When discussing “Leadership” from a management perspective, it is often defined as the ability to motivate a group of people towards a common goal. Once again USATF management has shown that it is sorely lacking in this skill set. The latest drama emanating from the head office is the “’Coaches Registry” that has been dropped in the laps of America’s coaches. Now, on the surface, the idea of a Coaches Registry I believe is a good one. As a matter of fact I thought that the lead organization of the sport in this country was already collecting this data on our coaches. I think that would be a tremendous aid…

Texas A&M Double Champs Once Again Congrats to Pat Henry and the Aggies of Texas A&M as once again they pull off the double team championship! In a meet where rivals Florida and Oregon had the big time performers – Eaton, Taylor, Theisen, Demps, Wheating, et al, the Aggies ground it out and their athletes got points when they needed to. They started the meet out on the women’s side without multi point scorer Gaby Mayo, and began the final day of competition on the men’s side by not finishing the 4×1. Yet in spite of the adversity, they came through when they needed to and picked up double hardware…

First the action that got us to the final day – Friday’s finals. I said at the start of the meet that the one lap races would be critical and among the meet’s best events, and Friday they were. All those that were supposed to be involved, were, with one common theme – discipline prevailed! There was no rain on Friday, but with tailwinds on the finishing straight and headwinds on the backstretch, one by one those that went out hard early gave way to those a bit more patient. In the men’s 400H an early charging Jeshua Anderson (WaSt) gave way to the patient Johnny Dutch (S Car) who…

The second day of semi finals went off without a hitch – though the men looked a bit sluggish in their qualifying heats of the 200. Still, Texas A&M moved two men into the final – Curtis Mitchell & Gerald Phiri – and Mitchell and Rondell Sorrillo (Kentucky) appear to be the men to beat at this point. The first sprint event without a Florida Gator in the final. The Aggie women lead the way in their qualifying as Porscha Lucas dropped a sizzling 22.49 in her heat to take over the collegiate lead. Teammate Jeneba Tarmoh lead the other qualifiers into the final. LSU also moved two into the…

Day one went pretty much according to script, with the weather providing the most drama with rain coming and going throughout the first day. On the track most of those expected to qualify moved through to the finals. The huge notable exception was Ahmad Rashad’s false start DQ in heat 2 of the men’s 100. I hate the no false start rule for many reasons, but watching Rashad get tossed for what appeared to be a minor flinch (if that) was just a sad testament to the rules of the sport. His loss could affect the final outcome of the team standings, as he was a returning medalist from last…

The NCAA Championships start today and it should be a doozy! With the NCAA moving to a pair of Regional qualifying meets this year (East & West) the meet starts with semi finals in all the events. But with each Regional meet sending 12 athletes there will be three heats for each semifinal instead of two. The result is a rather brutal 2 + 2 qualifying system to the finals for all events 800 and under – first two finishers plus the next 2 fastest times. This will have a profound effect on the outcome of the meet as making it out of the semis will be very tough. And…

Recently during an interview about the upcoming NCAA championships, Oregon coach Vin Lananna stated “I think for the sport of track and field, and for every sport, you need a home,” he said. “I think it would be fantastic for Hayward Field to be the permanent home for the NCAA championships.” While I understand the motivation behind Mr. Lananna’s statement, I don’t think he could be more off in his assessment. Certainly it would be nice for Oregon to have the NCAA Championships as a “home” meet to go along with the Diamond League Prefontaine Classic. And if he gets his wish he will also get the dual with UCLA…

We’re just days away now from the start of the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. With no World Championships or Olympics on the slate this year, this meet could be the best championship meet on the schedule this summer. Both indoor team champions – Florida for the men and Oregon for the women – have arrived at this point in the season looking ready to produce strong efforts to add outdoor titles to their trophy cases. There have been relatively few injuries to the top athletes and squads this year, so we enter Eugene with a full complement of high caliber athletes ready to do battle – making it…

Oslo is often a distance runners paradise and today was no exception as several fast middle and long distance events stole the spotlight in Oslo. The event that drew the most pre meet interest was the men’s 800 featuring David Rudisha (KEN) and Abubaker Kaki (SUD). The race was a burner from the beginning as the rabbit took the field through a fast 48.97 first lap. Rudisha and Kaki were just off the pace and went by the rabbit down the final backstretch. Both athletes sizzled around the track but Kaki was never able to make a serious challenge to Rudisha as they ran 1-2 on the final lap, well…

The third installment of the Diamond League takes to the track tomorrow in Oslo. It will mark the beginning of a nine day period where we’ll get a blitz of three Diamond League events – Oslo, Rome and New York. Oslo has a rich history of strong distance running and field event performances, and I don’t see that changing much tomorrow as the best matchups seem to be in those disciplines. There will be some individuals of note competing, with Asafa Powell (JAM) in the 100; Carmelita Jeter (USA) in a rare appearance over 200; Carolina Kluft (SWE) in the long jump; and local hero Andreas Thorkildsen in the javelin.…