Kanyinsola Ajayi narrowly missed out on a medal in the men’s 100m final at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, finishing fourth in 10.13s on Friday night in Oregon. His Auburn teammate, Sunday Israel Okon, placed seventh with a time of 10.18s.
The race was a tightly contested battle, won by Jordan Anthony in 10.07s. Okon had the best start in the field and looked poised for a surprise finish before fading late.
Ajayi, who came into the race as the fastest qualifier, tried to claw back into podium position but ran out of track.
Ajayi had commanded attention after a blistering semifinal performance where he ran a Personal Best of 9.92s — the fastest time of the round — breaking Auburn’s school record and becoming the joint fourth fastest Nigerian ever over the distance, alongside Seun Ogunkoya and Udodi Onwuzurike. It was also the sixth fastest time in the world this year, and his third sub-10s performance in just two months.
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He had created a great build up to the men’s 100m final, running the second leg for Auburn’s men 4x100m relay team en route to NCAA gold in 38.33s.
In the field events, Charles Godfred finished just outside the medals in the men’s Long Jump final, placing fourth with a best leap of 7.91m (+0.3) — his first defeat of the season.
Prestina Ochonogor, competing in her freshman year, placed 7th in the women’s Long Jump with a solid 6.41m (+0.8), rounding off an impressive debut NCAA campaign.
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