Oregon Women Win Eighth NCAA Indoor Title, First Since 2017, With Wilma Nielsen's Mile Win And A Bunch Of Seconds

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Tavan Smith photos

RESULTS | INTERVIEWS

VIRGINIA BEACH - Oregon exceeded the formchart over and over and dominated the competition for the women's team title at the NCAA Indoor Championships Saturday afternoon at the Virginia Beach Sports Center. 

Outgoing senior Jadyn Mays, in her final meet as a Duck, delivered 16 points to the team with second-place finishes in both the 60 meters and 200 meters. Each time, the sting of coming up one spot short of an elusive individual title was wiped away by knowing that she was about to celebrate the team championship prize with her teammates. 

The day couldn't have been scripted any better for Oregon, which scored 55 points. Georgia was second with 39 and USC was third with 35. Oklahoma, Washington and Arkansas tied for fourth with 31 points apiece. 

Olympian Jaida Ross, who hasn't yet matched her best output of 2024, moved from third to second on her final throw with an indoor personal best of 18.98m (62-3.25). That left her a foot behind Axelina Johansson of Nebraska but it was a win for the team. 

Then, in the mile final, Wilma Nielsen and Silan Ayyildiz worked together at the front of the pack and tried to back down the pace a bit in order to save it for the end. Nielsen managed to stay in the front and Ayyildiz showed some fatigue before falling back in the pack. 

Nielsen refused to be caught on the final lap and won the race in 4:32.40. Ayyildiz clawed her way to fourth place in 4:33.98.

It was already looking good, but then Mays finished a career-best second in the 60 meters behind USC's Dajaz Defrand, 7.09 to 7.12. 

Then Aaliyah McCormick was up in the 60-meter hurdles and she ran a lifetime best for second behind Texas A&M's Jaiya Covington, 7.90 to 7.91. 

McCormick's points gave Oregon 47, which was enough for the win. 

Still, Mays came up again in the 200 and blasted through the first of the two-section final in 22.45 seconds, another personal best. 

TCU freshman Indya Mayberry surpassed Mays in the next section with 22.32 seconds, but eight more points for Oregon more than clinched it for the Ducks. 

With one athlete left, Ayyildiz in the 3,000 meters, she went only a lap before stepping off the track and into a hug by waiting coach Shalane Flanagan. The job was done. 

Outstanding performances in the finals were topped by Arkansas' grad student transfer Isabella Whittaker, who went for broke in the first of two sections of the final and broke the American record in the 400 meters with 49.24 seconds. Only Femke Bol has run faster on the short track indoors. SIDEBAR STORY

Whittaker returned later to help Arkansas win the 4x400 relay, holding off Georgia's Aaliyah Butler to break the tape in 3:25.20.

North Carolina's Makayla Paige was out in front of the pack in the women's 800 meters and never relinquished control of the race, winning in a time of 2:00.39. Harvard's Victoria Bossong was second and Stanford's Roisin Willis was third.

In the 3,000 meters, West Virginia's Ceili McCabe put a stop to Doris Lemngole's domination by kicking to a victory in 9:01.18. Lemngole of Alabama, who won the cross country title as well as Friday's indoor 5,000, was second in 9:01.64 and BYU's Lexy Halladay-Lowry was third after taking second on Friday. 

Georgia's Elena Kulichenko and Texas Tech's Temitope Adeshina matched one another on the way to a tie in the women's high jump. Both cleared 1.94m (6-4.25) on second attempts and neither could make it over 1.97m (6-5.50). 

Kulichenko and Adeshina were among a group of international athletes planning to fly out of the Norfolk, Va. airport on Sunday and head to China for the World Indoor Championships. (Oregon's Nielsen was also making the long trip).

Agur Dwol of Oklahoma won the women's triple jump by virtue of her third-best jump of the day being one centimeter better than that of Texas Tech's Tamiah Washington.

It was a competition that truly never got off the ground. Consider that Jasmine Moore's winning mark two years ago was more than four feet farther than what Dwol and Washington jumped. 

Dwol and Washington both had a best of 13.72m (45-0.25). And they both had second-best marks of 13.56m (44-6).

Their third best broke the tie. Dwol jumped 13.48m (44-2.75) and Washington had a 13.47m (44-2.50).