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Stan Becton | NCAA.com | May 3, 2022

The top tandems in women’s outdoor track and field in 2022

2022 midseason superlatives for women's outdoor track and field

Track and field is often looked at as a sport of individuals and four-person relays. However, we're going to take a look at the top two-person tandems in the sport.

The easy thing to do would be to take one runner and one field athlete and call it a day, but instead, the top duo will come from across events, sometimes pairing two sprinters or even two field athletes. That said, here are the top tandems in women's track and field, listed alphabetically by school.

The top tandems in women's track and field

Arkansas | Lauren Gregory and Britton Wilson

Only a handful of programs have two women leading national charts in two different events, and Arkansas is one of them, thanks to Lauren Gregory and Britton Wilson.

Gregory leads the nation in the 10,000 meters, while also sitting fifth nationally in the 5,000 meters. Wilson leads the nation in the 400-meter hurdles, an achievement that came in her first time running the event for the Razorbacks. Wilson also ran anchor on the fifth-fastest 4x400 meter relay team.

The Gregory-Wilson tandem puts Arkansas in the national-title conversation as it looks to add to its NCAA-leading 35 track and field championships.

🔮: 5 predictions for the second half of the 2022 women's outdoor track and field season

Florida | Anna Hall and Jasmine Moore

The Florida Gators entered the outdoor season loaded with talent after winning their first indoor title. Eight different athletes have top-10 national marks. While picking two for a tandem wasn't easy, Anna Hall and Jasmine Moore get the nod as the only two Gators with multiple top-five national marks.

Nationally, Hall sits first in the heptathlon, second in the 400-meter hurdles and fifth in the long jump. Hall is the only athlete in the country with three top-five national marks. Meanwhile, Moore sits second nationally in the triple jump and third in the long jump. Both Hall and Moore are on the Bowerman watch list.

Hall and Moore each have quickly made an impact with Florida since each transferred from Georgia. The duo already has individual and team indoor titles; more dominant performances could have outdoor titles next.

Kentucky | Abby Steiner and Masai Russell

Kentucky has steadily been a top-10 team in the national ratings index all season thanks to the dominant tandem of Abby Steiner and Masai Russell.

Steiner, a Bowerman candidate, has been elite in the 100 and 200 meters this spring, running the fastest wind-legal 100-meter time and the second-fastest 200-meter time. Russell has been one of the most consistent elite hurdlers in the country, sitting with the sixth- and third-fastest 100 and 400 meter hurdles times.

Steiner and Russell combined to run the second and third legs of Kentucky's 4x100 meter relay at the Joe May Invitational, where the Wildcats finished in 42.46 seconds, the second-fastest time of any program.

The tandem of Steiner and Russell is talented enough to be the reason Kentucky wins its first NCAA women's outdoor title.

MORE: The top 10 women's track and field performances from the first half

LSU | Alia Armstrong and Favour Ofili

LSU's tandem of Alia Armstrong and Favour Ofili is one of the best in the country, individually and together.

Separately, Armstrong owns the fastest all-conditions 100-meter hurdles time this season. Ofili holds the 200-meter collegiate record and the fourth-fastest time in the 100 meters.

Together, Armstrong and Ofili led and anchored, respectively, LSU's 4x100 meter relay team to a 42.69-second finish, the third-fastest time in the country. 

Armstrong and Ofili are two of many stars for the Tigers, but it's the relay performance that places the duo as LSU's top tandem over other athletes like Lisa Gunnarsson and Katy-Ann McDonald.

Ohio State | Adelaide Aquilla and Anavia Battle

No list of tandems would be complete without Ohio State's Olympic duo of Adelaide Aquilla and Anavia Battle. Both Aquilla and Battle bring experience from Tokyo to Buckeye nation.

Battle is one of the top sprinters in the country, specializing in the 200 meters. Yet, in shorter or longer distances, Battle remains elite, owning the eighth-fastest 100-meter time nationally and winning the 300 meters at Penn Relays.

Aquilla is the reigning NCAA shot-put champion, and she has continued her success this year. Entering May, no one has thrown the shot longer than Aquilla's 18.94 meters; she also holds the 10th-best discus mark.

It's not often that a college team has two Olympians, but the Buckeyes get to witness two elite talents in all of track and field together at almost every meet.

Oregon | Jadyn Mays and Kemba Nelson

Jadyn Mays and Kemba Nelson are two of Oregon's best sprinters. Mays and Nelson each have top-20 marks in the 100 and 200 meters. In fact, Mays and Nelson are tied for the 12th-fastest time this season in the 200 at 22.80 seconds.

Together, the duo ran the first two legs of Oregon's sixth-fastest 4x100 meter relay that finished in 42.93 seconds at the Desert Heat Classic.

🏅: The midseason superlatives — and a sleeper pick — for women's outdoor track and field

Texas | Julien Alfred and Tyra Gittens

Texas has been the No. 1 team in the national ratings index since the start of the season. The Longhorns have talent across the board, but the best tandem from the bunch is Julien Alfred and Tyra Gittens.

Alfred has blazed through the sprints all season, with her 100 and 200-meter times within the top-10 nationally, while running on the nation's fastest 4x100 and 4x400 meter relay teams. 

Gittens followed up her Bowerman finalist season with more impressive performances, with the second-leading high jump and third-leading long jump in the country. She's again a candidate for the Bowerman, making the fourth watch list of the season.

As Texas looks to go wire-to-wire as the top team in the country, Alfred and Gittens will play a big part.

Texas A&M | Charokee Young and Lamara Distin

Texas A&M has a dynamic duo in Charokee Young and Lamara Distin. Young leads the country in the 400 meters as the only sub-50 woman. Distin has led the nation in the high jump since jumping 1.96 at Texas relays in March and recently surpassed that mark with a 1.97-meter jump at Texas A&M's alumni meet. The duo's performances this season are some of the best in the world.

The Young-Distin tandem represents just two of the many elite Texas A&M athletes; top jumper Deborah Acquah was another Aggie who could've been in the tandem.

NEWCOMERS: Here are 2022's top newcomers in women's track and field — so far

Texas Tech | Monae' Nichols and Ruth Usoro

Texas Tech has a lot of talent on their team, but the leaping duo of Monae' Nichols and Ruth Usoro takes the cake. Nichols owns the nation's leading long jump at 6.89 meters. Usoro, the defending champion in the triple jump, sits fourth in the event and 11th in the long jump.

Nichols and Usoro are two of the nation's best jumpers, giving the Red Raiders a legitimate shot at the title come June.

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