Kiprop becomes first male athlete in conference history to win three in a row, with fellow Kenyan competitor Olemomoi securing her first individual crown for the Crimson Tide after contributing to indoor distance medley relay victory last year; Mitchell, Robinson-O'Hagan capture both hammer throw championships for Ole Miss, with Davidson and Minichello repeating in javelin

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Photos courtesy of Alabama

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Victor Kiprop not only extended the longest active title streak in the Southeastern Conference, but the Alabama standout also celebrated his own historical achievement in the process Thursday.

Fellow Crimson Tide distance star and Kenyan competitor Hilda Olemomoi finally enjoyed her first SEC individual crown, helping the program sweep the 10,000-meter championships for the third time in four years.

Ole Miss became only the third program to capture both hammer throw titles in the same year, with Georgia graduate student-athlete Marc Anthony Minichello and Texas A&M standout Lianna Davidson both delivering in the clutch to repeat as javelin winners on the opening night of the three-day event at James G. Pressly Stadium.

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Victor Kiprop became the first male athlete in conference history to win three consecutive 10,000 championships, extending Alabama’s streak to seven straight titles by clocking 29 minutes, 36.95 seconds, pulling away from Arkansas standout and fellow Kenyan competitor Patrick Kiprop (29:41.29), no relation, over the final two laps to secure the memorable victory.

Tennessee junior Yaseen Abdalla, representing Sudan, took third in 29:58.93.

The three programs produced the same order of finish in the women’s 10,000 final, as Olemomoi surged in the second half to prevail in 33:47.19, with Arkansas freshman Paityn Noe finishing second in 33:57.35 and Tennessee graduate student-athlete Emily Covert – a four-time NCAA Division 1 All-American at Colorado – placing third in 34:03.03.

Covert was third in the Pac-12 final and fourth at the NCAA Division 1 championship in the 10,000 representing the Buffaloes in 2022.

Olemomoi achieved her first conference individual title after contributing to the Crimson Tide winning the indoor distance medley relay championship last year.

Mercy Chelangat and Vincent Kiprop swept the 10,000 crowns for Alabama in 2021, with Chelangat and Victor Kiprop capturing titles for the Crimson Tide in 2022.

Tarik Robinson-O’Hagan and Jasmine Mitchell of Ole Miss became the first American-born teammates in conference history to sweep both hammer throw championships in the same year.

Robinson-O’Hagan, a sophomore, repeated as men’s winner with a second-round effort of 230-2 (70.17m), just ahead of teammate Jake Dalton, as the Dartmouth transfer and graduate student-athlete produced a personal-best 224-6 (68.43m) performance on his final attempt.

The Rebels had three competitors finish in the top four and half the athletes placing in the top eight, accumulating 24 points, the most by any men’s program since Georgia amassed 26 points with five performers in the top eight in 2003.

Jasmine Mitchell, a senior competing on a broken left foot, became the first Ole Miss female athlete in program history to win a conference hammer throw crown, relying on an opening-round 223-3 (68.06m) performance to triumph after previously placing fifth, eighth and ninth in her career.

Stephanie Ratcliffe, a Georgia graduate student-athlete representing Australia and the reigning NCAA Division 1 hammer throw champion competing for Harvard, secured runner-up with a second-round mark of 222 feet (67.68m) and Ole Miss standout Jalani Davis took third at 219-1 (66.79m).

Ole Miss also joined Georgia in 2000, 2001, 2014 and 2017, as well as Auburn in 2008 in winning both hammer throw championships in the same season.

After both individuals competed Saturday at the USATF Throws Festival in Tucson, Ariz., it was a quick turnaround Thursday for Davidson and Minichello in pursuit of back-to-back titles, leading to sluggish starts for each athlete.

But Davidson rallied in the sixth round with a season-best 189-11 (57.89m) effort to edge Texas A&M teammate Katelyn Fairchild, who opened the competition with her best mark of the year at 185-9 (56.62m) to place runner-up for the second time in three years after finishing third last season.

Davidson became the first female athlete in program history to secure back-to-back javelin championships, with Texas A&M becoming the first women’s team since Florida in 2014 to sweep the top two spots in the javelin competition at the conference final.

After Florida graduate student-athlete Abraham Sargent, an Oral Roberts transfer, elevated from eighth place to second in the final round of the men’s javelin with a lifetime-best 246-5 (75.12m) performance, Minichello added to his lead with a sixth-round effort of 255-7 (77.92m) to punctuate the win.

Minichello followed a stretch of four consecutive men’s javelin crowns by Mississippi State with back-to-back victories of his own, becoming the first Georgia male athlete to repeat since Brian Moore in 2010-11.

Will Lawrence of LSU, who captured the NCAA Division 3 title last year at Wisconsin-Platteville, took third with a sixth-round mark of 244-8 (74.58m).

Timara Chapman of Texas A&M accumulated 3,727 points through the first four events in the heptathlon, just 18 points behind her opening-day score April 5 when the North Carolina State transfer produced a collegiate-leading 6,219 points at the 44 Farms Team Invitational in College Station, Texas.

Jack Turner, representing Great Britain, and Puerto Rican athlete Yariel Soto Torrado of Arkansas achieved the top two marks at the halfway point of the decathlon. Turner is the opening-day leader at 4,269 points, followed by Soto Torrado at 4,102 points.

Rachel Glenn of Arkansas ran 54.02 in the prelims of the women’s 400-meter hurdles, elevating her to the No. 7 all-time collegiate competitor.