Just ask the 2016 Chicago Cubs, the 2005 Chicago White Sox and the 2004 Boston Red Sox. Those baseball teams had to endure 80 plus years of agony before reclaiming a World Series championship.

 

You have to go back to 1981 to unpack one of the longest droughts in collegiate track history, where Sydney Maree of Villanova was the last the athlete to break the collegiate record in the men's 1,500 meters and win the national title in the event in the same season. 

 

That curse was lifted Friday.

 

Oregon's Simeon Birnbaum cemented himself into NCAA lore by winning the 1,500 title Friday night in front of a home crowd at Hayward Field, ending the 45-year-old streak of collegiate record holders failing to win the 1,500 in the same season. 

 

In typical Birnbaum fashion, the Oregon junior closed his final 400 meters in 52.08 seconds, gapped the field with 100 to go and crossed the finish line in 3:36.05, winning by over a second. 

 

"I wanted this so, so bad," Birnbaum said. "I'm very grateful for this opportunity and to get it done."

 

It took an athlete like Birnbaum to put the 1,500 drought to bed: confident, swaggy, and a little cocky. That's not to say Josh Kerr, Yared Nuguse and Eliud Kipsang, who all broke the collegiate 1,500 record at a point in their careers, didn't have those traits. Birnbaum just happened to be the one who ultimately won the title.

 

"I'm just going out there trying to achieve what I want to achieve," Birnbaum said. 

 

Was the pressure there for Birnbaum? Absolutely. The night before the final, he felt he didn't get enough sleep because he so nervous. So, instead of going out front at the start of the race, Birnbaum hung back and let the race come to him.

 

The pace was honest through the first 400 in part to Cal Poly's Chris Caudillo taking the field through in 58 seconds. The second lap slowed down to 60 seconds as Birnbaum continued to lurk in the back, continuing to wait for his moment to strike.

 

With a lap remaining, and the Hayward crowd beginning to roar, Birnbaum saw his chance.

 

"My strategy was mostly rely on my instincts," Birnbaum said. "Seven hundred meters to go is when I wanted to start burning matches...that last lap, just rely on my fitness, rely on my speed and just give it everything."

 

Washington's Reuben Reina led at the bell and down the back stretch before Birnbaum surged ahead with 200 meters left. Heading into the last 100, he had opened up his lead by almost 20 meters, pointing to the crowd in celebration and crossing the finish line a national champion.

 

In a long line of Oregon runners who have also won the 1,500 NCAA title, Birnbaum joins the following: Cole Hocker, Mac Fleet, Matthew Centrowitz, Andrew Wheating, Dub Myers, Joaquim Cruz, Dyrol Burleson, Jim Grelle, Jim Bailey and Bill Dellinger.

 

"I want to keep Oregon distance running great," Birnbaum said. "I'm just really grateful that I get to be a part of that."

 

Michigan's Trent McFarland, second to Birnbaum at the Big Ten Outdoor Championshipsl, was second again, in 3:37.18. Virginia's Gary Martin rounded out the top three in 3:37.21. Both McFarland and Martin closed in under 53 seconds.

 

 

Auburn's Ja'Kobe Tharp, two days after breaking the world record in the 110 hurdles, backed up his jaw-dropping 12.75-run with another sub-13-second effort to claim his second consecutive NCAA title in 12.90, which would have also broken Grant Holloway's previous collegiate record of 12.98. 

 

Texas' Kendrick Smallwood, all 5-feet, 7-inches of him, broke 13 seconds for the first time in his career, running 12.95 to finish second and move to No. 2 on the NCAA all-time list. Ohio State's Braxton Brann also cracked the top 10 all-time list with his 13.07, No. 7 all-time, to finish third.

 

North Arizona's Colin Sahlman pulled off a Dave Wottle-like comeback in the men's 800 to win in 1:44.22, No. 6 all-time in collegiate history. Sahlman was last at the bell in 51.29 and closed his last lap in 52.94, almost half a second faster than second-place finisher Tyrice Taylor of Arkansas, the NCAA indoor champion, who ran a personal best 1:44.30.

 

New Mexico's Habtom Samuel earned his fourth NCAA title of the school year, capping his junior season with a win in the 5,000 in 13:38.93, holding off Wake Forest's Rocky Hansen, who Samuel beat to win the cross country title last fall. 

 

Louisivlle's Elsingi Kipruto, second to Samuel in the 10,000 on Wednesday, finished third in 13:42.58. Villanova's Marco Langon, who took the lead with 500 to go but fell off pace when Samuel surged past him with 300 remaining, took fourth in 13:42.77.

 

Louisville's Geoffrey Kirwa avenged a second-place finish from last year's 3,000-meter steeplechase final with a 8:17.46 performance, fending off Tulane's Kristian Imroth.

 

Florida's Vance Nilsson, a former high school national record holder from, pulled off a stunning victory in the 400-meter hurdles from Lane 9. Nilsson ran a collegiate-leading time of 48.06 and beat the field by more than seven-tenths of a second. He lowered his own personal best from 48.77.

 

In relay action, Tennessee won a chaotic 4x100 in 37.98 and was one of five teams to finish the race after four schools DNF'd.

 

Georgia ran the third-fastest 4x400 time in collegiate history in 2:57.93, finishing ahead of both LSU and Arkansas, who also ran under three minutes in 2:57.96 and 2:59.87, respectively.

 

 

In perhaps the deepest discus field in championship history, Oklahoma's Ralford Mullings repeated his title with a throw of 65.81 meters (215-11). Making the podium required throwing over 61.89m (203-0).

 

Mullings was also one of four Jamaicans to finish on the podium along with USC's Racquil Broderick (second), Alabama's Christopher Young (fifth) and Florida State's Shamar Reid (sixth).

 

Air Force's Texas Tanner, second in the hammer on Wednesday, finished as the top American in fourth with a throw of 63.75m (209-2).

 

Georgia's Kimani Jack soared over 2.28m (7-5.75) to win the high jump competition, beating Arkansas' Scottie Vines, Tennessee's Grant Campbell and Oral Roberts' Jordan Wenger by three centimeters. Vines, clearing 2.25m (7-4.50) took second over Campbell and Wenger on fewer misses.

 

Kansas State's Selva Prabhu jumped a season's best 16.92m (55-6.25) to earn the outdoor triple jump title after finishing second during indoors. Indoor champion Jonathan Sermes of Texas Tech was fifth at 16.48m (54-1).

 

 

Day 1 leader in the women's heptathlon is Illinois freshman JaiCieonna Gero-Holt, who has 3,745 points after four events. She threw a new personal best 14.98m (49-1.75) for the top points in the shot put. 

 

Gero-Holt has a 41-point lead over Hollan Powers of Arizona going into the second day.