CSU’s Mostafa Hassan made history at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in College Station, Texas.
The senior engineering major from Cairo, Egypt, won his second consecutive shot put title Friday night to become only the second Ram to win two NCAA titles. Bryan Berryhill, now the head coach at Wyoming, won the indoor mile and outdoor 1,500 meters in 2001 to cap his stellar CSU career.
Hassan is the only CSU athlete to repeat as national champion. Hassan accomplished that feat by blowing away the field, posting the three longest throws during the competition, including the winning mark of 68 feet, 5 inches. His closest competitor was nearly two feet behind.
Back-to-back
Hassan is also the first Mountain West competitor – male or female – to win back-to-back national titles.
“I thought Mostafa looked like a veteran tonight,” said CSU coach Brian Bedard. “He had a really good opening throw and put the pressure on the other guys. He showed a lot of composure and put himself in the driver’s seat with that throw.”
Bedard has now coached three Rams to four national titles. Previous winners include Casey Malone (discus) and Loree Smith (hammer), while Shelly Borrman was a runner-up in the discus.
Unique talent
“Mostafa really represents Colorado State well,” Bedard said of Hassan, who now has won All-America honors five times. “He’s a once-in-a-lifetime athlete for me. I’ve had athletes similar to him, like Casey, Shelly and Loree, but I don’t expect to have another athlete like Mostafa come along in my career. He’s really in a class of his own.”
Distance runners Cole Rockhold and Grant Fischer also performed well for the Rams. Rockhold, a junior liberal arts major, had a huge day Saturday, finishing sixth in the mile and ninth in the 3,000 meters, earning All-America honors in both events. Fischer, a senior health and exercise science major from Fort Collins, earned All-America honors in the 5,000.
Impressive finish
Rockhold was the only athlete to compete in both the mile and 3,000, with both finals coming in a two-hour period. He’s now a five-time All-American, while Fischer is the three-time honoree.
Thanks to Hassan and Rockhold, the Rams scored 13 team points to finish 16th in the nation – the second-highest finish in school history.
