Johnson Owns Dayton Record

Kendall Johnson is one of the NCAA's brightest new stars in the long jump. The freshman from Tulsa, Oklahoma broke the University of Dayton indoor long jump record on just the fourth attempt of her first collegiate competition. She finished the Indiana Invitational with a top four result and a mark of 5.87 meters. That jump toppled a Dayton record that stood since 2012, when sophomore Hillary Lang landed at 5.62 meters on her way to winning the pentathlon silver medal at the Atlantic 10 Indoor Championships.

Below: Kendall Johnson's first collegiate outdoor jump sets the school record, before new records on two later efforts.

Through the next two years, Lang never recorded an indoor jump farther than that mark. Johnson on the other hand continued to break her own indoor mark during her freshman campaign. At her next meet, the Meyo Invitational, hosted by Notre Dame, Johnson earned her first collegiate win with a mark and new school record of 5.88 meters. She followed that with gold medal win at the Atlantic 10 Indoor Championships setting the Dayton record for the third time at 5.99 meters.

That brings us to the Oliver Nikoloff Invitational on March 30. Johnson made her outdoor collegiate long jump debut on a rare warm Cincinnati, Ohio early spring morning as the temperature was approaching 70 degrees, which it surpassed throughout the day. The freshman found herself in a field that included 23 competitors including 2021 and 2023 Oliver Nikoloff Invitational long jump winner Anaya Dees of Cincinnati as well as her teammate Naudia Collins who won the competition in 2022. Both women have qualified and competed in east regional competition during their careers.

Johnson also faced the challenge of Miami University's Ella Scally who is coming off of a bronze medal run during indoor season at the Mid-American Conference Championships. It only took one jump for Johnson to claim the outdoor school record as she landed at a mark of 5.73 meters. She surpassed Sarah Sepanski's 2018 mark of 5.71 meters. Sepanski set the previous record at the Atlantic 10 Championships, earning a silver medal in the heptathlon competition on the second t0 last attempt of her career.

The rookie, Johnson with most of her collegiate career ahead of her, went on to set the record two more times at this year's Oliver Nikoloff Invitational. She landed at 5.79 meters on her second attempt before obliterating that mark and distancing herself from all of her competitors with a mark of 6.32 meters on her way to the win. She placed ahead of Scally's 6.16 jump, while Collins and Dees rounded out the top four at 5.83 and 5.75 respectively. When the weekend was over, Johnson ranked 17th overall in the NCAA for the season.

Johnson wasn't the only jumper from Dayton that had a victorious day. In the triple jump, senior Christierra Williams and junior Jayla Pruitt finished one and two out of 11 participants. Ironically both women recorded their wins on their third attempt while fouling on all the others. Williams holds Dayton's all-time top triple jump mark of 12.09 meters. She set that record in 2022. She won at this year's Oliver Nikoloff Invitational with a mark of 11.70 meters. Pruitt took the runner-up spot at 11.45 meters. A third Dayton jumper placed fourth as Jailee Clemmons had a career best mark of 11.13 meters. She was edged out for the third place spot by Katelyn Heath of Finlay, who landed at a personal best 11.16 meters on her final attempt.

Kent State Runs High Jump in Cincinnati

(Above: Svenia Decninck of Kent State makes her winning jump before celebrating with Cincinnati high jumper Lauren Barnes)

While Dayton beat all comers in the long jump and triple jump competitions, Kent State owned the high jump event. Svenia DeConinck won at 1.76 meters. She earned a bronze medal at the Mid-American Indoor Championships in February at the same mark. Last season as a freshman, the Dampicourt, Belgium native was the only Kent State jumper that qualified for the east regional.

Her teammate Lillie Franks, who won the bronze at last year's Mid-American Conference outdoor meet, placed second at the Oliver Nikoloff Invitational at 1.73 meters. Kent State also had a top three finisher in Grace Adegoke who tied with Cincinnati's Mallory Mullen at 1.70.

Thorpe Wins in Final Home Race

On April 3, 2021, Cincinnati's Alicia Thorpe competed in her first collegiate outdoor meet at the Oliver Nikoloff Invitational. She teamed with Tiona Lattimore, Faith Banks and Caisja Chandler in a 400-meter relay win. The next year the Highland Springs, Virginia native captured wins in both the 400-meter relay and 1,600-meter relay. In 2023, Thorpe fell short of winning any events at her school's home meet, but this year she was able to grab one more victory in Hamilton County.

Thorpe joined forces with Hannah Connell, Davenae Fagan and Kaira Granger to snatch a win from Akron in the 1,600 meter relay. The Cincinnati foursome won at 3:47.35 just ahead of Akron's finish of 3:47.41 as Connell dove before collapsing beyond the finish line for the win.

Thorpe has had a solid career at Cincinnati. She earned a championship at her final American Athletic Conference indoor meet, in 2023, as a member of the Distance Medley Relay with teammates Gwen Stare, Carmen Licht and Rylee Penn. Cincinnati now competes in the Big 12 Conference which prevented Thorpe from defending the American Athletic Conference DMR championship.

Along with winning the championship in the DMR, Thorpe and her teammates also hold the school record in the event at 11:21.95 seconds.