Arop and Heppenstall go 2-3 in NCAA 800m final
Three podium finishes for Canadians at the NCAA Division I Indoor Championships
Friday and Saturday were the NCAA Division I Indoor Championships in Birgmingham, Alabama and three Canadians came away as medallists. In the men’s 800m, both Marco Arop and Robert Heppenstall finished in the top three, with Arop second and Heppenstall third.
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Arop, who attends Mississippi State set a new Canadian national record earlier this year, running a shocking 1:45.90 at Clemson University on February 9, which is also an NCAA top ten all-time indoors. Arop bested the Canadian indoor 800m record by over half a second, taking the record from Gary Reid, who set it at 1:46.47 in 2004. In the past year, both of Reid’s records have fallen. Brandon McBride, who also attended Mississippi State, took down his outdoor mark at the Monaco Diamond League in 2018. Arop ran a 1:47.00 to grab the silver on Saturday.
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Heppenstall was just behind him in 1:47.45. The 22-year-old Wake Forest student was a U20 World Championship finalist in 2016.
RELATED: Canadian Kyra Constantine helps bring USC to relay and team victory at NCAA championships
The @usc_track_field Women of Troy had to win the 4x400m to win the national championship.
WATCH WHAT #FIGHTON LOOKS LIKE! pic.twitter.com/BOrISxUXXq
— USC Trojans (@USC_Athletics) June 10, 2018
On the women’s side, Kyra Constantine was third in the women’s 400m. The USC junior ran 52.32 to earn a spot on the podium. She was also a member of the gold-medal-winning 4x400m relay team, which helped UCS to earn their NCAA outdoor women’s title. They took the 2018 championship in 53 points to Georgia’s 52 points.
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RELATED: NCAA champion Charlotte Prouse wrote a blog post every runner should read
In the longer distance events, Charlotte Prouse of New Mexico and Nicole Hutchinson of Villanova finished 11th and 13th respectively in the women’s 3,000m final. Prouse had also placed fifth in the women’s 5,000m final the day before.
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