Weekend Recap 1

(Grant Holloway-Florida)

My apologies for the late post, I am dealing with a very recent death in the family that is consuming most of the free time I have.

This past weekend the indoor season began with a bang. Although many of the top runners are not running until this coming weekend there were a few big name performances that stood out this weekend. Let us go back and look at the top 5 from the weekend.

5. Tatiana Gusin (Georgia)- Gusin comes from Field Event U, namely Georgia and has continued to make impressive marks. She began her indoor season with a leap of 6-2 in the women’s high jump and to firmly plant herself as number 1 in the NCAA. After finishing 2nd at the NCAA meet last season Gusin will be looking to finally take home some Championship hardware.

4. Christian Coleman (Tennessee)- Coleman is the defending Indoor 200 meter champion and he began his season with a bang. Coleman clocked in at 20.86 in Tennessee’s dual versus Indiana to win the 200 meter dash for the Volunteers. Currently Coleman leads the NCAA and has a solid start to what should be an exciting season for him.

3. Daniel Roberts (Ashland)- It’s not often that Division 2 athletes get to shine. Roberts will be the first of a continuing trend. With plenty of high quality talent in Division 2 expect to hear more about them this season. Roberts has garnered some early season praise with his performance at the Buckeye Invitational. Roberts hit a mark of 70’5.25 in the men’s weight throw. Roberts throw is a solid mark to begin the season and puts him firmly in the driver’s seat in his division.

2. Devynne Charlton (Purdue)- It’s very hard to lead the NCAA in both the 60 meter dash and the 60 meter hurdles. However that is what Charlton of Purdue is currently doing. This past weekend Charlton had a solid outing clocking in at 7.30 in the 60 meter dash and 8.14 in the 60 hurdles. Charlton is the returning indoor performer from last season in the 60 meter hurdles and has proven to be quite the sprinter as well.

1. Grant Holloway (Florida)- This talented freshman from Florida is capable of winning practically anything. He can sprint, hurdle and jump all in the same meet and at a high level. Holloway proved that he was worth the hype this past weekend when he stunned the entire country with his mark of 7.63 in the men’s 60 meter hurdles. What’s most impressive is that is his first race at highest hurdle height. That time puts him in the top 3 of freshman hurdlers of all time in his first race. Holloway moved over the hurdles like a natural and has proven he will be an exciting watch for years to come.

He followed that up with an impressive performance in the 300 meter dash with a time of 32.80. His time ranks 2nd all time of any man under 20, it breaks a 27 year old school record and it is the number 3 time in NCAA history. Again I must remind you this was his first collegiate meet.

FIRST RANKINGS RELEASED:

So the USTFCCCA has sent out the first rankings for the season. The top 5 for men include Florida, Oregon, LSU, Arkansas and Syracuse. Three teams from the SEC which is not surprising considering the talent and penchant for winning national championships. I felt at the beginning of the season that Florida would not have enough depth or fire power to compete. Their freshman however alleviated some concerns within the first weekend. Let’s just hope their veterans can remain healthy and provide that extra fire power to keep LSU at bay.

On the women’s side it is Oregon, Arkansas, Georgia, USC and Texas. Arkansas is the defending champion but it will be hard to beat Oregon. Oregon is fully loaded with amazing talent in the sprints. It’s quite possible that the Lady Ducks could sweep the 200 and place three in the finals of the 60 meter dash amongst of myriad of events that they are ranked high for. This could potentially be a high scoring championship affair between Oregon and Arkansas. Georgia will rely on its depth in the field events. USC and Texas as usual are loaded in the sprints and will lean heavily on them for them to have a chance to compete for a team title.

Upcoming: It is a big meet weekend coming up. Expect for the next week’s review to be longer and the performances to be even better.