Track and field’s crowning moments

From the NCAA’s first championship to today, student-athletes have broken barriers, exceeded expectations and given their all in pursuit of greatness.

6/8/2022 3:00:00 PM

On a rainy June day in 1921 at the University of Chicago’s Amos Alonzo Stagg Field, the NCAA launched its first championship in any sport: track and field.

That first championship set the framework for what has grown to 90 championships in 24 sports across three divisions. It promoted track and field as a spectator sport and established a team title for what was essentially a competition for individuals.

Fourteen student-athletes won event titles that day, including the University of Washington’s Gus Pope, who won both the discus and the shot put, and Dartmouth’s Earl Thomson, who equaled his own world record in the 120-yard hurdles in 14.4 seconds. While those two were already Olympic medalists, there were unlikely champions, as well. Despite shrapnel injuries, the loss of an eye and an uneven gait, World War I veteran Leonard Paulu from Grinnell won the 100-yard dash in 10 seconds flat.

The team title, however, went to a school that didn’t have a single individual winner. Illinois won the championship by scoring in 10 of the 15 events to amass 20¼ points.

In the more than a century that has passed, the Division I Men’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships have been held all but two years: 1924, the first Olympic year after the championships’ founding, and 2020, the COVID-19 shutdown. 1982 brought big change, with the women’s championship joining the men’s.

Despite shrapnel injuries, the loss of an eye and an uneven gait, World War I veteran Leonard Paulu from Grinnell College won the 100-yard dash in 10 seconds flat.

As the 100th Division I Men’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships and the 40th Division I Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships open Wednesday at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field in Eugene, we look back at some of the most inspirational moments in the events’ history.

1923
Chicago – Amos Alonzo Stagg Field
University of Chicago

Michigan won the team title, but the Wolverines’ DeHart Hubbard made additional history by becoming the first Black NCAA champion in any sport in winning the long jump. A year later, he became the first Black athlete to win an Olympic gold medal in an individual event, again in the long jump.

1927
Chicago – Soldier Field
University of Chicago

Hermon Phillips of Butler became the first athlete to win three NCAA titles in any event after claiming a third-straight 440-yard title, the second-straight in meet-record time. Only Morgan State’s George Rhoden (1950-52) and UTEP’s Bert Cameron (1980-81, ’83) have as many NCAA wins among men in the 400/440.

Sophomore Louis Zamperini of Southern California earned the 1938 NCAA title in the mile with a winning time of 4:08.3 that stood as the meet record until 1953, by which time Zamperini had become a World War II hero. (Photo courtesy of the University of Southern California, University Archives)

1938
Minneapolis – Memorial Stadium
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

Sophomore Louis Zamperini of Southern California used a blazing kick to beat defending mile champion Charles Fenske of Wisconsin. His time of 4:08.3 would last as a meet record until 1953, by which time Zamperini had become a World War II hero. His experiences were detailed in the 2014 motion picture “Unbroken.”

Jackie Robinson, the only UCLA athlete to ever letter in four sports, won the long jump as a member of the Bruins track and field team in 1940. (Photo courtesy UCLA Library Special Collections, University Archives)

1940
Minneapolis – Memorial Stadium
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

Best known for breaking the color barrier in baseball, Jackie Robinson displayed incredible talent in many other sports, including track and field while at UCLA. Here he won the long jump at 24 feet, 10¼ inches (7.57 meters), completing the first set of siblings with NCAA titles — older brother Mack Robinson of Oregon had won the 220-yard race in 1938 (also in Minneapolis) in 21.3.

1947
Salt Lake City – Rice Stadium
University of Utah

Harrison Dillard’s collegiate career at Baldwin Wallace was interrupted by service in World War II. Finally back in school, here he completed a second-straight sweep of the 120-yard high hurdles and 220-yard low hurdles, breaking the world record in the longer race with a time of 22.3.

1948
Minneapolis – Memorial Stadium
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

The meet’s first 10,000-meter race proved to be just right for Robert Black of Rhode Island. Black won the inaugural distance by some 300 yards in 32:13.5 and went on to win two NCAA cross country titles. The 10K was held in the Olympic years of 1948, ’52 and ’56 before becoming a standard event in 1963.

1957
Austin, Texas – Memorial Stadium
University of Texas at Austin

Bobby Morrow of Abilene Christian wasted no time in his first race at an NCAA meet in his home state, as the reigning Olympic gold medalist equaled the 100-yard world record of 9.3 in the heats. He won the final in 9.4, part of a second-straight sprint double (his first double included tying the 200 world record of 20.6 in 1956 before winning three gold medals at the Melbourne Olympics).

1962
Eugene, Oregon – Hayward Field
University of Oregon

The party was on as Eugene hosted this meet for the first time. Teamwise it wasn’t close, with Oregon’s 85 points more than doubling its nearest pursuer. The Ducks’ Dyrol Burleson provided additional excitement in becoming the first man to break 4 minutes in the mile in this meet at 3:59.8, winning a third-straight 1,500/mile title with a third-straight meet record — still the only man or woman with such a collection in this meet.

American high jumper Dick Fosbury clears the bar for an Olympic record of 7 feet, 4¼ inches in Mexico City in late October 1968. His technique, which he used to win the 1968 and 1969 NCAA high jump titles while at Oregon State, is commonly referred to as the “Fosbury Flop” and is the standard approach for high jumpers today. (Photo by Hulton Archive / Getty Images)

1969
Knoxville, Tennessee – Tom Black Track
University of Tennessee, Knoxville

A new high jump technique was on display by the man whose name would forever be attached to it. Dick Fosbury of Oregon State had used what would become known as the “Fosbury Flop” to win Olympic gold at Mexico City, and he defended his NCAA title with a second-straight meet record, this time at 7 feet, 2½ inches (2.20 meters).

Oregon’s Steve Prefontaine competes in the 5,000-meter race during the 1972 NCAA championships held at the Ducks’ Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. (Photo by Rich Clarkson / NCAA Photos)

1972
Eugene, Oregon – Hayward Field
University of Oregon

There was never a larger home-field advantage than when Oregon’s Steve Prefontaine ran at Hayward Field. The packed stands wildly cheered his every step in the 5,000-meter run as he pulled away from Penn State’s Greg Fredericks with two laps to go, winning in 13:31.4. It was his third of four straight wins in the 5,000/3 mile.

1973
Baton Rouge, Louisiana – Bernie Moore Stadium
Louisiana State University

An hour after an upset victory in the 440 in a PR 45.0, Maurice Peoples surprised again with one of history’s greatest one-lap performances — clocking 43.4 on the anchor leg of Arizona State’s mile relay team, which he brought from seventh place to second. The split — which is equivalent to 43.1 for 400 meters — remains the fastest timed in meet history.

1979
Champaign, Illinois – Memorial Stadium
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Renaldo Nehemiah of Maryland was on fire entering the 110-meter hurdles after lowering the world record to 13.00 in the spring. A rematch with UCLA’s Greg Foster, the defending champ, fizzled when Foster didn’t finish, but Nehemiah scorched a wind-aided 12.91 — still the fastest ever by a collegian regardless of conditions. He won by a record margin of 0.64 seconds.

Carl Lewis of the University of Houston was the first athlete to win both a track event and a field event in the NCAA Division I outdoor championship meet since Jesse Owens in 1936. (Photo courtesy of the University of Houston)

1981
Baton Rouge, Louisiana – Bernie Moore Stadium
Louisiana State University

Carl Lewis of Houston became the first athlete to win both a track event and a field event in this meet since Jesse Owens in 1936. In the long jump (held indoors due to heavy rains), he pushed the meet record over 27 feet in winning at 27 feet, ¾ inch (8.25 meters), then came back a day later to run the meet’s first sub-10 time in the 100 meters, a wind-aided 9.99.

1983
Houston – Robertson Stadium
University of Houston

Merlene Ottey of Nebraska ran in all three sprints — winning two of them as she remains the only man or woman to score in the 100-, 200- and 400-meter races in the same NCAA Division I meet. Her 28 points on current scoring was then the most by a woman in this meet and still just a half point off the all-time best. It was the second year of the Division I Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

1989
Provo, Utah – BYU Track & Field Facility
Brigham Young University

Dawn Sowell of LSU dominated with three wins — and three collegiate records — in leading the Lady Tigers to the team title. Her 100 record of 10.78 lasted 30 years, while the 200 time of 22.04 lasted 28 years, and the LSU 4x100 collegiate record stood for “only” 20 years.

UCLA’s Amy Acuff glides over the bar in the women’s high jump to win the 1995 Division I Women’s Indoor Track & Field Championships. A few months later at the outdoor championships, she cleared 6-5 and won by 6 centimeters, the largest margin of victory in women’s championships history. (Photo by Paul Sancya / NCAA Photos)

1995
Knoxville, Tennessee – Tom Black Track
University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Records are made to be broken, but so far no one has bettered the women’s high jump meet record of 6 feet, 5 inches (1.96 meters) set here by UCLA’s Amy Acuff. She won by 6 centimeters, a margin no other women’s winner has exceeded in the NCAA Division I championships.

1996
Eugene, Oregon – Hayward Field
University of Oregon

Balazs Kiss of Southern California got straight to work at the 1996 championships. In Round 1, he launched the hammer out to a distance of 265 feet, 3 inches (80.86 meters), a still-standing meet record that gave him victory by 11.04 meters — the largest winning margin for any event in meet history. With that throw, Kiss became just the fourth man to win an event at the NCAA championships in four straight years.

Angela Williams (308) of Southern California edges out the competition during the 100-meter dash at the 2002 NCAA Division I Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Williams won the race with a time of 11.29. (Photo by Stephen Nowland / NCAA Photos)

2002
Baton Rouge, Louisiana – Bernie Moore Stadium
Louisiana State University

It was coronation time for Angela Williams in the 100, but Southern California teammate Natasha Mayers made her earn it. Williams — the meet’s first three-time women’s 100 champ — was seeking to become the first woman or man to win four. Mayers was with her the whole way, but Williams won by a hundredth of a second in 11.29 for the title. She remains the only athlete with four 100 titles.

LSU’s Xavier Carter (855) wins the 100-meter dash final during the NCAA Division I outdoor championships on June 10, 2006, in Sacramento, California. (Photo by Rich Clarkson / NCAA Photos)

2006
Sacramento, California – Hornet Stadium
California State University, Sacramento

Xavier Carter of LSU was known as the X-Man, and he ran like a superhero, becoming the first man since Jesse Owens in 1936 to win four NCAA titles in one year. His titles in the 100 (10.09) and 400 (44.53) were sandwiched by relay legs on the Tigers’ winning 4x100 (38.44) and 4x400 (3:01.58) relays.

2008
Des Moines, Iowa – Drake Stadium
Drake University

Jacquelyn Johnson of Arizona State showed her dominance in diversification at this meet, winning the heptathlon by 242 points and becoming the first woman to claim four heptathlon championships. Combined with three indoor pentathlon titles (she got second her freshman year), she was the first woman or man to win seven multi titles between the two meets.

Oregon’s Ashton Eaton clears the bar in the pole vault portion of the men’s decathlon on June 11, 2010, at the NCAA Division I Men’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon. (Photo by Steve Dykes / NCAA Photos)

2010
Eugene, Oregon – Hayward Field
University of Oregon

It was a perfect ending to the collegiate career of Oregon’s Ashton Eaton, competing where he trained every day. He was at his very best in becoming the first decathlete to win three straight titles, winning by a whopping 656 points. His score of 8,457 broke the meet record by 181 points and remains the meet record.

Kyra Constantine and Kendall Ellis of the Southern California Trojans celebrate after their come-from-behind victory in the 4x400-meter relay during the 2018 NCAA Division I Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Oregon’s Hayward Field. (Photo by Jamie Schwaberow / NCAA Photos)

2018
Eugene, Oregon – Hayward Field
University of Oregon

For the second year in a row, the women’s team battle came down to the final event, the 4x400 relay. Southern California needed to win the race to win the meet, but it didn’t look likely when Kendall Ellis got the baton for the anchor leg in fifth place. One by one, Ellis passed the others until only Purdue was left. Finding another gear in the homestretch, Ellis charged and overtook the Boilermakers right at the finish to win by seven-hundredths of a second in 3:27.06.

Compiled from NCAA archives and U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association research.

Read More