Saunders steps up to secure national title

Following three runner-up finishes, including twice indoors, Kentucky standout produces personal best in final round to edge defending-champion Burks

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Sha'Keela Saunders had been in the situation before last year, with her bid for a long jump title at the NCAA Division 1 Indoor Championships coming down to the final round, only to watch Alabama star Quanesha Burks come through with the best jump of the competition and secure the crown.

After Burks took the lead in the fifth round Saturday, the pressure was again on Saunders, who responded with the best performance of her collegiate career on her final attempt to capture Kentucky's first women's indoor long jump title with a mark of 22-7.75 (6.90m) in College Station, Texas.

"That was amazing. That was an epic jump," Saunders said. "I was hoping for the victory, but I didn't know it would be that big of a jump. That was a PR for me and I'm ecstatic."

Saunders, who finished second indoors the past two years and has a total of three national runner-up finishes in her career, fell just short of the collegiate record of 22-8 (6.91m) shared by Auburn's Elva Goulbourne and TCU's Whitney Gipson.

"I was sitting in second going into that last jump and there was just a fire in me," Saunders said. "I said 'Look, we've been before and we don't like this feeling, let's do something different.' Luckily God came through in the clutch and pulled it out in that last jump."

Saunders improved to the No. 8 American indoor female performer in history after eclipsing her personal-best 22-4.5 (6.82m) from the SEC Indoor Championships, in addition to elevating to fourth in the world this year. Just like at the SEC finals, Burks was second with a mark of 22-0.75 (6.72m).

Saunders wasn't the only SEC star to capture a title on the meet's first day at Rhonda and Frosty Gilliam Jr. Indoor Track Stadium.

Georgia senior Kendell Williams became the only female athlete in NCAA indoor finals history to win the same event all four years when she outlasted Arkansas junior Taliyah Brooks in the pentathlon by a 4,682 to 4,580 margin.

Although Williams fell just short of her own collegiate record 4,703 points from last year's championship meet in Alabama, she now boasts the top three scores in event history.

Williams led by only nine points entering the 800, before clocking a personal-best 2:15.61, with Brooks finishing in 2:22.39. Williams opened the competition with a collegiate pentathlon record by clocking 8.03 in the 60-meter hurdles.

Williams joins UTEP's Suleiman Nyambui, who won four mile titles from 1979-82, and SMU's Michael Carter, who captured four shot put championships in 1980-81 and 1983-84.

Georgia duplicated its own history when Madeline Fagan and Tatiana Gusin became the Bulldogs' first pair since 2007 to take the top two spots in the women's high jump final.

Fagan cleared 6-4 (1.93m) on her third attempt to edge Gusin, who cleared 6-2.75 (1.90m) and prevailed in a tiebreaker with Mississippi State's Logan Boss based on fewer misses.

Georgia's Patty Sylvester and Levern Spencer were the only set of teammates before Friday to go 1-2 in the women's indoor high jump final, both clearing 6-2.25 (1.89m).

Keturah Orji, Kate Hall and Williams placed third, fourth and seventh in the long jump to contribute 13 points to Georgia's first-day total of 41 points. Orji had a leap of 21-7.25 (6.58m), Hall jumped 21-3.25 (6.48m), with Williams finishing at 21-1.25 (6.43m) after fouling on her first two attempts.

Missouri junior Karissa Schweizer produced an impressive kick on the final two laps of the women's 5,000 meters to secure the championship in 15:19.14. Michigan junior Erin Finn was second in 15:27.36 and Notre Dame sophomore Anna Rohrer, who held the lead at 4,600 meters, placed third in 15:29.83.

Schweizer became the seventh woman in NCAA history to win the cross country title and indoor 5,000 in the same school year, joining Notre Dame's Molly Seidel, Texas Tech's Sally Kipyego, Arizona's Amy Skierez, Dartmouth's Abbey D'Agostino, along with Villanova's Sonia O'Sullivan and Jen Rhines.

Ole Miss junior Raven Saunders eclipsed her own collegiate shot put record with a final-round effort of 64-2.25 (19.56m) to take over the world lead and secure her second championship in three years.

The Rebels also won their first men's distance medley relay title, with Craig Engels, Nick DeRay, Sean Tobin and Robert Domanic clocking 9:31.32.

Florida junior KeAndre Bates captured the Gators' third long jump title in five years with a leap of 26-4.50 (8.04m), joining two-time winner Marquis Dendy in 2013 and 2015.

Colorado State crowned its first champion since 2001 with Mostafa Hassan capturing the shot put title with a mark of 69-9.50 (21.27m). Bryan Berryhill was the Rams' last individual winner, prevailing in the mile 16 years ago.

South Dakota secured its first national indoor title, as freshman Chris Nilsen cleared 18-8.25 (5.70m) in the pole vault to equal his season best.

It was a day of elation and disappointment for Oregon as senior Edward Cheserek won his record 16th NCAA championship – and 14th individual title – by capturing the 5,000 in 13:41.20. Cheserek also qualified for the mile final in 3:59.30.

After running what she thought was a collegiate record 22.28 in the 200 prelims, sophomore Deajah Stevens was disqualified for a lane violation. She still qualified in the 60-meter dash final, along with teammates Hannah Cunliffe and Ariana Washington.

Cunliffe and Washington are also the top two qualifiers in the 200 final, with Sasha Wallace leading all finalists in the 60 hurdles.

Colorado's Tabor Scholl, Elissa Mann, Sage Hurta and Dani Jones rallied for the program's first national indoor title in the distance medley relay in 11:00.34, edging Stanford in 11:00.36.