By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Photo by Bobby Goddin

FORMCHART | INTERVIEWS

The 60th NCAA Indoor Championships is Friday and Saturday at the Virginia Beach Sports Complex. Here are some of the top storylines heading into the meet.

Close Team Battle Anticpated

The competition for the women's team championship could go down the final event, with Arkansas, Oregon and Stanford the three teams with potential to score in the 40s this week at Virginia Beach. 

Arkansas has been ranked No. 1 by USTFCCCA and is bringing more entries, 13, than anyone else. The Razorbacks are also the defending champions and bring back high jump champion and Olympian Rachel Glenn. In the 400, Arkansas has two more Olympians: Kaylyn Brown and Isabella Whittaker, a grad student from UPenn. 

Oregon has a possible winning combination with sprinter Jadyn Mays, hurdler Aaliyah McCormick, milers Wilma Nielsen and Silan Ayyildiz,  and shot putter Jaida Ross leading the way. 

Stanford has returning 800 meters champion Juliette Whittaker, Roisin Willis, distance doubler Amy Bunnage and jumper Alyssa Jones all projected to score well for the Cardinal. 

Epic Women's 400

One of the best fields of the entire meet, the women's 400 meters includes five Olympians and two medalists from Paris. Brown of Arkansas won a gold and silver on relays for the United States. USC's Yemi John earned a silver competing for Great Britain. LSU's Ella Onojuvwevwo competed on the Nigerian 4x400 relay team, Michigan's Savannah Sutherland made the finals of the 400-meter hurdles for Canada and Isabella Whittaker was in the U.S. relay pool. 

That said, Georgia's Aaliyah Butler is the NCAA leader this winter with a season's best 49.78 and comes into the week as the favorite. Butler was third in this event last year behind two Arkansas runners who have graduated (Amber Anning, Rosey Effiong). 

Women's Pole Vault In The Stratosphere

It is without a doubt the greatest NCAA pole vault field ever assembled. Eight women in the field are 15-foot vaulters. The reigning champion, Washington sophomore Hana Moll, was beaten by her twin sister Amanda in the race to 16 feet. 

Amanda Moll crashed through the 16-foot barrier in February in Albuquerque. 

In addition to the Molls, who very well might go 1-2 for 18 points, Chloe Timberg of Rutgers won the NCAA Outdoor title last spring. She finished behind the Molls and Illinois Tori Thomas at the Big Ten Conference meet. 

Distance Medley

BYU led five teams under the collegiate record on the oversized track Washington earlier this year. The Cougars have a deep lineup and can attack this relay in a variety of ways. They are also the defending champions in the event.

For Oregon and Stanford, this is an important opportunity to score points so it's huge for the team race. Those teams, plus Washington, Northern Arizona and North Carolina State, bring a lot of talent to the event. 

It may take yet another collegiate record to win this final. 

Olympians Match Up In High Jump

Defending champion Rachel Glenn, who has jumped 2.00 meters, is back and looking to collect 10 points for the Arkansas cause. Glenn finished second at the U.S. Olympic Trials and represented the country in Paris. 

Glenn will face a familiar foe in Georgia's Elena Kulichenko, an SEC rival who finished seventh in Paris for Cyprus.

An extremely talented high jump field also includes Nebraska's Jenna Rogers, Illinois' Rose Yeboah and Texas Tech's Temitope Adeshina. All five have jumped 6-3.50 or higher. 

Women's Shot Put Up For Grabs

Oregon's Jaida Ross is a Bowerman finalist and was fourth at the Olympic Games last summer. But that doesn't make her a lock to win the NCAA indoor title. Ross may have won the NCAA Outdoor title last spring but she was beaten at the Big Ten Indoor meet by Nebraska's Axelina Johansson, who also competed at the Olympic Games for Sweden. She was seventh in Paris.

The defending champion is Mya Lesnar of Colorado State, who beat Ross by six centimeters last year in Boston. 

Houston's KeAyla Love and Louisville's Jayden Ulrich are also in the mix for the win and give this field five women who have put the shot beyond 60 feet. 

Distance Doublers

With Florida's Parker Valby moved on to the pros, the opportunity has opened up for someone else to seize the mantle of top runner in the NCAA. 

Alabama's Doris Lemngole could be the one. She won the NCAA Cross Country title last November and she is one of a handful of women attempting the 3,000/5,000 double this weekend. 

New Mexico freshman Pamela Kosgei, Stanford's Amy Bunnage and BYU's Lexy Halladay-Lowry are also in both events.

BYU's Riley Chamberlain owns the NCAA's best time in the 3,000 this season at 8;40.89. Lemngole has a slight lead over Florida's Hilda Olemomoi in the 5,000 meters. 

Sorting The Sprints

USC's Dajaz Defrand comes into Virginia Beach after an impressive sweep of the 60 and 200 at the Big Ten Championships and looks to keep the momentum rolling.

Georgia's Kaila Jackson, second in the 60 a year ago, won the SEC and defeated NCAA defending champion Brianna Lyston of LSU. 

The margins are small in the 60 meters and there are a handful of potential champions, including impact freshmen Indya Mayberry of TCU and Victoria Cameron of Tarleton State, the WAC champion. 

LSU has second contender in Tima Godbless, a Nigerian Olympian whose 7.08 is the fastest time in the NCAA this season. 

In the 200, South Carolina's JaMeesia Ford is the defending champion and the top performer all season with her best of 22.34 seconds. 

Juliette Whittaker Back As Olympian

Stanford's Whittaker was seventh in Paris after an incredible 2024 in which she won the NCAA titles indoors and out. Whittaker came into the season a bit slower this time due to the long season ahead of the September World Championships in Japan, but she is still the favorite in the 800. 

Of course, the Cardinal need big points out of the 800 meters to stay in the team race and Whittaker is joined by 2023 indoor champion Roisin Willis.

LSU's Michaela Rose is always a threat. She won the NCAA outdoor title in 2023 and was second to Whittaker at the indoor meet last year. Sanu Jallow-Lockhart ran in the Olympics for Gambia. 

Defending Champion Jadin O'Brien Faces Global Field

Notre Dame's Jadin O’Brien is defending champion and scored 4,497 points last year, but there is an international field awaiting her this week in Virginia Beach.

Pippi Lotta Enok of Oklahoma has scored a best of 4,593 and was NCAA Outdoor heptathlon champion two years ago.

Among the talented newcomers are Pauline Bikembo of Iowa (France), Sofia Iakushina of Texas A&M (Russia) and Lucie Kienast of Illinois (Germany).