THE VERY BEGINNING.

Bare with me my fellow track and field thespians. This is my very first blog and thanks to the economy and lack of newspapers I have not written a story since early 2009 when I had a blog on trackshark.com. I would like to begin my blog with something that has a got my track juices flowing. The upcoming indoor collegiate track and field season. I am not quite ready yet to get into an all out preview, so I will begin with one conference and work my way up. I would like to begin with the Big Ten conference since I am Michigander.





WOMEN'S PREVIEW



What an interesting season this is going to be. Convential wisdom tells us that this conference should come down between three teams, Michigan, Minnesota and Penn State. These three programs for the past several years have been at the top of the conference either as the winner or the runner-up.


SPRINTS

The Big Ten has always had a fine crop of sprinters. The schools in this conference have a pretty good idea of what they can recruit and what they can develop. This is not the SEC or the Big 12, however the Big Ten can and will produce All-American sprinters.

Shavon Greaves has become the Big Ten's newest sprint star. Former teammate Shana Cox graduated leading the Big Ten's premier sprint program to wonder what could happen next. Greaves has filled the void left by Cox beautifully. Last indoor season Greaves completed the sprinting double by winning the 60 and 200 with times of 7.44 and 23.96. Greaves will have strong competition from freshman teammate Mahogany Jones along with Nyoka Giles and Kylie Peterson of Minnesota.

In the long sprint, or some would call it the true sprint, Melissa Bates and Fawn Dorr both look to be crowned champion after each having one the title last season. Bates winning in the outdoor season and Dorr winning in the indoor season. Dorr is my favorite to win it since she will not have to pull double duty like she did during the outdoor season. Trying to compete in both the 400 and 400 hurdles is a daunting task, however give her credit for finishing as the runner up in both.

In the hurdles the Big Ten will be crowning a new champion for the first time since 2006. Tiffany Ofili arguably one of the greatest hurdlers in conference history heads to the professional ranks after she spent the last three seasons dominating the NCAA and the Big Ten. Ofili produced the same championship results as Illinois great Perdita Felicien. Aleesha Barber has had to play second string for way to long. Barber had only one win against Ofili in major competition, in 2008 Barber stunned Ofili in the 100 meter hurdles at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships. I think this is the year were Barber should dominate. Barber will get solid competition from Ohio State's Leticia Wright and Michigan's Charnee Lumbus who finished third in 2008 indoors but missed the 2009 season.

Next Post: Big Ten Women's preview Distance.