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NCAA to USATF Who Will Perform Best?
With the NCAA Championships behind them the collegiate stars are at one of the toughest parts of the season - trying to be even better in an attempt to make the World Championships team. After weeks of conference, regional and of course the NCAA Championships, they must try to hit yet another peak against the best the US has to offer. Depending on your event that task could be nearly impossible with some events in the US being as deep as at Worlds. Even so, I did come up with ten collegiate athletes that I feel have a pretty solid shot at earning air fair to Russia. Especially on the…
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NCAA Championships – Great Competition
This is one of the meets that I really look forward to each year, because it’s everything that the sport should be. A meet that contests EVERY event. It has relays. The best show up to compete. There’s team scoring. And most of all, the competition is fierce! Yes, the NCAA Championships should be the poster child for track and field. The meet that doesn’t need stars because it creates its own stories and stars – and this year’s version will go down as one of the best ever, because it had all these things in copious amounts! The semis gave an indication that we were going to be in…
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NCAA Regionals On Tap This Week
The championship portion of the collegiate season kicks into high gear this week with the Division I East (Greensboro NC) and West (Austin TX) Regionals. These meets are the precursor to the NCAA Division I Championships in Eugene in June. In many ways these meets are also a preview of the USATF National championships and World Championships, as many of the top collegiate programs are peppered with elite, world class athletes. So let’s take a look at the top programs and athletes that will be on display this week. Following are the top ten men and women’s programs as ranked by the US Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches…
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Bryshon Nellum Leads Weekend Highlights
Doha kick started the track season into high gear on Friday with a meet full of stellar performances and competition. It seems like the rest of the sport was inspired, especially the college kids, as they lit the track up the rest of the weekend. This was conference weekend, and all across the country the chase for NCAA titles began. From the Pac12 on the west coast to the SEC on the east coast, young college stars went head to head for team titles before heading to the regional meets. For my money the best of these, in a weekend full of outstanding performers was Bryshon Nellum of USC who…
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Mt SAC Leads HOT Weekend
We’re a weekend away from the Penn Relays, which is typically the meet that sets things off for the outdoor season. After this weekend’s performances however,I think things were set of just fine and we’re on our way to one hot track season. Things started off on a down note with word that Yohan Blake won’t be competing until the Jamaican championships in June. The cramp he suffered last week turned out to be a tear, so no more racing til then. Of course the way the top sprinters compete we won’t be missing much in terms of head to head competition, but it could affect his sharpness at Trials.…
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Florida Relays Leads Weekend
Another nice weekend of track and field in the books with the Florida Relays serving as the center piece. Florida didn’t disappoint with a Tyson Gay sighting, David Oliver debut and some hot running in the speed events. If early returns are any indication, this could be the Year of the Youth, as several young people stepped up into potentially starring roles. Take a look. Florida Relays Octavious Freeman (UCF) 11.02 (+1.2) – Freeman nearly became the year’s first sub 11. A hot PR so early in the season, says sub11 could be just around the bend. It looks like having a training partner at her level is passing…
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Trials Day 3 – Redemption Sunday
Today’s agenda was short but sweet – 8 events, 7 finals and 1 semi. But when the names involved include Cantwell, Hoffa, Gay, Gatlin, Richards Ross, Merritt, Wariner, and Suhr you’re talking about one high powered afternoon. Not to mention a lot of athletes looking for redemption – and most got just that. The most anticipated event was the men’s 100 meters as most people were looking to see how Tyson Gay was going to hold up. The worry rapidly changed from Tyson’s legs to Walter Dix’ as Dix pulled up at the end of the first semi! Dix showed up for the final, but his leg was heavily wrapped…
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Kimberlyn Duncan Leads Weekend Collegians
Friday we were treated to Doha, and one of the best Diamond League events the league has put together. The weekend was left to the “youngsters” as collegiate conference meets dominated the action as the road to the NCAA championships began. The college season has been relatively quiet so far, with coaches having both the NCAA championships AND the Olympic Trials in mind as they’ve prepared their athletes this year. So we’ve seen a lot less of the top athletes early on and marks have been relatively modest. Ah, but that changed this weekend as the top collegians began to close the gap with their elite counterparts in a couple…
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8 Must See Trials Events
I’m getting antsy, it’s Friday night and no big results can be found – everything major will be happening Saturday. So my mind is wandering in the direction of the Trials. After all, once the smoke clears everything comes down to two meets this year – National Trials and the Olympic Games.In some countries the Trials may be the years most important meet, beside if you don’t get past the Trials you’ll never see the Games – at least not from the stadium in London. So I’m anticipating the Trials almost as much as the Games. With everything on the line and great depth in several events, the US Trials…
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Mt. SAC Leads Weekend Full of Highlights
The 2012 Olympic season shifted into high gear this weekend with highlights galore popping up all over. What the Kansas Relays got started with their “downtown” events, Mt SAC multiplied with one of the best meets they’ve had in a while as performance after performance heated up the track AND the field. Where to start? How about the mile on Friday night where France’s Jamal Ahrass blitzed to a 3:52.21 WL in the mile (3:35.70 1500 en route) to lead 8 men under 4:00. Molly Huddle took her turn as she controlled the 5000 meters then put it away in the final lap to clock another WL with her 15:15.91.…