Illinois Looks To Pile Up Field Events Points, And First Title, In Fayetteville

By David Woods for DyeStat

DyeStat Photos

Here are 10 things to watch in the women’s NCAA Indoor Championships, which run Friday/Saturday at Fayetteville, Ark.

1, Teams: Illinois, Georgia and who else?

Petros Kyprianou’s present meets his past. The coach’s current team, Illinois, and former team, Georgia, have been ranked Nos. 1 and 2 most of the season. The Illini can score in the field and pentathlon, the Bulldogs in the sprints.

First team to 40 points wins team championship?

If so, there are others in the mix: host Arkansas, BYU, South Carolina, Texas Tech, Oregon, Southern California. If it comes down to the 4x400-meter relay, Arkansas, South Carolina, Georgia and USC are seeded 1-2-3-5, respectively. Illinois has zero track qualifiers.

Since 2010, Oregon (eight), Arkansas (five) and Georgia (one) have won 14 of 15 championships. Illinois’ highest finish was sixth in 1996.

2, Lemnogle vs. Hedengren, Acts III and IV

Alabama’s Doris Lemnogle has already beaten BYU freshman Jane Hedengren in NCAA cross country and in a 3,000-meter race Feb. 1 at the Millrose Games.

They are due for rematches Friday at 5,000 meters and Saturday at 3,000.

3, A mile for all time

An international field featuring five of the six fastest in collegiate history are in the mile:

BYU’s Riley Chamberlain, Oregon’s Wilma Nielsen (Sweden) and Silan Ayyildiz (Turkey), Oklahoma State’s Billah Jepkirui (Kenya), and North Carolina State freshman Sadie Engelhardt.

The sixth of the top six, Hedengren, was beaten in the Big 12 by Jepkirui, who clocked 4:23.40. With a conversion from Lubbock’s 3,200-foot elevation, Jepkirui is actually top seed at 4:20.34.

Nielsen is defending champion. Chamberlain, Ayyildiz and Jepkirui are doubling back on the same day in the 3,000. BYU and Oregon need the team points.

4, One Moll twin in pole vault

With twin Amanda out, Washington's Hana Moll will try to keep the pole vault title in the family. They went 1-2 last year, both at 15-5 (4.70m) in a competition won by Amanda. Hana, the reigning NCAA outdoor champion, has vaulted a world-leading 4.88m, becoming the fifth American woman over 16 feet.

5, Five events, five (or more) contenders

We get it. Not everyone loves to sit through the combined events. The pentathlon will be done when track events start at 6 p.m. (EDT) Friday.

This pentathlon is wild, though.

For instance, Texas A&M sophomore Sophia Yakushina (Russia) and Oregon freshman Liisa-Maria Lusti (Estonia) are seeded No. 7 and 11, respectively . . . but are the only two to have exceeded 4,500 points in their careers.

Illinois’ Meagan Humphries, JaiCieonna Gero-Holt and Lucie Kienast are seeded 1-4-7, but none has ever scored at NCAAs.

Humphries scored a collegiate-leading 4,459 in winning the Big Ten, posting PBs in all five events. Top 2026 scorers after her are Juliette Laracuente-Huebner, Cincinnati, 4,437; Vanessa Mercera (Netherlands), Kansas State, 4,429; Gero-Holt, 4,400. Gero-Holt, 19, a freshman, is coming off foot surgery 15 months ago.

6, 800 meters: The record-breakers

Arkansas’ Sanu Jallow-Lockhart set a collegiate record at 600, and Penn State’s Hayley Kitching and Harvard’s Sophia Gorriaran did so at 1,000. They meet in the middle, at 800, but aren’t necessarily favorites.

Clemson’s Gladys Chepngetich has the best time, 1:58.81; North Carolina’s Makayla Paige is defending champion; Stanford’s Juliette Whittaker swept indoor and outdoor 800s in 2024 before making the Olympics, and Analisse Batista beat Jallow-Lockhart in a 1-2 Arkansas finish at SECs.

7, 200 meters: League of champions

The 200 meters pits defending champion Indya Mayberry of TCU and 2024 champ JaMeesia Ford of South Carolina against Georgia freshman Adaejah Hodge. Hodge, of the British Virgin Islands, set a national high school record of 22.33 in 2023 while running for Montverde Academy FL.

Hodge (22.32), Mayberry (22.50) and Ford (22.58) rank 1-2-3 in the NCAA, 1-2-4 in the world. Hodge has twice beaten Ford this year.

8, Showdown in the short sprint

Mississippi sprinter Alicia Burnett is drawing comparisons to Olympian McKenzie Long. In becoming Ole Miss’ first SEC champion at 60 meters, Burnett broke Long’s school record and climbed to 10th on the all-time collegiate list at 7.08.

That ties for the NCAA lead with Texas native Victoria Cameron, who played soccer and ran track at Tarleton State before concentrating on the latter. Jamaican sprinter Shenese Walker of Florida State is next at 7.09, followed by Hodge at 7.13. Hodge was fourth at SECs.

Defending champion Dajaz Defrand of USC false-started out of Big Ten trials.

9, Title beckoning Beckmon

Illinois junior Sophia Beckmon is fulfilling the potential she showed out of Oregon City, Ore. After coming within one inch of a national high school record in 2023 and winning a World U20 world silver in 2024, she is poised to win her first NCAA title.

She has shown more consistency and knows the venue. She has jumps of 22-5.75 (6.85m), 22-4.50 (6.82m) and 22-2.50 (6.77m) at Arkansas this year, all farther than No. 2 seed Prestina Ochonogor, a 19-year-old Nigerian at Tarleton State.

10, Double Axel(ina)

Nebraska shot putter Axelina Johannson is stopping off in Arkansas on her way to Poland. The defending NCAA indoor champion, and now collegiate record-holder, can aim for a medal at the World Indoor Championships next week.

Contact David Woods at dwoods1411@gmail.com.