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Lead Stories: Sunday, September 7, 2008

2008 Men’s Collegiate Dual-Meet Rankings

Posted May 5th, 2008 at 9:30 AM by Jesse Squire

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, College

Years ago, the dual meet was the cornerstone of the college schedule, with some schools regularly taking part in half a dozen of them per year. Even into the early 80s they were quite common. But when budgets were slashed and team sized plummeted, the dual meet dropped off the radar screen.

The regionals format for outdoor track has taken much of the pressure off in terms of getting an NCAA qualifying mark, and in recent years the meet has seen a bit of a resurgence; a few were even carried on regional cable TV. This past weekend saw the end of the dual-meet season with three rather important matchups (USC vs. UCLA, Washington vs. Washington State, and Arizona vs. Arizona State vs. Northern Arizona).

Recognizing this fact, I’m going to reinstate something Track & Field News once did: National Dual-Meet Rankings. Rules for ranking are as follows.
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Kipyego Too Tough To Beat in Women’s NCAA XC Champs

Posted November 19th, 2007 at 6:00 PM by Bob Ramsak

Section: News & Results, Cross Country, College

From gun to tape, the women’s division of today’s NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships had only one leader: Sally Kipyego of Texas Tech. The junior from Kenya ran away from the field to defend her individual title in 19:30.9 (unofficial) over the 6 km course in Terre Haute, Ind.

Last year, Kipyego sprinted to the fore at the gun and never looked back. However, Kipyego was content to run most of the first mile with a lead pack this year that included three others: Colorado’s Jenny Barringer, the 2006 runner-up, Florida State’s Susan Kuijken, and Iowa’s Diana Nukuri.

Kipyego started to edge ahead on a long downhill just past the mile passing the 2 km in 6:26. Barringer, Kuijken, and Nukuri were only a second behind at the split before the field made their way up the course’s second long incline.

From that point on, Kipyego simply extended her lead over the chase pack — passing 4 km in 13:01, 11 seconds ahead of Barringer, Kuijken, and Nukuri.
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Stanford Women Capture 12th Straight Pac-10 Title, Men Edged by Top-Ranked Oregon

Posted October 29th, 2007 at 10:00 AM by Hariz Siddiqui

Section: News & Results, Cross Country

The No. 15 Stanford men ran to a second place finish this morning at the Pac-10 Cross Country championships in Corvallis, Ore. The Cardinal scored a total of 55 points, while No. 1 Oregon captured the team title with 39 points. No. 8 Cal rounded out the top three as they recorded 70 points.

Russell Brown was the first Stanford runner to cross the finish line as he earned a third place finish in a time of 23:08.7 Hari Mix was second for the Cardinal with a fifth place finish with his time of 23:11.6, followed right behind by teammate Neftalem Araia in sixth with a 23:12.1. Hakon DeVries posted a 17th place finish as he crossed the line in 23:30.0, while John McGuire was the final point scorer as he posted a 24th place finish in a time of 23:43.2.

Garrett Heath finished in a time of 23:47.7 to take 29th place in the race, while brother Elliot Heath finished in 35th with his time of 23:53.9. Lauren Jespersen recorded a time of 24:02.9 to take 39th, followed by Justin Marpole-Bird in 43rd place with a 24:09.2. Brendan Gregg was the final Stanford runner to cross the line in 51st place with a time of 24:24.1. Shadrack Kiptoo-Biwott captured the individual title as he stopped the clock with a time of 22:54.9.

The No. 1 Cardinal women captured their 12th straight Pac-10 title as they scored 48 team points for the victory. Oregon claimed a second place finish as they scored 64 points, while Arizona State earned third with 68 points.
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TFS News Briefs: 10/26/07

Posted October 26th, 2007 at 1:46 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Cross Country, Track & Field, Olympics, Drugs In Sports, TFS News Briefs

Fast Times Vs. Competition
Interesting debate over at the Track & Field News Message Board about whether it is better to have fast marks or competitive races in Track & Field. Read more at: [Track & Field News]

Univ. of Arkansas Stripped of Two Team National Titles
The university of Arkansas Track & Field team has been stripped of two national championships and is now on probation for 3 years stemming from an incident involving unethical conduct by a former assistant coach, Lance Brauman, who also coaches Tyson Gay.
Read more at: [ESPN]

High Jump WR Holder Javier Sotomayor Makes Headlines
Cuban High Jump world-record holder Javier Sotomayor has been making the news rounds lately, weighing in on doping (”Doping… does not demean the sport as such.”), predicting Beijing sucess for Cuba’s track & field team and as “brand ambassador for Vodafone Delhi Half Marathon.” Read more at: [The Hindu][Granma International][Indian Express]
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Oregon shoots for Pac-10 repeat on conference championship weekend

Posted October 23rd, 2007 at 12:15 PM by Martin Kennedy

Section: News & Results, Cross Country

Top-ranked Oregon defends its title at the Pacific-10 Championships as other nationally ranked Division I teams also prepare for conference meets this weekend.

Oregon, the top-rated team in the most recent U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll, will be challenged Saturday by eighth-ranked California, No. 14 Stanford, No. 19 UCLA and 25th-ranked Arizona State. The Pac-10 Championships will be held in Corvallis, Ore.
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Florida State men, Arizona State women win NCAA titles

Posted June 11th, 2007 at 6:28 PM by Jeanie Rebb

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

The Florida State men, led by a historic performance by Walter Dix, and Arizona State women won their respective team titles over the weekend at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Sacramento, Calif.

Florida State used a pair of individual wins from sprinter Walter Dix (100 meters, 200), Ricardo Chambers’ victory in the 400m and a win in the 4×100m relay - on which Dix ran second leg - to amass 54 total points to win their second consecutive NCAA team title. LSU (48), Auburn (34), Tennessee (29) and Southern California (24) rounded out the top five in the men’s competition.
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Wisconsin, Arizona St earn first NCAA D-I indoor titles

Posted March 12th, 2007 at 9:06 AM by Bob Ramsak

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

Wisconsin senior Chris Solinsky added the 5000m title to his admirable collection, but was out-sprinted in the 3000m by rising star Lopez Lomong of Northern Arizona (SUD) 7:49.74 to 7:51.69, career bests for both.

NCAA cross country champion Sally Kipyego had a relatively easy time with her 3000/5000 titles, the former over Duke’s Shannon Rowbury the winner in the mile. Brittany Riley of Sothern Illinois broke her own world record in the weight throw with a mark of 83-10.25 and Natasha Hastings of South Carolina set a new collegiate record in 400m with a time of 50.80 seconds.

Their team victories marked the first indoor titles for both the Wisconsin men and ASU women. Ed Nuttycombe, the head coach of the Wisconsin men’s track team, stated:

“It proves if you coach long enough anyone can win one. We’ve finished in the top 10 and four a few times, and we finally got over the hump. We tried to optimize as many opportunities as we could, and we did that. There was not anybody that didn’t get the job done.”

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