June 7, 2010
 |
2010 NCAA Championships Live Coverage |
| Wednesday |
| Live Results | Live Video | TV: N/A |
| Thursday |
| Live Results | Live Video | TV: N/A |
| Friday |
| Live Results | TV: CBS College Sports (7pm) |
| Saturday |
| Live Results | TV: CBS (12pm) |
EUGENE, OREGON - Texas A&M's quest for another NCAA Championship in track and field will be decided at one of the "holy grail" sites in the sport, historic Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus. This weekend will mark the 10th time the NCAA Championships have been held here.
Action in Eugene starts on Wednesday and continues through Saturday. Coverage of the meet is available via NCAA.com on Wednesday and Thursday. CBS College Sports will cover Friday's live action from 7 to 9 p.m. (CST). Saturday's coverage will be on CBS from noon to 2 p.m. (CST).
"It's a venue that includes fans who are very educated track people," Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry said. "While they love their home team, which creates a nice environment for Oregon, they also understand great performances. When someone is doing something that is outstanding they also cheer for other teams too."
This is the Aggies second trip to Hayward Field this season, having finished second to Oregon in both men's and women's competition during the Pepsi Team Invitational in April.
Now the stakes are much higher as Texas A&M, No. 1 in the latest USTFCCCA rankings, seeks to defend dual national team titles they claimed a year ago against a pair of Duck squads, with their women ranked No. 2 and men No. 3, that will enjoy a home-field advantage.
Florida, No. 2 men and No. 7 women, as well as LSU, No. 3 women and No. 4 men, arrive with the potential to be a factor in the team championship.
During the NCAA Indoor meet Oregon women won the team title along with the Florida men as the Aggies and Ducks were tied for runner-up honors in the men's team chase.
"When we started with the program here, when my staff and I got here in 2004, we wanted to try to have teams that were competitive year in and year out," Henry noted. "Every once in a while, if you do everything right, you have the potential to win a national championship like this.
"This is that type of group. We think we have the potential to be in the top three to four schools. We just need to have a good day on the same day. We are in good shape right now, even though we lost one [Natasha Ruddock] to injury at regional."
In addition to the national rankings, which have the Aggie women ahead of Oregon and the A&M men topping Florida and Oregon, formcharts by Track & Field News predict very tight races for the team championships.
The magazine predicts a 61-60 outcome in the women's race in favor of the Aggies while in the men's outcome they predict Florida holding a 69-67 edge over A&M with Oregon third.
"Not many teams can come out of nowhere, you have to be kind of recognizable coming into the meet to be in that mix of four to five schools," Henry said.
"You can clearly see that there are three to five schools that are in the mix. So when you get here you hope that you're not the one that comes out four or five, you hope you're the group that hits on this day."
Texas A&M will have a squad of 28 athletes in Eugene. Including relay alternates, the total includes 13 men and 15 women spread out over 20 events (nine men and 11 women). The Aggies total 37 entries (16 men and 21 women), which includes all four relays.
In claiming the program's first-ever national titles in Fayetteville, Arkansas, last June, the Aggies had only a pair of individual and relay champions. Porscha Lucas won the 200 while the women's 4 x 100 set a collegiate record on the way to claiming a third consecutive NCAA title in the sprint relay.
"If you look at last year's meet we didn't win that many events, but we had people who were scoring in events," Henry noted. "This is a little different dynamic this year. I think that we have the potential of some people being absolute event winners. We will still need to have others step up and contribute points from fourth, fifth and sixth places."
Lucas is back to defend her 200-meter title and her strongest competition will likely come from teammate Jeneba Tarmoh, who swept the Big 12 titles in the 100 and 200 with career best times of 11.19 and 22.65.
In the 100 the Aggies enjoy a trio of sprinters with sub 11.20 times this season, Gabby Mayo (11.13), Lucas (11.18) and Tarmoh. The fastest 100 this season, a wind-aided 11.10, was run by UTEP's Blessing Okagbare, the NCAA Indoor 60 champion.
Jessica Beard, an NCAA silver-medalist in the 400 twice last year, is among at least five strong contenders gunning for this year's title. In the 100 hurdles, Gabby Mayo's recent career best clocking of 12.81 has her in contention with four other hurdlers.
"What happened last year was over about the time they started asking how will this group will do again next year," Henry said. "That championship was a tremendous feat for us and was a great, great championship for us.
"But this is a new group of young people, where we have some people who have been there before and some who will be in this meet for the first time. While the makeup is different, we hope the attitude is the same."
On the men's side Curtis Mitchell give the Aggies solid scoring potential in the 100 and 200 meters. Mitchell, the NCAA Indoor 200 champion, has a winning streak of 12 races this season over 200 meters.
The 400 meters offers an A&M trio in Demetrius Pinder, Tabarie Henry and Bryan Miller. Pinder had the top qualifying time of 44.93 from the NCAA preliminary rounds, while Henry entered the season as one of the favorites after placing fourth in the World Championship 400 last summer in Berlin. Miller placed eighth in last year's NCAA final.
In field events the Aggies possess potential winners in the triple jump, with the duo of Zuheir Sharif and Tyron Stewart, as well as in the javelin with Sam Humphreys.
Stewart established a recent personal best of 54-5.5 (16.60) that was best in the NCAA West region and second best from the NCAA preliminary rounds. Sharif has won triple jump titles at Texas Relays and the Big 12 Championships this season.
Humphreys has enjoyed an undefeated freshman season in the javelin, setting a school record of 251-8 (76.71) on A&M's visit to Hayward Field in April. He will square off against Oregon's Cyrus Hostetler, who placed fourth in the NCAA final last season.
Other Aggie event areas with potential to score key points for the team title include: the multi-events with Trinity Otto in the decathlon and Ashika Charan; women's triple jump with Hillary Pustka; and women's 400 hurdles with Donique' Flemings.
In formcharts Texas A&M is favored to be first or second in each of the four relays contested.
The Aggie women's 4 x 100 relay has remained on a level approached by few in the history of the event. After setting a collegiate record of 42.36 last June, breaking the 20-year-old collegiate record of 42.50, the A&M squad of Tarmoh, Lucas, Duncan and Mayo have recorded the fastest times every by a collegiate squad in the months of April (42.56) and May (42.49) this season.
"Running fast is dependent upon the environment, as well as being perfect on that day and being healthy," noted Henry. "Last week at regionals is the finest run I thought we've ever had, even better than the faster run we had in winning nationals the year before, because we won the race at regionals by 25 meters. When you run that fast by yourself, I think that says a lot about those young ladies."
After earning silver medals the past three years in the men's NCAA 4 x 400, the Aggies relay earned the favorites role by Track & Field News. This season Texas A&M has won the Big 12 Indoor, the NCAA Indoor, Texas Relays and the Big 12 Outdoor while placing a very close second at Penn Relays. Meanwhile, the women's 4 x 400 is predicted to place second as is the men's 4 x 100.
"I think it's going to be a great race to conclude the meet," Henry said. "We've been looking to have a race between Florida and us during the outdoor season, but when we were at Penn they dropped the baton in the prelims and we turned around and dropped the baton in the final. We haven't been able to race Florida head-to-head.
"Florida's not the only team to talk about in the 4 x 400, because I think Mississippi State can run really fast too. I think this is a very good group that we have and the potential is there to win just like we did indoors."
Last year's title chase came down to the 4 x 400 relay for the men. The same is expected this year. A runner-up finish for the Aggies last year earned the national championship by two points over three other teams - Florida, Florida State and Oregon - which tied for second place.
"The mile relay is a great way for a track meet to end, that's why it's at the end of the meet," stated Henry. "With the emphasis put on the person running that oval one time as fast as they can run, it makes track and field very exciting at the end of the meet."