STATEN ISLAND, New York — A meet record in the men's 3000 and a pair of world-leading performances in the sprint hurdles highlighted the first day of the USATF Indoor Championships presented by Prevagen Saturday at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex. Using a 55.30 final 400, Hobbs Kessler overtook Dylan Jacobs and Matthew Wilkinson to set a meet record of 7:38.00 in the men's 3000. Kessler was third heading into the penultimate circuit before a 28.11 200 gave him the lead and a 27.19 final lap put him .02 seconds ahead of Jacobs. Both men bettered the previous meet record of 7:38.60, set nine years ago at Portland by Ryan Hill. Sam Gilman closed very quickly to take third in 7:38.64. Unstoppable for 10 years in the 60 hurdles, world record holder and reigning World Indoor champion Grant Holloway extended his winning streak to 76 races dating back to 2015 with a 7.36 that tied his own world-leading mark for 2025. Holloway, who set the world record of 7.27 in the heats at last year's meet in Albuquerque, pulled Cameron Murray to a lifetime best of 7.41 in second, and USC's Johnny Brackins also earned a PB with a 7.43 for bronze. Brackins became the fourth-fastest collegian ever with that time. Olympic 100 hurdles champion Masai Russell came on strong in the final half of the women's 60H to win with a world-leading 7.74, a time that moved her to equal sixth on the all-time U.S. performer list. Stark, who set a season best of 7.75 in the heats, clocked 7.76 for silver, with bronze going to Christina Clemons in 7.81, also a season best. Winning her third straight national indoor gold, Katie Moon needed two tries at her opening height of 4.50/14-9, but she went on to clear 4.80/15-9 in the women's pole vault and made three strong attempts at 4.90/16-0.75. Moon, the silver medalist at the Olympic Games in Paris last summer, was pushed by Gabriela Leon and Emily Grove, who both went over 4.65/15-3 to grab the other two podium spots. American record holder Chase Jackson had four throws beyond 19 meters on the way to capturing her third straight U.S. indoor title and fifth overall. Jackson, who bettered her own indoor American record with a 20.24/66-5 effort in Poland last weekend, hit 19.65/64-5.75 in round three to seal the victory, and all four of her legal throws would have been good enough to win. Maggie Ewen nabbed the runner-up spot with a season-opening 18.86/61-10.5, and Jessica Ramsey upped her season best to 18.51/60-8.75 in third. A slowish early pace in the women's 3000 turned into a compelling battle for supremacy over the final two laps, and Nikki Hiltz had the fastest final circuit to take gold in 8:48.28 over Shelby Houlihan, who was the runner-up in 8:48.43. Whittni Morgan was third in 8:48.56. Those three were in the front half of the pack through the first kilometer, going through in just over 3:07, and Houlihan fronted the field at 2km in 6:07.15, just ahead of Katelyn Tuohy. Cranking up the tempo dramatically in the final 400, Hiltz used a 59.66 to take the title. Bounding a stadium record, U.S. leader, and lifetime best 16.88/55-4.75 on his final attempt, James Carter won his first national title in the men's triple jump, turning back five-time champion Donald Scott and previous U.S. leader Russell Robinson for the gold. Robinson had an early lead with his opening jump of 16.67/54-8.25, but couldn't improve on that, while Scott hit his best of 16.62/54-6.5 in the third round. Fourth through the first five rounds of the women's long jump, Monae' Nichols uncorked a big 6.73/22-1 on her final attempt to move into the lead, and she held on to win by one centimeter over Claire Bryant, with Olympic bronze medalist Jasmine Moore third at 6.66/21-10.25. Bryant and Moore traded the lead early and Bryant notched her best leap in round three, but it was Nichols who had the clutch effort to win her first U.S. indoor crown. Reigning men's weight throw champion Daniel Haugh extended his rule in the event with a 25.11/82-4.75 in round two to pick up his third straight win in the event. Haugh, who set a World Best last year at Albuquerque, fouled his first attempt before unleashing the winner on the next try, and he added a 24.37/79-11.5 in the fifth round on his only other legal attempt. Tanner Berg set a lifetime best of 24.96/81-10.75 in second and moved to No. 8 on the all-time U.S. performer list, and Alex Young was just off his PB in third at 24.82/81-5.25. First-time USATF indoor titles in the 3000m race walk went to Emmanuel Corvera, who won the men's race by three seconds over Jason Crawford in 11:57.89, and Lauren Harris, whose lifetime best of 13:23.83 gave her a nine second margin over 10-time champion Maria Michta-Coffey. Timara Chapman, the NCAA outdoor heptathlon winner last year, won the long jump and was second in the 60 hurdles and high jump en route to victory in the women's pentathlon, tallying a lifetime best 4,555 points to beat last year's champion, Cheyenne Nesbitt, by 93. Erin Marsh was third with 4,423 points. Defending champion Chris Nilsen needed only three attempts to retain the men's pole vault title he won at Albuquerque last year, clearing 5.70/18-8.25 first time to win. Jacob Wooten and Austin Miller also cleared that height but had misses at earlier heights to place second and third, respectively. Wins in three of the day's four events in the men's heptathlon gave Kyle Garland a comfortable lead with 3,615 points, 284 up on Austin West in second. Garland won the long jump at 7.66/25-1.75 and added the top marks in the shot put (15.99/52-5.5) and high jump (2.08/6-9.75) to build a substantial cushion heading into Sunday's final three events. Qualifying heats in the men's and women's 800 and 400 had Wes Ferguson (1:45.34) and Kaela Edwards (2:00.44) record the fastest times overall at the longer distance, while world leader Chris Bailey ran 45.15 and Bailey Lear clocked 51.34 for the best performances in the 400.