NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships 2016: Saturday Results and Reaction
A day after the Florida Gators dashed their way to a men's national championship, the Arkansas Razorbacks edged out the Oregon Ducks on Saturday to capture the women's title at the 2016 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
The Razorbacks finished with 72 points overall, with Oregon coming in second place with 62. The Ducks would have had an opportunity to win the event had they qualified for the 4x400-meter relay.
However, a dropped baton in the prelims left Oregon out of the day's final event.
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Georgia, Texas and Texas A&M rounded out the top five:
| 1 | Arkansas | 72 |
| 2 | Oregon | 62 |
| 3 | Georgia | 41 |
| 4 | Texas | 36 |
| 5 | Texas A&M | 35 |
Arkansas' effort was buoyed by Dominique Scott, who won the 5,000 meters in dominant fashion. Her time of 15 minutes, 57.07 seconds was more than three seconds better than second-place Aurora Dybedokken of Oklahoma State.
| Hept. Long Jump | Akela Jones | Kansas State |
| Hept. Javelin | Lucija Cvitanovic | SMU |
| Hept. 800 Meters | Jaclyn Siefring | Akron |
| Heptathlon Overall | Kendell Williams | Georgia |
| High Jump | Kimberly Williamson | Kansas State |
| Discus | Kelsey Card | Wisconsin |
| Triple Jump | Keturah Orji | Georgia |
| 4x100-Meter Relay | LSU | - |
| 1,500 Meters | Marta Freitas | Mississippi State |
| 3,000-Meter Steeplechase | Courtney Frerichs | New Mexico |
| 100 Meter Hurdles | Jasmine Camacho-Quinn | Kentucky |
| 100 Meters | Ariana Washington | Oregon |
| 400 Meters | Courtney Okolo | Texas |
| 800 Meters | Raevyn Rogers | Oregon |
| 400-Meter Hurdles | Shamier Little | Texas A&M |
| 200 Meters | Ariana Washington | Oregon |
| 5,000 Meters | Dominique Scott | Arkansas |
| 4x400-Meter Relay | Texas | - |
Overall, though, the Razorbacks' effort was one of team-wide consistency. The only individual event they won Saturday was by Scott. Instead, they built their points on a series of second- and third-place finishes, slowly racking up points as other individuals took the glory.
Oregon, by contrast, won three events Saturday. The Ducks just didn't have the performances in other events to back them up.
It was a big afternoon overall for Oregon's Ariana Washington, who established herself as perhaps the nation's best sprinter with wins in the 100- and 200-meter races. Washington defeated San Diego State's Ashley Henderson by one-hundredth of a second in a battle every bit as exciting as Saturday's Belmont Stakes.
Andrew Greif of the Oregonian highlighted what that meant for the Ducks:
Washington doubled down in the 200 meters, again setting up a photo finish with teammate Deajah Stevens. The freshman defeated her sophomore teammate by four-hundredths of a second with a time of 22.21 seconds.
Georgia's Keturah Orji also set an NCAA record in the triple jump, breaking her own mark with a sterling 14.53-meter jump. Orji's number broke the four-year-old number set by Ganna Demydova of Southern Mississippi for the record at an NCAA meet.
Jim Lambert of NJ Advance Media commented on the sophomore's rise:
Still, for all the individual excellence, this day was one of team brilliance for Arkansas. The Razorbacks women won their first national championship a day after the men fell just short. Florida defeated Arkansas by just six points in a closer finish Friday.
Combine all the points together, and it's clear there is no better track program in college athletics than Arkansas.
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