Jacobs Overcomes Early Stumble To Win 10,000; Piperi Wins Second Shot Put Crown; Pinnock Completes Long Jump Sweep; Blomquist Goes From Last In 2019 To First In 2022 To Win Hammer

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor 

Phil Yearian Photos | Kim Spir Photos | Chuck Aragon Photos

EUGENE, Ore. – Dylan Jacobs was unfazed by stepping on the rail and falling eight minutes into the NCAA Division 1 men's 10,000-meter final Wednesday. Nor he was concerned about Athanas Kioko of Campbell running out to a 100-meter lead on the field for two and a half miles. 

Steady until he was ready, the Notre Dame junior picked his spot and closed in 55.45 seconds to win the championship race in 28:12.32. 

"We prepared every day to come out to nationals and perform, and it worked out today where I was able to take it home, so I'm so grateful for that," Jacobs said. 

INTERVIEWS

It wasn't the first time that Jacobs had set out after a big goal and achieved it. As a senior at Sandburg (Orland Park) High in Illinois, he won the Foot Locker Cross Country title in 2017. 

At Notre Dame he has made steady progress and became the first 10,000-meter champion for the Irish men since Ryan Shay in 2001. 

"I got my butt kicked a lot early in college and it's been slow trying to get to the top," Jacobs said. "It's day in and day out being prepared, recovering, doing everything possible to be a better runner. I'm so fortunate to be at this level right now and compete with the best guys in the country."

Jacobs came into the race with the sixth-fastest time this season, although he did win the 10,000 meters in April at the 62nd Mt. SAC Relays, and also won the ACC 5,000-meter title in May. 

The race started out with Kioko clipping off 63-, 64- and 65-second laps to build a big lead. 

But the pack caught back up before the midpoint and by the end it had boiled down to Jacobs, Northern Arizona's Abdihamid Nur, the NCAA Indoor 3,000 and 5,000 champion, and Oklahoma State's Alex Maier. 

Jacobs pulled away from Nur over the final 200 and Maier gave chase on the homestretch but ran out of track to catch him. 

In the meet's first final, the men's hammer throw, Southeast Missouri State's Logan Blomquist won a riveting competion in which the top three finishers all logged personal bests and the lead changed hands four times. 

Blomquist, who finished dead last in the 2019 NCAA final and missed the 2021 meet due to injury, delivered the Redhawks' first national championship in any event on his sixth-round throw, which traveled 240 feet, 8 unches (73.37m). 

"I came in thinking I was capable of throwing far," Blomquist said. "I was nervous. One throw (to win), that was it."

Blomquist's fifth-round throw brought him into a tie with Minnesota's Kostas Zaltos (237-10) for the lead. His sixth throw passed Penn State's Tyler Merkley (238-6). 

Texas standout Adrian Piperi won his second shot put title and got the work done early with a first-round mark of 70-7.25 (21.52m), replicating his win in Austin in 2019. 

That first throw was enough to win the competition. He fouled his next three attempts and then threw 69-8 (21.21m) in the fifth round, which was also long enough to win the title. 

Piperi's 10 points kept the Longhorns afloat although one of the co-favorites to win the team championship took a few hits on Wednesday with athletes not advancing to Friday's finals. 

Micaiah Harris, for instance, advanced to the 200-meter finals but not the 100. 

Arizona State's Turner Washington, the defending champion and the 2022 indoor champion, finished second with 69-0.75 (21.05m). 

In the men's long jump, Tennessee freshman Wayne Pinnock added the outdoor title to his indoor victory in March. 

Pinnock, who is from Jamaica, won by a razor-thin margin. He jumped exactly 8.00 meters (26-3) to tie Florida State's Jeremiah Davis on his sixth and final attempt. Pinnock's second-best mark was three and a half inches farther than Davis' and that broke the tie.

It was the shortest winning mark at the NCAA Championships since 2014. 

Ayden Owens-Delerme of Arkansas capped a terrific first day in the combined events by running an all-time collegiate decathlon best 46.10 in the 400 and has 4,490 points halfway through the competition. He achieved three personal bests Wednesday. Kyle Garland of Georgia, the collegiate record holder, is 49 points back with 4,441.