NC A&T’s Ross Jr. wins men’s 400 meters as NCAA indoors

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — North Carolina A&T’s Randolph Ross Jr. ran a personal best and a Birmingham CrossPlex facility record 44.62 seconds to win 400 meters at the NCAA indoor track and field championships on Saturday.

Ross, a member of the 4X400 relay team team that won the gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, a just a tenth of a second off from the collegiate record.

Micaela DeGenero pulled away late to win the women’s mile by nearly two seconds, finishing in a personal best and facility record 4 minutes, 33.92 second to win Colorado’s second consecutive title after Sage Hurta won the event last year.

Oregon Freshman Emmanuel Ihemeje set a personal record at 55 feet, 2 3/4 inches to win the triple jump.

Vernon Turner cleared 7-7 1/4 to win the men’s high jump title for Oklahoma.

Texas A&M’s Lamara Distin cleared a personal-best tying 6-3 1/2 to win the women’s high jump.

Coastal Carolina’s Melissa Jefferson, whose previous personal record was 7.22, ran a 7.09 to win the women’s 60.

Turner Washington of Arizona State won his second consecutive NCAA indoor title in the men’s shot put. The junior threw a season best 71-1/4. Washington’s Sun Devils teammate Jorinde van Klinken won the women’s shot put with a personal-best throw of 62-7 1/4.

Mario García Romo won the men’s mile with a time of 4 minutes, 7.54 seconds. The top-6 finished all came in within 0.24 seconds of each other.

Grace Stark, a sophomore at Florida, tied the collegiate record to win the women’s 60 meter hurdles in 7.78 seconds.

Abby Steiner ran a 22.16, breaking the meet record, to win the women’s 200. The sophomore finished second in the 60 (7.10) and helped Kentucky to a third-place finish (3:28.77) in the 4X400 relay.

Davonte Burnett of Southern California ran a personal best 6.50 to win the men’s 60, edging out Indiana’s Rikkoi Brathwaite at 6.52, a Big Ten record.

Florida’s Talitha Diggs ran a personal record 50.98 to win the women’s 800. The freshman is the daughter of Joetta Clark was a three-time indoor champion at Tennessee in the 1980′s.

Brandon Miller won Texas A&M’s first men’s 800 title in 1:47.19. Miller also was the third leg of the Aggies 4X400 relay team that finished first in season best and facility record 3:04.16 to beat in-state rival Texas, which finished second in 3:04.55.

Junior Lindsey Butler won the women’s 800 for Virginia Tech, running a facility record 2:01.37.

Florida State’s Trey Cunningham became just the 2nd collegian to dip under the 7.40 barrier in the 60-meter hurdles, pulling away from the pack to win at 7.38.

Taylor Roe, a sophomore at Oklahoma State, won the women’s 5000 in 8:58.95.

North Carolina A&T sophomore Davonte Harding won the men’s 200 in 20.46

Ayden Owens of Arkansas became the second man (Kevin Lazas, 2013) in Razorbacks history to win the Heptathlon. Owens, a sophomore, set personal records in three event on the second day, winning the 1,000 meters — the final event — to jump from fourth into first at 6.211 points.

The Arkansas women won the 4X400 relay in 3:27.23.