The CHill Zone of T&F

Usually there isn’t much to say after the first day of the NCAA Championships. After all, the bulk of the finals are on Friday and Saturday. But Wednesday may have already started shaping those finals as three big names didn’t move through. The semifinals started blazing hot with the 4×1’s. In the women’s semis first Texas A&M (42.99), then LSU (42.94 SB) laid down marks that set the stage for what should be a fast final. The men followed suit with four teams under 39.00 – Texas A&M (38.38), Florida (38.49), Illinois (38.72) and Florida St (38.75). The track produced more fireworks in the men’s 800 as Charles Jock (UC…

Watching the bid process for the rights to the next four Olympic Games (‘16, ‘18. ‘20, ‘22) I actually started to get a bit excited, because ESPN & Fox were in the mix and presented proposals that said they would provide actual LIVE coverage of the Games. Imagine that! No more slicing and dicing and leaving action on the floor in favor of next day highlight reels after reading bout the action half a day or more in advance! At the end of the day, however, the Comcast/NBC conglomerate offered more money for the package than either ESPN or Fox could muster, and thus the IOC once again gave the…

Ok, after a week’s delay we will get the semi finals and finals of the NCAA Championships. If you find that comment odd, it’s because essentially the Regional meets were the first and second rounds of the Championships. If that still sounds odd, it’s because it is. We had two meets that solved nothing other than to decide who would get to compete in the semis and finals of the actual NCAA Championships. Yes I’m making it sound rather silly, but really it is rather silly. There were no finals in the meet. No Regional champions were crowned – team or individual. They didn’t keep score. They just competed until…

The Prefontaine Classic was everything a world class track meet is supposed to be. The Last Night’s Distance Carnival the prelude to today’s meet, produced some exciting and historic distance running. First Moses Kiprop (KEN) circled the track for 75 laps better than anyone else in world history as he set new WR’s for 25K (1:12:25.4) and 30K (1:26:47.4)! The night finished with an exciting and deep 10000 meters. With Galen Rupp not starting the race due to allergy issues, and Chris Solinsky stepping off the track half way through to nurse a sore hamstring, it was left to Britain’s Mo Farah to duke it out with the African contingent…

Identifying America’s top sprinters used to be pretty easy. In spite of our depth, there were always two or three men and women that stepped up to stand above the rest. Jim Hines, Charlie Greene, Wilma Rudolph, Steve Williams, Harvey Glance, Evelyn Ashford, Gail Devers, Carl Lewis, Calvin Smith, Chandra Cheeseborough, Mo Greene, Jon Drummond, Valerie Brisco,. I could go on and on, but suffice it to say that while there are always surprises at the National Championships/Olympic Trials the major players were clearly identified well before the meet started. This year however, only three names immediately come to mind:Tyson Gay, Allyson Felix, and Carmelita Jeter – and are we…

The NCAA Championships begin in one week – one of the hottest meets of the year. But before I take a look back at the Regionals and a look ahead to the action in Des Moines, I have to take a look at this year’s Prefontaine Classic. This year’s meet has been moved back to the beginning of June – after serving time just prior to the 4th of July last year – and if there are few defections from the start lists it should be one of the hottest meets of the year and a true classic. There will be three Diamond League meets prior to most country’s national…

It was a very long weekend for track and field. The NCAA regionals, and lower divisions started mid week. Rome was on Thursday. The NCAA meets continued through the weekend. Then following a three day Memorial Day weekend, Ostrava started the week. One would think that with SO much action that we would have seen more brilliant performances. After all, tomorrow is the first of June, and it’s time to get things crackin! Rome did it’s share on Thursday, but it took until the end of the weekend and today, before things really began to heat up. That started in Hengelo, where we got to see Dayron Robles once again.…

If this year’s World Championships is the ultimate “Final” test of the season, then meets such as yesterday’s Golden Gala in Rome are a series of minor tests and pop quizzes. Several athletes were taking early tests in Rome – Usain Bolt (his season debut), Allyson Felix (a look at the double), and L.J. Van Zyl (defining his place) – and in my opinion all three passed. Van Zyl (RSA) has been hot since the winter time, running 47.66 in the hurdles in February and 44.86 in the open 400 in March. Of course these were races at home in South Africa where Van Zyl has always done well early…

USATF – USA Track and Field. The governing body of the sport in the United States of America. Outside of the IAAF, the body that should be the most powerful in the sport – in charge of the deepest strongest team on the planet. We produced Carl Lewis, Michael Johnson, Edwin Moses, Jackie Joyner Kersee, and Evelyn Ashford. By default we should start with 20 medals in Daegu and London. But we can’t find a CEO! Are you kidding me?! This “should” be one of the plum jobs in all of track and field. It should be like placing an ad for coach of the Lakers or manager of the…

Last summer Andrew Wheating emerged as possibly the brightest face in men’s middle distance running in the U.S.. This past weekend he opened his season with a 1500 meter run at the USATF High Performance meet in Southern California. The result was a 3:36.46 win – the #2 time of his career. Not a bad way to start the season. With Lopez Lamong (3:37.01, 4th) and  Leo Manzano (3:38.26, 9th) in his wake, Wheating opened well against what began to emerge last year as the core of our young middle distance runners. And with just a few weeks until the National Championships, looks ready to make a strong run at…