The CHill Zone of T&F

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.…

With the Championship season upon us, I thought it would be a good time to update the Thirty Watch List. A chance to take a look at the season to date before everyone begins to peak for the heart of the season. Even without the season peaking, there has been a lot of activity (or lack of) affecting the list – and not all on the track. So I will be looking at the list and adjusting it based on four areas: deletions, additions, and athletes on the bubble – either potentially being added or dropped in the future. The current iteration of the list shows a net gain of…

For a track junkie like me the last few days have been sheer nirvana. From Thursday through last night it’s been wall to wall track and field! Out here in California the State high school championships are just around the corner and this past week the state sectional championships were held to qualify the entrants for the State Meet! So depending on where you were it was Trials & Finals on either Thursday & Friday or Friday & Saturday. The collegiate athletes were in qualifying mode as well, as the East and West Regional Qualifiers were also held the end of the week on Thursday, Friday & Saturday. Both meets…

The issue of drug use among athletes is once again front and center in the sports world. Within the past month four drug related matters have arisen that have given the topic fresh legs. First was the revelation that Lashawn Merritt was accepting a provisional suspension due to three positive drug tests for a banned substance in his system. Intermittently has been the news/discussion and potential trial of Canadian physician Anthony Galea and his controversial use of HGH and a “blood spinning” technique in the treatment of several sports related patients. There was the recent death of Charlie Francis – best known as the coach of Ben Johnson, the Seoul…

Recently I posted my opinion of the Pac10 after viewing their conference meet on Fox Sports. Having had the opportunity to watch the Big12 championship this past weekend I want to add to my conference outlooks prior to the start of the regional meets this upcoming weekend. First off, before I get any further, let me say that this meet was run under very, very poor weather conditions. Yet there were some very good marks that came out of this meet. And most certainly there are athletes in this conference that will have a lot to say about who takes home the hardware in Eugene next month. Having said that,…

Solid results in the recently completed Shanghai leg of the Diamond League though not as “hot” as many were anticipating. Glancing around the internet many are decrying the Shanghai track as “slow” because of many of the marks. However, this is the same track that produced 10.64 for Carmellita Jeter in last year’s meet, saw Wariner run 44.02 in ‘07, and has very wide sweeping turns. So I think it a bit unfair to put the onus on the track for today’s performances. Especially in light of the fact that there were many season’s bests set by various athletes today – just not from the athletes many wanted or expected…

The second of the 14 meet Diamond League meets will be run tomorrow in Shanghai China. Overall Shanghai has a solid set of fields as the series seems to be hitting it’s stride. We should be getting a Liu Xiang sighting tomorrow and a feel for how well his comeback is coming. But while the hurdles have been the highlight of the meet in the past, taking on Diamond League status this year has brought several strong fields to China. Following are the events that I think bring the best set of match ups to Shanghai.   Women’s 100 WL: 10.94, Carmelita Jeter – USA Best Entry: 10.94, Carmelita Jeter…