Elena Kulichenko Contributes 10 Points To Georgia's Title Run in High Jump; Winny Bii First Kenyan To Win NCAA Title in Triple Jump; Pippi Lotta Enok Reclaims Heptathlon Title

By Keenan Gray of DyeStat

Ken Martinez and Tim Healy photos

INTERVIEWS | RESULTS

EUGENE - Cierra Jackson claims her discus technique isn’t perfect.

But her event requires so much detail that it’s necessary to come close.

The Fresno State senior dialed in at the right time to have her collegiate career come to a crescendo Saturday at Hayward Field, with a meet record and personal best throw of 65.82 meters (215-11) to come away with the national title at the NCAA Division 1 Outdoor Championships.

“I’m not going to get every single throw correct every time,” Jackson said. “There’s stuff that we have been working on over the week and I did those things correctly…it was mostly like the middle of the throw, so I did perfect on that.”

Her first-round throw bested Jorinde Van Klinken’s meet record of 65.01m (213-3), which was more than enough to defeat one of the deepest fields assembled at an NCAA meet.

The top four finishers each threw the furthest distance by placement in meet history.

Florida’s Alida Van Daalen, a Paris Olympian for the Netherlands, threw 64.94m (213-1) to finish second; Texas Tech’s Shelby Frank threw 63.37m (207-11) to finish third; California’s Caisa-Maris Lindfors, another Paris Olympian representing Sweden, threw 62.57m (205-3) to finish fourth.

“It just shows where the discus is going,” Frank said, who also finished second in the hammer on Thursday.

“Hopefully we can get more media coverage on the throwing events because there is so much talent now stacked in those areas.”

Cincinnati’s Amanda Ngandu-Ntumba (60.77m/199-4) and Auburn’s Adrienne Adams (60.55m/198-8) added to the depth of the competition with lifetime bests, finishing fifth and sixth, respectively. Bowerman hopeful and U.S. Olympian Jayden Ulrich of Louisville finished a disappointing seventh place, throwing 60.25m (197-8).

Jackson’s first round throw not only served her well at the end, but it lowered her anxiety throughout the entire competition.

“Getting a mark on the first throw is relieving for me because sometimes I don’t get a mark on the first throw, and then I’m stressing the rest of the competition,” Jackson said. “Being able to get a mark the very throw relieved a lot of stress and I didn’t feel as much pressure going into the next ones.”

Jackson had one other fair throw throughout the remainder of the competition. In round two, she threw 58.65m (192-5) then fouled four consecutive times to complete her series.

Van Daalen pulled within Jackson by round five when she threw her 64.94m but fouled on her sixth-round throw to settle for second.

In pursuit of the program’s first team title, Georgia earned 13 points from the two other contested field events, including Elena Kulichenko scoring 10 points in the women’s high jump.

The 22-year-old Russian, who represented Cyprus at the Paris Olympics, won her first outright title at 1.96m (6-5) after tying for the previous indoor and outdoor titles.

Kulichenko, who won last year’s outdoor title at 1.97m (6-5.5), was perfect through her first five heights before falling out at 2.00m (6-6.75), which would have broken the collegiate record of 1.99m (6-6.25) by Brigetta Barrett from the 2013 season.

Illinois’ Rose Yeboah, who tied Kulichenko last year for the title, finished second at 1.93m (6-4), contributing eight points to the Illini’s fifth-place team finish.

Nebraska’s Jenna Rogers finished as the top American, placing third at 1.90m (6.2-75) to conclude her decorative career in a Husker uniform. Stanford’s Alyssa Jones, second in the long jump on Thursday, also cleared 1.90m to finish fourth.

Texas Tech’s Temitope Adeshina, who tied with Kulichenko at indoor nationals, finished fifth, jumping 1.87m (6-1.50).

Texas A&M’s Winny Bii brought the Aggies' total to 43 points for third in the team race, winning the women’s triple jump with a mark of 13.96m (45-9.75). She is the first Kenyan-born athlete to win a triple jump title at the NCAA meet.

San Jose State’s Emilia Sjostrand jumped within eight centimeters of Bii’s top mark in the sixth round for second place at 13.88m (45-6.50).

Oklahoma’s Agur Dwol jumped 13.77m (45-2.25) to take third; Clemson’s Shantae Foreman jumped 13.72m (45-0.25) to take fourth; Texas Tech’s Victora Gorlova jumped 13.53m (44-4.75) to take fifth.

Skylynn Townsend scored the three other points for Georgia, finishing sixth at 13.52m (44-4.25).

Pippi Lotta Enok Reclaims Heptathlon Title

Two years since her first title in Austin, Texas, Oklahoma’s Pippi Lotta Enok reclaimed her heptathlon crown with a personal best score of 6,295 points.

The Estonian native improved her previous best score by 37 points from the Mt. SAC Relays back in April. She also established a new national record by 15 points, eclipsing Gritt Šadeiko's score 6,280 points.

Enok earned personal bests in the 100 hurdles (13.65), high jump (1.81m/5-11.25) and 200 (24.09) and a season’s best in long jump (6.39m/20-11.75).

Notre Dame’s Jadin O’Brien, winner of four NCAA pentathlon titles, scored a personal best 6,256 points for second overall.

Texas A&M’s Sofia Iakushina was the only other competitor to eclipse 6,000 points, scoring 6,058 points for third.