The CHill Zone of T&F

This was how the indoor season was supposed to be – closed in personal setting with lots of excitement. Give me eight to ten weeks of this every winter and I would be one happy camper. As a matter of fact, this is what track and field is supposed to be about – loaded fields and top notch competition competing in ALL of the available events! All available track event, all available field events and fans will stay glued all weekend long (let alone a full single day) as long as the competition is there! Plenty of articles out there covering all of the action, so I will hit what…

Another event where the NCAA meet could top the World Championships will be the men’s 400 meters. The world leader along with half of the top 10 in the world will be in Fayetteville to square off. Top entrants with their seasonal bests: 45.03 – Torrin Lawrence, Georgia45.24 – Kirani James, Alabama45.61 – Calvin Smith, Florida45.81 – Tabarie Henry, Texas A&M45.91 – Tony McQuay, Florida This is as deep an indoor college race as I’ve ever seen. Lawrence moved to #6 all time with his 45.03 and is on the verge of breaking the 45 second barrier. To solidify his status as the favorite he’s also run 45.10 as well…

The World Indoor Championships won’t be the only “big meet” taking place this weekend. Half a world away the NCAA will also be holding its indoor championships in Fayetteville Arkansas. Always an exciting meet in it’s own right, the NCAA could have one of the hottest races of the weekend – the men’s 200. Top Entrants with their seasonal bests: 20.67 – Calvin Smith (Florida)20.67 – Charles Clark (Florida St)20.69 – Curtis Mitchell (Texas A&M)20.76 – Marcus Rowland (Auburn)20.77 – Rondell Sorrillo (Kentucky) This race has 16 entrants with seasonal bests squeezed between 20.67 and 20.97 – talk about a loaded event! Curtis Mitchell started the season hot running his…

The indoor season will end this weekend with the World Indoor Championships in Doha, Qatar. While the season itself has been somewhat unspectacular, the grand finale should be quite exciting as there are several high quality match ups. Perhaps the hottest match up of the weekend could be the men’s 60 hurdles. Top Entrants with their seasonal bests: 7.41 – Terrance Trammell (USA)7.44 – Dayron Robles (CUB)7.44 – Petr Svboda (CZE)7.49 – David Oliver (USA) The world leader on the clock, Terrence Trammell has been swift all season. He has burst from the blocks and taken control of every race he’s been in early – forcing the rest of the…

World Indoor Championships Meet Records Men 60 – 6.42 – Maurice Greene, US – ’99200 – 20.10 – Frankie Fredericks, NAM – ’99400 – Butch Reynolds, US – ’93800 – 1:42.67 – Wilson Kipketer, DEN – ’971500 – 3:33.77 – Haile Gebrselassie, ETH – ’993000 – 7:34.71 – Haile Gebrselassie, ETH – ’9760H – 7.36 – Allen Johnson, US – ’044×4 – 3:02.83 – US (Morris, D. Johnson, Minor, Campbell) – ’99HJ – 2.43 – Javier Sotomayor, CUB – ’89PV – 6.00 – Sergey Bubka, UKR – ’91PV – 6.00 – Jean Galfione, FRA – ’99LJ – 8.62 – Ivan Pedroso, CUB ’99TJ – 17.83 – Chrisitian Olson, SWE –…

NCAA Indoor Championships Meet Records Men 60 – 6.51 – Richard Thompson, LSU – ’0860 – 6.51 – Jacoby Ford, Clemson – ’09200 – 20.10 – Wallace Spearmon, Arkansas – ’05400 – 44.57 – Kerron Clement, Florida – ’05800 – 1:45.33 – Patrick Nduwimana, Arizona – ’011500 – 3:43.48 – Paul Donovan, Arkansas – ’853000 – 7:46.03 – Adam Goucher, Colorado – ’985000 – 13:28.93 – Alistair Craig, Arkansas – ’0360H – 7.51 – Aries Merritt, Tennessee – ’064×4 – 3:03.51 – Florida (Clark, Middleton, Pastor, Clement) – ’05HJ – 7′ 9.25″ – Hollis Conway, La-Lafayette – ’89PV – 19′ 2.25″ – Jacob Davis, Texas – ’99LJ – 27′ 10″…

The roster for the US team for the World Championships in Doha was released today. The team appears to be quite strong with several gold medal possibilities. Among those that I feel have a strong shot at gold: Ivory Williams – Men’s 60Carmelita Jeter – Women’s 60Bershawn Jackson – Men’s 400Debbie Dunn – Women’s 400Bernard Lagat – Men’s 3000Terrence Trammell – Men’s 60HGinnie Powell – Women’s 60HChristian Cantwell – Men’s ShotMen’s 4×4 squadWomen’s 4×4 squad Full information on the US team can be found here.

David Rudisha opens season with a sizzling 1:43.15 run in Melbourne Australia! Coming off of his 45.50 400 PR in Sydney, Rudisha blazed to a 1:43.15 to start his 800 season off in fine style. Rudisha reportedly easily followed the leader through a first lap of 50.0 before demolishing the field over the second lap. Rudisha appears on pace to run under 1:42 and perhaps seriously challenge Kipketer’s twelve year old WR. For more information on the Melbourne meet click here.

Already the new false start rule is causing controversy – and the sport is barely under way this year! During the women’s 60 meters at the US Indoor Championships this past weekend we saw an athlete (Lisa Barber) DQ’d but allowed to run the race under protest. Not completely unheard of, but something that we should expect to see much more of with the new false start rule. The idea of letting athletes run “under protest” is to avoid lengthy arguments over whether or not an athlete was “unfairly” disqualified. Situations such as Linford Christie’s protest of his disqualification from the 100 meters at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, and…

This past weekend was a very busy one, with lots of selection meets for the upcoming World Indoor Championships. But as I was scanning the results there was one result that stood out to me from the others – from an outdoor meet in Sydney Australia. In the men’s 400 in Sydney the results were actually quite outstanding for this time of year. The winner in a world leading time of 44.86 was Australian Ben Offereins, but what I found exciting was the third place finisher, Kenyan half miler David Rudisha in a very nice 45.50! Now 45.50 is a very “good” time for the quarter but not quite in…