Aleen Bailey completed a sprinting sweep in the NCAA track and field championships Saturday night, defeating Louisiana State University's Muna Lee in the 200m -- just as she had a day earlier in the 100m.
But the Jamaican speedster, who almost single-handedly kept defending champion South Carolina in contention for the team title, could only watch as LSU pulled away later in the meet for its 13th team crown.
In the men's competition in the most important US university meet, Alistair Cragg clinched Arkansas' 10th team title -- its first since a string of eight straight championships ended in 1999 -- by winning the 5,000.
Cragg, of Ireland, took the lead from Stanford's Louis Luchini with about 200m left and won by 10m, pumping his right arm in the air twice as he crossed the finish line to wrap up the Razorbacks' triumph.
Cragg, knowing he had the chance to clinch the team title, said he was uncharacteristically nervous before the race.
"My mind wasn't in it, I was just worrying about team scores and teammates," he said. "My arms were jelly and my legs were jelly, it's the first time I've let pressure get to me like that."
Arkansas finished with 59 points, while Auburn was second with 50. Southern California was third, followed by LSU and Nebraska.
Auburn stayed close to the Razorbacks until Arkansas' strength in the middle-distance and distance races took over.
Arkansas' Chris Mulvaney finished second in the 1,500m and Razorbacks teammate Said Ahmed was fifth in a race won by Grant Robison of Stanford. And in the 800m, Robbie Stevens was third to give Arkansas six more points as Sam Burley of Penn won the race.
In the women's 200m, Bailey caught Lee in the final meters to win in 22.65 seconds.
Lee, who faded in the final few meters just as in Friday's 100m, was second in 22.76. Connie Moore of Penn State was third in 22.88.
LSU finished with 64 points, followed by Texas with 50 and South Carolina with 47. Florida was fourth, followed by Nebraska and Indiana.
In the men's 400m, Minnesota's Adam Steele came from far behind to win a race in which the top three men were separated by 17-thousandths of a second.
Minnesota teammate Mitch Potter seemed to be running away from the field with 75m remaining, but was caught by South Carolina's Otis Harris in the final few meters. But Steele had sneaked in to beat them both. His winning time was 44.563 seconds, six-thousandths of a second ahead of Harris.
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
‘TOUGH TO BREATHE’: Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur suffered an asthma attack in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Iga Swiatek romped into a third-round women’s singles showdown with Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz was just as emphatic in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title. Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the third seeds, defeated Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls of Britain 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes in Melbourne. Ostapenko and Hsieh — who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open last year — hit 25 winners and converted five of nine break points to set
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break