Eli Hall-Thompson, 2017 Track Athlete of the Meet

At the 2016 American Athletic Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships, LeShon Collins was named the Track Athlete of the Meet after he won the 100m, 200m and the 4x100m relay. That year the Cougar men won the conference title by a total of 55 points. This year the Cougars won by 44.50 points, 40 of which came from the contribution of junior sprinter Eli Hall-Thompson.

Hall-Thompson, the NJCAA national champion, started championship Sunday on the anchor leg for the men's 4x100m relay. Along with junior Cameron Burrell and sophomore's Mario Burke and Jacarias Martin, the four won the race in a meet record 38.70s, a whole second faster than the runners up Connecticut.

Then in the individual sprinting events, Hall-Thompson came into the final with the fastest 100m and 200m preliminary times. In the 100m he ran 10.11s and in the 200m he ran 20.40s.

In the 100m final, running into a headwind, he nearly matched his preliminary time with a run of 10.19s. His time was easily the fastest on the track and was a whole tenth of a second faster than Burrell's 10.30s.

But in the 200m he shocked everybody by running 19.96s with only the slightest of wind aid. Burke and Martin tied behind him at 20.52s each. But Hall-Thompson's made him the fastest 200m sprinter in the country and Top 5 in the world. Earlier in the weekend Christian Coleman of Tennessee ran 19.98s at the SEC Championships. He and Hall-Thompson seem destined to meet in Eugene for the NCAA Championships.

With his three performances Hall-Thompson easily surpassed Collins' feast statistically, but he did one better. Championship weekended ended for the Cougars with a victory in the 4x400m relay. In that race Hall-Thompson ran the first leg and helped contribute to the team's time of 3:08.47s.

Hall-Thompson ended his weekend with four gold medals, a team trophy, an individual trophy and an American Conference Championship record in the relays. With his bevy of performances he has put himself in prime position to compete for a national title in June.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAQ_ffuMvng&t=11s

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