Tuesday, June 8 - Austin, Texas by Alex Moore

Laura Gerraghty is a favorite for the shot put title (Alex Moore)

Laura Gerraghty (North Carolina), the national leader in the shotput, was asked how she is approaching the NCAA Meet. "My focus is here. A lot of people are asking me 'Are you focusing on the Olympic Trials?', and I'm still at the University of North Carolina. My job is, I'm an NCAA athlete and this is my priority right now." Gerraughty is heavily favored to win the shot put, but she tries not to let that affect her competitiveness. "I try not to look at lists, I try not to look at competition. It's me and the tape measure, that's the way I try to look at it." Laura commented on how, compared to last year when she was simply doing as many meets as possible to learn how to compete, this year was a different approach. "I've learned how to compete - it's fewer meets and better quality this time and when I go into a meet I try to do well, I don't use any of them purely as a workout. I want to perform every time I go out onto the track."

Sanya Richard's (Texas) training this year is also different from last year. "It's changed a little bit because it's my 2nd year in the program. The training has gotten more intense, but my volume has gone down." As opposed to regular season meets, or even regionals, for her this meet is less about time than competition. "The NCAA meet is a team meet, and a team victory is always so great. My goal is just to perform for the championship, for the team title." Richards believes that the home track advantage is real, because the Texas track is where she has done her workouts, but more because "this is where I cry. I've put a lot of hard work in, so I think it's going to be advantageous for me to run the 400 here and run well."

Lashinda Demus (South Carolina) talked about competing in Longhorn country, against a home team that is a heavy title contender. "It feels like running in Florida when I'm in Florida, like Mississippi when I run in Mississippi. It's still a track." Asked if she thrives on competition like the stacked field she faces this week, she replied "Yeah, I do," but was quick to point out that other competitors in the field also thrive on that same competition.

Pat Henry was named the 2004 Mondo Women's Mideast Coach of the Year (Alex Moore)

LSU Coach Pat Henry was asked about the collegiate season in respect to the Olympics. "I think a collegiate season is a real positive in the build up to the Olympic Game." He reasoned that "I think it's a competitive time of the year that is a real benefit for this age of athletes going to have the opportunity to compete at the Olympic Games." Does Coach Henry agree with Richards in that Texas has a home advantage? "No. It's a red oval. We hosted it in '02, I thought we had a pretty good team coming in on the ladies side, we had a pretty good team coming in on the men's side. we won the mens, but we didn't win the womens at all." What will the difference be in this championship? "Somebody's gonna step it up, somebody's gonna have to do something a little different, whichever team wins it. Some body steps up, takes it to another level. I think that's the difference."

Texas Coach Bev Kearney had her own comments on the home track. "For me, losing last year was more of a motivation than a home meet to come back and try to win." She added, "No matter where you put it, in the end the title still remains the same." When asked about working with Sanya, Kearney said "I love the fact that she's highly intensive on the track and she's easy going fun loving off the track. She's one of the best competitors I've ever seen but she also works really hard in training. I think that's what's going to create the longevity and keep the balance." Some of her athletes made the trip to Europe last summer to compete at the world championships, and Kearney recognized a change afterwards. "They realized that they could compete at the international level, but they also realized they had some room to improve upon if they were going to work out at that level. It definitely helped elevate their maturity levels and their focus levels in training."

Leevan Sands (Auburn) isn't being shy about his goals for - "I have high expectations for this meet. My goal for this meet is to get an NCAA record for the triple jump." It doesn't stop there. "I would like to get double gold (in the long jump as well), just like SECs and Regionals." He is optimistic that Auburn has a shot at the team title. "I believe we have a good chance. There are 7 of us, but we're 7 strong. If we do what we do, we could pull it off." Sands has already been selected for his Olympic Team (Bahamas). "I just want to go there and do my best. I was 3rd last year (at the World Championships), but that was last year."

Brendan Christian would like to earn the 100 and 200 titles (Alex Moore)

Brendan Christian (Texas) was clear with his goals as well. "I would like to come away with the national title in both the 100 and the 200, and hopefully the team title." He also said "I do think I'm the healthiest I've been in college" after an indoor season where he faced injuries including dropping a weight on his left foot, and straining his right hamstring and right achilles. Christian is putting his own pressure on himself both as an athlete who has only lost on this track twice (one of those in high school), and as the hometown favorite, "It'd mean a great deal to win here at home in front of my family," but is also confident in his abilities. "I would like to perform to the best of my abilities, and I know if I do that, I'll come out with the win." Christian has dual citizenship for Antigua and the US, and will decide soon which he will compete for at the Olympics. "I'm basing my decision upon how I perform at this track meet. If I think I have what it takes to make the US team, then of course I'm going to the US trials." Christian also thinks his group of Longhorns may not be big, but are very strong. "I think if everyone does what we're capable of doing, we have a good shot at winning."

Arkansas Coach John McDonnell has a good outlook for his team's chances at another national title, even missing Alistair Cragg in the 5K. "We're just happy to be here We have 14 athletes and 1 mile relay, we're all healthy, mostly. We pretty much have somebody in each event." As for how he feels about Cragg not being able to compete in the 5K: "I feel bad for him as a senior not being given the opportunity." McDonnell isn't letting the loss of a possible 10 points faze him. "We'll just have to go without them. There are 4 or 5 good teams in here, and whoever gets a break is going to get it." He also had some choice words for the Regional format. "If we're having a Regional, I'd like to have rules. Not a dog and pony show." He further responded on the impact he feels it haves on some of the athletes. "The thing that bothers me is we're teaching our young people to lie and cheat. I've done it the right way up to this, and I'll be damned if I'm going to cheat to win a national title."

LSU Coach Pat Henry was modest about his team's chances at the title. "We have 12 male athletes here." However, it's not just the numbers of those present, but also the experience. "We have some people that have been here before. We have some people who have had some experiences here. We're relatively healthy." Henry made it clear that there is no clear favorite for the team title. "This should be a really competitive meet and there's a number of teams that have opportunities at this meet." He still expressed confidence in his athletes. "We feel good about the group that we've got in here." When it was his turn to discuss the regional set-up, Henry expressed his own dislike. "I don't even want to talk about Regionals." However, with most things controversial, it was talked about. "I was dead set against it and still am, and more against it than I ever was. I think it's not track and field. Causes all of us too many problems. Causes our athletes problems, it's just not track. They're trying to push us through a square hole."

Auburn Coach Ralph Spry was optimistic about his team's ability to compete for a title. "We've got 7 guys, and we've got a lot of quality. It's gonna boil down to teams that can step it up and compete." Asked to describe Sands, he responded "He's such a fierce competitor. He's a guy on our team who leads by example. He shows up every day to work and gives us 110%." Since his athlete had made it clear his intentions to set an NCAA record, Coach Spry was asked if he thought record conditions would prevail. "If it's anything like Texas Relays in terms of crowd, that's going to give a lot of boost. If the weather's good enough, we could see some very fast times, very far jumps and good throws. It's a great venue for competition."