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≡ NCAA T&F CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡
The men’s championship day of the 2025 NCAA Division I Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon started in cool, 68-degree temperatures, with scattered clouds, but plenty of hot competition, and the team fight coming down to the 4×400 m relay. The action:
● 4×100 m relay: Defending champion and national leader Auburn got off well and although the passes weren’t perfect, Kayinsola Ajayi (NGR) moved into the lead on the back straight and Dario Matau (RSA) extended the lead on the turn. The final pass to Makanakaishe Charanda (ZIM) was a bit of an adventure, but he stormed home in 38.33, well ahead of USC (38.46) and LSU (38.56).
Eight of the nine teams in the final ran under 39 seconds!
● 1,500 m: The pace was slow, but the running started at the bell with Adam Spencer (AUS-Wisconsin) and 2023 winner Nathan Green (Washington) leading and sprinting down the back straight.
Into the straight, Green moved ahead, with North Carolina’s Ethan Strand coming hard from sixth in lane two to challenge, but Green crossed the line with his second title in 3:47.26. It’s the fourth straight win for Washington in the event!
Strand finished in 3:47.33, followed by Ferenc Kovacs (HUN) of Harvard in 3:47.42, with Spencer fourth in 3:47.50.
● 3,000 m Steeple: Team implications in this race with national no. 2 Matthew Kosgei (New Mexico) needing to finish first or second to keep the Lobos in it. Iowa State’s Joash Ruto (KEN) tried to break the race with an attack with 5 1/2 laps to go, but the pack caught up in a lap.
Ruto and national leader Geoffrey Kirwa (KEN-Louisville) led with three laps to go and Kirwa took over with two laps left, and developed into a 5 m lead as he took the bell. Kosgei was out of contention, and U.S. Paris Olympian James Corrigan (BYU) was chasing Kirwa on the back straight. Corrigan got the lead off the final water jump and Corrigan sprinted to the tape in 8:16.41, with Kirwa second in 8:17.12. Kosgei was sixth in 8:23.70, dashing New Mexico’s team hopes.
● 110 m hurdles: Runner-up last year, Auburn’s Ja’Kobe Tharp got out well and took control of the race quickly and ran away from the field to win in 13.05 (wind: +0.1 m/s), a lifetime best and now no. 3 in the world for 2025.
Moving up in the mid-race as the only real challenger was Arizona’s Zachary Extine, who chased Tharp home in 13.13, also a lifetime best. Houston’s John Adesola (RSA) was well back in third at 13.28.
● 100 m: Team implications with Auburn, USC, Tennessee and LSU all with two entries, plus national leader (and NCAA indoor 60 m champ) Jordan Anthony of Arkansas.
Auburn’s Israel Okon (NGR) got into the lead at 20 m and it looked like he would sail away with an upset win, but he faded about 20 m from the finish and it was LSU’s Jelani Watkins coming forward, looking like the winner.
But Anthony was rolling in lane nine and got to the line first with a good lean, in 10.07 (+0.7). USC’s Max Thomas – in lane eight – was chasing Anthony and got second over Watkins, with both at 10.10. Ajayi was fourth for Auburn (10.13), worth another five points for the Tigers; Okon was seventh and scored two points for Auburn.
● 400 m: Alabama’s 2024 runner-up Samuel Ogazi (NGR) was brilliant from the start, taking the lead almost immediately and was unchallenged to the line at 44.84.
Behind him, Gabriel Moronta (DOM-South Florida) edged William Jones of USC for second, 45.47 to 45.53, in an unusually slow race for the NCAA final.
● 800 m: National leader Christian Jackson of Virginia Tech led at the bell, but everyone was close at 51.66. Jackson was passed by Arkansas’ Rivaldo Marshall (JAM) and then Texas A&M’s Sam Whitmarsh on the turn, and he moved away and led into the straight.
Whitmarsh, second last year, was a clear winner in 1:45.84, and Oregon’s Matthew Erickson passed Marshall for second, 1:46.32 and 1:46.71. Arkansas scored seven, as Tyrice Taylor (JAM) was eighth. Jackson faded to seventh in 1:47.42.
● 400 m hurdles: Baylor’s Nathaniel Ezekiel (NGR) ran a sensational 47.86 in the semis, ranking no. 3 in the world for 2025. And off the start, he blasted down the back straight and had the lead into the turn.
He was cruising in front into the straightaway, but was suddenly being pressed by Texas A&M’s Ja’Qualon Scott. But Ezekiel pulled away and won going away in 47.49, a lifetime best and now no. 2 in the world for 2025.
Scott scored a huge lifetime best of 48.29 in second – no. 8 in 2025 – followed by a personal best from Kody Blackwood of Texas, in third (48.66). USC’s Johnny Brackins was seventh in 50.15, scoring two points for the Trojans.
● 200 m: This race had lots of team implications and Tennessee’s T’Mars McCallum was off best, but Kentucky’s Carli Makarawu (ZIM) in lane nine got to the lead off the turn – in lane nine – and raced to the line the clear winner in 19.84 (+0.3), equal-second in the world for 2025!
Auburn’s Charanda made a surge in the final 50 m to close in, and was second in 19.92, followed by USC’s Garrett Kaalund (19.96) and then Anthony (20.01). McCallum was fifth in 2016 and USC scored nine points as Thomas was sixth (20.23).
● 5,000 m: Wake Forest’s Rocky Hansen was in the lead through 3,000 m in 8:15.82 and the pace picked up with three laps to go. Matt Strangio (Portland) took over with two laps to go, with New Mexico’s Habtom Samuel (ERI) – second in the 10,000 m – shadowing.
Oklahoma State’s Brian Masau (KEN) – fourth last year – took the bell, with Samuel fighting on the back straight and Villanova’s Marco Langon was second, moving up on Masau.
In the straight, Masau had an extra gear and ran away to win in a personal record of 13:20.59 with a 55.77 last lap and 4:01.51 for his last 1,500 m. Samuel moved up late for second in 13:20.89 and Langan finishing third, falling at the finish, in 13:21.17, also a lifetime best.
● 4×400 m relay: USC entered with 40 points and only Arkansas (34) and Texas A&M (33) had an outside chance to take the team title, but only if the Trojans faltered.
A&M had the lead on the second leg once they broke for the pole. The Aggies passed second, but USC was way back in eighth place. Iowa, A&M and national leader South Florida were in front at the second exchange and Florida suddenly took the lead on the backstraight, with A&M chasing, with Auhmad Robinson on anchor.
Robinson got ahead of Florida and it looked like the Aggies might win it, but Moronta brought South Florida home in the final 5 m, winning in 3:00.42. A&M was second in 3:00.73, then Arkansas in 3:01.59. USC was way back, finishing eighth in 3:03.18, but scoring one point.
● High Jump: Seven jumpers cleared 2.20 m (7-2 1/2), but only one went higher: Ole Miss junior Arvesta Troupe, who cleared 2.23 m (7-3 3/4) on his second try, then 2.27 m (7-5 1/4) and that was the winning height, a lifetime best.
Behind him was a tie for second for Texas State teammates Kason O’Riley and Alden Hayes, both at 2.20 m. Kamyren Garrett (Illinois) equaled his all-time best at 2.20 m for fourth.
● Triple Jump: Oklahoma’s SEC champion, Brandon Green Jr. got the early lead at 16.74 m (54-11 1/4) and was first after three rounds. Teammate Floyd Whitaker got into second with a lifetime best of 16.41 m (53-10 1/4) in round three and Florida State’s Kyvon Tatham moved up to third, also in the third round at 16.23 m (53-3).
No one came up to challenge and they finished 1-2-3, but with Green getting out to 16.81 m (55-2) to improve on his final try.
● Discus: Amazing. Cal’s Mykolas Alekna won the Olympic silver in Paris and set a stunning world record earlier in 2025 at 75.56 m (247-11), his second world record toss. But he still had to win an NCAA title, finishing second in 2022 and third in 2023.
And he was in front, from a 66.44 m (218-0) throw in round one. But Jamaica’s Ralford Mullings (Oklahoma) took the lead at 67.60 (222-1) in round three and then improved to 69.31 m (227-4) in the sixth round to wrap up the upset victory. Alekna improved to 66.77 m (219-0) in the round five, but it wasn’t enough. Virginia Tech’s Uladzislau Puchko (BLR) got third at 63.94 m (209-9).
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The 4×400 m relay decided the meet, and South Florida’s win at the tape pushed A&M to second and 41 total points. USC also scored 41 with their eighth-place finish and the two tied for the national championship. Arkansas, third in the 4×400, finished with 40 in third place.
For USC, they swept the indoor and outdoor titles for coach Quincy Watts, the 1992 Olympic 400 m champion – the first that’s been done since 2015 – and won the outdoor title for the first time since 1976.
Also on the program was the collegiate wheelchair 100 m championship, which went to Illinois’ Evan Cornell, in 14.46.
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The first day of the women’s heptathlon saw Notre Dame’s Jadin O’Brien win the 100 m hurdles in 13.33 and the shot at 14.44 m (47-4 1/2) to take a six-point lead into the 200 m over Wichita State’s Destiny Masters, the winner of the high jump at 1.84 m (6-0 1/2).
In the 200, O’Brien was fifth in the second section in 24.11 and Masters was seventh in the third section in 25.54. So, O’Brien led with 3,710 points and Oklahoma’s Pippi Lotta Enok (EST) moved into second at 3,685 and Masters slipped to third (3,572).
The final day of the meet– the women’s championship day – is on Saturday, starting at 6 p.m. Pacific time, televised on ESPN2.
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