EUGENE, Ore. – With a three top-four individual finishes on Friday, the Stanford men took eighth at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships and was the top-scoring team in the Pac-12, with 24 points.
For the 39th time, Stanford finished among the top-10 men's teams in the country, earning its highest finish since placing fifth in 2019.
With a third in the 200 meters by freshman Udodi Onwuzurike, and fourths in the triple jump and 5,000 by Keyshawn King and Ky Robinson, Stanford finished with five first-team All-Americans and 16 points on the final men's day of the four-day meet.
Onwuzurike, the first Stanford athlete to compete in the NCAA's in the 200 since 1963, came out of Lane Eight to run 20.15, a Stanford record for this meet.
Onwuzurike ran a strong turn and came to the homestretch with a shot at the lead before Florida's Joseph Fahnbulleh pulled away to win in 19.83 and repeat as champion. Georgia's Matthew Boling edged Onwuzurike for second by 0.02.
Onwuzurike earned Stanford's highest place in this event since Larry Questad, a 1968 Olympic 200 finalist, placed second at 220 yards in 1963.
King did Onwuzurike one better. His fourth place was Stanford's highest triple jump finish since 1960, when John Kelly placed third. In his final collegiate meet, King earned his first All-America honor.
King typically unleashes his best jumps early and that was the case Friday when he traveled 53-6 ¾ (16.32m) on his opening leap. That put him in second after the first round, but by the end of the second, he was entrenched in fourth and unable able to improve his place. He finished as the top American in the competition.
Keyshawn King. Photo by David Hicks.
In the 5,000, the sophomore Robinson earned his best NCAA outdoor finish, improving upon his sixth in the steeplechase last year. Robinson ran 13:30.23 and Cardinal teammate Cole Sprout was ninth in 13:32.53. Stanford graduate Alex Ostberg, a grad student at North Carolina, was eighth in 13:31.60.
Robinson was deep in a crowded pack with two laps to go before moving up on the penultimate backstretch and moving up to fourth on the final lap. Sprout, who was fourth in the 10,000 on Wednesday, captured his fourth All-America honor and fourth top-10 finish in an NCAA championship race this year, including indoors.
This was the 13th consecutive season that Stanford had at least one runner in the NCAA men's outdoor 5,000 final.
The women's meet was limited to just the first day of the heptathlon before a day of finals on Saturday. Stanford's Allie Jones, 11th last year, is fifth after Day One.
Jones opened with a season best 13.38 in the 100 hurdles to put herself in fourth. A subpar high jump of 5-5 ¼ (1.66m) dropped her to 11th, but she rebounded with a strong 40-4 (12.29m) in the shot put to move up to seventh.
In the fourth and final event of the day, Jones unleashed a huge personal best in the 200 of 23.95 for 986 points to move up to fifth. Her 3,540 points is 12 points behind her school-record pace from the Mt. SAC Relays in April.
Jones will be among five Cardinal women competing Saturday, including three in the 1,500 – the most from Stanford in the final of that event since 2007.
As for the men's result, Stanford was the top Pac-12 team (24 points), with USC and Washington next (20), followed by Arizona State (17), Cal (13), Oregon (11), and Washington State (4) among scoring teams.
Ky Robinson. Photo by Chuck Aragon.
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NCAA Championships
Friday's results
Winners and all Stanford
Men
Final team scores – 1, Florida 54; 2, Texas 38; 3, Tennessee 34; 4, Florida State 33; 5, Georgia 32; 6, LSU 31; 7, Princeton 27; 8, Stanford 24.
200 – 1, Joseph Fahnbulleh (Florida) 19.83; 3, Udodi Onwuzurike (Stanford) 20.15.
5,000 – 1, Olin Hacker (Wisconsin) 13:27.73; 4, Ky Robinson (Stanford) 13:30.23; 9, Cole Sprout (Stanford) 13:32.53.
Triple jump – 1, Chengetayi Mapaya (TCU) 56-7 ½ (17.26m); 4, Keyshawn King (Stanford) 53-6 ½ (16.32m).
Women
Heptathlon (first of two days) – 5, Allie Jones (Stanford) 3,540.
Allie Jones (event, place in event, mark, points, place in competition):
First day: 100 hurdles – 4, 13.38, 1,068 (4); High jump – 19, 5-5 ¼ (1.66m), 806 (11); Shot put – 7, 40-4 (12.29m), 680 (7); 200 – 5, 23.95, 986 (5). First-day total: 3,540.
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Stanford's Schedule
Saturday
10:30 a.m.: Women's heptathlon long jump – Fl.1: Allie Jones.
11:45 a.m.: Women's heptathlon javelin – Fl.1: Allie Jones.
2:41 p.m.: Women's 1,500 final – Christina Aragon, Julia Heymach, Melissa Tanaka.
4:13 p.m.: Women's heptathlon 800 – Allie Jones.
4:25 p.m.: Women's 5,000 final – Lucy Jenks.