52-6 ¾ (16.02) that he produced in the sixth round. Lathone reached the final with a 52-5 ¼ (15.98).
Texas A&M also produced points in the 400m hurdles with sophomore Robert Grant placing fourth in 49.62. Florida's duo of Eric Futch (48.91) and TJ Holmes (49.31) swept the top two places while North Carolina's Kenny Selmon (49.56) edged out Grant for third.
Grant came back an hour later to anchor the 4x400 relay with a 44.72 split, the second fastest in the field, as the Aggies posted a time of 3:03.94 to place fourth.
LSU won the relay title in 3:00.69, getting a 44.29 split from anchor leg Fitzroy Dunkley, ahead of Florida (3:01.12) and Nebraska (3:03.39). Running the first three legs for Texas A&M were Hector Hernandez (48.4), Fred Kerley (45.0) and Brazier (45.78).
A third jumper in the event for the Aggies was Jeffrey Prothro, who finished 15th with a leap of 51-4 ½ (15.66). Jeff Bartlett threw the discus 178-4 (54.36) to finish 19th in the discus.
Through the first day of the heptathlon, Annie Kunz is in fifth place with 3,547 points. Leading the field with 3,951 points is Akela Jones of Kansas State with Georgia's Kendall Williams (3,810) second and Erica Bougard of Mississippi State (3,720) third.
Kunz scored 1,037 points in the 100m hurdles with a time of 13.59, which was just off her career best of 13.54 from the SEC meet. She high jumped 5-6 ½ (1.69) for 842 points and produced a toss of 43-3 (13.18) in the shot put for 739 points. A time of 24.55 in the 200m added 929 points to Kunz's total.
Saturday's final day of the NCAA Championships will complete the women's portion of the meet. In addition to Kunz finishing the next three events of the heptathlon, the Aggies will showcase two-time defending NCAA champions in Shamier Little and Shelbi Vaughan in the 400m hurdles and discus, respectively, along Jennifer Madu in the 100m final and the 4x100 relay. Joining Madu on the relay are Diamond Spaulding, Brenessa Thompson and Aaliyah Brown.
Players Mentioned
