Isaiah Harris Goes For 6 Straight Conference Titles; Big Ten Champs Preview
Isaiah Harris Goes For 6 Straight Conference Titles; Big Ten Champs Preview
Isaiah Harris, Erin Finn, Katherine Receveur, David Kendziera, and Danae Rivers will all be in action this weekend at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships.
NCAA championship season kicks off this weekend with conference championships taking place throughout the nation. Bloomington, Indiana, will stage the Big Ten Championships as the Penn State men and the Purdue women will attempt to defend their team titles.
Individually, the meet will host some of the nation’s best trying to continue their dominance, as well as some wide-open fields with no clear favorite. The meet begins on Friday and continues through Sunday, and you can watch all the action live on FloTrack.
Here are five events to watch on the track in Bloomington.
Men’s 800m: Trials, Saturday 5:55 PM ET; Finals, Sunday 2:08 PM ET
Between the indoor and outdoor seasons, Penn State junior Isaiah Harris is five for five in Big Ten championship 800m races. Can he keep his perfect record intact this weekend?
Harris’ success isn’t confined to the conference level. He was runner-up at the 2018 NCAA Indoor Championships and 2017 NCAA Outdoor Championships. All total, Harris has finished in the top four on four different occasions in his career—remarkable consistency.
This season, his fastest 800m is a 1:47.66 that he ran at the Virginia Challenge on April 20. His best performance, however, came at the Penn Relays where he split a 1:44.74 800m to anchor Penn State’s sprint medley team to a victory. That mark is close to his lifetime best in the event, the 1:44.53 he ran at the U.S. championships last summer.
While Harris is the clear favorite, the Big Ten does boast several other strong runners in the event. Indiana’s Daniel Kuhn was the Big Ten 600m champion indoors and finished fourth at the NCAA Indoor Championships in the 800m. His lifetime and season bests aren’t as fast as Harris, but he is poised to advantage if something goes awry.
Kuhn’s Indiana teammate, Cooper Williams, is the only other Big Ten runner who has run under 1:49 this year. Williams, Alexander Lomong (Ohio State), Jordan Huntoon (Indiana), Moujtaba Mohammed (Nebraska), and Tysen VanDraska (Iowa) are all expected to contend for a top-eight placing.
Men’s 110m hurdles: Trials, Saturday 4:45 PM ET; Finals, Sunday 1:35 PM ET
David Kendziera will be a busy man throughout the weekend. The Illinois All-American is expected to race the 110m hurdles, 400m hurdles, and the 4x400m relay. Kendziera finished first in the 400m hurdles and second in the 110m hurdles at last year’s Big Ten Championships and went on to make the finals of both at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
He’s more than capable of pulling off the 110m/400m hurdle sweep this year. He won the 110m hurdles at the Mt. SAC Relays defeating Olympic champion and world record holder Aries Merritt in the process. A week later, Kendziera took the Drake Relays 400m hurdles.
His personal bests of 13.39 and 49.00 are poised to fall at some point this championship season and this weekend could be the time.
At these championships, he should get his closest competition in the 110m hurdles. Antoine Lloyd of Nebraska beat Kendziera in the 60m hurdles at the Big Ten indoor championships and has run 13.65 in the 110m hurdles. Justin Veteto, fourth in this meet last year, has a wind-aided season best of 13.67. After Kendziera, Lloyd, and Veteto, five other men have broken 14 seconds this season. Indiana’s William Session is tops among that group with a 13.75 at the Tennessee Relays.
Women’s 400m: Trials, Saturday 4:00 PM ET; Finals, Sunday 1:40 PM ET
Though the SEC and Pac 12 command their fair share of attention in this event, the Big Ten is filled with great women’s 400m runners.
Brionna Thomas of Purdue enters as the top seed by virtue of her 51.72 at the Florida Relays, the sixth-fastest time in the nation. Thomas was fifth at the NCAA Indoor Championships in March, the highest individual performance of her career. In her last two appearances at the Big Ten Outdoors Championships Thomas has finished second and third so the senior will be looking for an outdoor win to go with her 2017 indoor title.
Standing in her way is last year’s champion, Emerald Egwin of Minnesota, and this year’s indoor conference champion, Iowa’s Briana Guillory. Guillory has run 51.68, while Egwin has a personal best of 51.99, though neither has broken 52 seconds this year.
After those three, there isn’t much of a drop-off. Purdue’s Jahneya Mitchell and Chloe Abbott teamed up with Thomas to place second at the NCAA Indoor Championships in the 4x400m relay. Ohio State’s Maggie Barrie and Minnesota’s Titania Markland have season-best marks of 52.61 and 52.64, respectively.
Women’s 1500m: Trials, Friday 6:45 PM ET; Finals, Sunday 1:05 PM ET
Penn State’s Danae Rivers has already won three individual Big Ten titles in just her second year competing. She will try to add to that total this weekend. While it isn’t known whether she will opt for the 800m or the 1500m (or both), she will be must watch regardless of her event choices. Last year, she ran both and took home the victory in the 800m and second place in the 1500m.
This year, Rivers owns the conference’s best mark in both events and could pull off the double if she chooses. No. 2 on both lists is Jamie Morrissey of Michigan. The senior ran 4:11 in the 1500m and 2:05 in the 800m. Morrissey didn’t compete indoors so this will be her first Big Ten Championships since she placed fifth in the 800m last year.
Based on seed times, Morrissey has a better chance to upset Rivers in the 1500m, where her 4:11 is less than one second behind Rivers’ best time.
Dillon McClintock’s 4:13.82 is fast enough to be mentioned alongside Rivers and Morrissey. The Michigan State sophomore was seventh in his meet last year but has shaved eight seconds off her best time during her sophomore year.
Women’s 5000m: Finals, Sunday 2:49 PM ET
Since the 5000m is at the end of the meet, expect to see a big field with coaches scrambling for points to improve their position in the team competition. Five women have broken 16 minutes in the Big Ten this outdoor season, but if form holds the race should come down to Erin Finn and Katherine Receveur.
This meet marks the last Big Ten Championships for Michigan’s Finn. The senior has had a decorated career for the Wolverines with nine individual conference championships and four second-place finishes at the NCAA Championships between cross country, indoor and outdoor track. She’s run under 15:30 on three occasions and this year she posted a 15:33 at the Cardinal Classic.
Finn’s best competition should come from Indiana’s Receveur. The junior swept the 3000m and 5000m at the Big Ten meet during the indoor season and placed third at last year’s NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 5000m. Receveur has run 15:43 this year but has a lifetime best of 15:28. If Finn and Receveur decide to double up there will be two opportunities to see these two race over the weekend.
Margaret Allen of Indiana, Jillian Hunsberger of Penn State, and the Hasz sisters (Bethany and Megan) of Minnesota are all more than capable of finishing in the top three.