Florida, Oregon win again at NCAA Indoors

Omar Craddoc won the triple jump, Jeff Demps took the 60 meters, and Tony McQuay topped the 400 field Saturday night to lead Florida to its third straight men's title in the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, while the Oregon women also won for the third year in a row.

Florida coach Mike Holloway was distracted just long enough for the Gators to drench him with ice and water.

"I knew it was coming," Holloway said. "But Omar distracted me and that was all they needed."

The Gators finished with 52 points, five more than Southeastern Conference rival Arkansas.

Florida's Gray Horn led the heptathlon after the first four events, but injured his groin in the pole vault warmup and pulled out of the competition.

"When Gray went down this morning, I sent a text to the whole team and said, `We're still the best team and you have to believe that,"' Holloway said. "To a man, they wrote me back and said, `Coach, we've got it."'

Demps, a senior, won the 60 in 6.52 seconds.

"I wanted to go out with an individual title, but I knew that if I took care of business it was really going to help our team," Demps said.

McQuay took the 400 in 45.77, and Craddock won the triple jump at 54 feet, 11 1/2 to seal the team title.

Arkansas won the 1,600 relay in 3:04.92 to finish second. Arizona was third with 41 points.

In the women's competition, Oregon finished with 49 points. Kansas was second with 30, and LSU had 27.

"The University of Oregon takes track and field very seriously," Oregon coach Vin Lananna said. "We knew we had a chance to win another title and do it close to home. And it's very satisfying to win again."

Oregon senior Brianne Theisen dominated the women's pentathlon to win her third straight individual title with 4,536 points. But Theisen was more focused on contributing in the team competition.

"Once you've won once, it's not as cool the other times," Theisen said. "It's more cool to get the 10 points. I don't go out there to win another national title. I go out there to get the 10 points for my team. It's good. I'm happy about the title."

Oregon freshman English Gardner, who redshirted last season after breaking her shin, won the women's 60 in 7.12. It was quite a shift for a program known mostly for its long distance runners.

"Oregon is trying to make a better name for itself on the sprint side of things," said Gardner, who was recruited by Oregon associate and sprinters coach Robert Johnson. "We've never been seen as a sprinting school and now we're becoming more of a well-rounded team."

Arizona sophomore Lawi Lalang was the only athlete to win two titles in individual events, claiming the men's 3,000 in 7:46.64. Lalang won the 5,000 on Friday.

Duke's Curtis Beach won the men's heptathlon event, shattering his own world record in the heptathlon 1,000 meters. His time of 2:23.63 was more than 4 seconds faster than his previous record.

"I've never run anything close to that," Beach said. "I felt really good coming in and thought I might have a chance to break the record, but not like that. The field was just so competitive this weekend and we just kept pushing each other."

Beach, who set personal bests in six of the seven events, scored the second-highest point total in NCAA championship meet history with 6,138.

Wisconsin's Japheth Cato was second with 6,082 points, the first time two collegiate heptathletes have scored more than 6,000 points in the same meet.

In the women's 60 hurdles, Ohio State's Christina Manning ran the fifth-fastest time in NCAA history to win in 7.91. Syracuse's Jarrett Eaton won the men's 60 hurdles in 7.54.

Tulsa's Chris O'Hare led wire-to-wire in the men's mile, finishing in 4:01.66. BYU's Miles Batty, who set the NCAA record last month and was the defending indoor champion, was third at 4:01.86.

In the women's mile, Stony Brook's Lucy Van Dalen dethroned Oregon junior Jordan Hasay in a tight finish.

Hasay, who took the lead in the third lap, relinquished her first-place position with about 12 meters to go on the final stretch. Van Dalen and Illinois State's Aisha Praught passed Hasay as the trio finished within 0.35 seconds of each other.

Georgetown's Emily Infeld came back from as far as 10th place to take the lead with 20 meters and win the women's 3,000 in 9:15.44.

Arizona State's Mason McHenry won the men's 800 meters in 1:47.96, ad BYU's Nachelle Mackie took the women's race in 2:03.30.

Kansas' Diamond Dixon won the women's 400 in 51.78.

Arizona's Nick Ross took the men's high jump at 7-3 3/4.

In the men's weight throw, Virginia Tech's Marcel Lomnicky won at 72-3 3/4.

Arkansas' Tina Sutej won the women's pole vault, clearing 14-7 1/4.

Kansas's Andrea Geubelle leaped 44-10 1/4 to win the women's triple jump, and Oklahoma's Tia Brooks won the shot put at 62-4. LSU won the women's 1,600 relay in 3:31.89.