The CHill Zone of T&F

The University of Florida’s men’s program won their first indoor national championship just last month. They’ve wasted no time establishing that they will be a factor outdoors as well blistering the track at this weekend’s Florida Relays that just closed this afternoon. Indoor 60 meter champion Jeff Demps wasted no time getting the Gators started as he blazed a collegiate and world leading 10.11 in winning the 100 meters. Demps is the high school and co-world junior record holder in the event off of his 10.01 mark set at the US Trials in 2008. Last year was a harder road for Demps as injuries from football slowed him considerably. The…

Watching the live streaming of the Texas Relays – thank you CBS Sports. The Invitational Section of the Men’s 4×1 just completed. At the initial start of this race the USA Blue Team in lane 4 was called for a false start and thrown out of the race. The fans reacted by booing vehemently, and stomping their feet for several minutes. Finally to satisfy the fans who had paid their hard earned money to see this event – among others – they inserted the team back in the race to run “under protest”. To the delight of the crowd, the Wallace Spearmon anchored team WON the event in 38.81! The…

One of the events that looks to be in for some movement among the elite could be the women’s 400. After years of dominating the event in non major competition, Sanya Richards (US) finally added that elusive gold medal at lasts year’s World Championships in Berlin. The question this year is: now that she has won gold how long will she be able to continue to dominate? On the surface a strange question when you consider that she is only 25 years old and should now be entering her prime. The talent that she could be facing this year, however, is also young and equally talented. For the first time…

Relay action gets underway this weekend with meets in Florida and Texas. Scanning the start lists for the Florida Relays looks like we will get to see some top level sprinting from 400 meter runners – and not all in the 400. Quartermiler Natasha Hastings looks to be working on her speed as she is entered in both the 100 and 200 in Florida. Hastings set her PR of 49.89 back in ’07 and has had a couple of down seasons since then. She will get a look at this year’s indoor sensation Francena McCorory (50.54 American Indoor Record) as both are entered in the 200 meters, as McCorory looks…

As I sit in anticipation of the action warming up on the track here in the next few weeks, I’m wondering if we will see anyone rise up to challenge the “Dynamic Duo” of Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay in the men’s sprints. After all, this is an off season and it’s not uncommon to see athletes make major strides when all they have to do is train and compete without the confines of worrying about being ready for one particular competition – like the Olympics or World Championships. Of course to answer that question, one has to realize that the sprint game has changed dramatically over the last several…

As the outdoor season slowly gets going there were two clear standouts on the track. First would be Iowa State’s Lisa Koll who set a collegiate record in the 10,000 meters. Koll set a new record of 31:18.07 at the Stanford Invitational, taking down the previous best of 31:25.45 set back in 2008. Koll’s mark was a world leader and made her the sixth fastest American ever over the distance. More importantly it puts her very close to the 31:00 barrier, which if she can get under that would put her in true world class and make her competitive against the rest of the world’s top distance runners. Running this…

As I’ve said previously, this early portion of the season is dominated by relay meets at almost every level. Even what is generally the big kick off to the elite portion of the outdoor season (Penn Relays) features a “USA vs the World” section of relay events. However, with there being no global major this year and virtually no meets on the European Circuit offering relays, the Penn meet may just be the highlight of the season as far as international relay units are concerned. As much as I love relay competition, that may not be a bad thing for our US squads this year. Looking back at the last…

Such a quiet week in the sport. Coming off the indoor season it takes a minute before the elite athletes really begin to roll. We probably won’t see them really hit their stride until some time after the Penn Relays in late April. So what to do til then? No brainer – high school and college meets! This is actually my favorite time of year when it comes to track and field, because it’s the time of year when I can get up close and personal with the sport. With elite track and field there are few opportunities to go out and watch the athletes compete. Penn, Drake, Pre, Carson,…

As I start to look ahead at the season, one of the first things I’ve taken a look at is the new Diamond League. Of course, as has become the trend in the sport, the meets tend to be abbreviated versions of a “real” track meet – various events left out in an attempt to shorten/quicken the pace of the meet. While I fiercely am against that practice I will discuss it another time – it deserves its own attention. However, one of the things that I DO think should be included in the Diamond League competitions are – relays! Relays are typically one of the most exciting events at…

Temperatures here on the West Coast are entering the 70’s, and with the close of the indoor season that means that the spring portion of the track season is getting under way. I say the spring portion because that’s the time of year dominated primarily by relay meets and the collegiate season – the summer being dominated by the Grand Prix Circuit in Europe. Since there is no major global championship this year, the season should be one of high level competition as athletes will not be “saving” themselves for the Olympics or Worlds. As such “off seasons” tend to see a lot of athlete development – and we begin…