NCAA Regional Recap

(Quincy Hall-South Carolina)

This past weekend teaches us again that we do not know everything. The NCAA Regional meets for all  their bad publicity, gave us quite the spectacle this past weekend. This was every Division 1 athlete’s last chance to qualify for the NCAA championship meet. We witnessed some incredible performances and great disappointments. This recap we will view the top five best performances since most races were truly used just to qualify not to compete.

5.) Jazmine Fray (Texas A&M)- Fray is already the indoor collegiate record holder and immensely talented runner who has no championship trophies. She has come up short at the past few championships and this past weekend proved that things maybe coming together for her. She claimed the number one ranking in the 800 with a time of 2:02.27. It does not pair up against the nearly 2:00 performance she had in the past but certainly a respectable number one time.

4.) Grant Holloway (Florida)- I do not think I can really go a post without mentioning Grant Holloway ever. The superstar talent from Florida is coming off a rough SEC Championship that saw him leave the meet with no championship trophies. Both his preliminary and quarterfinal races were quite impressive with the latter being clocked at 13.10. He proved that he is human, but his talent and speed cannot be denied expect for him to bring his “A” game against Daniel Roberts of Kentucky who defeated him at the SEC Meet.

3.) Allie Ostrander (Boise State)- Ostrander will always be mentioned amongst the elite in the NCAA distance events but there is no denying her success within her specialty the 3,000-meter steeplechase. As the defending champion in the event it should be no secret she used this weekend to strengthen her hold on the number one ranking with a time of 9:40.05.

2.) Anglerne Annelus (Southern California)- Annelus is another defending NCAA Champion who is living up to expectations. The sprint queen ran a domineering race at the Western Regional to qualify for the championship meet. Her winning time of 22.36 is the new NCAA leading mark. It is the first time this season she has held the number one ranking.

1.) Quincy Hall (South Carolina)- No one this weekend looked as dominant or as effortless in winning than Quincy Hall. He is amongst the top 400 runners in the country and decided to step up to his best event the 400 hurdles where he ran an impressive 48.54. A new personal best that he ran with ease. Bouncing around the track showing an impressive stride and great speed endurance. With a personal best in the mid 44’s we can only speculate as to what time he will run at the championship meet. His run of 48.54 looked easy.

IMPRESSIVE: What was also impressive is that BYU men will have six entrants in the men’s 10,000 meter run. No team has ever had that many entrants in the same event. Rory Linkletter, Connor McMillan, Conner Mantz, Clayton Young, Dallin Farnworth and Connor Weaver all will be competing for the Cougars.

Sha’Carri Richardson of LSU and Teahna Daniels of Texas both ran impressive 100-meter races. Both clocking in wind-legal times of 10.99. There are now four athletes in the women’s 100-meter field with a personal record under 11 seconds. This is clearly the deepest field in NCAA history.

MOST DISSAPOINTING: Perhaps the most disappointing result of the Regional meet was the Houston men’s 4x100 relay failing to qualify for the meet. With LSU and Florida both qualifying for the meet there was plenty of excitement for a match up of the top three programs in the country in that event. It was also a major blow to the team title hopes of Houston.

LSU men likewise took a blow to their team title hopes by failing to qualify in the men’s 4x400 relay. It has been a while since LSU was last not a factor in the 4x400 relay. They have historically performed well in the event and to not see them compete on the biggest state is a major disappointment.

*The next post will be preview of the championship meet. I will wait until the official declarations are posted before predicting and previewing each race.