USTFCCCA News & Notes
By USTFCCCA Communications, USTFCCCA
June 12, 2025  
Champions are being crowned at the 2025 NCAA DI Outdoor Track & Field Championships this week in Eugene, Oregon.
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Day 1 is already in the books and we saw some incredible performances.
What’s Better Than 1? How About 1-2?
Kostas Zaltos and Angelos Mantzouranis started it.
Ishmael Kipkurui and Habtom Samuel finished it.
“It” is going 1-2 at the top of the podium with their
teammate.
Minnesota’s Zaltos and Mantzouranis opened the day with a
sweep of the hammer podium – the first of its kind since Virginia Tech in 2011.
The Greek athletes came into the competition as two of the best throwers in
collegiate history and asserted themselves in Round 1. Zaltos, who eventually
won his first NCAA title, launched the implement 76.92m (252-4), while Mantzouranis
let it fly 76.96m (252-6). Both throws easily eclipsed eventual third-place
finisher Tarik Robinson-O’Hagan of Ole Miss at 76.78m (251-11).
Zaltos and Mantzouranis improved their marks in Round 4
to 78.08m (256-2) and 76.96m (252-6), respectively, which made them the third-
and eighth-best performers in meet history.
Kipkurui and Samuel clocked the two fastest marks in collegiate history in the 10,000 meters earlier in the season and kicked to a 1-2 finish in the penultimate event of the evening. The New Mexico standouts went 29:07.70 and 29:08.73, respectively, nearly two seconds ahead of third-place finisher Ernest Cheruiyot of Texas Tech. Kipkurui showed no signs of wear down the stretch, as he closed the last lap in 53.38 seconds (Samuel clocked 54.08 in comparison).
Kipkurui and Samuel are just the second pair of teammates to go 1-2 in the 10,000 meters in the past ten years. They join Stanford teammates Ky Robinson and Charles Hicks in 2023.
Day 1 Decathlon History For Bair
In the decathlon, Peyton Bair of Mississippi State racked up 4479 points after Day 1 to hold a 287-point lead over his nearest pursuer, Brad Thomas of UC Santa Barbara.
Bair started and finished the day with decathlon CRs – 10.25 in the 100 and 46.00 in the 400, both bettering times set in 2022 by Ayden Owens-Delerme of Arkansas (10.27, 46.10). In the three field events in between, he had marks of 7.28m (23-10¾) in the long jump (an outdoor PR), 14.22m (46-8) in the shot put and 2.01m (6-7) in the high jump (tying his outdoor PR). That 400-meter mark is also the fifth fastest in the history of the decathlon.
He is 51 points ahead of the pace in his PR score of 8131 set in finishing as runner-up in last year’s NCAA DI decathlon.
