Florida’s Christian Taylor wins triple jump at NCAA championships

Florida’s Taylor takes triple jump at NCAAs

EUGENE, Ore. — Florida’s Christian Taylor won the triple jump at the NCAA track and field championships on Wednesday, recording the best mark by a collegian this year.

Wednesday’s rainy weather cleared for Taylor’s wind-aided leap of 56 feet, 1 inch. He surpassed his own outdoor best of the season (54 feet, 8.75 inches) reached at the SEC championships.

Taylor also won the triple jump at the NCAA indoor championships earlier this year.

“Indoor I felt like I found the feeling, found the secret,” he said.

Periodic downpours mixed with bursts of sunshine on the opening day of the meet at Oregon’s historic Hayward Field, which was dominated by preliminary rounds and women’s heptathlon events. The premier event was the women’s 10,000 meters.

Lisa Koll won that event in 32 minutes, 49.35 seconds, followed by Iowa State teammate Betsy Saina in 33:13.13. Oregon’s Nicole Blood was third in 33:22.62.

The top finishes by Koll and Saina put Iowa State in front of the women’s team rankings with 18 points. Southern Illinois was second with 10 and Oklahoma was third with eight. Host Oregon had six points.

Defending champion Texas A&M led the men’s team rankings with 14 points, followed by Florida with 13 and Arizona State with 12.

Ryan Whiting of Arizona State won the men’s discus final with a throw of 193 feet and 9 inches, while Jeneva McCall of Southern Illinois won on the women’s side with a 180-04. Amber Kaufman of Hawaii-Manoa won the women’s high jump final with a leap of 6 feet, 1 1/4 inches.

In the men’s 100-meter preliminaries, Rondel Sorillo of Kentucky topped his heat in a wind-aided 10.14 seconds. Florida running back Jeff Demps won his to follow in 10.15.

At the Florida Relays in April, Demps ran the 100 in 10.11 seconds.

“It was cool and wet, but it was cool and wet for everyone else too, so I can’t complain,” he said.

Demps, who has run for 1,368 yards rushing and 14 touchdowns over the past two seasons for the Gators, skipped spring practice to concentrate on track.

In the women’s 100 meters, Jeneba Tarmoh finished in 11.05, followed by Texas A&M teammate Porscha Lucas in 11:07.

In the men’s 800-meter heats, Virginia freshman Robby Andrews advanced to the final in 1 minute, 45.54 seconds, followed by Georgia’s Aaron Evans in 1.46:55.

Oregon senior Andrew Wheating, who ran in the Beijing Olympics, had the third-best time of 1:48.80. He was also planning to run in the 1,500 meters.

“I am a Duck, hopefully I can learn to swim in it,” he said of the steady rain that fell as he ran.

Tennessee’s Pheobe Wright ran a field-best 2:02.98 in the women’s 800 preliminaries.

After four events in the heptathlon, Chelsea Taylor of Alabama held the lead with 3,619 points, followed by Brianne Theisen of Oregon with 3,615 and Kiani Profit with 3,383.