NCAA Track and Field: Cal's Mykolas Alekna Misses Winning Discus Title by One Inch

Virginia athlete coached by ex-Cal champion Martin Maric ends Alekna's perfect season.

Cal freshman Mykolas Alekna suffered the first defeat of his collegiate career on Friday night.

It came in the discus competition at the NCAA Track and Field Championships at Oregon’s Hayward Field.

By one inch.

To a Virginia athlete coached by a former Cal national champion.

Alekna, who set the collegiate record twice this season, threw 217 feet even (66.15 meters) but Virginia sophomore Claudio Romero was just a little bit better at 217-1 (66.17).

Romero is mentored by Virginia throws coach Martin Maric, who won an NCAA discus title for Cal back in 2009 and went on to represent his native Croatia in the 2008 and ’12 Olympics.

Cal senior Iffy Joyner, at the NCAAs for the third time, also earned All-Ameica honors by taking fourth -- his highest finish in this meet -- with a mark of 199-3 (60.75m).

Along with women's hammer throw champion Camryn Rogers and Anna Purchase's seventh-place finish in the same event, four Cal throwers earned All-America honors for the first time since 1922.

Alekna, unbeaten in seven previous college competitions, was favored to become the first true freshman since Gabor Mate of Auburn in 1999 to win the NCAA crown in the event.

He also was bidding to become the first Lithuanian to win an NCAA discus title — something his father, two-time Olympic champion Virgilius Alekna never did.

Alekna’s first-round throw of 205-2 (62.54) gave him the lead, but Romero went 217-1 on his second attempt to seize the No. 1 spot for good. Alekna got within an inch on his third-round throw, before a foul and throws of 204-7 (62.36) and 214-7 (65.42) on his subsequent tries.

Romero, from Chile, finished third at the NCAA meet a year ago.

Alekna first broke the collegiate record in the Big Meet against Stanford on April 30 — just his fifth college meet — when he threw 222-0 (67.68).

Two weeks later he broke it again, throwing 225-6 (68.73) at the Pac-12 championships. That remains his personal best and ranks him No. 5 in the world this year.

Alekna will get another chance to compete at Oregon at next month’s World Championships, an event his father won twice.

Cover photo of Mykolas Alekna by Al Sermeno, KLC fotos

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo