Ducks, Razorbacks In Hunt For NCAA Indoor Title

By David Woods for DyeStat

DyeStat Photos

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

1, Teams: Oregon challenges No. 1 Arkansas

Oregon, which has the Hayward Field advantage at outdoor NCAAs, gives up home track to top-ranked Arkansas indoors.

Arkansas boasts more balance than Oregon, which relies on distance runners and heptathlete Peyton Bair. Arkansas (17) and Oregon (15) have the most NCAA entries.

A championship by Oregon would be its sixth -- one behind UTEP for second-most behind Arkansas’ 21.

If the top two falter, Tennessee, Florida or Kansas State could climb into the mix.

2, Snow double would match Gault, Holloway

In a span of 20 minutes, Texas Tech’s Malachi Snow won Big 12 titles in the 60-meter hurdles and 60-meter dash. If he can do so at NCAAs, he would match the feat of Tennessee’s Willie Gault (1983) and Florida’s Grant Holloway (2019).

To do that, Snow would have to beat a couple of Auburn stars.

Kanyinsola Ajayi, a 21-year-old Nigerian, won the SEC in 6.45 to tie Christian Coleman’s collegiate record and set an African record. Ajayi was sixth in the 100 at the 2025 World Championships.

Snow is .01 back at 6.46.

In the hurdles, defending champion is Ja’Kobe Tharp, who clocked 7.46 and 7.48 at SECs.

Samford sophomore Bradley Franklin is the collegiate leader at 7.41, ranking No. 3 all-time collegian and No. 4 in the world this year. Snow, at 7.43, is No. 5 all-time collegian. Texas A&M’s Ja’Qualon Scott, second at SECs, ties Tharp at 7.46.

3, Record watch I: 200 meters

How fast is Garrett Kallund?

Consider his collegiate record of 20.06 for 200 meters is a half-second ahead of Noah Lyles this year. And Lyles has won four outdoor world titles in the 200.

Kallund, a San Antonio native who transferred from Nebraska to USC, is not a one-off, either. At last year’s outdoor NCAAs, he was third, ahead of Bowerman Award winner Jordan Anthony. And this year, prefacing Kallund’s 20.06 was a 20.12 at Albuquerque.

Only men faster indoors were Namibia’s Frank Fredericks (19.92 in 1996) and Elijah Hall (20.02 in 2018). Hall, of Houston, holds the American and collegiate records.

4, Record watch II: 400 meters

The 400 meters has been compelling since Jan. 10, when Georgia freshman Jonathan Simms ran an under-20 world record of 44.62, worth No. 4 on the all-time collegiate list.

At SECs, he was pushed down to third by Alabama’s Samuel Ogazi (44.72) and Arkansas’ Jordan Pierre (45.06). Ogazi, a 19-year-old Nigerian, won the outdoor NCAAs last year.

Eleven of the 16 qualifiers are sophomores or freshmen. Slowest of the 16 is USC freshman Jack Stadlman, who won the Big Ten in 45.62.

5, A wildly unpredictable (but loaded) mile

Northern Arizona’s Colin Sahlman, after a 3:52.30 mile and collegiate record for 800, opted out of both to concentrate on the 3,000 and distance medley relay.

Don’t look away from the mile, though.

The mile features four of the 12 fastest in collegiate history: Gary Martin, Virginia, 3:48.82 (last year); George Couttie, Virginia Tech, 3:52.02; Elliott Cook, Oregon, 3:52.32; Rueben Reina, Washington, 3:52.36.

With a generous conversion, Colorado’s Isaiah Givens is credited with a NCAA-leading 3:51.73 (3:57.52 at Boulder’s 5,337-foot altitude). He was third in the Big 12.

Down the list is Michigan’s Trent McFarland, whose 3:52.73 beat Cook at Arkansas Jan. 31. McFarland ran the closing 400 of a tactical Big Ten mile in 51.23, beating Cook and Reina.

 “I don’t really think anyone in the country can keep up with me on that last lap. Going to nationals, I believe that I’m the favorite and that I can win,” McFarland said.

It took 3:54.35 to make the cut to 16. As recently as 2012, the collegiate record was 3:55.0 (then a world indoor record by Tony Waldrop on a 160-yard track in 1974).

6, Samuel vs. Langon in 3,000 and 5,000

Close team races are usually decided in the 4x400 relay, but this one comes down to the 3,000. Oregon has five entries, although they are seeded 7-8-9-13-15.

There would be distance drama even without that, starting in Friday’s 5,000.

The 5,000 will be a rematch of a Dec. 6 race at Boston in which New Mexico’s Habtom Samuel beat Villanova’s Marco Langon, both timed in 13:05.21. They are also in Saturday’s 3,000, as are Sahlman and Oregon’s Simeon Birnbaum, who won a 3,000/5,000 Big Ten double.

Samuel is 9-0 this season against collegians, including cross-country and indoor track. Langon is perhaps the most quotable collegian.

“I’m the best runner God put in this country, right now,” Langon said recently.

7, Heptathlon

Bair, barring mishap, should secure a third straight NCAA title after winning heptathlon and decathlon for Mississippi State last year. His Jan. 31 heptathlon score (at Arkansas) of 6.371 points is No. 4 on the all-time collegiate list behind global medalists Kyle Garland, Ayden Owens-Delerme and Ashton Eaton.

Next are two rising stars: Louisville sophomore Kenneth Byrd, 20, a U.S. U20 champion, and Illinois freshman Luuk Pelkmans, 19, a European U20 silver medalist from the Netherlands. Their respective scores are 6,161 and 6,151.

The Illini have another Dutchman, Jip De Greef, who scored 6,046 in January 2025. The two Illini train with Owens-Delerme.

8, Pole vault

Nebraska sophomore Dyson Wicker said he has been pole vaulting his age since he was a youngster, and clearing 19 feet again might make the 19-year-old an NCAA champion. He made that bar (5.79m) for the first time in the Big Ten, beating collegiate leader James Rhoads of Washington (19-1.5/5.82m).

French vaulter Ismaila Saweneh of Tennessee made 18-11.5 (5.78m) to win the SEC. The Vols and Big Ten have five entries each.

9, Seeking three-peat in shot put

Mississippi shot putter Tarik Robinson-O’Hagan, the top collegian at 69-6 (21.18m), is going for a third straight title.

Second-ranked Kobe Lawrence, an Oregon sophomore, was sixth in the Big Ten. Another Oregon shot putter, freshman Ben Smith, was second in the Big Ten but stands just eighth on the collegiate list. Florida freshman Jarno van Daalen, a 19-year-old Dutchman who won U20 worlds in 2024, is third at 66-1 (20.14m).

10, Worth the weight

Iowa’s Ryan Johnson set a collegiate record of 84-4.75 (25.66m) in the 35-pound weight in the Big Ten. Now No. 4 on the all-time world list, he said he is aiming at the world record of 86-5 (26.35m) by Daniel Haugh from 2024.

Contact David Woods at dwoods1411@gmail.com.