TUCSON, AZ — Oregon’s Kemba Nelson and Micah Williams copped sprint doubles at the 2022 Desert Heat Classic here in Tucson, on Saturday, 30 April to close out their respective regular-season road campaigns.
Williams, one of the favorites to win the NCAA 100m title later this season, captured the men’s 100m and 200m sprint double at the Roy P. Drachman Stadium to continue his fine season so far.
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The Olympian clocked a quality 10.02 seconds (0.4 m/s) to take the men’s 100m title ahead of his Oregon teammate Xavier Nairne, who ran 10.30 secs, his second-fastest time in his career, to finish runner-up.
UTEP’s Karon Dean (10.41) edged out Trayvion White-Austin of Arizona (10.42) and Austin Kratz from Arizona State (10.44) for third place.
Williams, meanwhile, completed the double when he posted a time of 20.35 seconds (0.2 m/s) to lower his personal best to take over the top spot in the Pac-12 Conference rankings. Udodi Onwuzurike (20.38) of Stanford went into the weekend as the event leader.
Williams also advanced up the Oregon all-time performers list with his time, which is now No. 3 in program history.
Justin Robinson of Arizona State ran 20.52 for second place to defeat his teammate Austin Kratz, who ran 20.74 for third.
The third title on the day for Williams came in the men’s 4x100m relay after he and Nairne helped the Ducks clock 39.12 secs.
Meanwhile, Nelson also collected a treble of top podium places at the 2022 Desert Heat Classic this weekend after she won the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay to mirror the achievement of Willams.
The Jamaican opened the day with a spirited second leg on the winning Oregon 4x100m relay team that posted 42.93 secs to finish ahead of San Diego State (44.32) and BYU (44.68).
After that, Nelson clocked 11.10 secs ( +1.1 m/s) for first place in the women’s 100m to lead an Oregon 1-2-3 finish. Jadyn Mays posted 11.16 secs for second place, while Jasmine Montgomery ran 11.35 for third.
In a rare 200m race this season, Nelson rounded out her sprint double performance when she stopped the clock at 22.80 secs (0.6 m/s) for a personal best in the event.
Montgomery ran 23.12 for second place ahead of Jada Moore of San Diego State who clocked 23.28.
