2022 D3 Outdoor Track and Field Nationals Recap
Now a week removed from the 2022 Outdoor NCAA Championships in Geneva, OH, we at D3GD are still coming down from the emotional high invoked by all of the performances. Two world records, three athletes under a previous national record, and several surprising victories were among some of the most notable moments of this year’s championships. We thank you for allowing us to come along for the ride.
JP Vaught at the line of the 200m FInal. Photo Credit: Maddie Bahr
Vaught, Traore, and Gregory rewrite men’s 200m record book
In what was markedly the most historical event of the weekend, Centre’s JP Vaught, Ramapo’s Cheick Traore, and Gallaudet’s Eric Gregory all cruised under the previous men’s 200m national record of 20.62 set by Gregory last month. Their times of 20.55, 20.56, and 20.60 are now the first through third fastest performances in this event in D3 history.
All three men had incredible weekends, each scoring 16 points across two events. Vaught competed in the 100m and 200m dashes, taking bronze in a stacked 100m field and defending his gold in the 200m. His time of 20.55 reinstated him as the 200m national record holder. Traore took two narrow runner-up finishes in both the 400m and 200m dashes, running 46.54 and 20.56 to rise to No. 16 and No. 2 all-time in each respective event. Gregory won the 400m in a No. 8 all-time mark of 46.19 and took bronze in the 200m, lowering his personal best to 20.60, No. 3 all-time. Both of these times set new world records for the deaf.
Bella Hogue after the 100m National Title with Coach McKenzie. Photo Credit: Maddie Bahr
Hogue sweeps women’s short sprints
In the women’s sprints, Nebraska Wesleyan’s Bella Hogue had a star-studded weekend, adding two more national championship trophies to her 200m trophy from indoors. During the preliminary rounds of the 100m and 200m dashes, Hogue made history, her time of 11.74 in the 100m good for No. 8 all-time and her time of 23.79 in the 200m the No. 6 best time in D3 history.
These performances shocked Hogue herself, who told D3GD in an interview: “I just can’t even believe it. I crossed the line and I wasn’t sure what time it was but I knew that I had done what I was thinking about all week. It’s just exciting to see all of my hard work pay off.”
And pay off it did, as come Saturday, she swept the short sprints events, taking the 100m victory in 11.57, the fourth fastest women’s 100m time in D3 history under all conditions. Hours later she went on to win the 200m in a highly impressive 23.56, improving her No. 6 all-time performance from two days prior to the the third fastest time in D3 history.
Ari Marks after the 5k win. Photo Credit: Maddie Bahr
Marks gets her gold…twice
Anyone who has been following along this year knows that an Ari Marks national title has been long overdue. The Wellesley standout finished runner-up to Loras’s Kassie Parker thrice in a row–once during cross country in the fall and twice indoors after making two strong attempts at the win. This time around, Marks employed a new strategy:
“I didn’t want it to come down to a kick in the last 100 meters or so because I don’t think I have the strongest kick out of the group, so that’s why I decided to make the move and just go for it and try to gap the field,” she said.
In the 10k, Marks covered an attempted move by Parker by making her own move at two miles to go. With this move, Marks turned 85-second laps into 79-second laps and didn’t look back. The decisiveness of this move was enough to break the race open and create a sizeable lead over Parker and the rest of the field. Realizing the victory was hers, Marks pressed even more, clicking off steady solo 77s. Her final lap was a quick 76 seconds, and as she crossed the finish line for the 25th time, it would be as a national champion. She beat 10k national record holder Parker by 27 seconds.
Two days later, Marks used the same strategy in the 5k, making a big move with 1200 meters to go. Fans could feel the sensation of déja vu setting in, as the growing gap between Marks and Parker was a sight all too familiar from two days prior. With a 5:01 last mile, Marks captured her second national title of the weekend, crossing the finish line in a new PR of 16:08.90, the fourth fastest women’s 5k time in NCAA D3 history. When once there was a time Marks had never finished higher than second place, she would now leave Geneva a two-time national champion, becoming the eighth woman in D3 history to win both the 5k and the 10k in the same championship. Hear what she had to say about on the weekend on the latest podcast episode.
Sam Verkeke never gave up. Photo Credit: Maddie Bahr
Verkerke takes the men’s 1500m
When the first through third seeds of the 1500m don’t make it out of the prelim, the title is anyone’s to win. UW Eau Claire’s Sam Verkerke was on the perfect trajectory for the title. His 3:46.18 victory at the WIAC championship was an eight-second PR and his 1:50.01 heat-three victory at the St. Francis last chance meet just two weeks before NCAAs was a five-second PR in the 800m. Plus, the guy has confidence. He told D3GD in an interview after his prelim victory that he was “going for the win” on Saturday. Just a sophomore, look for Verkerke to headline the leaderboards in the coming years, not just in the 1500 but the 800 as well.
Ryan Wilson taking home the 800m National Title. Photo Credit: Maddie Bahr
Ryan Wilson will not be slept on
After winning the indoor title and not being selected as the outdoor champion by anyone on our prediction episode (we will take the hit here), MIT’s Ryan Wilson secured his second straight national title in the men’s 800m, winning in 1:50.19. Wilson told D3GD in an interview that his strategy at NCAAs is to always be patient for openings, to save some energy for the final 100 meters of the race, and to be prepared for anything. “Any situation that could go down, I’m trying to be prepared for it,” he said. “If I’m out in last, if I lead the whole thing, I’m just trying to be prepared for whatever happens.”
Not only is Wilson a great championship racer, but his PR of 1:48.49 (which he ran unattached last year as MIT was not able to compete due to COVID) makes for a lethal combination. On Saturday, he took down a loaded field of seven sub 1:50 athletes and showed for the second time that he deserves to be in any conversation surrounding an 800m national title.
John Carroll on the Podium as Runner-Ups - Kyle Lauffenberger Photo
JCU men show-up on home turf
Only one men’s team in Geneva had a better day than local favorites John Carroll, and that one team brought home a team national title. The Blue Streaks finished second to repeat national champions UW-Eau Claire, who won the men’s title with a massive point total of 73 points (more on the Blugolds historic weekend later). John Carroll scored in five events, three of which had two individual scorers. The biggest event of the weekend for JCU was the men’s 10k, which saw distance duo Alex Phillip and Jamie Dailey go 1-2. There’s only one feeling better than crossing the line as a champion, and that’s crossing the line as a champion and then turning around to see your teammate crossing right behind you. To add to the weekend excitement on Saturday, first-time individual national qualifiers Cormac Peppard-Kramer and Ethan Domitrovich scored big points in the men’s steeplechase final, finishing third and fourth place, respectively, for a combined point total of 11. As the day progressed, the Blue Streaks produced five more All-American honors in the sprint events, four with the men’s 4x100m relay squad of Mick Doyle, Garrett Clark, Mark Zahren, and Jimmy Kartsonas, who placed fifth, and one from Clark who nabbed a fifth place finish in a quick men’s 200m final.
In grand finale fashion, Dailey and Phillip doubled back in the 5k, the meet’s penultimate event, for a final chance at racking up team points. Both sat in the lead pack at the bell lap. XC runner-up Elias Lindgren of Williams appeared to run away with the win until the final 100m when the chase pack started to close in on him. Like a car on empty with the gas station in sight, a desperate Lindgren started to seize up. That’s when a determined Dailey stormed up the home stretch chased at the heels by Williams’s Grahm Tuohy-Gaydos. The two crossed the finish line, Tuohy-Gaydos in second, and Dailey a national champion for the very first time. With a scream of celebration, Dailey ran immediately to his coach, who fell to the ground with him in an exuberant hug in front of dozens of JCU team members and fans. A few seconds behind him, Phillip would manage to snag the last All-American spot and the two would add 11 final points to their team score.
“The support we got from the John Carroll community is unmatched,” Dailey said. “They were electric during that 5k and that 10k as well. It’s always a big opportunity when the national championships are in your backyard–it’s about a 45 minute drive for us–so we had some great support.”
Dailey also cited having the team goal of finishing higher than their distance squad did in the fall with their fourth place cross country finish. They were successful in this aspiration, their combination of team points across five events and eight athletes enough to secure a second-place team finish for JCU men, the first podium finish in JCU track and field program history.
MIT men bring four national titles back to Cambridge
Of all the teams on the podium last weekend, MIT’s men scored in the fewest number of events. When three athletes are totaling four national titles, however, they’re in pretty good contention for a team trophy. The Engineers were led by Kenneth Wei, who won both the long jump and the 110m hurdles, becoming the first male in championship history to win both events in the same meet. His leap of 7.88 meters is the third farthest long jump in D3 history, and his 14.05 finish in the high hurdles currently ranks No. 18 all-time. In a post-race interview with D3GD, Wei mentioned wanting to succeed for his coach and his teammates.
“My teammates put a lot of work in to get here and watching them succeed and run really pushed the momentum forward for me,” he said. “That allows for me to keep on going even when I’m feeling fatigued or sore or tired.”
In addition to Wei’s 20 points and Wilson’s 10 points from the men’s 800m, Luka Srsic rounded out the team score by capturing the men’s pole vault title with a PR-jump of 5.10 meters, propelling MIT to a third-place trophy finish.
Kadiri jumps to a double victory
Victoria Kadiri became the first indoor national champion in Johns Hopkins program history when she won the long jump in the winter. After this weekend, Kadiri added two more national titles to the Hopkins history books, becoming just the third individual for Hopkins to capture a title outdoors. With these victories, Kadiri passed Sylke Knuppel, two-time national champion in the javelin throw, for most national titles in women’s program history, indoors or outdoors.
Her winning jumps of 6.06 meters in the long jump and 12.43 meters in the triples jump are No. 12 and No. 18 all-time, respectively. Just a sophomore, expect Kadiri to increase her presence in both Hopkins program and D3 national history books in the coming years.
Carroll dominates the throws ring
Carroll entered the meet with an impressive seven entries in the throwing events and left with two national champions and two All-Americans. Steven Hermsen set the tone on day one, winning the men’s discus throw with a toss of 54.93 meters on his fifth attempt. Though a championship winning throw, this toss was still just under four meters off of Hermsen’s season-best throw of 58.60 meters, which puts him at an impressive eighth all-time in D3 history.
Discus duo Vanessa Uitenbroek and Cate Gudaitis followed up Hermsen’s victory in the women’s discus competition with two All-American finishes. Uitenbroek took second, and Gudaitis took sixth for a point total contribution of 11 to the team score.
On the final day of competition, Emily Uitenbroek defended her national title in the women’s hammer throw, throwing 57.12 meters. Her PR toss of 58.61 meters from last season has Uitenbroek as No. 15 on the all-time list. We’d have to undergo a thorough vetting to confirm this statistic, but the Uitenbroeks might be the most successful sibling combination from this year’s championships based on their point total of 18.
St. John Fisher’s Rollins wins fourth straight high jump title
Kyle Rollins of St. John Fisher won his fourth consecutive high jump title last weekend. With this feat, he holds the second highest number of high jump national titles in D3 history. Only Wheaton’s Dan Olson had more, winning five titles across both indoor and outdoor seasons.
When asked how he manages consistent success at the NCAA meet, Rollins conveyed that:
“Every year it’s a different competition,” he said. “Right off the bat, guys were jumping really high so I knew it was going to be a good day for all of us. I’m just happy that I can stay consistent and keep jumping high. As things got higher up above 2’10,” that’s when the heights get really important, so I’m happy I can come here and perform.”
Rollins also competed in the triple jump competition on Saturday, placing sixth overall. He rounds out his time at St. John Fisher with 12 career All-American honors to his name and will look to continue competing this summer in hopes of qualifying to the US Championship in Eugene.
UW-Eau Claire on the podium as National Champions. Photo Credit: Kyle Lauffenberger
Loras women and UW-Eau Claire repeat as team champions
The team battles were once again won by Loras’s women and UW-Eau Claire’s men, this time without the protesting drama and fruit snacks.
Loras was led by relay squad Stevie Lambe, Alyssa Pfadenhauer, Elayna Bahl, and Marion Edwards, who captured both relay titles. They took down No. 6 all-time Wash U and No. 9 all-time Redlands in the final, winning in 46.29. Just as they did indoors, Loras sealed the deal for their team title trophy with a dominating win in the 4x400m relay. The squad won in a blistering fast 3:41.77, the fifth fastest time in D3 history. Pfadenhauer and Bahl also scored in their respective individual events, as Pfadenhauer took bronze in the women’s 400m and Bahl took seventh in the women’s 400m hurdle final.
Loras on the podium as National Champions - Photo Credit: Kyle Lauffenberger
In the distance events, Parker placed runner-up in both the 10k and 5k, adding 16 valuable points to the team score, and on the field, Grace Alley took runner-up in the women’s hgh jump competition and sixth in the heptathlon.
UW Eau Claire won the men’s team trophy by a landslide, this time winning outright rather than as co-champions. The Blugolds were led by Marcus Weaver, who repeated as a two-time national champion in the men’s javelin and decathlon. This victory comes off of a devastating DQ in the hurdles indoors, forcing the indoor heptathlon national record to scratch the remainder of the competition. He was joined in multi competition by teammates Abrahm Schroedl and Mitch Stegeman, who placed third and fourth, respectively. Schroedl also took a runner-up finish in the men’s pole vault to round out a huge weekend. With the addition of Verkerke’s national 1500m title, two All-American finishes by Yakob Ekoue in the discus throw and shot put, and a fifth place finish in the steeplechase by Connor Dolan, the Blugolds tallied up their highest number of points at a national meet in program history and the highest by any program at the championship since 2007.
Final Note
As with any championship meet, the weekend was filled with a wide range of emotions. We invite you to view some of these captured moments via our photo collection. To view our photos, please fill out our form at the following link. Don’t forget to credit either @madison_bahr or @KyleLauff if posting to social media. We would also appreciate a small donation of at least $1 to our awesome photographers in exchange for using their images–you may find their Venmo information on this page as well.
Until the next round of D3 national championships, here’s to the glory days.