Garrett Kaalund of USC Nearly Breaks World Record In 200; JaKobe Tharp Breaks CR In 60 Hurdles; Wild 3,000 Ends With Colin Sahlman Declared Winner After Habtom Samuel DQ

By David Woods for DyeStat

Corbin Smith Photos

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The World Indoor Championships are supposed to be next weekend at Torun, Poland. Yet the men’s side of the indoor NCAAs, from 5,100 miles away, could submit a bid for equal billing.

Maybe Mondo Duplantis wasn’t in SEC country – he is from LSU, by the way – but you know who was here?

The No. 2 200-meter indoor sprinter of all time. Plus world leaders in the 60-meter hurdles, heptathlon, 35-pound weight. Nearly world leaders in the 60 and 400 meters. And combat in the 3,000 meters more often seen in international races.

Arkansas extended its record to 22 indoor national championships Saturday but did not hog the spotlight. The Razorbacks scored in 11 of 17 events for 73.5 points to runner-up Oregon’s 40. Florida had 26 for third.

In races less than 20 minutes apart, USC’s Garrett Kaalund nearly set a world record in the 200 meters and Auburn's Ja’Kobe Tharp broke the collegiate record in the 60-meter hurdles.

“I’m a little miffed I didn’t get it,” Kaalund acknowledged.

Kaalund, out of lane 5, set an American and collegiate record of 19.95 seconds. Previous records were 20.02 by Houston’s Elijah Hall at the 2018 NCAAs.

World indoor record of 19.92 by Namibia’s Frankie Fredericks has stood since 1996.

“This is another stratosphere,” USC coach Quincy Watts said. “When you’re running 19.9, when you’re running sub-20 indoors. This is a special, special human being.”

Same could be said of Tharp, one of three 2025 Bowerman Award finalists. He is only 20 and now winner of the past three NCAA hurdles titles, two indoors and outdoors.

Tharp’s time in the 60 hurdles was 7.32, breaking the collegiate and meet record of 7.35 set by Florida’s Grant Holloway in 2019. Samford sophomore Bradley Franklin was second in 7.43.

Tharp climbed to No. 3 all-time behind Holloway (7.27 in 2024) and Great Britain’s Colin Jackson (7.30 in 1994). Tharp has eclipsed the likes of Dayron Robles, Greg Foster, Allen Johnson, Terrence Trammell and Roger Kingdom.

Tharp thrives at nationals so he can “show the world who I am,” he said. “It’s just going out there and putting out my best effort.”

Kanyinsola Ajayi, also of Auburn, tied the collegiate and meet record of 6.45 to win the 60 without hurdles.

Jelani Watkins, a wide receiver who transferred from LSU’s football program to Arkansas, was second in 6.48. The sophomore was third in the 200 in 20.26 (after a 20.11 in trials).

The Razorbacks added an unexpected 18 points from a 1-2 finish in the 800 by Tyrice Taylor and Rivaldo Marshall, both out of Indian Hills (Iowa) junior college. They have taken turns breaking the Jamaican record.

“We talked about it being special, and it’s pretty special,” first-year Arkansas coach Doug Case said. “Tremendous effort by our athletes across the board.”

Tremendous across the board?

That was Peyton Bair, who broke the Oregon school record in the pentathlon. That wouldn’t be a big deal, except it belongs to Ashton Eaton, owner of seven global gold medals.

Bair scored 6,503 points, breaking the Duck mark of 6,499 by Eaton, whose score was a world record in 2010.

Bair would be a candidate for gold at indoor worlds – he ranks No. 6 all-time -- but was not invited by World Athletics.

“I don’t want to say anything about that,” he said. “We’ll see how it goes next week, see if anybody can beat my score.”

Elsewhere, Nigerian sprinter Samuel Ogazi of Alabama won the 400 in 44.57, lowering his own African record. He was within .05 of the official world record and .08 off the unratified 44.49 by Christopher Morales Williams.

Florida’s Justin Braun was second in 44.67 and Arkansas’ Jordan Pierre third in 44.85.

Two distance finals were compelling or unsatisfying, depending on point of view.

In the 3,000, a chain reaction affected Villanova’s Marco Langon, New Mexico’s Habtom Samuel and Northern Arizona’s Colin Sahlman.

Samuel, winner of Friday’s 5,000, was the apparent winner by .01 over Sahlman, 7:41.65 to 7:41.66. Samuel was disqualified, leaving Sahlman as NCAA champion.

Oregon’s Simeon Birnbaum was second in 7:41.85 and Langon third in 7:42.56.

Langon collided with Samuel, who in turn forced Sahlman into taking a step off the track.

“I was doing everything I could just to keep balance,” Sahlman said before the DQ. “And to re-accelerate after that is super tough. I know I had a national title. It’s really frustrating when something like that takes it away.”

Samuel said he felt himself being shouldered.  “I have to stand for my position,” he said.

Langon mostly dismissed the incident and said racing is physical.

“Those runners beat me. That was it,” he said.

A tactical mile was won by Carter Cutting, who became BYU’s first NCAA indoor champion in 15 years. Virginia Tech’s George Couottie was second in 3:59.30. Michigan’s Trent McFarland, 10th to begin the last lap, was third in 3:59.45.

“The strategy was just to match moves of the other people,” Cutting said. “I wanted to make the last move and make it decisive. I was on the outside, and I was like, ‘You know what, people are going to go. So I might as well go first and start sending it.”

Harvard's Tito Alofe jumped a new personal best 7-4.25 and edged Oklahoma's Kyren Washington by tiebreak to win the high jump.

Tarik Robinson-O'Hagan of Ole Miss won his third consecutive shot put title with 67-9 (20.65m).

Texas Tech's Jonathan Seremes won the triple jump with 56-7.25 (17.25m).

Contact David Woods at dwoods1411@gmail.com.