With the women's team title securely in hand, Arizona State coach Greg Kraft said there was no way he was going to let his athletes give him a traditional victory shower.
"It would have to be one of our throwers, and they're too tired to bother," Kraft said.
It was one of the few times Kraft sold his women short. As the team celebrated on the victory stand Saturday, ASU discus thrower Tai Battle surreptitiously produced a cooler of ice-cold water and dumped it over her coach's head.
It was a fitting conclusion to an extraordinary NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Sacramento State's Hornet Stadium. Saturday's two-hour finale featured a dizzying succession of world-class races, from Alysia Johnson's epic duel with Katie Erdman in the women's 800 meters to Walter Dix's third sprint title to Baylor's tour de force in the men's 4 x 400 relay.
"This is truly one of the outstanding events in the world of track and field," Kraft said.
Arizona State won the women's team title with 60 points, finishing in front of LSU (53) and Michigan (34). With Dix (200) and Ricardo Chambers (400) winning their events Saturday, Florida State successfully defended its men's title with 54 points. LSU was second with 48 points, followed by Auburn in third with 34 points.
Dix won the 200 meters in 20.32 seconds to become the first male sprinter since John Carlos in 1969 to win the 100, 200 and 4 x 100 relay at the same NCAA Championships. Fifteen minutes earlier, Chambers won a terrific 400 battle against USC's Lionel Larry. Chambers won in 44.66 with Larry inches behind in 44.68.
 Florida State head coach Bob Braman is doused with a cooler of ice water (Kirby Lee/Image of Sport) |
"It's a big relief," said Florida State coach Bob Bramen. "It's really hard to repeat."
The women's 800 was one of the most anticipated races of the meet, and it exceeded expectations. Johnson, a Cal junior who won the NCAA indoor title in March, set a torrid pace, passing the 400-meter mark in 57.34. Johnson led the field by several meters entering the homestretch but was nearly passed at the wire by Michigan's Erdman.
Johnson's winning time of 1:59.29 was the second fastest in collegiate history, trailing only the 1:59.11 run by Wisconsin's Suzy Favor in winning the 1990 NCAA title. Erdman moved to third on the all-time collegiate list at 1:59.35. Both women cut nearly two seconds off their personal bests.
"I felt very comfortable with the pace," Johnson said. "If I needed to take it wire to wire, then that's what I was going to do."
Erdman said she thought she could overhaul Johnson before the finish line.
"I wasn't happy to be second, but I'm happy with that time," Erdman said. "I got as close as I could."
The men's 1,500 meters featured the last two NCAA champions in Leonel Manzano of Texas (2005) and Vincent Romo of South Alabama (2006). After a brisk early pace, Manzano opened up a small lead over Northern Arizona's Lopez Lomong on the final curve.
But Lomong, the NCAA indoor champion at 3,000 meters, had a slightly better kick, winning in a lifetime-best 3:37.07. Manzano was second in 3:37.48 as two others broke 3:38 - Rono (3:37.56) and Stanford's Russell Brown (3:37.96). It was the deepest 1,500 in NCAA meet history.
Lomong collapsed in joy before springing to his feet and saluting the crowd of 10,165.
"These are great fans," Lomong said. "They went bananas. It's awesome to be a part of this."
Arizona State's women clinched the team title with a 1-3 finish by Jessica Pressley and Sarah Stevens in the shot put. Pressley, a graduate of Laguna Creek High School in nearby Elk Grove, bounced back from disappointing efforts in the discus and hammer to put the shot a winning distance of 59-0¾.
"To come out and win a national championship in front of my home crowd, it's an awesome feeling," Pressley said.
South Carolina's Natasha Hastings won the women's 400 meters in a rout, clocking 50.15, the fastest collegiate time of the year. Penn State's Shana Cox was second in 51.27.
LSU won the final race of the four-day meet, the women's 4 x 400 relay. Sacramento native Deonna Lawrence anchored the Lady Tigers to victory in 3:28.07. Baylor won the men's 4 x 400 relay in 3:00.04.
In other events Saturday:
- Hampton's Yvette Lewis won the triple jump on her sixth and final attempt, passing Stanford's Erica McLain with a leap of 45-0½
- Purdue's Lindsey Blaine won the women's javelin with a throw of 182-3
- Noah Bryant of USC won the men's shot put by more than a foot with a throw of 65-9
- Cornell's Ray Taylor won the men's triple jump with a mark of 53-8½
- Auburn's Kerron Stewart won the women's 200 meters in 22.42
- UCLA's Nicole Leach pulled away in the homestretch to win the women's 400 hurdles in 54.32
- North Carolina's Brie Felnagle won the women's 1,500 in 4:09.93, the fastest collegiate time of the year
- Michigan's Andrew Ellerton won the men's 800 in 1:47.48 as defending champion Ryan Brown of Washington placed third
- LSU's Isa Phillips posted a collegiate leader in the men's 400 hurdles, clocking 48.51.
Story by Bob Burns
Day 3 Review / Day 4 Preview
Walter Dix figured to occupy center stage at these NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, and he’s on track to do just that. But Friday night, the Florida State sprinter had some unexpected company in the spotlight.
Dix won the men’s 100 meters in a blazing 9.93 seconds, the fastest time in the world this year and the best ever by a U.S. collegian. Ninety minutes earlier, Dix broke the 4 x 100 relay open with a tremendous second leg as Florida State took his lead and won handily.
Coupled with his collegiate-record 19.63 in the 200 meters at last month’s East Regionals, Dix has arrived as a collegiate sprinter of historic significance. He’ll be an overwhelming favorite in this morning’s 200 final. How fast might he run this time?
“We’ll see,” said Dix, who has already run seven races in three days. “Hopefully, I have some more gas in the legs.”
With that, Dix turned the accelerator over to a couple of remarkable distance runners. In the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase, Michigan senior Anna Willard raced to victory in a collegiate-record time of 9:38.08, breaking the previous mark of 9:39.95 set by Friday’s runner-up, Lindsey Anderson of Weber State.
 Anna Willard of Michigan set a new collegiate record in the 3,000m steeplechase (Kirby Lee/Image of Sport) |
In terms of shock value, Michelle Sikes took first place Friday night. The Wake Forest senior was first in the women’s 5,000 meters, setting an NCAA meet record and collegiate best with her 15:16.76 clocking, but sometimes the clock doesn’t tell the whole story.
To win her first national collegiate title, Sikes had to beat Texas Tech’s Sally Kipyego. Kipyego. Kipyego, the winner of Thursday night’s 10,000 meters, was attempting to become the first Division I track/cross country athlete ever to win five individual national titles in one school year. Kipyego already had one cross country title, two indoor titles and one outdoor title.
Kipyego led with about 500 meters left in Friday’s 5,000, but as Dix might say, Sikes had more gas in the legs and won by more than seven seconds.
“It’s incredible,” Sikes said. “I’ve dreamed about this for a whole year, and this was my last chance to do it. I believed I could do it.”
senior Jenny Dahlgren, the collegiate record holder in the women’s hammer, set the first NCAA meet record of these championships when she threw 232 feet on her final throw to win her second straight title. Brittany Riley of Southern Illinois finished second at 227-4.
“I was shaking before each of one my throws, telling myself, “Don’t be a wimp,”” Dahlgren said. “The crowd was great today, and I’m really, really thrilled to win an NCAA title and break a meet record during the last collegiate meet of my career.”
The men’s 100 final figured to be a close race between Dix and LSU sophomore Trindon Holliday, the fastest qualifier at 10.02. Holliday led Dix out of the blocks Friday night, but the Florida State flash pulled away powerfully in the final 60 meters. Holliday was second in 10.06.
“I’m glad I had competition,” Dix said. “I’m happy. If I hadn’t celebrated early, I could have set a record, but that’s OK. I’ll get it in Osaka at the World Championships.”
Arizona State’s Jacquelyn Johnson became the first three-time winner of the heptathlon, winning her third title with a personal-best score of 5,984 points. Johnson’s win gave the Sun Devils 10 valuable points in the women’s team battle.
“It’s good for me, but it’s even better for my team right now,” Johnson said. “We’re going for it.”
The Sun Devils lead the team race with 38 points and appear to be well positioned to add the outdoor title to the NCAA indoor championship they won in March. Florida State leads the men’s scoring with 34 points and has two favorites running today – Dix in the 200 and Ricardo Chambers in the 400.
The winners in the men’s 110-meter high hurdles and the women’s 100 hurdles ran the fastest races of their lives to claim their first national titles. Auburn junior Tyron Adkins clocked 13.42 to win the men’s race, and Michigan sophomore Tiffany Ofili sped to a 12.80 victory in the women’s hurdles.
In the men’s high jump, Scott Sellers of Kansas State won with a leap of 7-7¼. Destinee Hooker of Texas won her second straight title in the women’s high jump, clearing 6-3½.
Saturday’s wrap-up features 17 finals. Highlights include the men’s 1,500, pitting Lopez Lomong of Northern Arizona against Leonel Manzano of Texas, and the women’s 800. Cal’s Alyssa Johnson, the NCAA indoor champion, will be challenged in the 800 by Michigan’s Katie Erdman, Oregon’s Rebekah Noble and Minnesota’s Heather Dorniden.
But the last word will probably belong to Dix. If he wins the 200, he’ll become the first male sprinter since San Jose State’s John Carlos in 1969 to win the 100, 200 and sprint relay at the same NCAA Championships.
It’ll be his eighth race in four days, but Dix already has five NCAA individual titles to his name.
Story by Bob Burns
Day 2 Review / Day 3 Preview
The Florida States, Arizona States and LSUs will have their day at the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Two days, probably.
But there’s room at the table for the little guys, as Cal State Northridge long jumper DaShalle Andrews and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi distance runner Shadrack Songok showed Thursday night at Hornet Stadium.
Songok out-sprinted the pre-meet favorite, Galen Rupp of Oregon, to win the men’s 10,000 meters in 28 minutes, 55.83 seconds. In a slow-paced race, Rupp tried to force the issue over the last three laps, only to be run down by Songok in the homestretch. Rupp, the collegiate record holder, finished second in 28:56.19.
“This is a big thing for me,” Songok said. “I was sure I was ready, but I wasn’t expecting to do this well.”
While he didn’t have to run 25 laps to do it, Andrews had an even tougher time taking down the favorite, Tone Belt of Louisville. Andrews and Belt both jumped 25 feet, 2½ inches, but Andrews won on the basis of a better back-up mark. Belt, the NCAA indoor champion, had five fouls.
“I’m at a loss for words,” said Andrews, who entered the competition with the 14th-best mark in the 26-man field and needed three jumps to qualify in Wednesday’s trials. “This is my third trip to nationals, and I was fed up with coming here and never making the finals. This time, I not only made the final, I won. I guess the third time’s the charm.”
 UCLA's Rhonda Watkins leaped 22-10 for the long jump title on Thursday (Errol Anderson/The Sporting Image) |
Three other favorites lived up to their advance billing. Texas Tech’s Sally Kipyego won the women’s 10,000 meters by nearly six seconds in 32:55.71. Arizona’s Jake Arnold won his second straight decathlon title, scoring a career-best 8,215 points. And UCLA’s Rhonda Watkins won the women’s long jump title with a wind-aided leap of 22-10.
Arnold became just the second athlete in NCAA history to win successive Division I decathlon titles. Rob Muzzio of George Mason won back-to-back titles in 1984-85.
“When I walked on at Arizona, I couldn’t imagine even winning one,” said Arnold, a Santa Rosa native who had a rooting section exhorting him on through all 10 events. “It means so much to do this near my home. I think my younger brother had the loudest voice in the stadium.”
Wisconsin’s Joe Detmer claimed second place in the decathlon with a tremendous effort in the 10th event, the 1,500 meters. Detmer clocked 4:04.11 to pass first-day leader Jangy Addy of Tennessee for second place.
Kipyego’s victory in the 10,000 was her fourth national title of her sophomore season at Texas Tech. She won the NCAA cross country title in November and raced to victories in the 3,000 and 5,000 meters at the NCAA Indoor Championships in March.
Friday, she’ll take aim at a fifth title in the 5,000.
“I know still have to run the 5,000, so I didn’t want to use up all my energy,” Kipyego said.
Tonight’s marquee event is the men’s 100 meters. Florida State junior Walter Dix won the 100 at the 2005 NCAA meet and finished second last year to LSU’s Xavier Carter. Carter turned professional after winning an unprecedented 100/400 NCAA double, but Dix’s toughest opponent tonight figures to be another LSU sophomore, Trindon Holliday.
Holliday won the Southeastern Conference and Mideast Regional titles last month and had the fastest preliminary time Thursday at Hornet Stadium, clocking a school-record 10.02 in the first semifinal. Dix, the collegiate record holder in the 200 at 19.69, won the second semifinal in 10.13 and has a lifetime best of 10.05.
Five of the nine finalists for the 6:15 p.m. final are from Florida State and LSU.
“It’s exciting,” Holliday said. “I feel like I’ve got a lot left in the tank. I’m in pretty good shape to compete for the title.”
Dix and Holliday first take the track at 4:30 p.m. for the final of the 4x100 relay. Dix runs the second leg for Florida State, Holliday the anchor leg for LSU. Florida State has the year’s fastest collegiate time at 38.71, but LSU ran faster in Thursday’s qualifying – 39.36 to Florida State’s 39.36.
The women’s 4 x 100 relay and open 100 should be equally competitive. Ebonie Floyd of Houston had the fastest qualifying time in the 100 at 11.13, and the sprint relay matches perennial power LSU against ascendant Texas A&M. Both races will have implications in the women’s team battle.
Washington State’s Diana Pickler, the collegiate leader in the heptathlon, appeared to have a commanding lead when she clocked a personal-best 23.75 in Thursday’s fourth event, the 200 meters. But Pickler was disqualified for a lane violation on the curve. She received no points in the event and dropped from first place to 25th.
“I know if you can put the disappointment into words,” said Washington State coach Rick Sloan. “Five years of competing toward this one meet and to have it snatched away. It’s the breaks of the game.”
SMU’s Gaelle Niare leads the heptathlon with 3,690 points. Defending champion Jacquelyn Johnson of Arizona State is fourth with 3,557 points. Diana Pickler’s twin sister, Julie, is in seventh place. The heptathlon concludes Friday with the long jump, javelin and 800 meters.
Story by Bob Burns
Day 1 Review / Day 2 Preview
Three down, five to go.
That’s the nuts and bolts of Walter Dix’s first day at the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The Florida State junior took care of business Wednesday at Hornet Stadium, winning a pair of 100-meter dashes and helping the top-ranked Seminoles advance to the final in the 4 x 100 relay.
Dix has five more races ahead of him as he attempts to become the first male sprinter since San Jose State’s John Carlos in 1969 to win the 100, 200 and sprint relay at the same NCAA Championships. This afternoon, Dix runs the heats and semifinals of the 200 meters, the event in which he’s the defending NCAA champion and collegiate record-holder at 19.69 seconds.
Friday, Dix has finals in the 100 and relay. Saturday, assuming nothing goes wrong beforehand, the climactic 200 final.
“Everything’s clicking,” Dix said. “My confidence is there. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
Five down, five to go.
That describes the situation for Jake Arnold of Arizona and Jangy Addy of Tennessee. The first five events of the decathlon were held Wednesday, and the upstart (Addy) took a surprising lead over the defending champion (Arnold) entering today’s final five events.
Addy has 4,211 points through five events, his best first-day score by 236 points. Arnold also had his best-ever first day, scoring 4,038 points. With his experience and second-day strength, the Santa Rosa native is well-positioned to become the first repeat champion since Rob Muzzio of George Mason won back-to-back NCAA decathlons in 1984-85.
Arnold won last year’s NCAA decathlon when the defending champion and collegiate record holder, Trey Hardee of Texas, no-heighted in the pole vault. Hardee was sailing to an easy victory, but his goose egg in the eighth event allowed Arnold to win with 7,870 points.
This year, Arnold returned to Sacramento as the heavy favorite. Heavy is the head that wears a crown, apparently. Arnold knew there was a
“This year it seemed I had to work twice as hard, because I knew guys would be coming after me,” Arnold said. “I knew I had a target my back.”
Three down, two to go.
That applies to Texas Tech distance ace Sally Kipyego. Kipyego eased to a second-place finish in Wednesday’s second semifinal of the 5,000 meters, and she’ll be favored in tonight’s 10,000 final.
 Washington's Ryan Brown will look for his third NCAA title in the 800 meters (Kirby Lee/Image of Sport) |
If she wins Thursday’s 10,000 and Friday’s 5,000 final, Kipyego will complete her first year at Texas Tech with five NCAA titles – one in cross country, two in indoor track, and two in outdoor track.
Two down, and trouble ahead.
That describes the plight of Arizona State’s top-ranked women’s team. The NCAA indoor champions took a big hit Wednesday when two of its discus throwers, Sarah Stevens and Jessica Pressley, failed to qualify for the final. Stevens had the nation’s best mark entering the meet at 189-5, but she threw just 159-10 in Wednesday’s qualifying, Pressley also missed out on advancing to Friday’s final, throwing 164-6.
LSU now appears to be the women’s team favorite, but the Lady Tigers also had a setback Wednesday when Kelly Ann Bapiste failed to qualify for the 100-meter final. Baptiste finished third in the 100 at last year’s NCAA Championships.
The top two qualifiers in the women’s discus were D’Andra Carter of Texas Tech (177-11) and Michelle Carter of Texas (177-4). D’Andra and Michelle are daughters of Michael Carter, the former All-Pro defensive tackle for the San Francisco 49ers who set a high school record in the shot put on this same field at the 1979 Golden West Invitational. Michael threw the 12-pound shot a momentous 81-3½, four feet farther than anyone had thrown before – or since.
Today’s schedule includes the first four events of the women’s heptathlon, the final five events of the decathlon, men’s and women’s finals in the long jump, and men’s and women’s finals in the 10,000 meters. The men’s favorite is Oregon junior Galen Rupp, the fastest U.S.-born collegian ever at 27:33.48.
At the 2005 NCAA Championships in Sacramento, Dix won the 100. Last year, he won the 200 and finished second in the 100. He’s looking to win both this time around.
“It’s a big goal of mine,” Dix said. “I’ve been working on it for three years.”
In his first event Wednesday, Dix ran a strong leg on Florida State’s relay that clocked 39.53 to win the second heat. In the first round of the 100, Dix clocked 10.05. He returned two hours later to win the second semifinal in 10.13.
LSU sophomore Trindon Holliday won the first semifinal in a wind-legal 10.02 after clocking a wind-aided 10.04 in his first-round heat. Holliday also ran a terrific anchor leg in relay qualifying, looking like a serious challenger to Dix in the 100.
“LSU always produces good runners,” Dix said. “I’m not surprised.”
In Wednesday’s javelin qualifying, McNeese State freshman Chris Hill broke the junior record with a throw of 238-10. Hill broke the previous American junior mark of 238-8, set by Washington’s Troy Burkholder in 1996. Hill’s mark made him the leading qualifier for Friday night’s javelin final.
One down, three to go.
As in days of the NCAA Championships, which is the best news of all.
Story by Bob Burns
Previous Trackshark Coverage:
• 2006 NCAA Outdoor Coverage
• 2006 NCAA Indoor Coverage
• 2005 NCAA Outdoor Coverage
• 2005 NCAA Indoor Coverage
• 2004 NCAA Outdoor Coverage
• 2004 NCAA Indoor Coverage
• 2003 NCAA Outdoor Coverage
• 2003 NCAA Indoor Coverage
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