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NCAA Championships Fan Guide -- Day 4

NCAA Championships Fan Guide — Day 4

| On 08, Jun 2013

A classic meet in a classic stadium. What more could you ask for?

The final day of the NCAA Championships is coming up soon and the team championships are still up for grabs. Records are possible in some events and great racing is on tap in the 1500 and 5000 races.

How to watch

There will be two ways to watch today’s action. From 12:30pm local time (3:30pm ET), Pac-12.com will have a live webcast with five feeds to choose from. At 2:00pm local time (5:00pm ET), coverage will switch to television on ESPNU.

The live results site is awesome and you should have a window open following that.

For all the other stats and info you could ever want, go to the USTFCCCA’s National Championships Central and the Track and Field News homepage.

Team update

The competitions for the men’s and women’s team championships are still open, but in each there is a team with an advantage.

In the women’s competition, it’s coming down to Kansas and Oregon. The Ducks may be the sentimental favorites, not only because they’re competing at home but because they’re trying to break a streak of four straight runner-up finishes.

Kansas holds a 15-point lead going into this final day. Oregon would need to outscore them by 15 to tie and 16 to win outright. The two teams have both qualified to the finals of the 4×100 and 4×400, and the Ducks are expected to beat the Jayhawks in both. The real keys are the 200 meters, where Kansas’ Paris Daniels is expected to score well (but not contend for the win) and the 1500 meters, where Oregon’s Anne Kesselring and Becca Friday have the potential to score big. Oregon also has a chance to score in the high jump with Lauren Crockett, but it’s not much of a chance.

In the men’s competition, it looks like it will be Texas A&M and Arkansas fighting it out. The Hogs lead the Aggies by 9½ points but the Aggies have more (and better) chances to score. Both teams have entries in the triple jump, 5000 and 4×400. Texas A&M also has finalists in the javelin, 110 hurdles and 200, and Arkansas has a 4×100 relay in the finals. My guess is that the title will still be in play going into the final two events, the 5000 and 4×400.

Men’s Triple Jump

12:30pm local time (3:30pm ET)
Live results

Favorite: Omar Craddock (Florida). The defending champion hasn’t lost during the outdoor season. He was beaten at the NCAA indoor championships by Texas Tech’s Bryce Lamb, who failed to qualify to Eugene.

Challengers: Marquis Dendy (Florida), Taarik Batchelor (Arkansas). These two finished right behind Craddock at the NCAA indoor championships. Dendy was second at the SECs but Batchelor was 12th.

Long shot: Dave Brown (Texas A&M). The Aggie added two feet to his PR at the west preliminaries two weeks ago.

Scoring opportunities: Arkansas (Batchelor), Texas A&M (Brown).

Men’s Javelin

12:30pm local time (3:30pm ET)
Live results

Favorites: Sam Humphreys (Texas A&M), Sam Crouser (Oregon), Tim Glover (Illinois State). They finished first and second at last year’s Olympic Trials, although neither had the necessary qualifying mark to be selected for the Olympic team. Glover is the two-time defending champion.

Challenger: Matthias Treff (Virginia Tech). The German was NCAA runner-up two years ago.

Long shot: Bill Stanley (Ohio State). The consistently improving freshman’s only loss this year was at the east prelims.

Scoring opportunities: Texas A&M (Humphreys, Devin Bogert). Bogert could score points as well.

Women’s high jump

12:45pm local time (3:45pm ET)
Live results

Favorite: Brigetta Barrett (Arizona). She’s probably the strongest favorite in the whole meet. She owns an Olympic silver medal, the collegiate record, and a collegiate winning streak of more than two years.

Challengers: Saniel Atkinson Grier (Georgia), Makeba Alcide (Arkansas), Jeannelle Scheper (South Carolina). The battle for second is remarkably wide-open. Atkinson Grier was the suprise winner at the SEC championships. Alcide has cleared high bars but didn’t jump well at the SEC championships or in the heptathlon on Thursday. Scheper was the runner up at both the NCAA indoor championship and the SECs.

Long shot: Dior Delophont (Kent State). The freshman was fifth at the NCAA indoors and fifth at last year’s World junior championships while competing for her native France.

Scoring opportunities: Oregon (Lauren Crockett). She’s not expected to score but could do it if she got on a hot streak.

Women’s shot put

1:00pm local time (4:00pm ET)
Live results

Favorite: Tia Brooks (Oklahoma). One of the best collegiate shot putters of all time, she’s currently sixth on the world list. It’s hard to imagine her being beaten.

Challenger: Felisha Johnson (Indiana State). She’s the only other collegian besides Brooks to get over 18 meters this year, and has done it in multiple meets.

Long shot: Julie Labonte (Arizona). The Canadian Olympian finished 23rd in London last August.

Scoring opportunities: None for either Oregon or Kansas.

Women’s 4×100 relay

2:05pm local time (5:05pm ET)
Live results

Favorites: Texas A&M. The Aggies have the wheels to make a run at their own collegiate record of 42.36.

Challengers: Central Florida. The Knights obviously have speed too, finishing 2nd and 4th in the 100 meters.

Long shot: Oregon. The Ducks have 100 meter champion English Gardner, albeit a little banged up.

Scoring opportunities: Oregon, Kansas. A DQ or a dropped baton would have major implications for the championship.

Men’s 4×100 relay

2:12pm local time (5:12pm ET)
Live results

Favorites: Auburn, Florida, Alabama. They turned in the fastest qualifying times in Wednesday’s prelims, which are also the fastest times of the year. They were separated by just 0.02 seconds.

Challengers: LSU. The Tigers were the favorites coming into the meet and won their heat.

Long shot: TCU. Decades ago the Horned Frogs ruled this event at the NCAA and they have the 100 meter champion.

Scoring opportunities: Arkansas. More than a point or two doesn’t seem likely, and they’ve got to protect against the dreaded DQ which would get them nothing.

Women’s 1500 meters

2:19pm local time (5:19pm ET)
Live splits

Favorite: None. I rate this as a wide-open contest.

Challengers: Amanda Winslow (Florida State), Natalja Piliusina (Oklahoma State), Shelby Houlihan (Arizona State), Amanda Eccleston (Michigan). Winslow was NCAA runner-up behind Colorado’s Emma Coburn, who runs the steeplechase outdoors. Piliusina is the fastest of the season and has good finishing speed. Houlihan won the Pac-12. Eccleston won the Big Ten but is better known for anchor leg heroics at the NCAA indoor championships and Penn Relays.

Long shot: Emily Lipari (Villanova). If she can recreate the form she showed with a baton in her hand at the Penn Relays, she’ll be a factor.

Scoring opportunities: Oregon (Anne Kesselring, Becca Friday). Kesselring is tough and smart. Be ready for plenty of “Thank God it’s Friday!” jokes if Friday scores enough to put the Ducks in contention to win–which she is very capable of doing.

Men’s 1500 meters

2:31pm local time (5:31pm ET)
Live splits

Favorites: None. This is also wide-open.

Challengers: Andy Bayer (Indiana), Patrick Casey (Oklahoma), Mac Fleet (Oregon), Jeremy Rae (Notre Dame), Robby Creese (Penn State), Ryan Hill (North Carolina State). Bayer is the defending champion but was hampered by injury earlier in the year. Casey is Let’s Run’s favorite because he hasn’t lost a final all year but he barely got into the final. Fleet is the hometown favorite and does well in championship races. Rae and Creese are the kind of runners who would be dangerous in a slow “tactical” race. Hill was the NCAA indoor runner-up but has been injured and lost a lot of training.

Long shot: John Simons, Minnesota. My favorite Cinderella story of the year, he ran a massive PR to break 4:00 in the B-heat at an indoor “last chance” meet, qualified to the NCAA indoor championships, and then ended up an All-American. He’s in the finals here too.

Scoring opportunities: None for either Texas A&M or Arkansas.

Women’s 200 meters

2:43pm local time (5:43pm ET)
Live results

Favorite: Kimberlyn Duncan (LSU). The 2012 Bowerman Award winner hasn’t lost an collegiate outdoor 200 meter final since 2010.

Challengers: Aurieyall Scott (Central Florida), Kamaria Brown (Texas A&M). Scott beat Duncan indoors but probably only because she had a lane draw that gave her an advantage. Brown was runner-up to Duncan at the SEC Championships.

Long shot: Octavious Freeman (Central Florida). She was runner-up in the 100.

Scoring opportunity: Kansas (Paris Daniels). This is the biggest variable in the championship that Oregon cannot control.

Men’s 200 meters

2:50pm local time (5:50pm ET)
Live results

Favorites: None. I have to rate this as a toss-up.

Challengers: Anaso Jobodwana (Jackson State), Bryshon Nellum (USC), Isiah Young (Ole Miss), Ameer Webb (Texas A&M). Jobodwana was 8th at last year’s Olympics and was the runner-up at the NCAA indoor championship. 400 champ Nellum looked awesome in the semifinals. Young was an Olympian last year and won the SEC over Webb, the NCAA indoor champion.

Long shots: Charles Silmon (TCU), Aaron Brown (USC). It’s bizarre to call these two “long shots”. 100 champ Silmon has gone under 10.00 three times this year, albeit all wind-aided. Brown missed making the Olympic final by one place.

Scoring opportunity: Texas A&M (Webb).

Women’s Steeplechase

2:57pm local time (5:57pm ET)
Live splits

Favorite: Emma Coburn (Colorado). She’s so much better than everyone else in this race it’s ridiculous. She was ninth at the Olympics during a redshirt season last year. Her PR is 25 seconds better than that of any other runner.

Challengers: Colleen Quigley (Florida State), Rachel Sorna (Cornell), Amber Henry (Weber State). All three won their conference meets and are the next three fastest after Coburn. Amber Henry finished eleventh last year after falling and dislocating her elbow (she told the local paper “There was half a second where I thought, ‘Oh my gosh I think my arm just twisted off'”).

Long shot: Katie Fry (UC Davis). This will be just the fifth full steeplechase race she’s ever run.

Scoring opportunities: None for either Kansas or Oregon.

Women’s 100m Hurdles

3:09pm local time (6:09pm ET)
Live results

Favorite: Brianna Rollins (Clemson). She broke the Collegiate Record and took the worl lead in the semifinals, running 0.37 seconds faster than any other qualifier.

Challenger: Kori Carter (Stanford). She is the second-fastest (after Rollins) according to season-best times and is currently the fastest 400 hurdler in the world.

Long shot: Sharika Nelvis (Arkansas State). Rated just tenth on the TFN formchart, she ran a huge PR to win her semifinal.

Scoring opportunities: None for either Kansas or Oregon.

Men’s 110m Hurdles

3:16pm local time (6:16pm ET)
Live results

Favorites: None. Any of a bunch of guys could win this.

Challengers: Wayne Davis II (Texas A&M), Johnathan Cabral (Oregon), Terrence Somerville (Cincinnati), Eddie Lovett (Florida), Spencer Adams (Clemson). Davis and Adams had the fastest times in the semifinals. Lovett won the NCAA indoor but lost to Davis II at the SECs. Somerville has been quietly improving all season.

Long shot: Greggmar Swift (Indiana State). The Missouri Valley champion was fourth at the NCAA indoor championships.

Scoring opportunity: Texas A&M (Davis II).

Men’s 5000 meters

3:23pm local time (6:23pm ET)
Live splits

Favorite: Lawi Lalang (Arizona). He dominated the 10,000 meters on Thursday night.

Challengers: Eric Jenkins (Northeastern), Kemoy Campbell (Arkansas), Paul Chelimo (UNC Greensboro). Jenkins was initially runner-up in the 3000 at the NCAA indoor championships before being disqualified for impeding another runner. Campbell won the SECs and Arkansas needs his points. Chelimo was runner-up last year.

Long shot: Maverick Darling (Wisconsin). Better known for cross country, he was fourth at the NCAA indoor championships.

Scoring opportunities: Texas A&M (Henry Lelei), Campbell (Arkansas).

Women’s 4×400 relay

3:43pm local time (6:43pm ET)
Live splits

Favorites: Oregon. The Ducks dominated the NCAA indoors and the Penn Relays. The big question mark is English Gardner and her sore ankle and whether running turns will stress it too much.

Challengers: Arkansas, Kansas. The Razorbacks won the SEC and were runner-up indoors. Big 12 champs Kansas will be running for the team championship.

Long shot: Illinois. The bring two-time 400 meter champion Ashley Spencer.

Scoring opportunities: Oregon, Kansas. The title may come down to this.

Men’s 4×400 relay

3:50pm local time (6:50pm ET)
Live splits

Favorites: Texas A&M, Florida. They were the top two teams in the SEC championships and have run the fastest times.

Challengers: Arkansas. The NCAA indoor champions may be fighting for the team championship.

Long shot: Oregon. The home team has a hammer of an anchor in Mike Berry and they’ll have the crowd behind them.

Scoring opportunities: Texas A&M, Arkansas. Like the women’s race, it could come down to this.

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