By Jack Pfeifer // Photos by Kim Spir

EUGENE, Ore. – Chuk Enekwechi of Purdue and Rudy Winkler of Cornell finished as outdoor All-Americans for the first time in their careers here at the NCAA Championships on Wednesday.

Enekwechi, a junior from Queens, wound up 6^th in the men’s hammer, throwing 224-6, while Winkler, a redshirt freshman at Cornell, threw two lifetime bests and finished 8^th, throwing 223-5.

“I survived,” Enekwechi said. “I did OK, made finals, scored some points. That was my primary goal. I couldn’t be happier.”

Winkler, from Averill Park, entered the meet with a PR of 218-1, but he quickly erased that on his first attempt, throwing 223-3. He improved that in Round 4 by 2 inches and each of his five throws exceeded his previous best – 223-3, 222-3, 221-6, 223-5, 222-8. His final attempt, a sector foul, may have been even farther. “My last throw was 70 to 71 meters,” Winkler said, or near 230 feet.

“My first throw was a big PR,” he said. “I’ve been having a lot of issues with technique. But my expectation was to throw well today. What I threw today is around what I have been throwing in practice.”

The competition was won by Conor McCullough, a sixth-year senior at USC who began his career at Princeton. McCullough threw 252-4 to win the competition by more than 17 feet. “I came out to win today,” McCullough said. “I’m overjoyed.”

McCullough’s father, also named Conor, placed 6^th in the men’s hammer in 1985, competing for Boston University. He was in attendance for Wednesday’s competition.

In new meet procedure this year, only men’s events were contested on Day 1 of the championships with the exception of the women’s heptathlon. The sole running final was the 10,000, along with five field event finals. Preliminaries were contested in the other men’s events. On Thursday, it will be the same lineup but for the women, followed by the remaining men’s finals on Friday and the women’s on Saturday.

Two New Yorkers who grew up only a few miles apart upstate both qualified for finals on Wednesday.

In the 1,500 Chad Noelle, a junior at Oklahoma State, moved on to the final after finishing 5^th in Heat II in 3:40.91. “I was comfortable,” Noelle said. “At the 800, I was feeling it a little bit.” It was passed in a quick 1:56. “But I was OK.” As for Friday’s final, “I have a plan. I’m ready for any type of race.”

Noelle grew up in Greene, N.Y., not far from Marcellus, the hometown of Jesse Garn, who advanced to the 800 final for Binghamton. “I ran against Chad many times in high school,” Garn said. “The only time I ever beat him was in a 1,600 our sophomore year.”

Sixth after the first 400 in Heat II of the 800, Garn began his move on the backstretch. “With 300 to go, I heard someone yell, ‘Jesse, it’s time to move now!’ So I did.”

Garn passed three runners on the straightaway, then gradually reined in the two leaders on the home straight. “I came down the homestretch with a smile on my face,” Garn said. In the first 400 – passed by the leaders in 53.3 – “I felt good. I felt comfortable.”

As for Friday’s final, “It’s anyone’s race. I have a lot of confidence in my finish right now. I’ve gone up a lot of these guys before.”

And of course, he made the final, something he did not do at this year’s NCAA indoor championships when he was disqualified for a rare false start. “This was huge redemption for me today,” Garn said.

In the men’s 10,000 final late Wednesday night, Edward Cheserek, the Oregon sophomore who went to high school in Newark, defended his NCAA championship, winning in 28:58.92, just ahead of his teammate Eric Jenkins.