Cheserek concludes indoor career with one last title run

Oregon senior rebounds from runner-up finish in mile to win 3,000 for third time, giving him nine indoor crowns and record 17 career championships

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

There were exceptional college records, unheralded first-time champions and impressive repeat winners Saturday at the NCAA Division 1 Indoor Championships in College Station, Texas.

And then there was Oregon senior Edward Cheserek, who left Rhonda and Frosty Gilliam Jr. Indoor Track Stadium in a category all by himself.

With his victory in the men's 3,000 meters in 7 minutes, 55.91 seconds, Cheserek captured his 17th overall NCAA title, including two championships in the distance medley relay.

Cheserek, who surpassed the NCAA record held by Suleiman Nyambui with his 16th career title Friday when he won the 5,000, equaled the achievement of the former UTEP star by securing his 15th individual crown.

"When I heard about him, I know he's a great runner and I was just trying to put my name up there. I think I did what I'm supposed to do," said Cheserek, who set the Oregon record by scoring 28 points in a single indoor final, eclipsing the mark of 23 set by Jenna Prandini in 2015, improving his career total to 91 points to surpass the NCAA career standard of 87 set from 1988-91 by Texas' Carlette Guidry.

"I think it means a lot. I still have a couple of times to add more, but I'm happy about it, everybody is happy about it, my teammates, my coaches, my family they are all so happy about it. I'm so proud of myself."

Cheserek lost an individual indoor final for only the second time in his career when he placed runner-up in the mile to New Mexico redshirt freshman Josh Kerr by a 4:03.22 to 4:05.42 margin. His only other setback came in the 3,000 final in 2015 against Oregon teammate Eric Jenkins.

"He had a good race. He had it, so I just decided to try to save my energy for the next one," said Cheserek, who watched Kerr -- a European U-20 champion in the 1,500 for Scotland -- cover the final lap in 26.68 seconds.

"My mind is like whatever happens, happens, forget about it and just move on."

After running the mile prelims and winning the 5,000 title Friday, Cheserek wanted to compete on Oregon's distance medley relay, seeking a third straight championship, but Ducks coaches Andy Powell and Robert Johnson decided to rest him for Saturday.

"Last year when he ran the 5K and came back 30 minutes later and ran the DMR, that was a really hard effort, almost too hard," Powell said. "He was fortunate to win the 3K the next day, but that's all he could have done the next day. To have two events possibly on tap for the next day, we decided pretty long out we weren't going to run him on the DMR."

The result was a fourth-place finish for Oregon, which finished third overall with 38 points, trailing Texas A&M (46) and Florida (45.5).

"I wanted to run on the relay, but I have to listen to my big bosses and what they think is best," Cheserek said. "I just listen to my coaches and what my coaches tell me to do. I'm not trying to focus on what other people think. I don't want to give myself too much pressure, just keep focus on my races and that's it."

After being denied a fourth NCAA cross country title by Syracuse's Justyn Knight in November, Cheserek earned a measure of revenge in the 3,000 final. Knight took second Saturday in 7:56.21.

"I told him the hardest thing you're going to have to do is lose a race and come back. But if you do it, it's going to put you even more in that legendary status," Powell said. "There are guys who have tried this triple before and it's a hard thing to do. I think the easy thing to do is when things don't go well, to pull somebody out, and certainly that was going through my mind and I was kind of weighing it back and forth. But I could tell he wanted to do it and he was ready to do it. We knew we were going to have a hard effort this weekend, so he went for it and I'm glad it worked out."

Cheserek finished his indoor career with nine titles, including three in the 3,000 as part of seven individual championships and three team crowns.

"You have to be a sportsman and sportsmen always know how to compete in championship races. Justyn is a good friend of mine and I enjoying racing him," Cheserek said. "It's a good weekend. I'm just ready to go back home and talk to my coaches and plan for outdoor and go from there."