SEC Women's Preview

Much like the men, the women of the Southeastern Conference are strong in the sprints, jumps and hurdles and have a solid group of distance programs. It may seem as though the women maybe further along in the distance discussion than the men. With a championship distance program in Tennessee and nationally recognized programs in Florida, LSU and Arkansas. This season those same programs are in competition for the team title and possess very well rounded programs that can compete for the national title.


Sprints & Hurdles

LSU has the history that no other school in the NCAA has in women's track and field. The only program with success even remotely close is UCLA of the PAC-10. When sprinting and hurdling is brought up LSU is always the first program that comes to mind. The dominance on a conference and national level is well known with multiple NCAA and SEC Champions and this season LSU will continue to be that good.

LaKya Brookins of South Carolina is the biggest threat to LSU in the 60 meter dash. Brookins returns as the defending champion having ran a 7.18 last season and a 7.13 in 2009. Brookins is the obvious favorite having already automatically qualified for the NCAA Championship meet by clocking in at 7.25 last weekend at Virginia Tech. Semoy Hackett a transfer student at LSU and Takeia Pickney a true freshman last season and Shaniqua Ferguson of Auburn can truly challenge Brookins for the conference title. Ferguson finished 2nd last season to Brookins and is the defending champion in the 200, teammate Nivea Smith will help Ferguson in going 1-2 again in the 200.

In the long sprint Arkansas has reigned supreme as the best in the conference the past few seasons. Shelise Williams is returning champion and will have help from teammates Regina George and Edina Brooks to score serious team points. Jenna Martin of Kentucky, Joanna Atkins of Auburn and Lanie Whitaker of Florida will look to challenge Williams for the conference crown.

The hurdles is the one event the SEC that has taken a fall. The production has just not been there. Tenaya Jones of LSU was expected to carry the torch but the past two seasons Jones has not reached that level of production that Nickeisha Wilson, Jessica Ohanaja and Angel Boyd reached while she was a freshman. I believe this season Jones is the clear favorite and will finally produce like previous LSU alumni have. Jones will face strong competition from Janica Austin of South Carolina.

Jumps

The SEC historically has been the premier jumps conference for women, last season results left little doubt that it will change anytime soon. Shara Proctor of Florida has been the best dual jumper dominating the triple jump and long jump. With Proctor now a graduate of Florida, Melissa Ogbourne of LSU is in the best position to complete the double. Ogboure returns as runner-up from last season in the triple jump and is the 2nd best returnee in the long jump. Rachel Jenkins of Ole Miss will match Ogbourne jump for jump in the long jump and has the best shot of taking the title other than Ogbourne.

Brittani Carter of LSU is the defending champion in the high jump and is the best hope in the conference to crack the 6'0 barrier indoors. Carter broke the 6'0 barrier last outdoor season and was able to claim the high jump title at both the Penn and Texas Relays. Maya Pressley of Auburn is Carter's toughest competitor and will challenge for the conference crown and may need a personal best above 6'0 to do it.

Last season Arkansas dominated the pole vault with three athletes scoring in the conference finals and three athletes qualifying for the national meet. Tina Sutej is the defending champion and lone returnee from the trio that scored at the SEC meet last season. Kristen Keith a teammate of Sutej will try to fill the void left behind. Rachel Laurent LSU is also an athlete to keep an eye on, Laurent a high school star is close to knocking Sutej off the top and claim the title for herself, do not be surprised if Laurent wins this season and picks up huge team points for LSU.

Throws

Mariam Kevkhishvilli was everything in the shot put, Kevkhishvilli won multiple national and conference titles for Florida and her dominance will not be missed by her competitors. Keely Medeiros of Florida will look to pick up the mantle for Florida but she will be challenged by Annie Alexander of Tennessee who is the top returnee in the shot put after her 2nd place performance last season. Fidela James a teammate of Medeiros finished 4th in the weight throw last season and will look to earn major team points for the Gators against top returnee from Georgia in Nikola Lomnicka.

Distance

Tennessee has been the flagship university for the SEC in the distance events having won two indoor national titles in 2005 and 2009. J.J. Clark has been one of the best distance coaches in the country for quite some time. Clark a bit of a trail blazer is one of the few African-American head coaches at a major university. Having coached his wife in Jearl Miles-Clark his sisters in Joetta Clark Diggs and Hazel Clark, coach Clark has had international success as well. Phoebe Wright a great 800 runner under Clark graduated last season leaving a huge void to be filled in the half mile event. Chanelle Price the 2008 Gatorade Track and Field athlete of the year will look to fill that void. Price finished 2nd behind her teammate Wright last season and is the early season favorite to win the 800. Sofie Persson of Ole Miss, Stephanie Brown of Arkansas and Brittany Hall of LSU will be strong competition for Price to defeat.

Price's teammates Brittany Sheffey and Jackie Areson look to dominate the mile, 3,000 and 5,000 meter races. Sheffey a favorite in the mile and 3,000 and Areson the defending champion in the 5,000 and favorite as well in that event will look to aid Tennesse in a potential distance sweep. Florida's Rebecca Lowe will look to challenge Sheffey in the 3,000 and Areson in the 5,000 while teammate Stacey Johnson along with Kristen Gillespie of Arkansas will challenge Sheffey in the mile. Joining this conversation is true freshman from Florida in Cory McGee who has already clocked in at 4:46.70 in the mile this season.


This will be another banner year for the SEC and has already gotten off to a great start.

Conference Champion: LSU

Conference Runner-up: Tennessee