Florida’s Joseph Fanbulleh followed up his 100-meter win with his second straight 200-meter title. Photo by Kevin Neri
Joseph Fanbulleh’s acceleration proved too much for competitors in both the men’s 100-meter and 200-meter races as he won both NCAA titles Friday evening at Hayward Field and claimed 20 crucial points for the Florida Gators, which won the men’s team title.
“I want to win because my teammates, I want to give them a ring,” said Fanbulleh. “Give them something to hold on to.”
In the 100, Fanbulleh started slower than the rest of the field out of the blocks, but showed incredible stride length and speed to run a personal best time of 10.00 seconds and win by a margin of 0.08.
“This is my race plan, my race motto, so if I’m with them, if I’m like, just like on an arm’s length away, I’m good,” said Fanbulleh.
One of the favorites coming into the race, Oregon’s Micah Williams, finished seventh with a time of 10.19 seconds, 0.33 seconds slower than his personal best after getting off to a slow start and never being able to recover.
In the 200 meters, Fanbulleh once again followed his race plan to comfortably win by 0.3 with a personal best time of 19.83 seconds. The 200-meter title is the second straight for Fanbulleh.
“A year ago I had something to prove, and this year I still had something to prove, saying that I’m still the best, I’m still here,” said Fanbulleh.
The Gators have now won their third outdoor men’s title in the last six years, continuing to build on what has been a very successful half decade for the program. Head Coach Mike Holloway was proud of what his program has accomplished.
“You know we’ve had a ton of success and that I’ve just appointed people well and the academic investment,” Holloway said.
Holloway recognized how important Fanbulleh’s success tonight was for the program to win the title and how he has improved as a runner.
“The biggest thing with Joe is just patience,” Holloway said. “I think reaction time is the most overrated statistic in track and field. And so he was so busy trying to react and get away. He wasn’t reacting; he was suffering.”
