NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships - Day Three Report

NCAA Track and Field Championships
Friday, June 13, 2008, Drake Stadium, Des Moines, Iowa

- Results | Photos | Podcasts

Weather: 1p.m.—75°, wind WNW 12-13 mph; 2 p.m.—77, W 12-21; 3 p.m.—78, W 14; 4 p.m.—78, W 16; 5 p.m.—78, W 16; 6 p.m.—78, W 15; 7 p.m.—76, W14; 8 p.m.—73, W 6; 9 p.m.—71, SW 6.

Attendance: Wednesday—8,841; Thursday—9,618 (two-day total: 18,469); Friday—11,228 (three-day total: 29,697)

Men's Team Update - Florida State will have plenty of opportunities to win the meet on Saturday, although LSU, Auburn, Texas A&M, Arizona State and Texas are in the rear-view mirror.

Women's Team Update - LSU looks to be the favorite and it may just end up coming down to the 4x400m with Texas A&M.  Arizona State also has a decent shot after a strong showing in the field events and with more to come.

Barringer set a NCAA Championship meet record in the steeple (Kirby Lee)

IOWA NATIVE STEALS SHOW WITH TOP COLLEGIATE MARK IN WOMEN’S STEEPLECHASE
Colorado senior Jennifer Barringer ran the fastest women's 3,000 steeplechase ever on American soil in 9 minutes 29.20 seconds during the finals of the NCAA Track and Field Championships Friday night.

Barringer was just .45 seconds off the American record of 9:28.75 set by Lisa Galaviz of Nike July 28, 2007.

Barringer also broke her own collegiate record of 9:33.95 set last year.

The Webster City, Iowa, native set a NCAA Championship meet record, breaking the mark of 9:38.08 by Anna Willard of Michigan in 2007

She also set a Drake Stadium record, breaking the mark of 9:44.31 she set at 2007 NCAA Midwest Regional.

Barringer won the 3,000 steeplechase in 2006 and was seventh last year.

RECORD BARRAGE AGAIN...FOUR STADIUM RECORDS IN 44 MINUTES

On Thursday, the evening session saw three Drake Stadium records in 45 minutes.

On Friday, there were four Drake Stadium records in 44 minutes.

1)7:05 p.m. -- Texas A&M sets second stadium record in three days in women's 4x100 in 42.59 en route to defending NCAA title. The Aggies were just .09 off the NCAA record of 42.50 by LSU in 1989. It marked the third straight time Texas A&M set a record in event.

2)7:16 p.m. -- LSU sets stadium record in men's 4x100 relay in 38.42

3)7:33 p.m. -- Colorado's Jennifer Barringer sets stadium mark in women's 3,000 steeplechase in 9:29.20

4)7:49 p.m. -- Arizona State senior Kyle Alcorn sets stadium mark in men's 3,000 steeplechase in 8:28.26

Rashaud Scott was an upset winner in the men's discus (Kirby Lee)

OTHER NOTES OF INTEREST
Men’s discus throw champion Rashaud Scott, a junior from Kentucky, became the first Kentucky athlete to win the event (or any field event, for that matter) with his 60.87m/199-8 performance. He’s the second-ever Wildcat champ; Tim Harden won the 100m in 1995 in 10.05.

Women’s hammer throw winner Eva Orban, a junior from USC who won with a 68.71m/225-5 throw, is the school’s second field event champion (1990—Ashley Selmon won the javelin throw at 56.78m/186-3). Third in the 2007 meet, Orban defeated ’07 runner-up Brittany Riley of Southern Illinois and ’07 fourth-placer Sarah Stevens of Arizona State to win the title.

Men’s javelin throw champion Chris Hill, a junior from Georgia, is the first Bulldog to win the event.

Men’s pole vault champion Maston Wallace, a freshman from Texas, is the Longhorns’ first vault winner since Brian Hunter in 2002 (5.70m/18-8.25) and their third ever; Jacob Davis jumped 5.56m/18-2.75 to win in 1999.

Arkansas junior Nkosinza Balumbu, with his triple jump win (16.21m/53-2.25) claimed the 13th title in the event for the Razorbacks. It was Arkansas’ first, however, since 2000, when Melvin Lister jumped 16.96m/55-7.75 for the victory.

Arizona sophomore high jumper Elizabeth Patterson (1.86m/6-1.25) became the first from her school to win the event Tanya Hughes “three-peated” from 1991-93.

Hammer throw champion (Drake Stadium record 74.13m/243-2) Cory Martin, an Auburn senior, was third in event a year ago behind teammate Jake Dunkleberger, who won Auburn’s first title in the event then but finished second to his teammate this time, himself bettering the previous stadium mark that Martin had shared with SMU’s Libor Charfreitag.

Texas A&M’s women’s 4x100 title was their second straight and their 42.59 Drake Stadium record time was only .09 off the NCAA meet record set by LSU in 1989. It marked A&M’s third stadium record in as any races on the track here.

LSU’s win in the men’s 4x100 relay was the Tigers’ fourth since 2002 (2002, 2003, 2006) and seventh overall in the event.

Senior Kyle Alcorn is Arizona State’s first steeplechase winner, with his 8:28.26 breaking Henry Marsh’s 31-year-old stadium record (8:31.02). Runner-up Billy Nelson, a sixth-year senior from Colorado (8:28.85), who unleashed a furious last-lap sprint in trying to catch Alcorn, was fourth a year ago at Sacramento while Alcorn was seventh.

Arizona State junior Sarah Stevens, after taking third in the hammer throw, came back to win the discus throw in 56.14m/184-2, becoming the first ASU thrower to win the event since 1983, when Leslie Deniz threw 63.96/209-10.

LSU's Richard Thompson clocked 10.12 (Kirby Lee)

Kelly-Ann Baptiste’s 11.20 100-meter dash win was the second straight in the event for LSU, whose Sherry Fletcher won last year, also in 11.20. LSU has won six 100 titles, with championships in 1989 and 1990 (Dawn Sowell, Esther Jones), in 1995 and 1996 (D’Andre Hill) and now in 2007-08.

LSU senior Richard Thompson’s 100-meter win (10.12) was LSU’s second in the event. Xavier Carter won in 10.09 in 2006.

LSU 400 hurdles champ Nickiesha Wilson, who ran 54.45 for a Drake Stadium record, turned the tables on runner-up Nicole Leach of UCLA, who took first to Wilson’s second last year at Sacramento. She’s the second LSU winner in the event since Debbie Parris won back-to-back titles in 1993-94.

Katie Morgan’s pole vault win for Cal is its first in the event. Morgan, a junior, cleared 4.20/13-9¼. The Pac-10 has dominated the event since it was introduced in 1998, taking eight of the 11 championships.

Jenny Barringer’s 9:29.20 win for Colorado in the women’s steeplechase was her second NCAA win, following her runner to Michigan’s Anna Willard in last year’s meet. Barringer won in 2006. Her time here is fastest by an American this season, the second fastest ever by an American and fastest by an American on U.S. soil. She’s the first Colorado athlete to win an outdoor NCAA title twice in the same event.

Senior Mickael Hanany’s high jump win in 2.32m/7-7.25, which broke Drake Relays Director Brian Brown’s stadium record of 2.31m/7-7, is the first in the event for Texas-El Paso.

Senior Bobby Curtis moved up one notch from his runner-up spot of last year to claim Villanova’s first 5K crown since 1979, when Sydney Maree won in 13:20.63. Curtis won in 13:33.93.

Untitled Comment

10:06, 14 June 2008 .. Posted by Anonymous

Webster City may call Jenny theirs but we Floridians know better.

Webster City Native

07:54, 16 June 2008 .. Posted by Anonymous

As an Iowan, I was wondering why I'd never heard of Jenny. We tend to recognize our track talent pretty well, but seeing she attended high school in Florida clears it up. It sure did get the crowd going :-)

I love that moment when you realize the runner isn't racing against the other runners. Wherever she calls home, Jenny's last two laps sure gave us a thrill.

Shep