The NCAA Track & Field Championships begin on Wednesday and continue through Saturday. The NCAA meet has the men competing on Wednesday and Friday (except for the Decathlon), with women on Thursday and Saturday. Both of our guys compete on Wednesday.
The hammer throw is set for 2:00, and school record holder Austin Riddle will be in the first of 2 flights. He comes in with the 19th (of 24) marks from the two first round sites.
The javelin will begin at 5:45, and Evan Karakolis, among the 24 finalists, had the 6th best throw.
The women's shot put (Claire Uke) will be on Thursday, while the women's triple jump (Daisy Ding) takes place on Saturday.
Riddle fouls on first attempt. 61.18m on his 2nd attempt.
Austin Riddle had a best of 63.09 meters (207' 0") for 7th in Flight 1 of the Hammer Throw. That won't be good enough to advance after Flight 2 is done. But, a great season, including a new school record and All-American status!
Honorable mention all-American for Riddle. You have to finish in the top 8 to be a first-team all-American and 9-16 to be second team.
The 1st Flight of the javelin has concluded with Curtis Thompson of Mississippi State having the best mark of 73.44 meters (240' 11").
The throwers in the 2nd Flight (Evan Karakolis) are warming up.
Karakolis in 7th heading into the finals (72.69 meters/238-6). The thrower from MTSU is in 1st (a little over 250 feet). USM thrower in 2nd so the conference is 1st, 2nd and 7th heading into the final three throws.
Moved into 5th on his final throw (73.95/242-7). Mississippi State and A&M's throwers went 1-2. CUSA throwers went 3-4-5.
2nd AA performance for Evan (he was 7th in javelin in 2014). Congrats to him on a nice Rice career. Good luck to him if he tries to qualify for Canada's Olympic Team (looks like he'll need to throw 83 meters which could be tough but who knows).
Claire Uke finishes 21st in the shot put with a best throw of 15.30 meters (50' 2.5").
Congratulations to her for All-American status and a great Rice career!
On Saturday, Daisy Ding will compete in the Triple Jump, scheduled for 5:30 CDT. She will be in Flight 2. The top 9 after 3 jumps will move to the finals for 3 additional attempts.
There is extensive TV coverage of the TRACK events on ESPN; however, the FIELD events are only on ESPN3.
Ding finishes 22nd, All-American Honorable Mention.
Daisy with an off day. Looks like no better than 22nd place. But, even a lifetime best likely would not have been good enough to make finals. A strong field .