Goodbye April
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Conference Highlights
As April draws to a close, many athletes near the pinnacle weekend of their season: conference championship weekend. The nation stands divided between two weekends of action-packed rivalry: this past weekend and this coming weekend, giving fans the chance to savor one of the most exciting meets of the year.
Focus shifts from the individual to the team on conference weekend, and some teams this weekend made history. In the NESCAC, Middlebury women and Tufts men secured the threepeat, posting their third consecutive outdoor conference win in a row. On the other hand (and side of the country), Redlands women won their first SCIAC title since 2010, beating runners up Chapman by three points.
And though many conference competitions are about tactics, we love seeing athletes put forth everything they have, competing their way to big team points and high national standings. Here were some of the big conference performances to come out of this weekend:
Sprints women steal the show at UAAs
Sprints women shined brightly at the UAA Championship in Pittsburgh over the weekend. The 100-meter dash was blazing fast, led by Emory’s Audrey Johnson, who won in 11.73, and WashU’s Jasmine Wright, who took second in 11.79. These times put them at No. 2 and No. 4 in the nation, respectively. U Chicago’s Ren Brown had a big weekend after posting two victories in the hurdle events. The most impressive of her performances was her colossal victory in the women’s 400-meter hurdles. Brown ran her way to a national-leading time of 59.34, winning by a full four seconds. She also ran 60.3 in the prelim, the second fastest time in the nation, meaning Brown is primed and ready for rounds at nationals.
And speaking of rounds at nationals, WashU’s Emma Kelley posted a fantastic 400/800 sweep, winning the 400-meter dash final in 54.54 and, just an hour apart, winning the 800 in 2:08.49. Kelley currently leads both events nationally by a decent margin (three seconds in the 800 and almost a full second in the 400), prompting us to wonder: will Kelley do both at nationals? She is the standing anchor leg for the WashU national-leading 4x4 relay, so declaring the 400 would mean three events, but with similar timing between rounds at UAAs as nationals, it’s possible the conference meet could have been a primer.
Sprints heat up across the country
UAAs weren’t the only championships to have some big-time sprints performances over the weekend. At NESCACs, Bowdoin’s Kianne Benjamin dropped a 24.16 to win the 200-meter dash and jump to No. 2 in the nation. At ODACs, Virginia Wesleyan’s Natashe Tate ran a nation-leading 11.63 in the women’s 100-meter dash. This moves her to third All-Time behind Michelle Kwafo and Lauren Jarrett
In the men’s 100, Rose-Hulman’s Jailen Hobbs jumped to the national lead with his 10.25 HCAC victory. At SAA’s Rhodes’s TJ Clayton ran 10.28 to jump to No. 2 in the nation. Two more athletes added their names to the sub-21 club in the men’s 200-meter dash in La Verne’s Tyler Thomas, who won the SCIAC 200, and McMurry’s Dazhaun Walton, who won the American Southwest. Walton also had a strong double in the 100m, running 10.36, No. 5 on the list currently. In the long sprints, Chapman’s Mason Fara posted a sub-47 400 at SCIACs to take the win.
For Frank
We were greatly saddened to hear of the passing of Lynchburg distance star Frank Csorba last week. His teammate, Tor Hotung-Davidsen, whom Frank ran in place of on the Lynchburg national champion DMR relay in March, stepped on the track in the ODAC 10k to run the first lap of the race in Frank’s honor. Watch the video from this special moment created by Kyle Lauffenberger here.
Relays weekend
If you didn’t know this weekend as conference weekend, then you likely recognized it as something else: relays weekend. Two of the most historical relay weekends in track and field took place this past weekend in Des Moines and Philadelphia: Drake Relays and Penn Relays. They did not disappoint, either.
Drake saw big performances from the men’s discus to the women’s 10k, giving D3 the chance to shine amidst big-school and post-college talent.
One of the most exciting performances of the weekend was UW Eau Claire’s Yakob Ekoue’s overall victory in the men’s discus throw. Ekoue threw a massive new PR of 60.16 meters (197 feet) on his second throw to lead a field of mostly D1 talent into the finals. Air Force’s Texas Tanner came the closest to surpassing Ekoue, but could not keep himself in the ring, fouling two of his final three throws. Ekoue’s 60.16m is the third farthest throw in D3 history.
Another big UWEC throws performance at Drake came from Ekoue’s teammate Teagan Jones, who took fourth overall in the women’s hammer with her heave of 59.73m, propelling her to the national lead ahead of MIT’s Alexis Boykin.
In the men’s long jump, Oshkosh’s Joshua Rivers captured a Drake victory with a national-leading leap of 7.56 meters. Athletes like Ekoue and Rivers put D3 on the map when they travel to big, historic meets and beat entire fields. Rivers just missed a PR by two centimeters.
On the track, distance events were quick, led by Saint Benedict’s Fiona Smith, Wartburg’s Shaelyn Hostager and Christopher Collet, and Central College’s Noah Jorgenson.
Smith posted the second sub-16 mark of the outdoor season in the women’s 5k, running 15:53.27 to place eighth overall in a field with several pros. Hostager opted for the 25-lap race and posted a 34:21.21 to jump to No. 4 in the nation in this event.
On the men’s side, Jorgenson jumped to the national lead with his 3:45.4 in the men’s 1500. With this time, he jumps ahead of indoor mile national champ Bennett Booth-Genthe of Pomona-Pitzer. Collet led the way in the men’s steeple, running 8:48.24 to jump to No. 3 in the nation behind Whitewater’s Christian Patzka and LaCrosse’s Adam Loenser. Behind him, St. Olaf’s Will Kelly ran 8:52.99 to jump to No. 6. So far, 11 athletes have run under 9 minutes in this event this season. Collet is the current national record holder with his time of 8:38.46 from last year.
Out toward the east coast at Penn Relays, Geneseo’s Rachel Hirshkind and Catholic’s Christian Di Nicolantonio represented D3 well in two very different events. Hirschkind lined up in the steeplechase and posted a new national-leading time of 10:17.19, the No. 10 fastest women’s steeple in D3 history. In the men’s pole vault, Di Nicolantonio cleared 5.16m in the championship section to place fourth overall.
Also out at Penn, the JCU 4x4 showed everyone what relays weekend is all about: relays. The team of Garrett Clark, Dustin Horner, Tyler Gast, and Basheer Alramahi posted a time of 3:11.02 to place second in their heat and second in the nation. Alramahi anchored in a split of 46.52 to bring the Blue Streaks home.
And though these ironically did not occur at relay meets, some other teams posted some big performances in the relays over the weekend. LaCrosse ran a 40.14 national lead at the Dick & Mary Johnson Invite with Blaskowski as second leg and a (presumably healthy) Schroeder on anchor. Six out of the top 10 men’s 4x100 times on the national list all transpired this past weekend, including Ohio Northern’s No. 3 time of 40.72 from the Ashland Alumni Open, Texas Luthern’s No. 4 time of 40.81 from SCACs, East Texas Baptist’s No. 5 time of 40.83 from American Southwest champs, Oshkosh’s No. 6 time of 40.84 time from UW-Whitewater Drake Alternative, and Pomona-Pitzer’s No. 9 time of 40.87 from SCIACs. These results show that, while it’s fun to shake things up with the big dogs, it’s not always necessary to travel far to run fast. All you need is the right team and the right conditions.
In the women’s 4x100, Emory rocketed to the top with their team of Nikki Boon, Dashiel Tao Harris, Kaya Binetti, and Audrey Johnson, who ran 46.25 to win UAAs. The team from Loras ran a close-to-home No. 3 time of 46.50 at Drake, Colby and Williams posted top-10 times of 46.61 and 46.98, respectively at NESCACs, and Chapman ran a No. 5 time of 46.81 at SCIACs.
Nationals familiar faces resurface
With a month left to go until NCAAs, there is still plenty of time for lead changes, but some familiar names surfaced to the top of the leaderboards after their performances over the weekend. Whitewater’s Christian Patzka shot back to the top in the men’s 5k with his time of 13:51.23, just barely passing Simpson’s Spencer Moon’s 13:51.65.
Men’s mile runner-up Eric Anderson of UC Santa Cruz rose to No. 3 on the national list after running 3:45.77 at Payton Jordan, making him the third athlete under 3:46 on the current national list. There are currently 23 athletes under 3:50, showcasing the sheer depth in this event.
In the women’s 1500, Vassar freshman Haley Schoenegge ran 4:25.40 to jump to No. 3 on the list. There are currently eight women under 4:30 in this event, led by Grace Hadley’s mark of 4:17 and Emma Kelley’s 4:22 (what is WashU planning for nationals weekend??!)
Men’s high jump national champion Christian Pfeiffer of Baldwin Wallace leads the nation with his clearance of 2.11m from the Ashland Alumni Open over the weekend, and women’s pole vault national champion Madeline O’Connell leads this event with her clearance of 4.07 from the Rochester Spring Twilight.
With several weeks to go until nationals still, keep an eye on other big conference performances happening this coming weekend as many close out their 2024 seasons. Here are the last marks in as we head into May.
