Dylan Jacobs wasn’t favored to win, but his kick proved to be the strongest. Photo by Kevin Neri
The men’s 10,000-meter opened the first day of the NCAA Track & Field Championships with an entertaining and unexpected race. Right into the first lap of the race, Athanas Kioko of Campbell University stirred the pot by coming hard off the break.
For about 16 laps, Kioko separated himself from the rest of the group by over 60 meters. Despite his efforts, the rest of the group caught up to Kioko on the backstretch with seven laps to go.
Dylan Jacobs of Notre Dame won with a time of 28 minutes, 12.32 seconds, winning by a margin of .36 seconds. In the last 60 meters, Jacobs was neck and neck with the heavy favorite, Abdihamid Nur. Jacobs’ strong kick brought him to victory.
“It’s been slow trying to get to the top. Every day, it’s kind of just day in and day out, being prepared, recovering, and doing everything possible to become a better runner,” said Jacobs. “I’m so fortunate to be able to be at this level and compete with the best guys in the country.”
Nur was in the lead going into the bell lap, but was passed by Young and Oklahoma sophomore Alex Maier with about 60 meters to go.
Maier came in second with a time of 28:12.68, a personal best, followed by Nur, who finished in 28:14.51, his season best.
“Everybody’s running fast times. Everybody’s closing fast,” said Nur. “So, none of it was weird to me. I was expecting it to be a crazy race.”
With just a two-week turnaround for the USATF Championships, Nur decided to focus on one event instead of doubling in the 5,000 meters.
Although he lost his lead and fell to the middle of the pack, Kioko recovered and finished fifth.
