If you look at the final results of the 2022 Division I women's long jump championship, you might think it ended in a tie. No, your eyes do not deceive you, the top two jumps are the exact same distance. Here's how a centimeter decided a winner.
Let's set the stage.
It was a loaded group of competitors entering the 2022 championships. A glance at the field shows Texas Tech's stars Monae Nichols and Ruth Usoro, an Olympian in Texas' Tyra Gittens, Texas A&M's Deborah Acquah and Oregon's Alysah Hickey to name a few.
COMPLETE COVERAGE: 2022 Division I indoor track and field championships
Also in the field was Florida's Jasmine Moore, the collegiate leader in the long jump this season. Joining her in the field was her teammate Claire Bryant, the runner-up at the 2021 championships.
Loaded.
The first round started the championship with a high mark as Hickey jumped 6.44 meters to set the pace. She followed that with a second-round jump of 6.53 meters, all but ensuring that this year's championship would be no cakewalk.
In round three, the fireworks continued — this time from Jasmine Moore and Monae Nichols. Nichols took the lead with a 6.57-meter jump. Moore leaped into second place, just one centimeter behind, at 6.56 meters.
Moore followed her second-place jump in the fourth round with a lead-tying jump of 6.57 meters. That place Moore and Nichols neck-and-neck with two rounds remaining.
Neither could surpass the 6.57-meter mark in the latter two rounds. Moore and Nichols were tied for the furthest jump in the 2022 Division I women's indoor long jump championship.
The two couldn't end in a tie, could they? They'd have to jump again to see who could be the first to surpass that mark, right?
No and no.
Per NCAA championship rules, with the two long jumpers tied for the farthest long jump, the winner would be decided by whoever had the second-best jump between the two.
Moore's second-best jump was her 6.56-meter leap in the third round. Nichols' second-best jump measured 6.54 meters in round four.
RESULTS:
With a second-best jump that was only one centimeter off of the championship-leading distance, Florida's Jasmine Moore won the 2022 Division I indoor women's long jump title.
Moore's victory gives Florida its first indoor long champion in program history. One day later, she became the fifth Division I female to sweep the long jump and triple jump in indoor history. Moore also is the first woman in NCAA indoor history to win conference and national titles in the long Jump and triple jump in the same season.
On top of all that history, Jasmine Moore's long jump victory gave Florida 10 points to its team total as Moore and the Gators won the 2022 Division I women's indoor track and field title.
It's crazy how far a centimeter can go.
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