Courtesy USTFCCA

By Kyle Terwillegar, USTFCCCA

March 1, 2015

Conference championships weekend produced a number of nationally and historically significant performances, none more so than Remona Burchell‘s collegiate record in the women’s 60 meters.

Below we break down Burchell’s record-setting run and check out what else went on in the world of collegiate sprinting and hurdling through Saturday’s action.

Because so much happened this weekend, check out our separate reviews of the distance and field event/combined event (coming soon) action.

For all the weekend’s conference championships, hit the button below or click here for the USTFCCCA Conference Championships Central.

Burchell Breaks Women’s 60-meters Collegiate Record

RESULTS

Remona Burchell was the under-the-radar surprise winner of the NCAA Division I Indoor 60-meters title. That certainly won’t be the case this year, as the Alabama senior blazed to a new collegiate record 7.08 to win her first SEC indoor title. In doing so, she edged out by just .01 of a second the previous record of 7.09 co-held by Lakya Brookins of South Carolina from 2011 and Angela Williams of Southern California from 2001(she earned silver at the IAAF World Indoor Championships with the effort).

She defeated reigning SEC champion Dezerea Bryant of Kentucky by a full tenth of a second in 7.18.

McLeod to No. 2 in College Men’s 60-Meter Hurdles History

RESULTS

Entering the weekend, defending indoor 60-meter hurdles national champion Omar McLeod of Arkansas was .05 seconds outside the all-time collegiate performers list. In just 7.49 seconds on Saturday, that changed in a big way. That was the sophomore’s winning time as he moved into a share of the No. 2 spot on the all-time list with Syracuse’s Jarrett Eaton. With NCAAs remaining on the schedule, he has one more opportunity this season to topple the collegiate record of 7.47set by Reggie Torian of Wisconsin in 1997.

He took down runner-up Joshua Thompson of LSU by nearly a quarter of a second.

Harrison to No. 6 in College Women’s 60-Meter Hurdles History

RESULTS

Just moments before McLeod ran his historic performance, Kentucky’s Kendra Harrison made some history of her won in the women’s hurdles in front of the home crowd. In just her second race – that’s right, race; not meet – she blazed over the hurdles to a 7.92 that moved her up into a share of the No. 6 spot on the all-time collegiate performers list. The performance itself was tied for 10th-fastest in collegiate history.

Bridgette Owens of Florida – Harrison’s former teammate at Clemson before both transferred to their respective current teams – had been the collegiate leader prior to the race, and she finished runner-up in 8.08.

Men’s 60-Meter Craziness Around the Country

RESULTS: Big 12 | ACC | SEC

If this weekend’s conference championships were any indication, we are in for a very interesting NCAA Championships in less than two weeks. No fewer than ten men went 6.60 or faster at their conference championship meets.

One of the upsets of the day came from the Big 12, where Texas’ Senoj-Jay Givans defended his league title by just .003 over TCU’s Ronnie Baker, 6.585 to 6.588 – and both toppled the No. 1 and 2 sprinters in the NCAA this year. No. 2 Trayvon Bromell of Baylor just missed the win in 6.60 for third, while No. 1 John Teeters of Oklahoma State was fourth in 6.62.

Later in the meet, both Bromell and Teeters came back for the 200, in which they finished in that order 1-2.

The ACC saw a similar photo finish for the win as Clemson’s Tevin Hester was originally believed to be the winner over Florida State frosh Kendal Williams, but the finish line camera revealed Williams’s dip at the line as the winner by the slightest of margins – 6.551 to 6.555.

Jalen Miller of Ole Miss won the SEC in 6.56 – his eighth race at 6.60 or faster – over Markesh Woodson of Missouri in 6.58. Frosh Christian Coleman of Tennessee (who has run sub 6.60 this season) was third in 6.62.

Glass Wins SEC Men’s 400 as Lendore is Injured on Friday

RESULTS

Of course no one wants to see reigning winner of The Bowerman Trophy winner Deon Lendore of Texas A&M pull up with an injury, but that’s precisely what happened Friday in the prelims of Lendore’s signature 400 meters event at the SEC Champinoships. His absence opened up the door for Florida’s collegiate-leadingNajee Glass and Texas A&M’s breakthrough sprinter Bralon Taplin to take center stage. The way they ran, they may have been the victors even with Lendore in the field.

Glass held off a late surge on the outside by Taplin on the final straightaway to win in 45.37 to Taplin’s 45.52. Glass’ winning time was just shy of his collegiate-leading 45.34 from two weekends ago.

The roles were reversed in the women’s 400, as Texas A&M came out on top over Florida as Shamier Little – the reigning outdoor-400-meter-hurdles national champion – defeated 200-meter SEC Champ Kyra Jefferson by two-thirds of a second in a collegaite-leading 51.37.

She took the collegiate lead (on the qualifying list) from Courtney Okolo, who set a Big 12 meet record at 600 yards in 1:18.24. She paid the price at 400 meters half an hour later, running a 53.23 for fourth. Teammate Kendall Baisden won in 51.90.

**Texas A&M 4×400 Relay Men Nearly Get Collegiate Record Without Lendore**

RESULTS

Glass and Taplin were at it again in the meet-finale 4×400 relay and, as all 4×4 battles between A&M and Florida, it was a classic. The Gators opened up a significant lead behind Glass and defending outdoor 200 meters national champ Dedric Dukes, but the Aggies worked back into the race over the next leg-and-a-half to set up a Taplin vs. Arman Hall duel to the finish line. After leading all of the anchor leg, Hall was overtaken by Taplin on the final straightaway as the Aggies stole the win in 3:03.75 to miss out on their own collegiate record by just over half-a-second – all without their usual anchor Lendore. (Granted, the time would not have been the official collegiate record since it was run on an oversized track).

It’s very much worth noting that Florida was also running shorthanded as Hugh Graham, Jr., went out with an injury in the 60-meter final. The Gators finished runner-up in 3:04.28.

Collegiate-Leading Jefferson Wins SEC Women’s 200 Over Two National Champions

RESULTS

This was one of our national events to watch this weekend, and it certainly played out according to that expectation. Defending outdoor national champion Kamaria Brown of Texas A&M set the stage with a 23.03 in the first of two sections against time in the final. Following her in the second section were defending national indoor champion Dezerea Bryant of host Kentucky and 2015 collegiate leader Kyra Jefferson of Florida – fresh off a runner-up finish at 400 meters earlier in the day.

Bryant got out to a commanding lead three-quarters of the way through the race, but Jefferson covered ground quickly in the closing meters to just barely edge the national champ at the line. How close was it? Closer inspection revealed that Jefferson had crossed the line in 23.012 – just .003 faster than Bryant and less than .02 faster than Brown.

Honors for fastest 200 of the day at any meet went to Texas tech’s Cierra White, who ran 22.98 equaling her season’s best from earlier this season at altitude to win the Big 12.

American Athletics Men’s 4×400 Decides Championship as Three Teams Break Meet Record

RESULTS

The SEC men’s 4×400 may have been the fastest of the day, but by no means was it the most dramatic or the most meaningful to the teams involved. That honor would go to the American Athletic Conference 4×400.

Here’s the scenario: three teams were within one point of one another entering the meet-finale 4×400 relay. Tulsa had 126 points, and Houston and UConn both had 125. Winner take all for the conference title.

How much did they want it? All three teams ran meet records (granted, it is a very young conference) and finished within about a half second of one another. Houston opened up a lead early and put more than a second between itself and UConn and Tulsa entering the final anchor leg.

Tulsa’s Bryce Robinson – already the 60-meter and 400-meter conference champion on the day – came within .43 of a second of clinching the 4×400 and conference win, but Houston’s Drevan Anderson Kaapaheld him off for conference glory. Houston won in 3:13.53, followed by Tulsa in 3:13.96 and UConn in 3:14.09 – and that’s the order in which they finished the final team standings for the meet.