(OREGON WOMEN WIN 4TH STRAIGHT!)
This past weekend at the NCAA Indoor Championship Oregon won their 4th straight women's indoor title and Arkansas ended their title drought and claimed the schools 41st national title in track and field. As expected a meet with great competition and amazing performances. New starts were discovered and old stars reminded everyone who they were in the first place.
Sprints (Women): There were a lot of compelling story lines heading into this meet. The main question, would Kimberlyn Duncan of LSU avenge her loss from earlier in the year. Aurieyall Scott of Central Florida stole the sprint's queen thunder by defeating her in her premiere event, the 200 meter dash at the Tyson Invitational. Duncan proved to be the superior runner clocking in at 22.58. Scott was no slouch at this meet either. Scott pulled the upset of the meet defeating defending champion English Gardner in the 60 meter dash with a time of 7.13.
True freshman Shaunae Miller of Georgia showed the track and field world what Bahamas can do in the 400. Miller clocked in at 50.88 one of the fastest times ever run indoors by a collegian. Let's hope that Miller can carry that 400 meter talent to the outdoors and put up another amazing time.
The 60 meter hurdles was dominated by headlining favorite Brianna Rollins of Clemson. Since the beginning of the season when she smashed the NCAA record clocking in at 7.78, she has been on a tear. Collins has run under 8 seconds at every meet this season. She was no different at the NCAA Champion running a meet record of 7.79 in the finals nearly a full hurdle ahead most of her competition. Rollins has had to deal with injuries almost every outdoor season. Let's hope her amazing indoor season can translate over.
Sprints (Men): These events had major team implications. Florida and Arkansas would do battle in the long sprints to gather valuable team points for the team title. Florida had two competitors in the 400 and one in the 200, while Arkansas had two competitors in the 200 and one in the 400. Neither did either schools produce an NCAA Champion but that was not the bigger story. The favorites in both events did not claim the title.
In the 400 meter dash no one has been more on fire this season that Deon Lendore of Texas A&M. After rocketing to a 45.15 performance at the SEC Championships in the preliminaries he left little doubt that anyone could defeat him. However that's what happen, Errol Nolan of Houston claimed the title in a time of 45.75. Lendore did not finish in the top 3.
In the 200 meter dash Aaron Ernest of LSU fell to defending champion Ameer Webb of Texas A&M. Webb was forgotten especially after being defeated by Ernest at the SEC Championships. Webb ran a very strong race in the preliminary round clocking in a world leading 20.37 and followed that up with a 20.42 in the final.
The 60 meter dash really lost steam in the preliminary round. Florida State entered the meet with the two best 60 meter sprinters in the country in true freshman Marvin Bracy and standout Dentaroius Locke. Both athletes were in separate heats and in both heats the athletes false started. This left Mississippi State's D'Angelo Cherry the lone true threat left to claim the title. Although Cherry won the USATF Indoor Title in a time of 6.49 it was not eligible for the NCAA meet. However he did not miss a beat winning the NCAA title with a time of 6.54 over Marcus Rowland of Auburn who clocked in at 6.55.
The 60 meter hurdles may have been the sprint event of the meet with Eddie Lovett of Florida running the 4th fastest time ever by a collegian clocking in at 7.50. Lovett's winning time broke the meet record held by now world record holder Aries Merritt of Tennessee. Lovett a junior at Florida has broken the indoor school record several times this season and should continue that success outdoors.
Distance (Women)
Abby D'Agistino of Dartmouth College may have been the best athlete the entire meet. She pulled the rare distance double claiming the 3,000 meter run and 5,000 meter run. Her time of 9:01.08 in the 3,000 meter run was more than 5 seconds before than the next competitor. Her performance in the 5,000 was just as stunning clocking in at 15:28.11 another 5 second gap between her and her closes competitor Betsy Saina of Iowa State.
In the 800 LSU again flexed the muscle as a strong 800 program finishing 1st and 3rd with Natoya Roule winning the event in 2:02, teammate Charlene Lipsey clocked in at 2:02.47 to help add six points. Laura Roesler was expected to bring team points for Oregon and she did finishing 2nd behind Roule with a time of 2:02.32 surpassing Lipsey in the final meters of the race.
The women's mile lost a little thunder early on in the meet when Cory McGee of Florida one of the top two milers failed to qualify after a less than stellar preliminary round. Unfortunately for McGee this is the 2nd time as this exact same situation happened last year. However Emma Coburn of Colorado was more than up to the challenge running a strong race clocking in at 4:29.91. Let's hope that McGee can challenge Coburn this outdoor season.
Distance (Men)
Lawi Lalang is a name many distance fans should already be used too. He has potential to be the next great middle distance runner similar to that of Bernard Lagat. In fact, Lalang trains with Lagat on occasion and can challenge the legend during workouts. Lalang just a junior at the University of Arizona was looking to complete a rare double. Like D'Agistino he was more than successful.
The mile perhaps the most intriguing of the events simply because he was not the defending champion or NCAA record holder who just so happen to be in the race. Chris O'Hare of Tulsa had been the talk during the entire season. Like many favorites in this meet he just didn't have it. Lalang put on a show with a meet record time of 3:54.47. Breaking a record that had lasted for 18 years. His main challenger Ryan Hill of NC State also broke the meet record finishing second in 3:55.25.Lalang followed up that gutsy performance by setting another meet record in the 3,000 with a time of 7:45.94 defeating Kemoy Campbell of Arkansas who finished 2nd and gave 8 team points.
Kennedy Kithuka of Texas Tech continues to add to the championship success of Texas Tech with their long distance runners. Kithuka led from the gun and did not look back defeating Diego Estrada of Northern Arizona by 5 seconds with a time of 13:25.38.
Field Events (Women)
Olympic Silver Medalist Brigetta Barrett was the clear favorite entering the event this season. The junior was attempting to become the first ever high jumper to win the event three straight years in a row. She was most certainly successful out jumping her competition by reaching a height 6'4.75.
Senior Andrea Geubelle of Kansas may have been the female field athlete of the meet. Geubelle pulled off the rare double winning the long jump and triple jump. Geubelle had a mark of 21'6 in the long jump and mark of 46'6.25 in the triple jump a top 10 mark. Her teammate Natalya Bartnovskaya also claimed the title in the women's pole vault defeating Jade Riebold of Eastern Illinois with fewer attempts over 14-7'.25.
Olympian Tia Brooks of Oklahoma returned to school for her senior year with big expectations. Brooks met those expectations by setting a NCAA record with a throw of 63'0.75. Brooks' mark was the only mark over 60 feet. Now with an Olympic experience under her belt expect big things from Brooks in the future.
Like Brooks, senior Felisha Johnson was just as dominant in her throwing event the weight throw. Johnson recorded a throw of 77'2. Her mark was nearly four feet farther than her closes competition. This event next season will see a major face lift as every All-American in the field was a senior.
In the pentathlon sophomore Erica Bougard of Mississippi State took down the top two seniors in Keia Pinnick of Arizona State and Makeba Alcide of Arkansas. Alcide was the expected winner after dominating the competition at the SEC Championships including Bougard. She more than made up for it with a well rounded performance scoring a total of 4,399 points.
Field Events (Men)
The field events were critical in the team battle for the men. Both schools have strong jumpers in both long and triple jumping events. The high jump and pole vault is where the edge belong to Arkansas along with the heptathlon. However Florida made sure to make their mark on the event including a new NCAA record holder.
Sophomore Marquis Dendy of Florida made sure to remind everyone why he was such a highly regarded recruit. Dendy set a meet and Indoor NCAA record with a mark of 27'2. New coach for the Gators this season in Nic Petersen who has helped Dendy improve his performance dramatically.
Dendy's teammate Omar Craddock was the defending champion in the triple jump but was flying under the radar due to his 2nd place finish at the SEC Championships. Craddock took an early lead with a personal best leap of 55'1.50. However Bryce Lamb of Texas Tech redeemed himself after an injury filled season in 2012 with a leap of 55'7.75. Craddock however provided a 8 team points for the Gators while Dendy added 5 finishing in fourth with 53'1.75.
Arkansas had their day in the heptathlon and pole vault. Kevin Lazas won the heptathlon on the final event scoring 6,175 points. Lazas defeated Japheth Cato of Wisconsin who gave a solid effort and just came up short. The pole vault had no favorite going in but the home crowd was cheering Arkansas sophomore Andrew Irwin to bring home 10 big team points to help the hogs win the title. Irwin outlasted his competition reaching a height of 18-8.25.
The high jump certainly lived up to the hype with two Olympic Medalists. Erik Kynard of Kansas State and Derek Drouin of Indiana. Drouin was the only standing when the bar reached 7'8.50 and Drouin cleared on his first attempt and was not able to increase the height winning the men's high jump over Kynard. Kynard has jumped higher this year but was not able to at the Championship meet and finished in 3rd with a height of 7'6. Drouin of Canada and Kynard of USA should continue to provide us with many future great matches.
Jordan Clarke of Arizona State continue the proud championship tradition in the men's shot put that the school has. Clarke saved the best for last with a mark of 67'3.25 on his final throw to increase his lead on 2nd place finisher Kole Weldon of Texas Tech. Arizona State continues to lead the way in developing championship throwers, whose next remains to be seen.
Alexander Ziegler of Virginia Tech did as expected in winning the men's weight throw with a mark 73'8.25. Ziegler gave his best effort on his third throw of the first round claiming the men's title.
Relays (Women)
What great performances we saw at this meet in the relay events. In the distance medley relay Michigan set a facility record with a winning time of 10:56.46 defeating heavy favorite Villanova. The Wolverines quartet consisted Rebecca Addison, Maya Long, Jillian Smith and Amanda Eccleston. Eccleston ran away from the competition in the final leg running the mile in a 4:32 split.
The 4x400 relay was once a Texas only event. Under Beverly Kearney the Texas Longhorns dominated this event year after year. This season is looked as if they were poised to return to the top but lost their coach to scandal. They have remained a resilient bunch and have had some great performances along the way. Oregon however was just simply too much. The 4x400 relay (English Gardner, Chizoba Okodogne, Laura Roesler and Phyllis Francis) dominated the first heat and placed a stamp on the team race earning the Ducks their 4th straight team title. Oregon clocked in with a winning time of 3:30.22.
Relays (Men)
Just like the women there two great relay competitions at this meet. The distance medley relay was a rematch of the Wilson Invite at Notre Dame the week prior with Penn State winning. However Penn State would not claim the championship title. Arkansas dropped the baton on the final leg and Princeton maintained their lead after the 800 to win the title in 9:33.01. The loss of points for Arkansas would not be a big deal in the long run.
The 4x400 relay is where the hogs would shine and get their redemption. As expected it would be a close battle with the Florida Gators as they matched stride for stride for much of the race with Florida on their heels. Each time the hogs were able to out kick the Gators. In the final lap Ahkeem Gauntlett of Arkansas and Dedric Dukes dueled it out with Gauntlett holding of Dukes to claim the title and break Florida's collegiate record with a time of 3:03.50.
