GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA, April 12–13 – Noah Lyles made his outdoor debut in a tight matchup with Kenny Bednarek, and very nearly started the season with a loss. Bednarek, who had raced two 400s last month, got a much better start and remained ahead of the world champion for 99 of the 100m. Lyles finally managed to pull close at the end and on the lean came out 0.005 ahead, both being given 10.01s. Very close behind were Kyree King (10.02) and Japan’s Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (10.04).
That was just one of many great fields that showed. On Friday night, Alabama junior Tarsis Orogot once again impressed with a 19.90 win in the invitational section over Penn State’s Cheickna Traore (20.25). “I’m really glad SECs will be here and I will keep building on this performance and make sure I will be more consistent with my times so I can try to win NCAA Outdoors,” said Orogot, who rocketed a windy 19.60 here last year.
Courtney Lindsey went even faster in the Olympic development race, clocking a 19.88 to nearly eclipse his personal best of 19.85. From lane 7 the Texas Tech alum, who World Ranked No. 9 in ’23, made short work of a field that included Joe Fahnbulleh in 6 (20.06).
“I always try to focus on the man above me [next lane] so once I hit my drive phase and came up and saw that I caught him and was in a good position, I just rode that last 100 out,” said Lindsey, who opened his season last week with a 10.32 dash at Miramar. “This week I was a little sore, but running wise I felt better than last week.”
Grant Holloway ran a world leader in the hurdles, topping Dylan Beard 13.21–13.33, into a 1.4 wind. Earlier in the day he had a 2.5 boost for a 13.10 in his heat.
Alabama’s Chris Robinson, the reigning NCAA champion, used a strong stretch run in the 400H to lower his PR by 0.17 seconds to win in a world-leading 47.95. “I did a lot of practice coming into the meet and I knew what I was capable of,” said Robinson, who celebrated with a yell after he finished. “Early this indoor season I was hurt so it didn’t go as expected, but I finished up strong and got ready for outdoor season, so I knew something was coming.”
In the 400, Georgia’s Christopher Morales Williams, the NCAA Indoor champ, held off Texas A&M’s revitalized Auhmad Robinson, 44.91–44.98.
“I definitely heard him towards the end so it was all I…
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