The CHill Zone of T&F

Calvin Smith started things with his 44.81 WL in Florida, but several athletes put up world leaders and outstanding marks yesterday as the season began to hit it’s traditional stride heading into Penn Relays weekend! As I thought it might, the Kansas Relays produced a world leader in the 100 and the year’s first sub10. It wasn’t by previous world leader Churandy Martina however as the Kansas 100 went to Ivory Williams (US) in a near PR 9.95. Williams had an outstanding indoor season and seems to be continuing the pace outdoors. Also sprinting well in Kansas was super vet Veronica Campbell Brown who scorched the track for a 22.32…

Tyson Gay started this season the same way he started last season, with a 400 PR at the Tom Jones Memorial Classic at the University of Florida. Running in his “training” event Gay went toe to toe with US Olympic relay team member Calvin Smith and World 400 finalist Renny Quow with stellar results as he and Smith set new PR’s. Calvin Smith took the win in a world leading 44.81. Smith’s PR was also a collegiate leader giving Florida another collegiate sprint leader (Teammate Jeff Demps leads the 100 at 10.11). Right with Smith at the wire, however, was former 100/200 World Champion (Osaka “07) Tyson Gay with his…

I confirmed with Florida Head Coach Mike Holloway this morning that Tyson Gay will be opening his season tomorrow in Florida running the 400 meters at the Tom Jones Memorial Classic in Gainesville. Tyson opened similarly last year when he ran a 400 in Arizona (46.34) then ran another in Texas scooting 45.57. Tomorrow Tyson will get a good test as he will be competing against NCAA indoor finalists Tony McQuay (FL) & Calvin Smith (FL) as well as Beijing finalist Reny Quow (TRI). Gay had surgery on last year’s groin injury, and from what I’ve heard has been training well. So tomorrow should give us a good view of…

Each weekend things seem to be getting a bit more exciting. This weekend we have a couple of solid relay meets and one of those collegiate rarities – a hot dual meet – as Oregon hosts UCLA. Of all the collegiate programs out there, Oregon seems to be the one that is most “old school” in its philosophy. Their schedule seems to have more “head to head” type match ups where they are taking on other high level programs as opposed to spending a lot of time at invitationals prior to the end of season run of conference/regionals/nationals. Last week they took on the high powered Texas A&M program in…

I just read that Jamaican sprinter Asafa Powell is going to be taking a run at the decades old 100 yard dash best. I say best because the book was closed on yard records back in 1976 (all save for the mile). The race itself will be over 100 meters, but meet organizers are planning to set up timing to catch Powell’s time at the 100 yard mark as well. This should be quite interesting. One because the race has virtually been non existent since the mid 70’s when the book was closed on yard marks and the metric system (and records) became the standard. Ironically it was approximately the…

Watching the early part of this season it’s clear that the new False Start Rule (none allowed) is a major problem waiting to happen. Already we’ve seen a 60 meter final at Nationals and a 4×1 at the Texas Relays run under protest. In a meet earlier this year in Australia, their #1 400 hurdler, L.J. van Zyl, was tossed out of the hurdle final at Australian Nationals – a race he would easily have won – because of a false start infraction. Now all we need is to have a Usain Bolt, Allyson Felix, or Dayron Robles thrown out of a race after being the featured draw all week!…

(Martina in Berlin) Saturday’s action has been highlighted by some stellar sprinting coming out of El Paso Texas. The matchup of Churandy Martina and Ryan Bailey turning world leading performances twice today. In the 100 meters it was Martina (10.03) over Bailey (10.09) with a legal 1.6 mps wind. Excellent season opening times for both, with Bailey’s just .04 off his PR. The times bode well for both athletes this season. I’m sure some will say the altitude helped (3,762 ft), but clearly both athletes are in good shape and ready to roll. They proved as much when they took to the track again in the 200 with Bailey turning…

A lot of action on tap this weekend as the season begins to hit stride with several interesting match ups and possibly the top in season high school invitational of the year scheduled all over the country. In Eugene we get two of the country’s top collegiate programs as Oregon and Texas A&M will both be competing in the Pepsi Team Invitational. Oregon will take to the track with men and women’s programs that are both very strong in the distance events and multis. Texas A&M will counter on both sides with strong sprints and relays. This should be a mini preview of the NCAA Championships as both squads are…

With the springtime being dominated by collegiate athletes and programs there are many college rankings out there. The U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) does a weekly Top 25 ranking of collegiate programs that can be found here. I like both of their current top 5’s. For the men they they rank: 1. Florida, 2. Texas A&M, 3. Oregon, 4. Texas Tech, and 5. Florida State. For the women they rank: 1. Texas A&M, 2. Oregon, 3. LSU, 4. Florida State, and 5. Florida. These should be the programs that we watch battle it out for the national championship this June in Eugene, Oregon. I’m going…

With the relay season getting under way and several collegiate squads looking to be strong early, here are the performances that these young people will be targeting this year. Men – 4 x 100 38.04 – TCU – ’9838.23 – TCU – ’8938.24 – LSU – ’9838.32 – LSU – ’0238.35 – Florida – ’0038.42 – LSU – ’0838.44 – LSU – ’0638.45 – South Carolina – ’0038.46 – TCU – ’8638.48 – LSU – ’02 Women – 4 x 100 42.36 – Texas A&M – ’0942.50 – LSU – ’8942.55 – LSU – ’0342.59 – LSU – ’0842.59 – Texas A&M – ’0842.61 – LSU – ’0442.63 – LSU…