Jackson Adds 20 Centimeters To Record; Hocker, Mackay Win 3,000 Meters Titles; Beard, Armstrong Takes Hurdles Wins

By Oliver Hinson of DyeStat

Tavan Smith Photos

NEW YORK — Chase Jackson torched the American indoor record in the women’s shot put on Saturday, heaving a 20.44-meter throw (67-0.75) at the USATF Indoor Championships at Ocean Breeze on Staten Island.

Jackson had already thrown what would have been the winning mark on her fourth attempt with a mark of 19.27 meters, but she had a breakthrough on round five, bettering her own American record by 20 centimeters.

She was just as surprised as those in attendance with her throw; she had been coming off of sickness, and in the early going, she wasn’t quite able to put together a complete throw despite a lot of technical work she had been doing throughout the winter. 

One throw changed all of that.

“I knew I had the elements I needed to throw far,” Jackson said. “I just wasn’t finishing the throw. But on that one, I felt that I had finished it, and I felt it come off my hand, and then obviously, I yelled and screamed and gave myself a headache, so that was fun.”

Jackson also holds the American outdoor record with a mark of 20.95 meters, and she’s won two world titles outdoors. She’s never won one indoors, though, and that’s her mission in March — if only it means that she can stop throwing indoors.

“I’m so sick of doing indoors, and the only way I’m gonna stop is if I finally get a gold medal,” Jackson said. “I’m in my Ryan Crouser Era where I have all the medals but that one, and it’s pissing me off.”

She’ll have a good shot to get the monkey off her back when she goes to Poland for the World Indoor Championships; the only woman ranked ahead of her in the world is the Netherlands’ Jessica Schilder, who has a season’s best of 20.49 meters.

Hocker Continues Dominant Season

In the last moments of the men’s 3,000 meters, Cole Hocker had just enough room to get by a surging Nico Young and hold off a last-second move by Yared Nuguse, and he crossed the line in 7 minutes, 39.25 seconds.

“(The race) kind of went the exact way I anticipated it to,” Hocker said matter-of-factly in his post-race interview. “I think I kept it going good enough in the first half to where not everybody was in it… and then it was just staying attached to (Nuguse) and (Young).”

Young made a daring move with two laps to go, and for a moment, it looked like the 23-year-old was going to come away with a statement win, asserting himself as not only a long distance star but also as someone who can kick with the best of them.

With a penultimate lap of 27.71 seconds, Young led Nuguse by a few tenths and Hocker by half a second at the bell, but it wasn’t enough of a gap to hold off Hocker. The reigning world champ in the 5,000 meters threw down a 26.36-second final lap and had the best lean at the line.

Hocker also made sure to shout out Matthew Wilkinson, who made a surge in the middle laps and kept the pace honest.

“He made a good push,” Hocker said. “I think that really stretched everyone out, so major props to him for doing that.”

Wilkinson ended up running 7:41.22 and finishing sixth.

Nuguse finished second in 7:39.28, while Young just barely missed qualifying for the World Indoor Championships, taking third in 7:39.29.

Emily Mackay won the women’s race in 8:30.01, shattering the meet record. After a relatively slow first kilometer, it looked like a potential repeat of last year’s tactical affair, which Nikki Hiltz won in 8:48.28.

That wasn’t in store, though. Elle St. Pierre took the lead from Elise Cranny after the first five laps and brought down the pace, clicking off 33-second laps like clockwork.

“I’d rather just run a burner,” St. Pierre said of her racing strategy. “To kind of wait around is not my favorite style.”

St. Pierre held the lead until the last lap, when Mackey surged to the lead with a sub-30 close. Mackay spoke with excitement not just about the win, but the experience of the race itself — perhaps racing in general.

“It was nice to be able to just get in a line and wait,” Mackay said. “It’s so intense, the build-up… I don’t know, I just love it. I live for it.”

Both Mackay and St. Pierre finished well ahead of the rest of the pack. Margot Appleton finished third in 8:41.41, 10 seconds behind St Pierre. 

Beard Ties World Lead, Armstrong Wins First U.S. Title

Dylan Beard made a massive statement on Saturday. After a lackluster start to the season following a World Championships appearance last September, Beard beat Trey Cunningham in the men’s 60-meter hurdles final, tied Cunningham’s world lead of 7.37 seconds, and set a new personal best.

Before today, Beard and Cunningham appeared to be in different stratospheres in 2026. Cunningham owned the world lead and had multiple quality wins on the year already, running no slower than 7.50 in six races. Beard, meanwhile, had raced nine times and had a season’s best of 7.54.

With one performance, though, he shifted the tide of his season and reintroduced himself on the global scene.

“I was literally saying, ‘God, bring me to the line, I’m running to you,’” Beard said of his race on Saturday. “I really didn’t have any expectations.”

Of course, Cunningham wasn’t far behind, and his 7.40 performance earned him a trip to the World Indoor Championships in March.

In the women’s race, Alia Armstrong clocked a 7.82-second performance to earn her first national title, crossing the line a tenth of a second ahead of Danae Dyer.

Last year, Armstrong finished fourth in this race behind a stacked podium of Masai Russell, Grace Stark and Christina Clemons; Stark and Clemons both made the final at World Indoors that year (Russell opted not to go).

This year, none of those three competed, and Armstrong took advantage of their absence.

Hufnagel Ends Cunningham’s Streak In High Jump

For the first time in a decade, the U.S. indoor champion in the women’s high jump is not Vashti Cunningham.

Charity Hufnagel ended Cunningham’s nine-year reign on Saturday, clearing a personal best 6-5 (1.96m), while Cunningham managed 6-4 (1.93m).

Hufnagel had only nice things to say about Cunningham; she called her a “sister in Christ” and said she loves competing “with” her, not necessarily against her. This is true of most of Hufnagel’s competitors; she said she doesn’t even think about winning when she’s competing.

“If I’m jumping and getting to glorify God, that’s all I care about,” Hufnagel said. “It may or may not just happen to come with a win.”

Later on, Zach Bradford pulled off an upset in the men’s pole vault, beating KC Lightfoot and Chris Nilsen with a meet record clearance of 19-8.50 (6.01m).

Coming into the meet, Bradford seemed to be perpetually stuck at 5.90 meters. That’s the exact mark he had cleared in five of his six previous meets, including four in a row from Jan. 16 to Feb. 7. He finally broke through on Saturday, though, increasing his PB by 10 centimeters and finally joining the six-meter club.

Isaiah Rogers won the men’s weight throw with a toss of 76-9.75 (23.41m). Despite having three scratches in his field series, Rogers cruised to the win; he was the only man in the field to surpass 23 meters.

Jasmine Moore won the women’s long jump with a leap of 22-6.25 (6.86m), equaling her season’s best from two weekends ago, while Russell Robinson took the win in a sparse men’s triple jump; Robinson was the best of just five competitors with a mark of 54-5.25 (16.59m).

Hunter, Lutkenhaus Lead 800 prelims

Meghan Hunter led the women in the 800 meter preliminary round, winning her heat in 2:00.56, the fastest time of the day. Valery Tobias, Addy Wiley and Olivia Baker also earned auto-qualifying spots, while Heather MacLean and Maggi Congdon earned the two time-based qualifying spots.

High school junior Paige Sheppard (Union Catholic NJ) ran a gutsy race in the last heat and took second to Baker. She didn’t advance to the final, but she improved upon her US#1 high school time, running 2:02.35.

Surprisingly, Sage Hurta-Klecker also missed the final, running 2:01.71 and taking second place in the second heat. After Hurta-Klecker’s 1:58.78 performance at the Sound Invite two weeks ago, she looked like the best half-miler in the country, but she couldn’t match Wiley’s kick in a tactical heat on Saturday, and Wiley nabbed the lone auto-qualifying spot.

Unsurprisingly, Cooper Lutkenhaus was the fastest in the men’s heats. The 17-year-old shot around Sean Dolan in the final curve to win his heat in 1:47.00, and he looked smooth doing it, closing in 26.61 seconds and showing little sign of strain.

Isaiah Harris, Joe Waskom and Isaiah Jewett earned the three other auto-qualifying spots, while Dolan and Brannon Kidder advanced on times.

Indoor world record holder Khaleb McRae cruised through the 400 meters prelims, running the fastest time of the day at 45.63 seconds. Elija Godwin, Chris Robinson and Justin Robinson won the three other heats, and Jevon O’Bryant, Steven McElroy, Demarius Smith and TJ Tomlyanovich will fill out the rest of Sunday’s eight-man final.

Paris Peoples led the women in the 400 prelims with a time of 52.18 seconds, while Rosy Effiong, Bailey Lear and Shamier Little won the other heats. The rest of the final is filled out by Brianna White, Sara Reifenrath, Taiya Shelby and Abigail Glynn.