NCAA Track & Field Men's Day 1: Good for Max Vollmer but not great for Oregon Ducks
In a nearly empty Hayward Field Wednesday afternoon, before the first event of the men’s NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships had even started, Max Vollmer knew he was in trouble.
The Oregon decathlete couldn’t feel his feet.
Vollmer, wearing a pair of brand new running spikes, had tied both shoes so tight 45 minutes earlier that his feet had gone numb as he lined up for his heat of the 100 meters.
”It was so bad,” Vollmer recalled with a laugh.
It’s only funny now because Vollmer recovered from his wardrobe malfunction to have an otherwise strong day of results that included three season-bests and one personal-record.
He’s in fifth place with 4,215 points after five events, 275 behind leader Ayden Owens-Delerme (4,490) of Arkansas, who moved into first after running a collegiate record in the decathlon 400 at 46.10 seconds.
Not much else went Oregon’s way Wednesday, which will have just a few more chances to score points on Friday as sprinter Micah Williams was the only Duck to advance out of the semifinals.
Vollmer, however, wraps up the decathlon on Thursday and is ready for big finish.
“I’m confident for tomorrow,” Vollmer said. “I think I have lots in the tank. The second day is usually my strong day.”
With his numb feet, Vollmer ran the 100 in 10.90 to start the competition in ninth place.
He said he was still fuming about his shoes when he took his first two attempts in the long jump before hunkering down mentally and jumping a season-best 23 feet, 5 1/2 inches on his final try.
Still, the three-time Pac-12 champion was in 10th place after the two events.
Then came the shot put and throw that went a season-best 50-6 1/4 and sent Vollmer into a celebration on the track and moved him into fourth place in the standings.
“Shot put kind of gave me a push, put me back in the mix,” he said.
Next up was the high jump, which has traditionally been the toughest of the 10 events for Vollmer. This time though, he cleared a PR-bar of 6-6 to keep him in fourth place.
“I’ve always had the bounce to jump high,” Vollmer said. “It was just this mental barrier.”
Vollmer ended the day with a 48.55 in the 400.
Georgia’s Kyle Garland is second in the standings with 4,441 points, Texas’ Leo Neugebauer is third at 4,435 and California’s Hakim McMorris is fourth at 4,241.
Thursday’s final round will start at 11:30 a.m. with the 110 hurdles and Vollmer’s second chance to get his spikes tied right.
“I have too!” he said. “But I’ve learned that you to open them up and retie them again. I learned my lesson. But I have to wear them, it’s the only shoes I’ve got.”
Bienenfeld gets Oregon on the scoreboard
Aaron Bienenfeld had a better result than last season, but the Oregon senior was still hoping for more.
Bienenfeld finished eighth in the 10,000 final in 28:19.05 to get the Ducks their only point of the meet so far.
“I really wanted to score here; it was a minimum goal,” Bienenfeld said. “I came a little short of the podium but I don’t think that was in the cards today.”
Still, it was better than the 17th-place finish he had at the 2021 NCAA meet when he was at Cincinnati.
“Definitely a step up from last year,” he said. “I had a terrible race, probably my worst race in the last two years.”
Wednesday’s race was won by Notre Dame’s Dylan Jacobs in 28:12.32, who took the lead from Northern Arizona’s Abdihamid Nur, who had the lead at the bell but faded to third.
Oklahoma’s Alex Maier finished second in a PR 28:12.68 and Nur crossed in 28:14.51.
Campbell senior Athanas Kioko took the race out early and set an aggressive tone with a large lead, But the pack eventually caught him with less than 3,000 meters to go.
Kioko finished fifth in 28:17.17.
Bienenfeld will be back to run the 5,000 final on Friday.
Williams rolls into 100 final
Micah Williams recorded the fastest time of the day in the 100 semifinals, as the Oregon second-year freshman ran 10.03 to win his heat and move into Friday’s final.
Williams, who is the second-fastest collegiate runner all-time, got out to a quick start and was able to power through without much challenge. Florida’s Joseph Fahnbulleh, the 2021 champion in the 200, was second to Williams in 10.11.
There were some surprises in the semifinals, as projected finalists Udodi Onwuzurike (10.21) of Stanford, Ismael Kone (10.23) of New Orleans and Micaiah Harris (10.44) of Texas didn’t advance.
Other highlights from the men's day one
Ty Hampton missed the javelin finals by one spot and seven inches. The Oregon freshman and Pac-12 champion had a top mark of 236-7 after three throws to finish in 10th place. The top nine moved onto the finals for three more throws. The ninth-place finisher was Texas Tech’s Markim Felix at 237-2. Penn’s Marc Minichello was the winner at 266-3.
Oregon’s 4x100 relay team missed making the final by .016 second as the Ducks’ team of Ryan Mulholland, Williams, Rieker Daniel and Xavier Nairne finished 11th overall in 39.0. The cut off to make the final was 38.984 set by ninth-place Clemson.
Oregon sophomore Elliott Cook finished ninth in his semifinal heat of the 1,500 in 3:44.47 and didn’t make Friday’s final. In one of the biggest stunners out of Wednesday’s opening night, Alabama sophomore Eliud Kipsang, who set the collegiate record of 3:33.74 earlier this season, finished last in his heat in 3:43.30 and won’t run in the final.
Oregon’s Luis Peralta didn’t advance out of the 800 semifinals as the sophomore ran 1:50.02 in his heat to finish 22nd overall. Peralta was third with 300 meters to go but faded to the back of the pack.
Follow Chris Hansen on Twitter @chansen_RG or email at chansen@registerguard.com.
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This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Max Vollmer rallies for Oregon at NCAA Track & Field Championships
