The University of Akron Athletics
Friday, March 12
Fayetteville, Ark.
University of Akron
vs
NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships
Akron Duo Set for NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships
March 11 | Track & Field
Follow Zips Track & Field on Twitter (@ZipsTFCC) and Facebook
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS - MEET INFORMATION | MEET SCHEDULE | ACCEPTED MEN'S ENTRIES | LIVE STATS | MEN'S FRIDAY LIVE STREAM | MEN'S SATURDAY LIVE STREAM | PREVIEW
AKRON, Ohio – The University of Akron track and field team is sending a pair of athletes to the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships hosted by the University of Arkansas this Thursday through Saturday, March 11-13, as junior Nuh Andu (Doha, Qatar) and freshman Hunter Garretson (Newcomerstown, Ohio) will travel to Fayetteville, Ark., to vie for national titles.
UP NEXT: The NCAA Indoor Championships, which is being held at the Randal Tyson Center, features the top-16 athletes in each event and top-12 relay teams in the country.
ESPN3/Watch ESPN app will have coverage of the meet beginning at 2:45 p.m. and 7:15 p.m. ET on Friday and 1:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. ET on Saturday.
Live stats of the NCAA Championships will be available at GoZips.com.
CHAMPIONSHIP CONTENDERS: The University of Akron track and field team garnered a pair of selections for the 2021 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships to be hosted by the University of Arkansas, March 11-13 in Fayetteville, Ark., when the field was announced on March 2.
Chosen to compete for the Zips were Nuh Andu and Hunter Garretson in the men's high jump and men's pole vault, respectively. The Akron duo will be making their NCAA Championship debuts for the Zips.
The men's high jump competition is set for 12:30 p.m. ET on Friday, March 12, while the men's pole vault will commence at 1:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, March 13.
Andu culminated a stellar campaign capturing a qualifying mark of 7-2.25 (2.19m) in the men's high jump, the sixth-best clearance in the NCAA this season, at the Mid-American Conference Championships. His effort tied for the top performance at the MAC Championships and represents the No. 2 mark in indoor program history.
Garretson has gone undefeated in 2021 in the men's pole vault, including victories in six meets. He is ranked No. 10 in the NCAA in the pole vault and was selected as the MAC Men's Freshman Field Athlete of the Year following his record-setting weekend at the MAC Championships in which he captured his first league title eclipsing 17-9.75 (5.43m), the fourth-best mark in indoor program history.
NCAA CHAMPIONS: Akron's entries will be looking to add to the tradition of the Zips' track and field program, which already includes nine individual national champions. Christi Smith made history in 2000 when she became the first national champion in school history, capturing gold in the heptathlon. Stevi Large was the next to accomplish the feat, winning the women's hammer throw in 2009. Annika Roloff captured the women's pole vault in 2014. Shawn Barber became the school's first male champion claiming the indoor pole vault title in 2014 before again earning the crown at the 2015 NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships. Clayton Murphy became Akron's first-ever NCAA champion in a running event winning the indoor 800 meters and outdoor 1,500 meters in 2016. In 2017, Matt Ludwig claimed the national title in the men's pole vault.
NCAA PEDIGREE: By virtue of its performances at the 2019 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, which included a pair of first-team All-America honorees, the Zips have seen 21 student-athletes earns 41 overall berths over the last eight NCAA Indoor Championships (since 2012).
The Zips finished the two-day championship in 2019 capturing five All-America honors with Jordan Latimer and Matt Ludwig earning first-team accolades, while Mackenzie Andrews, Lucy Bryan and senior Hesham Eldesouky (Nasr City, Egypt) collected second-team laurels.
By virtue of Ludwig's fourth-place performance in the men's pole vault at the 2019 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, Akron extended its streak of having scored every year in the men's competition at the NCAA Indoor Championships since 2013. The Akron women have scored in five of the last six indoor championships.
Akron currently owns the 11th-longest combined scoring streak for men's and women's teams at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships as the Zips have scored in every meet since 2013.
The Akron women's team sparked by four points in 2019, maintain the 14th-best streak, while the men's run is the 17th-longest in NCAA Division I.
The Zips' sustained dominance under 26th-year head coach Dennis Mitchell is even more impressive as since 2014 Akron has won seven of the program's nine national titles en route to earning 31 indoor and 51 outdoor All-America awards.
NATIONAL RANKINGS: The University of Akron track and field teams has garnered recognition for their efforts during the 2021 indoor season as the Zips are rated in the Event Squad rankings released on March 1, 2021 as part of the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field National Rating Index.
Akron is ranked fifth nationally in the men's triple jump and among the top 20 in six different events.
The Zips also rated seventh in the men's long jump, ninth in the men's pole vault, 11th in the men's weight throw, 14th in the women's long jump and 19th in the women's 800 meters.
The Akron men and women rank fifth and ninth, respectively, in the Great Lakes Regional polls.
ZIPS RANK AMONG NATION'S BEST IN 2021 TFRRS RANKINGS: Akron has a trio of student-athletes ranked in the top-25 nationally by the Track and Field Results Reporting System (TFRRS) during the 2021 indoor campaign, including, Nuh Andu, who is sixth in the nation in the men's high jump (7-2.25/2.19m).
Also rated among the top-25 is Hunter Garretson (11th in the men's pole vault – 17-9.75 (5.43m) and Hesham Eldesouky (17th in the men's triple jump – 51-10.50/15.81m).
CRACKING THE ALL-TIME TOP-FIVE PERFORMANCES: The Zips posted five top-five marks in program history at the MAC Indoor Track and Field Championships, Feb. 26-27.
Garnering the second-best mark in indoor program in the men's high jump was Nuh Andu, who equaled the top mark in the competition en route to placing second at the event based on jumps.
Junior Jacqueline Pokuaah (Akron, Ohio) was named the MAC's women's Most Valuable Performer of the Meet after capturing her three league titles with triumphs in the women's 60-meter hurdles, women's long jump and women's triple jump. Pokuaah registered the No. 4 mark in indoor program history with a mark of 40-9 (12.42m) to win the women's triple jump.
Freshman Beth Arentz (Cronulla, Australia) registered the No. 2 time in indoor program history in the women's 3,000 meters with a career-best time of 9:39.31 to place third. She also posted the fourth-fastest time in indoor program history in the women's mile with a career-low time of 4:49.69. The league's coaches rewarded her for her efforts naming her the women's Freshman Track Athlete of the Year.
Hunter Garretson captured his first-ever league title winning the men's pole vault on the strength of a career-best clearance of 17-9.75 (5.43m). The mark represents the fifth-best mark in indoor program history.
Senior Lindsey Scarton (Berea, Ohio) crossed the line in a career-best time of 17:18.42 at the MAC Championships to place third in the women's 5,000 meters with the No. 5 time in indoor program history.
A YEAR AGO: The University of Akron track and field team garnered a trio of selections for the 2020 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, a meet that was ultimately cancelled due to COVID-19.
Chosen to compete for the Zips were Lucy Bryan, Noah Williams and Demetrius Jackson.
Bryan earned her sixth NCAA Championship appearance in the women's pole vault after earning All-America accolades in 2019 on the strength of a 10th-place effort at the 2019 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, where she eclipsed 13-7.75 (4.16m).
A four-time first-team All-America honoree, she garnered first-team All-America honors at the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships with a mark of 14-3.25 (4.35m) to finish fifth. Bryan was seeded third in the event after registering a career-, school- and conference-record mark of 14-9.50 (4.51m) at the Akron Invitational (Feb. 8).
Bryan culminated a stellar campaign capturing her fourth conference title with a league-meet record mark of 14-6.75 (4.44m) at Mid-American Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships on Feb. 29, 2019, at the Stile Athletics Field House.
She went undefeated against collegiate competition in 2020, including victories in seven meets. Bryan ranked No. 3 in the NCAA in the pole vault, no other athlete in the MAC (men or women) is ranked higher nationally.
Earning their first NCAA Championship berths were Jackson and Williams.
Jackson was selected as the MAC Most Valuable Performer and Freshman Track Performer of the Year following his record-setting weekend at the MAC Championships in which he captured league titles in the 60 and 200 meters, while Williams was named the MAC's Most Outstanding Track Performer after taking the crown in the men's 400 meters.
Additionally, the duo ran the final two legs on the winning 4x400 relay, that also included junior Amir Willis (Cincinnati, Ohio) and sophomore Zarik Brown (Dayton, Ohio), posting the second-fastest indoor MAC Championship time, 3:07.89, since 1996, just shy of MAC Championship indoor record of 3:07.58 set by Akron in 2016.
Jackson captured the first of three league titles triumphing in the men's 60 meters with a time of 6.78. A day earlier, he registered the fifth-fastest time (6.74) in indoor program history in the preliminaries.
In the men's 200 meters, Jackson posted a pair of school-record times on the weekend in the event finishing first in the finals in a school-record time of 20.75. He was seeded ninth in the field.
Williams established a school- and facility-record time of 46.13 in the finals of the 400 meters. He then placed second in the 200 meters in 20.89, the second-fastest time in Akron indoor program history and 22nd-best in NCAA this year. A day earlier, broke the school record for the 200 meters in the preliminary round with a time of 20.92. He was seeded 14th in the competition.
A year ago, Williams broke Akron indoor record for the 400 meters three times, while Jackson twice set the standard in the men's 200 meters.
TOP MARKS:
Akron Men
Click Here
Akron Women
Click Here
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS - MEET INFORMATION | MEET SCHEDULE | ACCEPTED MEN'S ENTRIES | LIVE STATS | MEN'S FRIDAY LIVE STREAM | MEN'S SATURDAY LIVE STREAM | PREVIEW
AKRON, Ohio – The University of Akron track and field team is sending a pair of athletes to the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships hosted by the University of Arkansas this Thursday through Saturday, March 11-13, as junior Nuh Andu (Doha, Qatar) and freshman Hunter Garretson (Newcomerstown, Ohio) will travel to Fayetteville, Ark., to vie for national titles.
UP NEXT: The NCAA Indoor Championships, which is being held at the Randal Tyson Center, features the top-16 athletes in each event and top-12 relay teams in the country.
ESPN3/Watch ESPN app will have coverage of the meet beginning at 2:45 p.m. and 7:15 p.m. ET on Friday and 1:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. ET on Saturday.
Live stats of the NCAA Championships will be available at GoZips.com.
CHAMPIONSHIP CONTENDERS: The University of Akron track and field team garnered a pair of selections for the 2021 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships to be hosted by the University of Arkansas, March 11-13 in Fayetteville, Ark., when the field was announced on March 2.
Chosen to compete for the Zips were Nuh Andu and Hunter Garretson in the men's high jump and men's pole vault, respectively. The Akron duo will be making their NCAA Championship debuts for the Zips.
The men's high jump competition is set for 12:30 p.m. ET on Friday, March 12, while the men's pole vault will commence at 1:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, March 13.
Andu culminated a stellar campaign capturing a qualifying mark of 7-2.25 (2.19m) in the men's high jump, the sixth-best clearance in the NCAA this season, at the Mid-American Conference Championships. His effort tied for the top performance at the MAC Championships and represents the No. 2 mark in indoor program history.
Garretson has gone undefeated in 2021 in the men's pole vault, including victories in six meets. He is ranked No. 10 in the NCAA in the pole vault and was selected as the MAC Men's Freshman Field Athlete of the Year following his record-setting weekend at the MAC Championships in which he captured his first league title eclipsing 17-9.75 (5.43m), the fourth-best mark in indoor program history.
NCAA CHAMPIONS: Akron's entries will be looking to add to the tradition of the Zips' track and field program, which already includes nine individual national champions. Christi Smith made history in 2000 when she became the first national champion in school history, capturing gold in the heptathlon. Stevi Large was the next to accomplish the feat, winning the women's hammer throw in 2009. Annika Roloff captured the women's pole vault in 2014. Shawn Barber became the school's first male champion claiming the indoor pole vault title in 2014 before again earning the crown at the 2015 NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships. Clayton Murphy became Akron's first-ever NCAA champion in a running event winning the indoor 800 meters and outdoor 1,500 meters in 2016. In 2017, Matt Ludwig claimed the national title in the men's pole vault.
NCAA PEDIGREE: By virtue of its performances at the 2019 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, which included a pair of first-team All-America honorees, the Zips have seen 21 student-athletes earns 41 overall berths over the last eight NCAA Indoor Championships (since 2012).
The Zips finished the two-day championship in 2019 capturing five All-America honors with Jordan Latimer and Matt Ludwig earning first-team accolades, while Mackenzie Andrews, Lucy Bryan and senior Hesham Eldesouky (Nasr City, Egypt) collected second-team laurels.
By virtue of Ludwig's fourth-place performance in the men's pole vault at the 2019 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, Akron extended its streak of having scored every year in the men's competition at the NCAA Indoor Championships since 2013. The Akron women have scored in five of the last six indoor championships.
Akron currently owns the 11th-longest combined scoring streak for men's and women's teams at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships as the Zips have scored in every meet since 2013.
The Akron women's team sparked by four points in 2019, maintain the 14th-best streak, while the men's run is the 17th-longest in NCAA Division I.
The Zips' sustained dominance under 26th-year head coach Dennis Mitchell is even more impressive as since 2014 Akron has won seven of the program's nine national titles en route to earning 31 indoor and 51 outdoor All-America awards.
NATIONAL RANKINGS: The University of Akron track and field teams has garnered recognition for their efforts during the 2021 indoor season as the Zips are rated in the Event Squad rankings released on March 1, 2021 as part of the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field National Rating Index.
Akron is ranked fifth nationally in the men's triple jump and among the top 20 in six different events.
The Zips also rated seventh in the men's long jump, ninth in the men's pole vault, 11th in the men's weight throw, 14th in the women's long jump and 19th in the women's 800 meters.
The Akron men and women rank fifth and ninth, respectively, in the Great Lakes Regional polls.
ZIPS RANK AMONG NATION'S BEST IN 2021 TFRRS RANKINGS: Akron has a trio of student-athletes ranked in the top-25 nationally by the Track and Field Results Reporting System (TFRRS) during the 2021 indoor campaign, including, Nuh Andu, who is sixth in the nation in the men's high jump (7-2.25/2.19m).
Also rated among the top-25 is Hunter Garretson (11th in the men's pole vault – 17-9.75 (5.43m) and Hesham Eldesouky (17th in the men's triple jump – 51-10.50/15.81m).
CRACKING THE ALL-TIME TOP-FIVE PERFORMANCES: The Zips posted five top-five marks in program history at the MAC Indoor Track and Field Championships, Feb. 26-27.
Garnering the second-best mark in indoor program in the men's high jump was Nuh Andu, who equaled the top mark in the competition en route to placing second at the event based on jumps.
Junior Jacqueline Pokuaah (Akron, Ohio) was named the MAC's women's Most Valuable Performer of the Meet after capturing her three league titles with triumphs in the women's 60-meter hurdles, women's long jump and women's triple jump. Pokuaah registered the No. 4 mark in indoor program history with a mark of 40-9 (12.42m) to win the women's triple jump.
Freshman Beth Arentz (Cronulla, Australia) registered the No. 2 time in indoor program history in the women's 3,000 meters with a career-best time of 9:39.31 to place third. She also posted the fourth-fastest time in indoor program history in the women's mile with a career-low time of 4:49.69. The league's coaches rewarded her for her efforts naming her the women's Freshman Track Athlete of the Year.
Hunter Garretson captured his first-ever league title winning the men's pole vault on the strength of a career-best clearance of 17-9.75 (5.43m). The mark represents the fifth-best mark in indoor program history.
Senior Lindsey Scarton (Berea, Ohio) crossed the line in a career-best time of 17:18.42 at the MAC Championships to place third in the women's 5,000 meters with the No. 5 time in indoor program history.
A YEAR AGO: The University of Akron track and field team garnered a trio of selections for the 2020 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, a meet that was ultimately cancelled due to COVID-19.
Chosen to compete for the Zips were Lucy Bryan, Noah Williams and Demetrius Jackson.
Bryan earned her sixth NCAA Championship appearance in the women's pole vault after earning All-America accolades in 2019 on the strength of a 10th-place effort at the 2019 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, where she eclipsed 13-7.75 (4.16m).
A four-time first-team All-America honoree, she garnered first-team All-America honors at the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships with a mark of 14-3.25 (4.35m) to finish fifth. Bryan was seeded third in the event after registering a career-, school- and conference-record mark of 14-9.50 (4.51m) at the Akron Invitational (Feb. 8).
Bryan culminated a stellar campaign capturing her fourth conference title with a league-meet record mark of 14-6.75 (4.44m) at Mid-American Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships on Feb. 29, 2019, at the Stile Athletics Field House.
She went undefeated against collegiate competition in 2020, including victories in seven meets. Bryan ranked No. 3 in the NCAA in the pole vault, no other athlete in the MAC (men or women) is ranked higher nationally.
Earning their first NCAA Championship berths were Jackson and Williams.
Jackson was selected as the MAC Most Valuable Performer and Freshman Track Performer of the Year following his record-setting weekend at the MAC Championships in which he captured league titles in the 60 and 200 meters, while Williams was named the MAC's Most Outstanding Track Performer after taking the crown in the men's 400 meters.
Additionally, the duo ran the final two legs on the winning 4x400 relay, that also included junior Amir Willis (Cincinnati, Ohio) and sophomore Zarik Brown (Dayton, Ohio), posting the second-fastest indoor MAC Championship time, 3:07.89, since 1996, just shy of MAC Championship indoor record of 3:07.58 set by Akron in 2016.
Jackson captured the first of three league titles triumphing in the men's 60 meters with a time of 6.78. A day earlier, he registered the fifth-fastest time (6.74) in indoor program history in the preliminaries.
In the men's 200 meters, Jackson posted a pair of school-record times on the weekend in the event finishing first in the finals in a school-record time of 20.75. He was seeded ninth in the field.
Williams established a school- and facility-record time of 46.13 in the finals of the 400 meters. He then placed second in the 200 meters in 20.89, the second-fastest time in Akron indoor program history and 22nd-best in NCAA this year. A day earlier, broke the school record for the 200 meters in the preliminary round with a time of 20.92. He was seeded 14th in the competition.
A year ago, Williams broke Akron indoor record for the 400 meters three times, while Jackson twice set the standard in the men's 200 meters.
TOP MARKS:
Akron Men
Click Here
Akron Women
Click Here
Players Mentioned
Jumps
/ Track & Field
Distance
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Pole Vault
/ Track & Field
Jumps
/ Track & Field
Multis
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Jumps
/ Track & Field
Distance
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & FieldAkron Indoor Track & Field - Al Campbell Invitational
Friday, February 17
Akron Indoor Track & Field Dual vs. Kent State
Friday, January 20
2022 Akron Zips Athletics - Logo Reveal - 5/9/22
Monday, May 09
2021-22 Akron Zips This Week in Akron Athletics - 4/26/22
Tuesday, April 26
