MEET: NCAA Championships
DATE: June 5th-8th, 2024
LOCATION: Eugene, Ore.
Tampa, Fla. June 7, 2024 – The University of South Florida put an exclamation mark on a banner year tonight, with Abdul-Rasheed Saminu taking home two First Team All-American awards within 45 minutes of each other and meeting the Olympic qualifying standard time in the 200m dash with a program record time (20.12).
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After a year filled with the program’s first-ever indoor and outdoor men’s conference championships, a program-record 33 athletes in the NCAA First Round, and a program-record 12 athletes in the NCAA Semifinals, Abdul-Rasheed Saminu became the first-ever Bull to earn First Team All-American in two events at the same NCAA Championship Meet.
“Yesterday capped off a great year for our program and I am very proud of the effort given by our teams,” Director of Cross Country and Track & Field Erik Jenkins said. “That effort has produced two Men’s AAC team championships, program-best finishes for our women’s team in the AAC championship, multiple school records, numerous All-American accolades, and a second consecutive top-30 finish for our men at the NCAA Outdoor Championship.”
Around 9:52 p.m. ET, he finished fifth (10.02) in the 100m dash NCAA Championship final. The time was his personal best non-wind-aided time and came in a race where only four-hundredths of a second separated sixth place from second.
Around 10:37 p.m. ET, Rasheed finished third in the 200m dash NCAA Championship Final with a program record time (20.12). The time met the Olympic qualifying standard time of 20.16. This means should Ghana select him to compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics, he is now eligible.
Rasheed’s two First Team All-American nominations make it three for South Florida at this Championship meet, as his roommate, Goodness Iredia, finished seventh (7.86m / 25′ – 9.5″) in the long jump on Wednesday.
Overall the men’s team finished 26th in the NCAA Championship Meet, earning 12 points. 10 came from Rasheed, four in the 100m dash, and six in the 200m dash. The remaining two points came from Iredia in the long jump.
The Bulls also earned three Second Team All-American nominations. Wednesday, Shevioe Reid finished 11th in the 200m dash semifinal (20.36) and later Reid and the rest of the men’s 4x400m relay team (Tre’Sean Bouie, Nathan Metelus, and Gabriel Moronta) ran the 12th-fastest time (3:05.59). Thursday, the women’s 4x400m relay team of Shaniya Benjamin, Zahria Allers-Liburd, Terren Peterson, and Amenda Saint Louis finished 13th (3:31.21).
“Five years ago, we began the arduous task of building a program that can compete for conference titles and have sustained national success,” Jenkins said. “I am excited about the direction of our program and look forward to the future.”
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The USF track and field men’s team won the 2024 Indoor and Outdoor AAC Championship. Romaine Beckford won the 2023 NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships in the men’s high jump as a Bull. The team has earned 56 All-America selections and at least one All-American in 10 of the last 12 years, including a record eight athletes claiming 11 honors in 2021. Tampa native Shaniya Benjamin set a program record earning three All-American honors during the 2021 outdoor season, while triple jumper Matthew O’Neal, a 2016 graduate, became USF’s first six-time NCAA All-American. Bulls have posted two NCAA runner-up finishes since 2013 – O’Neal (triple jump, 2016) and Courtney Anderson (high jump, 2013). Head coach Erik Jenkins took over the program in 2020 and in the 2021 outdoor season the Bulls posted seven program records and 40 top 10 all-time program marks. USF hosted the 2018 NCAA Track and Field East Preliminary and the 2021 AAC Outdoor Championship at the USF Track and Field Stadium located on the east end of campus.