NCAA Championships, dot dot dot

Random thoughts, news, and views in the Larry King style from the first day of the NCAA Championships…

The Arkansas men are in a strong position to win their first team title since 2006, and their first under head coach Chris Bucknam…

The women’s title is still a four-way battle between Oregon, Kansas, LSU and Arkansas, and I think it will come down to the Ducks and Jayhawks…

The Ivy League won two races last night, the women’s 5000 meters (by Dartmouth’s Abbey D’Agostino) and the men’s distance medley (by Princeton), leading Let’s Run to create a splash page titled “Revenge of the Nerds”. The Ivies have become a real force in track and field–success at the Penn Relays over the last two years is at a 4-decade high…

At one point in the women’s DMR, the top three teams were Notre Dame, Villanova and Georgetown, leading me to think that the new Catholic Seven conference championship in this event would be a barn-burner…

Michigan won the women’s distance medley, and I couldn’t be happier for them (despite being an Ohio native). Jillian Smith and Rebecca Addison were second and eighth in the 800 at the NCAA Indoor two years ago, and their 800 PRs date from that season, but they finally broke through and won a national title. Smith hauled the Wolverines back into contention on her 800 meter leg, and grad-student transfer Amanda Eccleston powered away for the win…

Eccleston is new to U-M but hardly to southeast Michigan. She she was the D-II national athlete of the year at Hillsdale College, just 70 miles from Ann Arbor, and grew up in Tecumseh, just 30 miles from campus…

Addison’s family are no strangers to this kind of running success. Her father, Ron, held Ohio’s high school mile record for eight years and her mother, Sue, was a national-class miler as well…

Freshman Marvin Bracy, the overhwelming favorite in the men’s 60 meters, false started in the semis. Teammate Dentarius Locke, the #2 seed, jumped the gun as well. The role of the favorite now falls on Mississippi State’s D’Angelo Cherry, who hasn’t been the most consistent sprinter over the years but did win this event at the USATF Championships last week…

Speaking of which, I’m going to have to figure out when the last time an athlete won the same event at the USA indoors and NCAA indoors in the same year…

EDIT: looks like it was Kentucky’s Tim Harden, who won the 60 and 55 meters at the 1995 USA and NCAA championships Florida A&M’s Kevin Hicks, who won the 800 double in 2005…

The Let’s Run guys called it in the men’s 800 meters. Questioning Isaac Wood’s prediction of a second-place finish for Mississippi State freshman Brandon McBride, they said “either…he wins it, or he’s not a factor as he’s inexperienced”. McBride, the fastest North American high schooler of all time, did not qualify to the final…

US men’s pole vaulting has been down on the international level lately, but a young group is coming up the ranks. Yesterday’s competition was unusually deep, and the winner, 20-year-old sophomore Andrew Irwin, not only took his second NCAA indoor title in as many tries but got a coveted World Championships qualifying height. Only three other US pole vaulters went that high in all of 2013…

Another event on a down slope for the USA is the men’s long jump, where 27-foot jumpers are rarity anymore. The USA had three last year; one won Olympic bronze (Will Claye), another isn’t a long jump specialist (Ashton Eaton), and the third isn’t doing track anymore (Marquise Goodwin). Florida sophomore Marquis Dendy won it yesterday with 27′ 2″, his second straight meet over 27 feet and a nine-inch improvement over his freshman year…

One of the things I’ve enjoyed most about going to see the NCAAs in person is not watching the meet on some medium that forces me to listen to Larry Rawson. He was once good but he’s long past his sell-by date. Last night he offered up this gem while the men’s distance medley was lining up: “This race reminds me of the Village People song, ‘Macho Macho Man’”. I am not making this up…

The heptathlon gets rolling at noon (ET) today, the men’s weight throw at 3:00pm, and the big Kynard-Drouin high jump showdown begins at 4:30pm. All that is available at Razorvision, and the running event action begins at 7:00pm on ESPN3.com. Everything you ever wanted to know about the NCAAs* (but were afraid to ask) is at the USTFCCCA website…