CU Relay Finishes 19th At NCAAs

EUGENE – The University of Colorado men's 4x400-meter relay competed here Wednesday evening in the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships semifinal, finishing 19th to wrap up the CU men's season.
 
The quartet of Tyler Williams, Ian Gilmore, Garrett Nelson and Aaron McCoy finished sixth in the third and final heat of the semifinals in 3:06.12, their second-fastest relay time this season. The Buffs ran 3:05.50 two weeks ago in Arkansas at the NCAA West Preliminaries to move their squad up to second in CU history in the event.
 
The men had a tough task ahead of them after the first heat had five teams run 3:01.79 or better, immediately dropping the three additional time qualifier spots to nearly four seconds better than the CU school record. The second heat finished slower than all five qualifiers from the first heat, leaving the bubble time intact for the race.
 
Williams came out of the blocks for the Buffs out of lane four, making up the stagger on lane five after the first 300 meters. He passed off to Gilmore after a blistering 45.89 second split. Gilmore made it to the 100-meter break in fourth but dropped to sixth where he was fighting with the pack around the final turn. He handed off to Nelson in sixth with a 46.34, but Nelson fell back to seventh on the backstretch before handing off to McCoy on the anchor following a 47.68 split. McCoy stayed in that position the rest of the race, finishing the race with a 46.05 second split.
 
Shortly after the race, Baylor was disqualified for impeding USC, but it did not make a difference on the outcome as Florida and USC finished first and second in the heat in 3:01.30 and 3:02.58, respectfully.
 
The relay was the first men's 4x400-meter relay to compete on the biggest stage for the Buffaloes, making their way to Eugene after a pair of disqualifications in their heat in the preliminaries moved them into an automatic qualifying position. Their efforts gave CU a men's representative at the NCAA Championships for the 20th-straight season.
 
Following the first day, Tennessee sat first with 21 team points followed by Florida State with 16.
 
Events turn to the women for the final three days of competition where 12 women will compete in 12 different events. Tomorrow will be the semifinals in the 1,500-meter run, steeplechase, 400 hurdles and 4x400-meter relay as well as the finals in the 10,000-meter run. Friday will be the first day of the women's heptathlon where Avery McMullen will be in competition, followed on Saturday by finals of events that qualify through and the women's 5,000-meter run.
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