EUGENE, Oregon — A meet record and revisions of the all-time lists in several events highlighted the second day of the USATF U20 Championships at Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon. NCAA silver medalist Alyssa Jones of Stanford, who bettered the American U20 record to earn that medal, broke the meet record on her first attempt, sailing 6.72m/22-0.75 to win the women's long jump. Jones took only three attempts and all were good enough to win. Avery Lewis spanned 6.30m/20-8 to take the silver. Elias Ajamu Reed of San Jose State took the men's gold with a jump of 7.67m/25-2. Moving to No. 7 on the all-time U.S. U20 performer list in the men's 100m, Florida high schooler Christian Miller clocked 10.06 and edged Tyler Azcano, who was the runner-up in 10.09. Georgia's Kaila Jackson, who was fourth at the NCAA Championships, was never seriously challenged on the way to a swift 11.15 in the women's 100m, beating Camryn Dickson of Texas A&M by .15. Challenging the meet record of 5,660 points that was set five years ago by Anna Hall, JaiCieonna Gero-Holt had a strong javelin throw and won with 5,552 points. Gero-Holt, a rising high school junior who was on Team USATF for last year's world U20 meet, set a PB of 43.42m/142-5 in the javelin and ended up with a 281-point margin of victory over Texas high schooler Abby Elmore, with Catherine Littlewood only two points back at 5,269 for bronze. Three men cracked the 1:48 barrier in the men's 800m, led by Tinoda Matsatsa, who went through 400m at the front of the pack in 52.99 and held on to win in 1:47.76. Simeon Birnbaum grabbed the silver in 1:47.96 and Daniel Watcke was the bronze medalist in 1:47.99. Sophia Gorriaran also led from gun to wire to win the women's 800m in 2:04.33 ahead of Allison Ince, who was the silver medalist at 2:05.22. Nebraska's Dash Sirmon, the Big Ten runner-up, won the men's javelin with a 70.87m/232-6 and all five of his legal throws would have given him the victory. His conference rival, Mike Stein of Iowa, placed second with a best of 65.81m/215-11. Pole vault titles went to Texas A&M's Jack Mann, who won men's gold at 5.30m/17-4.5, and California high schooler Jathiyah Muhammad, who cleared 4.20m/13-9.25 for the women's crown. Yesterday's men's hammer bronze medalist, Gary Moore of Baylor, came back to win the shot put by two feet with a throw of 19.83m/65-0.75 ahead of hammer gold medalist Michael Pinckney of UCLA, who earned silver at 19.21m/63-0.25. A fifth-round 15.85m/52-0 gave Mensi Stiff the women's shot put gold. Ryan Allen defended his USATF 10,000m race walk title in fine fashion and Heather Durrant won her first U20 outdoor title by more than a minute. Allen walked 46:17.65, the fastest men's winning time since 2015, while Durrant crossed the line in 48:40.85. Allen held an 18-second lead by 2km and steadily added to the gap he had over silver medalist Clayton Stoil as the laps went by. Stoil finished in 48:47.78, with Rowan McDonald claiming bronze in 50:14.62. Durrant walked off the shoulder of defending champion Angelica Harris before assuming the lead at 1,200m. Harris stayed in second until 5,600m, where Talia Green went past her and carried on to take silver in 49:41.35. Madison Morgan had a strong finish to earn bronze in 50:26.64. The nation's top women's high school steeplechaser justified her ranking with a dominating win in 10:15.09, missing the meet record by only .42 seconds. Angelina Napoleon took the lead and never looked back as she put more and more track between her and her nearest challengers on the way to a 22-second victory over silver medalist Catherine Garrison, who finished in 10:37.16. Oregon's Benjamin Balazs also came within a step of the men's meet record with his 8:49.64, but his winning margin was much narrower than in the women's race. Michigan's Caleb Jarema and CJ Singleton of Notre Dame were almost side-by-side crossing the line, with Jarema getting the silver by .09 in 8:50.49. Louisville's Brion Stephens cleared 2.15m/7-0.5 on his second attempt to win the men's high jump over Grant Campbell, who required three attempts to make the same height. In the women's hammer, all six of Giovanna Meeks's throws would have been enough to win. Meeks hit 60.70m/199-2 in rounds one and three and won by more than 16 feet. Seth Allen of Purdue threw 60.32m/197-11 to win the men's discus.
The 2023 Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships and USATF U20 Championships will be broadcast live from Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, Thursday through Sunday, July 6-9 via a mix of USATF.TV+, CNBC, and Peacock. CNBC and Peacock coverage will air from 10:00 p.m. - midnight ET on July 7 and 9:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. ET July 8-9. For the first time ever, USATF.TV+ will air every jump, every throw, and every race (outside the TV window) for the 2023 Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships and 2023 USATF U20 Outdoor Championships, including the multi-events. The entire USATF U20 Outdoor Championships will be shown on USATF.TV+. Follow along and join the conversation on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook using the hashtags #USATFOutdoors and #JourneyToGold.