Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
EUGENE, Ore. — Some would say it was going to take some a record-breaking performance to keep BYU standout Shaquille Walker from winning a national championship Friday.
Boy, did it.
Walker finished third in the 800-meter final with a time of 1 minute, 45.17 seconds at the NCAA Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
His time, which was a personal meet-record for the BYU junior, trailed Texas A&M freshman Donavan Brazier’s 1:43.55 — a mark that broke an NCAA record set by Jim Ryun 50 years previous to the date.
Mississippi State senior Brandon McBride finished second in 1:44.50.
Aaron Fletcher finished 13th in the 3,000-meter steeple chase. Fletcher stayed with the pack for most of the race behind Michigan’s Mason Ferric before the Wolverine senior pulled away with a title-winning time of 8:27.16.
By qualifying for the finals and earning a time of 9:14.56, the BYU senior earned second-team All-American honors.
Rory Linkletter ran the 5,000-meter final in 14:06.62 to finish in 19th place. The freshman from Calgary, Alberta, was one of a field of 13:25.59 to finish behind Oregon junior Edward Cheserek, a 14-time NCAA champion across cross country, indoor and outdoor track.
Zach Blackham cleared his first high-jump attempt at 6 feet, 10 1/4 inches, but missed on the adjusted height of 7 feet 1/4 inch to miss out on a top-eight finish in Saturday’s finals.
Florida won the NCAA men’s track and field team title, thanks in part to a second-place finish in the 1,600-meter relay in the final event. Arkansas finished second, followed by Texas A&M, Oregon and Louisiana State.
