Double winners for NC A&T men and women at NCAA Div. I Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon
LUT WILLIAMS BCSP Editor
EUGENE, Ore. – North Carolina A&T sprinters Cambrea Sturgis and Randolph Ross Jr., put on dazzling displays, each winning two national championships in world-class times, and leading head coach Duane Ross’s women’s and men’s teams to unprecedented top five finishes in the NCAA Div. I Outdoor Track & Field Championships over the weekend here.
Despite coming in with just nine competitors, the Aggie men finished with 35 points to claim third place in the men’s competition behind national champion LSU (84 points) and Oregon (53). The Aggies finished ahead of national powers Florida (34.5), Southern Cal (33), Texas A&M and Texas (29) and Georgia (25).
The Lady Aggies, who likewise sent just nine runners to the NCAA championships, finished tied for fourth with Alabama with 31 points behind Southern Cal (74), Texas A&M (63) and Georgia (37.5) and ahead of vaunted teams from LSU (28.5), Florida and Texas (28).
The finishes for both the men and women were the highest for HBCUs in NCAA Div. I track history.
Ross Jr. leads the men, stuns the world
In Friday’s men’s track finals, Ross Jr., a sophomore, ran a scintillating 43.85 time, powering down the stretch to win by more than a half-second over Texas A&M’s Bryce Deadmon (44.44) for the 400 meters individual title. It bettered his previous best time by nearly a second, was the second fastest time ever run at an NCAA championship meet, the third-fastest time in collegiate history and the third fastest time in the world this year.
Earlier in the day, Ross ran the second leg for A&T’s 4×100 meter relay team that finished fourth. But he wasn’t through.
In the final event of the day, running after Daniel Stokes opening leg for the Aggies 4×400 relay team, Ross Jr. took the baton in sixth place, took the lead with a strong move on the final turn and handed it to Akeem Sirleaf in first place. Fellow quartermiler, senior Trevor Stewart, who finished fourth in the open 400 in 44.96, then brought home the championship for the Aggies in the relay in 3:00.92.
All told, Ross Jr. had a hand, and/or legs, in 25 of the Aggies’ 35-point total. He garnered 10 points for his 400 meters win, another 10 as part of the 4×400 winning squad and five for fourth-place in the 4×100 relay. Stewart earned five points for his fourth-place finish in the 400.
Perhaps the biggest surprise for the Aggies was junior Brandon Hicklin’s fourth-place finish in the long jump final Wednesday which earned another five points. Hicklin came in with the 21st best jump in the event but leaped to a personal best of 7.91 meters (25’ 11 11/2”) in the finals.
Sturgis stuns the women, and the world
In Saturday’s women’s finals, Sturgis, a sophomore from Kannapolis, N.C., put on a show that won’t soon be forgotten.
First, she warmed up for her sprinting blitz by teaming with fellow sophomore Kamaya Debose-Epps, freshman Jonah Ross and senior Symone Darius to run a 43.03 for a third-place finish in the day’s opening event, the 4×100 relay.
Later, in the women’s 100 meters, she broke from the starting blocks strongly, ran to the lead early and laid down a blazing 10.74 to win the national championship over a strong field. Commentators Dwight Stones and Jill Montgomery said in a stunned unison, “Ten-point-seven-four!,” after the time flashed. The time was the fastest NCAA all-weather time in history. But Sturgis had more.
Running later in the 200 meters final, she pulled off the unique double, winning that event in a personal-best 22.12. Sturgis’s time (22.12) places her second, just one-hundredth of a second in the U.S. behind She’Carri Richardson’s national best of 22.11. Her time is the fourth best in the world this year behind Shaunie Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas 22.03, Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith’s 22.06 and Richardson.
Sturgis did Ross Jr. one better, helping put 26 points to the Lady Aggies’ total with her two wins and relay performance. A&T also got five points from 100-meter hurdlers Madeline Akobundu (12.90, 5th, 4 points) and TeJyrica Robinson, who stumbled on the last hurdle but recovered to finish eighth (1 point).
Ross Jr., Sturgis, host of Aggies in Eugene this week for USA Track and Field Olympic Trials
North Carolina A&T Director of Track and Field programs Duane Ross, a few of his current troops and a few former Aggies are in Eugene, Oregon this week as the U. S. trials for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics kick off Friday. The trials run through Saturday, June 26.
Cambrea Sturgis in the 100 and 200 meters and Madeline Akobundu and Tejyrica Robinson in the 100 hurdles, are among the current Lady Aggies who have qualifying times. Former Aggie Kayla White, who is also trained by Ross, joins Sturgis in the 100 and 200 meter fields.
Another HBCU product to keep your eye on is former Livingstone sprint star Quanera Hayes. Her time of 49.91 is the fourth fastest in the women’s 400 meters field. Her 22.68 clocking in the 200 meters also has her in that field.
Ross’s son, sophomore Randolph Ross Jr., is one of the favorites in the 400 meters field along with senior Trevor Stewart. Former Aggies Christopher Belcher and Rodney Rowe who are still trained by Ross, are in both the 100 meters and 200 meters competition.