Final day of men’s competition showcases Kansas State’s Shankar winning first high jump crown since 2018, TCU’s Mapaya securing first triple jump title since 2019 and Romero earning first discus championship for Virginia since 2017

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

EUGENE, Ore. – The three men’s field event finals Friday at the NCAA Division 1 Championships offered a nod to an impressive past, a celebration of an exciting present and the potential for an even brighter future for not only the winning trio, but also all three second-place finishers.

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Kansas State’s Tejaswin Shankar, representing India, became the first male athlete to win an NCAA crown at the old Hayward Field and also capture a title at the newly renovated facility that will host the World Championships in July by outlasting Georgia’s Darius Carbin in a sudden-death tiebreaker.

Texas Christian’s Chengetayi “Du” Mapaya, representing Zimbabwe, became the second male competitor and fourth athlete overall to win a Division 1 crown in 2019 in Austin, Texas, and secure another championship with his triple jump victory over host Oregon’s Emmanuel Ihemeje.

And Virginia’s Claudio Romero, representing Chile, increased the total to 10 global athletes who earned a medal at the World Under-20 Championships in 2018 in Tampere, Finland, before attending a university in the United States and eventually becoming an NCAA outdoor champion, adding his name to the prestigious list by edging Cal’s Mykolas Alekna, the collegiate record holder in the discus throw.

Following his championship in 2019 in Texas, Mapaya watched as Ihemeje captured the past three overall triple jump titles, including last year at Hayward Field, where the TCU standout suffered a hamstring tear that contributed to a third-place finish.

But a healthy and motivated Mapaya, competing in his final collegiate championship, produced a lifetime-best 56-7.50 (17.26m) in the third round to ascend to the No. 9 all-time NCAA performer and halt Ihemeje’s impressive run.

It marked the second year in a row and sixth time in Division 1 finals history that a pair of athletes both surpassed the 17-meter mark, with the Italian standout Ihemeje achieving a fifth-round effort of 55-10.50 (17.03m) to finish second.

Shankar joined former USC standout and U.S. Olympian Anna Cockrell as the only competitors to win at the final NCAA championship meet at Hayward Field in 2018 and triumph again at the renovated stadium that showcased the Division 1 final and Olympic Trials last year, in addition to collegiate, domestic and global meets this season.

Cockrell was a member of the USC 4x400-meter relay that rallied to win the title in 2018, before she swept the 100-meter hurdles and 400-meter hurdles at last year’s championship meet.

Shankar survived a jumpoff at 7-5.25 (2.27m) against Carbin, a fellow veteran who appeared at his first Division 1 indoor final in 2017, after both athletes missed three opportunities during the competition at the same height.

Carbin and Shankar both cleared 7-4.25 (2.24m) on their first attempts to elevate the bar to 7-5.25. Despite his earlier misses, Shankar ended the tiebreaker after one jump to prevail.

It marked the longest stretch in between victories in the high jump in Division 1 history, with Shankar clearing 7-4.25 on his third attempt in 2018 in his NCAA championship debut.

Romero, who took third last year in his first NCAA outdoor final, produced a second-round mark Friday of 217-1 (66.17m) to secure a lead he would not relinquish.

Alekna, representing Lithuania, responded in the third round with a 217-foot (66.15m) performance, but never got any closer during the final three rounds. He had achieved the collegiate record at Hayward Field with a 225-6 (68.73m) effort May 13 at the Pac-12 Conference Championships.

Romero, who earned the bronze medal for Chile at the World U-20 Championships in Finland, followed Croatian athlete Filip Mihaljevic in 2017 in capturing the NCAA title for the Cavaliers.

Their performances showcased by Romero and Alekna were the third- and fourth-best in Division 1 finals history, trailing only the winning efforts of Nevada’s Kamy Keshmiri in 1991 and 1992. Keshmiri achieved a mark of 218-5 (66.58m) in 1991 and improved the meet all-time mark to 220 feet (67.06m) the following year.