Friday’s five must-watch races for Canadians at the NCAA championships
The NCAA track championships, the national meet for collegiates in the U.S., continue on Friday evening at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
The NCAA division one championships, which serve as the U.S. collegiate championships, began on Wednesday and continue through Saturday with some of Canada’s rising stars in action in the sprint, middle- and long-distance events.
Some of Canada’s best athletes have come through the NCAA system including Mohammed Ahmed, Cam Levins, Sheila Reid and Jessica O’Connell.
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The NCAA has multiple divisions with division one being the highest and most competitive tier. For the fourth consecutive year, Eugene, Ore. and Hayward Field are hosting the championships. For the most part, the running events alternate days with the men’s preliminaries on Wednesday, the women’s preliminaries on Thursday, men’s finals on Friday and women’s finals on Saturday.
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A photo posted by Brandon Mcbride (@mcbride46) on
The men’s and women’s 10,000m are the only two running events that have concluded so far, highlighted by top placings by Michigan’s Ben Flanagan (14th, 29:35.85) and Virginia’s Cleo Boyd (ninth, 33:11.22).
Cleo Boyd finishes 9th in #NCAATF 10,000m in 33:11.22 – 3rd-fastest time in #UVATFCC history! pic.twitter.com/HVgxhDaWqw
— Virginia T&F/CC (@UVA_Track) June 10, 2016
Here are the races to watch on Friday evening (all times EDT) with a focus on Canadian runners in bold.
8:32 p.m. – Men 4x100m relay
8:42 p.m. – Men 1,500m
– Ottawa native and Canadian junior record holder in the 1,500m, Adam Palamar, will be in action in the men’s final of the metric mile. The Syracuse University student previously attended Tulsa before moving closer to home.
8:54 p.m. – Men 3,000m steeplechase
9:12 p.m. – Men 110m hurdles
9:22 p.m. – Men 100m
9:32 p.m. – Men 400m
9:47 p.m. – Men 800m
– The only event on Friday with multiple Canadians is the men’s 800m as Brandon McBride is arguably the favourite in the event. The Mississippi State athlete has run under 1:45 this year and will be joined by Canadian junior indoor record holder Robert Heppenstall of Wake Forest University (North Carolina).
9:57 p.m. – Men 400m hurdles
10:13 p.m. – Men 200m
– Brendon Rodney, the Canadian indoor record holder in the men’s 200m, is a podium threat in the half-lap sprint event. The fifth-year student at Long Island University in New York represented Canada at the IAAF world championships in Beijing last summer where he ran a lifetime best of 20.18.
10:25 p.m. – Men 5,000m
– Justyn Knight, an Olympic hopeful for Canada, will have to defeat “King Ches,” Edward Cheserek, if he wants to win his first track title. He helped Syracuse win the national championship in cross-country in the fall and set new school records in almost every event he ran during the winter.
10:51 p.m. – Men 4x400m relay
– A part of Mississippi State’s relay team, McBride will have only an hour to recover from the 800m to run for his team in the mile relay. He had a great third leg in the prelims where he split 45 seconds.
Nice 4x400m leg by Canadian @mcbride46 of @HailStateTF at #NCAATF championships: pic.twitter.com/BLScjYodXa
— CanadianRunning (@CanadianRunning) June 9, 2016
The women’s finals will be the highlight of Saturday’s action at the NCAA championships in Oregon and Canadian Running will post a similar women’s preview ahead of tomorrow’s evening action. Below are the Canadians who advanced on Thursday to Saturday’s women’s finals.
.@ChaniceChase_ (100h/400h) @AnnieTheWhite (1500) @ErinTeschuk (3000sc) @charprouse (3000sc) @SageWats (400h) @JaimiePhelan advance@ #NCAATF
— CanadianRunning (@CanadianRunning) June 10, 2016
Georgia Ellenwood, a Canadian heptathlete, is competing on Friday as the seven-event discipline is the only women’s event on June 10.
RELATED: Canadian Brandon McBride runs record-setting and world-leading 800m.
A full entry list can be found below:
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