On Monday I posted the men’s dual-meet rankings. Here are the women’s rankings, following the same rules and formats:
#1. Southern Cal
The Trojans beat UCLA, and that’s all they needed to be ranked at the top.
#2. Minnesota
The Golden Gophers won the four-team Pepsi Collegiate Challenge by a single point over Oregon.
#3. Oregon
The Ducks took a narrow second at the Pepsi Challenge, defeating Penn State and Washington. (Next year they are expected to join in the revived men’s dual meet with UCLA.)
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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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This week’s television broadcasts and webcasts of track & and road running events (all times EDT):
Big East Conference Championships
Live at BigEast.tv:
Friday at 10:50 a.m. and 2 p.m.; Saturday at 9 a.m., 11 a.m., 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.; Sunday at 10 a.m.
Fee: $7.95 for the whole weekend
The men’s title should come down to Georgetown and defending champ Louisville, while the Cardinals are favored to win the women’s title. Stars slated to compete include Villanova’s Bobby Curtis and Georgetown’s Melissa Grelli.
USC at UCLA
Live on Fox College Sports Pacific, 3-6 p.m. Saturday
Replays Saturday at midnight, Sunday at 10 a.m., Monday at 9 a.m. and 7:30 p.m., Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday at 4 p.m. and 10 p.m.
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“It is not so important who starts the game but who finishes it.”
- John Wooden, legendary UCLA basketball coach
The University of Oregon proudly welcomes one of the top cross country meets on U.S. soil to Track Town, USA as the NCAA West Regional Championships make their first trip to the Springfield Country Club, Saturday, November 10.
On that day, Eugene-Springfield is one of nine host sites across the nation that automatically advance the top two team finishers and top four individuals from non-qualifying teams to the NCAA Championships, scheduled for Monday, November 19 at Indiana State University’s LaVern Gibson Championship Course in Terre Haute, Ind.
Another 13 at-large teams and two at-large individuals will be added from across the nation to the 31-team, 255-runner M&W NCAA fields on the evening of Sun., Nov. 11. At-large team selection criteria is based on teams’ head-to-head records against other actual and potential NCAA qualifiers.
MEN’S RACE PREVIEW
In 2006, the Oregon men scored their first regional men’s team championship since 1989 thanks to five top-20 finishers – four of which return in ’07.
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Episode sponsored by: Bill Rodgers Sportswear
After 21 years BR Sportswear is closing out their line of high -quality running apparel. Visit shopfest.com to take advantage of an unprecedented 50% discount on all in-stock items!
Episode 84 of TheFinalSprint.com Podcast, the most listened to running Podcast in North America, features
my interview with emerging star JON RANKIN.
Rankin, a former UCLA All-American, had a lot of success in 2006 and has really improved since making the decision to work with Joaquim Cruz, the 1984 800m gold medalist, and after recovering from several stress fractures that plagued him in 2006. Earlier today, Rankin capped off the 
successful season by finishing third behind Alan Webb and Kevin Sullivan at the Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile.
In the interview, Jon talks about today’s performance, what it’s like to be running in the lead with runners like Webb, highlights of the season and the source of his improvement, and the major focuses and goals in the months ahead.
Download the podcast to hear Jon discuss these topics, as well as, how former American mile record holder Steve scott, Coach Cruz and his agent Merhawi Keflezighi (brother to Olympic silver medalist Meb Keflezighi) serve as a phenomenal support system, their ability to assist with his mental preparation and self-confidence, and much more!
Listen In
[PLAY] (To Download: Right click and select “save as”)[RSS] Add The Final Sprint Podcast RSS feed to your RSS reader to have the show delivered to you
Host: Adam Jacobs | Guest: Jon Rankin
Producer: Greg Cherniet
Musicians: Ryan Ahlwardt & Darnell Perkins
File Size: 23.7 MB | Length: 34:38 MIN
Episode sponsored by: Bill Rodgers Sportswear
After 21 years Bill Rodgers Sportswear is closing out their line of high-quality running apparel. Visit shopfest.com to take advantage of an unprecedented 50% discount on all in-stock items!
“Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.”
- John Wooden, legendary UCLA basketball coach
University of Texas men’s head coach Bubba Thornton and UCLA women’s head coach Jeanette Bolden have been nominated to serve as the men’s and women’s head coaches, respectively, for Team USA’s track and field squads for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, USA Track & Field announced Thursday. James Li and Rich Torrellas are nominated as head managers.
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“It is not so important who starts the game but who finishes it.”
- John Wooden, legendary UCLA basketball coach
May 13, 2006 marked the opening of the collegiate track and field conference championships all over the country. With many teams and individuals vying for spots in the four regional championships, the conference meets were sure shows of individual athleticism and team unity.
Some individual great efforts included:
Taking place May 26th-27th in Austin, Texas, Greensboro, North Carolina, Knoxville, Tennessee and Provo, Utah, the four regional championships will feed their champions into the NCAA National Track and Field Championships June 7th-10th in Sacramento. Some of the top competitors for this years men’s title include Florida State, University of Texas-El Paso, and Louisiana State University. Some of the top Women’s competitors include University of Texas-Austin, University of Southern California, University of Miami, and University of Nebraska.
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