Big 12 Preview: Women

TIFFANY McREYNOLDS (BAYLOR)

DEFENDING HURDLE CHAMPION

The conference on the women's side also takes a huge hit with the departure of Texas A&M. Pat Henry arrived at Texas A&M in 2005 after leaving a phenomenal program at LSU. At LSU Henry led the men and women to 25 NCAA titles. He has already brought that success to the Big 12 relinquishing the dominance that Texas has had over the conference. Not that A&M is leaving it is the perfect time for Texas to return to power.

In the sprints Texas has done some seriously rebuilding. After recently getting out recruited by A&M coach Bev Kearney has increased her efforts to have a well rounded sprint program. In the short sprints the advantage still belongs to Texas A&M. The Aggies return All-Americans Dominqie Duncan and Ashley Collier. Texas will look to Chalonda Goodman, Christy Udoh and Allison Peter to compete against the Aggies in the short sprints.

The long sprints has long been an event dominated by the University of Texas. The Longhorns have had serious success in this event with a few national champions, Suzainn Reid and Sanya Richards. The Longhorns also boast a strong 4x400 relay history. This season is no different with serious depth in this event ranging from sophomore sensation Brianna Nelson, Kendra Chambers and Stacey Ann Smith. Nelson may not have the top returning time but shows the most promise. Fellow sophomore Diamond Dixon of Kansas stunned everyone by defeating Jessica Beard last outdoor season to claim the title.

If any event in the conference took a step backward last season it was the hurdles. The days of the dominant Texas 400 hurdler were gone and there was no serious threat in the 100 hurdles from Texas A&M due to injury. However a true freshman stepped up in Tiffany McReynolds from Baylor. McReynolds is early easy favorite with no true competition this season. Angele Cooper and Danielle Dowie of Texas look to bring Texas back to the front in the 400 meter hurdles. They will have to defeat defending champion Ryan Krais of Kansas State to do so.

The Big 12 had one of the best distance programs in the country with Colorado. The Buffaloes have produced some of the best athletes ever to lace them up in the NCAA including World Champion Jennifer Simpson(Barringer). However there are still plenty of great programs such as Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and Iowa State that are still producing solid performers.

Natalja Piliusina will represent Oklahoma State as the defending indoor champion in the 800 and will look to add a mile conference title to her collection. Piliusina will have to fend off top returnee in the mile senior Lucy Kennedy of Iowa State. Caroline Jepleting of Texas Tech will also look to compete for the conference title which should be a competitive field.

In the jumps Texas will look to dominate and add to a strong sprint core. The High Jump is the Longhorns most dominate event. Indoors last season they swept the event with a 1-2-3 finish. What makes it even better all three (Shanay Briscoe, Victoria Lucas and Beverly Owoyele) return this season. Briscoe the defending champion will look to continue to eclipse 6 feet.

In the long jump and triple jump the conference took a big hit with graduation and the loss of Nebraska. However Longhorns A'Lexus Brannon, freshman Morgan Snow and Kansas sophomore Andrea Guebelle look to revitalize the conference and keep a great tradition going.

The return of Shade Weygandt in the Pole Vault should serve notice to the rest of the conference. Weygandt missed the 2011 conference outdoor championship after claiming the title in 2010 as a freshman. Laura Asimikas is the top returnee from the conference meet and will challenge Weygandt for the crown.

The University of Oklahoma may have the best core group of throwers in the country. With a strong trio of Karen Schump, Tia Brooks and Brittany Boreman. With a roster of other talented throwers expect for the Sooners to be well represented here. In the shot put Brooks is the top returnee and Boreman is the defending champion in the weight throw. This will be huge for Oklahoma is they compete well as far the team battle is concerned.