Doris Lemngole Maintains Mastery Of NCAA Distance With 5,000 Meters Win; Olympians Juliette Whittaker, Kaylyn Brown Fail To Qualify For Finals

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Tavan Smith Photos

INTERVIEWS

VIRGINIA BEACH - For all of the ebbs and flows of expectation and performance on Friday's first day of the NCAA Indoor Championships women's meet, the surest of things was the pole vault. 

Amanda and Hana Moll, high school stars in Washington state who enrolled together at UW in Seattle, went 1-2 on Friday and reaffirmed that they have joined the ranks of the world class and college sophomores. 

Amanda Moll, who a year ago was plagued with self-doubt, smashed through the 16-foot barrier earlier this season and was just a little bit better than her sister, who happened to be the defending champion. Amanda cleared 4.70m (15-5) on her first try. Hana got it on her third. 

Eighteen points for Washington, which has scant few chances to add more to the total on Saturday. 

"I tried to keep everything consistent and it worked out," Amanda Moll said. "Hana and I's goal the whole time was 1-2, no matter what the order."

The outcomes were less predictable throughout the women's session at Virginia Beach Sports Center. 

Stanford, which had the potential to make a run at the team title, took a fatal hit when Olympic finalist Juliette Whittaker finished sixth in the second heat of the 800 meters and was one spot away from making the final in an event where she is the defending champion. 

The Cardinal further lost steam when distance runner Amy Bunnage stepped off the track and did not finish the 5,000 meters. 

Arkansas, another team contender, is still in the mix but will move into Saturday's final session without Kaylyn Brown, a double Olympic medalist for the United States in 4x400 relays. Brown ran 52.06 for the 10th fastest time of the prelims and only eight move on. 

Sanu Jallow, another potential scorer for the Razorbacks, did not reach the final of the 800. 

Oregon's chances remain solid. Jadyn Mays advanced in the 60 and the 200, Aaliyah McCormick is in the 60 hurdles final and Silan Ayyildiz and Wilma Nielsen are in the mile after qualifying safely on Friday. Nielsen flew overseas compete at the European Indoor Championships last weekend for her native Sweden, and flew to Virginia on Monday to meet her team and prepare for NCAAs.

Ayylidiz took the baton with a 15-meter lead in the women's distance medley relay but was unable to hold it. Riley Chamberlain of BYU tracked her down and went on to carry the Cougars to their second straight DMR title with an inspired 4:25.12 split. 

BYU finished in 10:45.34 for a meet record and Oregon was second 10:45.99. For the Ducks, eight points was a starting point and nothing to worry about. 

Providence was third and surprising LSU was fourth. 

"We got people through to finals that we needed to get in finals. We got a bunch of sprints, miler and shot put tomorrow. It puts us in really good position to go out there and show everyone what we can do," Oregon DMR 400-meter leg Ella Clayton said. 

Baylor's Alexis Brown jumped a personal best 6.90m (22-7.75) to win the long jump. She had the three farthest jumps of the competition and also qualified for Saturday's final of the 60 dash. 

There was a surprise in the women's weight throw when Taylor Kesner of Wisconsin launched a giant sixth-round mark of 23.50m (77-1.25) to jump from seventh to first. It was nearly a four-foot personal best and disrupted the formchart. Kesner had finished 12th at the Big Ten Conference meet. She is one of the few throwers who competes in the weight throw before going outside to throw discus, not the hammer. 

Notre Dame's Jadin O'Brien was another safe bet who pulled through against a bunch of young challengers and won her third consecutive pentathlon title with a personal best point total of 4,596. O'Brien finished 184 points ahead of Texas A&M freshman Sofia Iakushina, who jumped 6-0.50 in the high jump but finished 13th in both the shot put and long jump and scored 4,412.

One of the favorites coming in, Oklahoma's Pippi Lotta Enok, was third with 4,375 points.