Florida's Joseph Fahnbulleh wins 100, 200 at NCAA track championships

EUGENE, Ore. — Florida's Joseph Fahnbulleh pulled away at the finishes to win the 100 and 200 meters at the NCAA track and field championships Friday night.

Fahnbulleh, who competed for Liberia at the Tokyo Olympics, won the 100 title first in a personal-best 10 seconds. Tennessee freshman Favour Ashe was second in 10.08. Oregon's Micah Williams, who had the nation's fastest time of 9.86 seconds this year, finished seventh.

«I just did my race plan, and that was it,» Fahnbulleh matter-of-factly said.

He won the 200 later in the evening at Hayward Field, finishing in 19.83 ahead of Matthew Boling of Georgia.

Boosted by Fahnbulleh's performance, the Florida Gators won the men's team title with 54 points. Texas finished second with 38.

Wisconsin's Olin Hacker won the 5,000, surging in the final 80 meters to finish in 13:27.73. His father, Tim Hacker, won the 1985 NCAA cross-country championship.

«It's one of those things, I came into this race, this is what I wanted, this is what I dreamed about — and they were kind of stressful dreams, to be honest,» Hacker said with a laugh. «I thought I could do it but it wasn't real and I didn't know what it would feel like. It felt amazing.»

North Carolina A&T's Randolph Ross defended his outdoor title in the 400 and got the indoor-outdoor sweep in the event with a victory in 13:44. Ross was part of the gold medal-winning U.S. 1,600 relay team at the Toyko Games.

Florida State's Trey Cunningham, the back-to-back ACC champion, won the 110 hurdles in a personal-best 13 seconds. Cunningham also won the 60 hurdles at the indoor championships.

Texas Tech' senior Moad Zahafi won the 800 in 1:44.49. Earlier this year, he ran the event in 1:43.79, the third-fastest time in NCAA history.

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