NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships - Day One Report

NCAA Track and Field Championships
Wednesday, June 11 Summary
By Tom Casacky

Rain dominated the morning session on day one in Des Moines (Kirby Lee)

DES MOINES, IOWA -- After a two-hour thunderstorm delay, warm and breezy weather prevailed during the first day's qualifying rounds of the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships Wednesday at Drake Stadium.

Men's Javelin: Anticipation continues to grow for a terrific final, as the three primary favorites all advanced: Chris Hill (Georgia) and Corey White (USC), the seventh and eighth-longest collegiate throwers all-time, qualified on their first attempts, as did Adam Montague (Florida), 11th all-time.

Women's Hammer: Brittany Riley (Southern Illinois) and Eva Orban (USC), the two leading entrants, each won her respective preliminary group. Both Arizona State throwers also qualified.

Men's Decathlon: Tennessee senior Jangy Addy, third in 2007, took the lead after the third event, the shot put, from surprising Oregon sophomore Ashton Eaton. But Eaton rebounded with a superb decathlon meet record 47.25 in the day's final event, the 400, to take a 51-point lead over Addy after five events. Can he hold it through today's final five events against Addy and Florida State's Gonzalo Barriolhet, both very good second-day scorers?

Women's 4x100 Relay: Texas A&M led all qualifiers with a fast 43.19. Their top opponent, LSU, took their heat easily in 43.35. Florida led the rest of the finalists with their 43.65.

Men's 4x100 Relay: 2008 leader LSU took the first heat in 39.11, ahead of South Carolina's 39.37. Texas A&M ran a smooth and unpressed 39.13 in the second heat. The other favorite, Tennessee, advanced with a 39.24 in the third heat.

Women's 800: Defending champion Alysia Johnson (Cal), who always runs with a flower in her hair, easily qualified for Thursday's semifinals. Phoebe Wright (Tennessee), Geena Gall (Michigan), Temeka Kincy (Texas) and Heather Dorniden (Minnesota) led the rest of the qualifiers.

Alysia Johnson of Cal easily qualified through the 800 prelims (Kirby Lee)

Men's 800: The second heat was loaded with medal contenders, but the top time was posted by Oregon's Andrew Wheating, who ran 1:48.88 in heat three. Both USC's Duane Soloman, seventh last year, and Texas' Jacob Hernandez, with the top time among all entrants, qualified for today's semifinals, along with Kenyans Elkana Kosgei (LSU), Felix Kitur (Virginia Military) and Elias Koech (UTEP).

Men's Long Jump: The winds helped those jumpers who managed to gauge their steps correctly. Florida State's Ngonidzashe Makusha, a 21-year-old freshman from Zimbabwe (and that nation's record holder), led the qualifiers with a jump of 26-6.25

Women's 400 Hurdles: Queen Harrison (Virginia Tech), with the year's best time, did not start, but the two other leading names in the field - Nickiesha Wilson (LSU) and defending champ Nicole Leach (UCLA) - qualified easily.

Men's 400 Hurdles: Washington State freshman Jeshua Anderson, the national high school record holder in the 300 hurdles, led all qualifiers with his 49.90. Unheralded Steve Delice from tiny Coppin State (in Baltimore) set a Haitian national record of 50.24 in the second heat.

Women's 400: Kenyata Coleman (Mississippi) paced the qualifiers with a personal record of 51.78. Carol Rodriguez (USC) had the second-best time (52.25), followed by event favorite Shana Cox (Penn State). Iowa senior Kineke Alexander also qualified.

Men's 400: Unheralded O'Neal Wilder, a Mississippi State freshman, displayed no respect for his elders as he led all qualifiers with a fast 45.56. Behind him, Terrance Reid (Northern Iowa) improved his personal best to 45.69. The event's top entries, Lionel Larry (USC), Jordan Boase (Washington) and LaJerald Betters (Baylor), all qualified easily.

Women's 100: The leading time in the heats, 11.53, was posted by LSU's Samantha Henry. The semifinals were heavily influenced by adverse winds. In the first, run into a wind of 4.4 meters per second, Texas A&M's Simone Facey won in 11.61, followed by Texas' Alexandria Anderson and Kansas' Nickesha Anderson. The women in the second semifinal were luckier, because the facing wind decreased to only 0.4 meters per second. LSU's Kelly-Ann Baptiste prevailed in 11.28, followed by Florida's Lakecia Ealey (11.31), USC's Jessica Onyepunuka (11.46), and time qualifiers Samantha Henry (11.51) and Juanita Broaddus (11.56), both from LSU. Friday night' final promises to be a close and exciting race, and a pivotal event in the team competition.

Clemson's Travis Padgett clocked 10.20 in the semi-finals (Kirby Lee)

Men's 100: Only one sprinter broke 10.50 in the heats, which were hindered by adverse winds. The winds were again present for the semifinals and slowed the times, but the four top favorites came through regardless: Clemson's Travis Padgett (10.20) and LSU's Richard Thompson (10.33) in semi one, and LSU's Trindon Holliday (10.34) and Florida State's Walter Dix (10.45) in semi two. They will be joined in Friday's final by Clemson's Jacoby Ford, Florida's Jeremy Hall, Mississippi State's Kendall May and Texas-San Antonio's Teddy Williams. Padgett and Holliday are good starters who need to get out ahead and hold their lead; Thompson and Dix usually make their moves at midrace and have great closing speed.

Women's Steeplechase: Colorado's Jenny Barringer, the U.S. national champion and this season's collegiate leader by 11 seconds, led from gun to tape in her semifinal, winning easily in the day's fastest time (by nearly 12 seconds), 10:00.56. Most of the remaining medal contenders qualified, including Texas Tech's Irene Kimayio, who ran a very relaxed 10:18.45.

Men's Steeplechase: Colorado's Billy Nelson won the day's fastest semifinal in 8:44.77, ahead of Florida State's Luke Gunn (8:44.92), UTEP's Patrick Mutai (8:45.18) and Arizona State's Kyle Alcorn (8:48.40). The second semi was a largely Kenyan affair, with countrymen Peter Kosgei (Arkansas, 8:47.66), Hillary Bor (Iowa State, 8:48.00), Barnabas Kirui (Mississippi, 8:49.63) and Augustus Maiyo (Alabama, 8:49.82) all qualifying, along with Carl Moe (Washington) and Henry Hagenbuch (UCLA).

Men's Pole Vault: A truly wide-open event without a clear favorite, 15 men cleared
17-2.75 to qualify. Not among them was the year's list leader at 18-2.50, Jason Colwick (Rice), who didn't clear a height.

Women's 5000: Sally Kipyego (Texas Tech), who entered with nearly a one-minute edge on the field in her semi, qualified easily.

Men's 5000: Favored Brent Vaughn (Colorado) qualified in semifinal one, which was won by Oklahoma State's Ryan Vail in 14:29.61.

Women's Long Jump: UTEP's Blessing Okagbare led qualifiers with a windy 21-10. Erica McLain (Stanford), Rhonda Watkins (UCLA, the 2007 winner) and Brittney Reese (Mississippi, the top-ranked American), were close behind.