EKU track and field program’s first national championship comes in steeplechase

Eastern Kentucky University’s Ahmed Jaziri won the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase title at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Friday night at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.

His winning time of 8:18.70 shattered his own school record and is the second-fastest steeplechase time in NCAA championships history — and the fastest since 1979.

“I have been waiting for this moment for a while, and today, one of my dreams came true,” Jaziri said.

Jaziri settled into the middle of the pack for most of the race. He started to make a move after the fifth lap, and then outkicked the field over the final 100 meters to become EKU’s first track national champion.

His time also met the world championships standard.

“He’s a tremendously gifted athlete, and he’s paired that with hard work and doing everything right,” EKU Coach Cory Erdmann said. “It showed with the victory and making the world standard, so he’s going to be back here in a month for the world championships. His future is limitless, both at EKU and after EKU.”

Since 2014, EKU has produced one gold medal, one silver medal and two bronze medals in the men’s steeplechase at the NCAA championships.

“This is a big moment,” Erdmann said. “The one thing we haven’t had is a national champion, so we can now check that off the box. There are no words that can explain how great a feeling this is.”

UK relay picks up points

The Kentucky track and field team’s 4x400-meter relay of Dwight St. Hillaire, Lance Lang, Kennedy Lightner and Brian Faust finished sixth to score three points on the final day of the men’s team competition Friday.

Faust overtook three teams on the anchor leg as the squad finished in 3:02.98.

The UK men’s team finished in a three-way tie for 36th overall with nine points after Keaton Daniel scored six with his pole vault bronze medal on Wednesday.

More winners from Friday

Florida’s Joseph Fahnbulleh pulled away at the finishes to win the 100 and 200 meters.

Fahnbulleh, who competed for Liberia at the Tokyo Olympics, won the 100 title first in a personal-best 10 seconds. Tennessee freshman Favour Ashe was second in 10.08. Oregon’s Micah Williams, who had the nation’s fastest time of 9.86 seconds this year, finished seventh.

Fahnbulleh won the 200 later in the evening, finishing in 19.83 ahead of Matthew Boling of Georgia.

Boosted by Fahnbulleh’s performance, the Florida Gators won the men’s team title with 54 points. Texas finished second with 38.

Wisconsin’s Olin Hacker won the 5,000, surging in the final 80 meters to finish in 13:27.73. His father, Tim Hacker, won the 1985 NCAA cross-country championship.

“It’s one of those things, I came into this race, this is what I wanted, this is what I dreamed about — and they were kind of stressful dreams, to be honest,” Hacker said with a laugh. “I thought I could do it but it wasn’t real and I didn’t know what it would feel like. It felt amazing.”

North Carolina A&T’s Randolph Ross defended his outdoor title in the 400 and got the indoor-outdoor sweep in the event with a victory in 13:44. Ross was part of the gold medal-winning U.S. 1,600 relay team at the Toyko Games.

Florida State’s Trey Cunningham, the back-to-back ACC champion, won the 110 hurdles in a personal-best 13 seconds. Cunningham also won the 60 hurdles at the indoor championships.

Sean Burrell of LSU defended his title in the 400 hurdles in 48.70.

Southern California won the 400 relay in 38.49. Florida capped its team title by winning the 1,600 in 2:58.88.

The women’s finals were scheduled for Saturday.