Saturday, June 8
Austin, Texas
Michigan State University
at
NCAA Outdoor Championships
McClintock Finishes Fifth in the Women’s 1,500 at the NCAA Championships
6/8/2019 11:25:00 PM | Track and Field
The Spartans end the meet with five All-Americans.
AUSTIN, Texas - On the final day of action at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, junior Dillon McClintock finished fifth in the fastest 1,500m race in meet history. After battling injuries since cross country season, McClintock crossed the line with at time of 4:13.57.
Redshirt-junior Asya Reynolds also ended strong, finishing 16th in the heptathlon with 5,487 points and capturing second-team All-American honors. She is the first Michigan State woman to earn All-American honors in the heptathlon.
Track Events
In a race that saw a new meet and facility record, McClintock hung with the lead pack for much of the race. While Oklahoma State's Sinclaire Johnson and Oregon's Jessica Hull battled for the lead, McClintock was close behind as they pulled away from the rest of the pack. Johnson held on to win the race, while McClintock fought for the fifth-place finish, earning first-team All-American honors. She was just shy of her personal best time of 4:12.46 set in the semifinals on Thursday.
"It has been quite a journey for Dillon this year. She hurt her foot in September and didn't run until January. She ran well for us in indoors in the distance medley, and just missed qualifying for Nationals. To be here and to score, what a great example of persistence and hard work and high expectations. She has had to go way above and beyond normal, because frankly she is biking more than she is running. In unbelievable hot conditions, she just ran a great race," MSU Director of Track & Field Walt Drenth said.
In her first appearance in the NCAA Finals, the junior earned second-team All-American honors last season with a 10th-place finish.
"I am really honored to have competed with these women. This all feel really awesome considering in the fall I had no idea at all if I would even run at all during track season. Even during outdoor, I had a few weeks where I didn't run at all. I was concerned if I would even make it to Nationals, so it is really cool to not only make it back but do better than I did last year," McClintock said.
Field Events
Saturday also marked the conclusion of the heptathlon. Reynolds started the day 18th with 3,222 points. On the final day of action, she continued to battle through an injury, starting with the long jump. With a best jump of 5.81m, she captured 792 points.
"I think that she did a really nice job in rallying when the long jump didn't go the way she wanted it to. She came out and threw well in the javelin and had a personal best in the 800m. I loved her persistence, and loved how she stayed with this whole thing. I think that it is going to be a great lesson for her going forward," Drenth said.
Despite the heat and battling through being hampered by the injury, Reynolds earned personal bests on the final two events in the javelin and the 800m. In the javelin, Reynolds used her third and final throw to set a huge PR with a heave of 38.58m, earning 640 points and finishing eighth in the event. Her previous best was 36.91m at the Big Ten Championships in May. In the final event of the heptathlon, Reynolds shaved nearly three seconds off her 800m time, crossing the line in 2:19.27. Her previous top time was 2:22.25 at the Virginia Challenge in 2016.
"This has been an amazing experience even though I didn't run as well as I wanted. Coming into day two, I knew that had to have the mindset that I had to PR every event or at least come close. I PR'd two of the three events, so I am really happy with that. It was just crazy that I PR'd my time in the 800m by three seconds," Reynolds said. "We don't have any All-Americans in the pentathlon, so it is just great to follow athletes like (MSU All-American decathletes) Nick (Guerrant) and Tim (Ehrhardt). Being able to follow in their footsteps is so amazing to me."
Overall, the Michigan State men ended the meet tied for 34th with eight points, while the women were tied for 48th with four points.
Redshirt-junior Asya Reynolds also ended strong, finishing 16th in the heptathlon with 5,487 points and capturing second-team All-American honors. She is the first Michigan State woman to earn All-American honors in the heptathlon.
Track Events
In a race that saw a new meet and facility record, McClintock hung with the lead pack for much of the race. While Oklahoma State's Sinclaire Johnson and Oregon's Jessica Hull battled for the lead, McClintock was close behind as they pulled away from the rest of the pack. Johnson held on to win the race, while McClintock fought for the fifth-place finish, earning first-team All-American honors. She was just shy of her personal best time of 4:12.46 set in the semifinals on Thursday.
"It has been quite a journey for Dillon this year. She hurt her foot in September and didn't run until January. She ran well for us in indoors in the distance medley, and just missed qualifying for Nationals. To be here and to score, what a great example of persistence and hard work and high expectations. She has had to go way above and beyond normal, because frankly she is biking more than she is running. In unbelievable hot conditions, she just ran a great race," MSU Director of Track & Field Walt Drenth said.
In her first appearance in the NCAA Finals, the junior earned second-team All-American honors last season with a 10th-place finish.
"I am really honored to have competed with these women. This all feel really awesome considering in the fall I had no idea at all if I would even run at all during track season. Even during outdoor, I had a few weeks where I didn't run at all. I was concerned if I would even make it to Nationals, so it is really cool to not only make it back but do better than I did last year," McClintock said.
All-American Asya Reynolds gives a shoutout to fellow All-American Nick Guerrant and talks about the grueling meet! 💪 #GoGreen pic.twitter.com/iBMIP9LRfX
— MSU Track & Field/XC (@MSUTrackFieldXC) June 9, 2019
Field Events
Saturday also marked the conclusion of the heptathlon. Reynolds started the day 18th with 3,222 points. On the final day of action, she continued to battle through an injury, starting with the long jump. With a best jump of 5.81m, she captured 792 points.
"I think that she did a really nice job in rallying when the long jump didn't go the way she wanted it to. She came out and threw well in the javelin and had a personal best in the 800m. I loved her persistence, and loved how she stayed with this whole thing. I think that it is going to be a great lesson for her going forward," Drenth said.
Despite the heat and battling through being hampered by the injury, Reynolds earned personal bests on the final two events in the javelin and the 800m. In the javelin, Reynolds used her third and final throw to set a huge PR with a heave of 38.58m, earning 640 points and finishing eighth in the event. Her previous best was 36.91m at the Big Ten Championships in May. In the final event of the heptathlon, Reynolds shaved nearly three seconds off her 800m time, crossing the line in 2:19.27. Her previous top time was 2:22.25 at the Virginia Challenge in 2016.
"This has been an amazing experience even though I didn't run as well as I wanted. Coming into day two, I knew that had to have the mindset that I had to PR every event or at least come close. I PR'd two of the three events, so I am really happy with that. It was just crazy that I PR'd my time in the 800m by three seconds," Reynolds said. "We don't have any All-Americans in the pentathlon, so it is just great to follow athletes like (MSU All-American decathletes) Nick (Guerrant) and Tim (Ehrhardt). Being able to follow in their footsteps is so amazing to me."
Overall, the Michigan State men ended the meet tied for 34th with eight points, while the women were tied for 48th with four points.
Players Mentioned
Multi
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and Field
Multi
/ Track and FieldProcess Oriented | Spartans All-Access
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