The Warm-Up Lap (Pt. 1): Meets of the Week, News and Notes - March 27

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The Warm-Up Lap (Pt. 1): Meets of the Week, News and Notes - March 27
March 27, 2013

NEW ORLEANS – The outdoor season is now officially fully underway with two of the spring’s biggest DI meets in the Texas Relays and Stanford Invitational both taking place this weekend.

With the Texas Relays beginning Wednesday, the Warm-Up lap will provide a preview of the action in Austin first, with Stanford and DII and DIII meets of the week to follow Thursday. Stay tuned for updates.

DIVISION I MEET OF THE WEEK
Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays
March 27-30 | Full Schedule | Austin, Texas – Mike A. Myers Stadium | TV: Longhorn Network
Live Results | Meet Headquarters

Men’s Ranked Teams: No. 1 Texas A&M; 3. Florida; 4. Texas; 5. Auburn; 6. Oregon; 9. Florida State; 10. LSU; 11. Mississippi; 12. UCLA; 14. Mississippi State; 16. Texas Tech; 18. Indiana; 22. Oklahoma State; 23. Kansas State; 25. Iowa State

Women’s Ranked Teams: No. 1 Kansas; 2. Oregon; 4. LSU; 5. Texas; 6. Texas A&M; 7. Florida; 10. Clemson; 11. UCF; 12. Arkansas; 13. Baylor; 17. Texas Tech; 21. Auburn; 24. UCLA

The biggest meet of the season so far, the four-day Texas Relays fittingly provide the biggest matchups of the season to this point and some of the best we’ll see all season. The men’s competition will feature 15 of the top 25 teams ranked in the DI preseason rankings, while 12 top-25 women’s teams will be in action, with many of the country’s best making their outdoor debuts.

Events to Watch:

Men’s High Jump: Any time Indiana’s Derek Drouin and Kansas State’s Erik Kynard square off, it is the must-see event of any meet. The two jumpers have a combined six indoor and outdoor NCAA titles between them, and have gone to head 11 times. Drouin leads the overall series between the two 6-5, and the pair is tied 3-3 in outdoor competition. Kynard got the better of Drouin in their last outdoor head-to-head matchup, taking home a silver medal from the 2012 Olympics to Drouin’s bronze. But it is Drouin who enters the spring campaign with momentum after a clearance of 7-8½ (2.35m) – the tallest clearance in this rivalry – to win the indoor title, while Kynard finished third. Not to be overlooked are indoor runner-up Marcus Jackson of Mississipi State, Torrian Ware of Clemson, and DII champ Jeron Robinson of Texas A&M-Kingsville.

Men’s 100 meters: Harry Adams of Auburn, the fastest collegian from 2012 with a 9.96 a year ago and NCAA runner-up, is set to make his 2013 outdoor debut against a field of 11 of this season’s top 25 sprinters, including No. 2 Anaso Jobodwana of Jackson State (10.26). LSU’s Aaron Ernest, who finished eighth at NCAAs a year ago, and Ameer Webb, the 2013 indoor 200 champ, will also provide stiff competition for Adams.

Women’s 100 meters: Though it’s still early in the season, ten of DI’s top 25 sprinters at this distance in 2013 will be in action, including No. 1 Cierra White of Texas Tech (11.12 altitude) and No. 2 Ashton Purvis of Texas A&M (11.35). She’ll get a big-time challenge from a number of elite sprinters opening up their outdoor campaign, including LSU’s reigning Bowerman winner and five-time 200 meter champ Kimberlyn Duncan. Also in the field is 2012 indoor 400 champ Diamond Dixon of Kansas and defending DIII champ Latoya King of No. 1 Lincoln (Mo.).

Men’s 4×100 relay: Five of the top eight teams of 2013 will be in action, including No. 1 Texas A&M (38.76) and No. 2 TCU (39.72). Defending NCAA champ LSU returns two of its relay legs in Ernest and Shermud Allsop, but the team to watch might be Auburn, which returns three of four from its third-place team of a year ago (Jeremy Hardy, Marcus Rowland and Keenan Brock), and adds Adams to the mix.

Women’s 4×100 relay: A whopping 59 teams are scheduled to run the 4×100 relay, including eight of the top 15 teams in the country. A number of those sprinters in the open 100 will represent their teams in this event, including Duncan of LSU, White of Texas Tech and Purvis of Texas A&M. Also in the field is defending 100 champ English Garnder of Oregon running with the Ducks’ team.
Men’s C. Price Jr. 4×400 relay: Florida, making its 2013 outdoor debut, returns two of four from its NCAA title team a year ago (Dedric Dukes, Hugh Graham, Jr.) and all four from its runner-up team at the indoor championships three weekends ago that ran the third-fastest time in indoor history at 3:03.71. Texas A&M, LSU and Baylor will provide significant competition, especially considering Texas A&M defeated Florida for the SEC title earlier in the indoor season.

Women’s 4×400 relay: Oregon’s 4×400 relay team was the clincher for its fourth-straight NCAA indoor team title, and will be in action for the first time since its dramatic first-heat win. The Ducks will be up against a field of 57 other teams, including eight of the other 11 teams at indoor nationals.

Men’s 110 hurdles: Wayne Davis II of Texas A&M has finished runner-up in his last two NCAA championship appearances – 2012 110 hurdles and 2013 indoor 60 hurdles – but is the top-ranked hurdler so far this season at 13.54. No. 2 Johnathan Cabral of Oregon (13.68) and No. 3 Terrence Somerville of Cincinnati (12.72) are also in the field among 11 top-25 caliber runners, along with Clemson’s Spencer Adams, who has finished right behind Davis in third at both the 2012 110 hurdles and 2013 60 hurdles.

Women’s 100 hurdles: This event features 13 of the top 25 hurdlers in DI this season, but the biggest name in the race might be from DII. Vashti Thomas of the Academy of Art is the only sub-13 hurdler in the nation this season at 12.94, and she’ll have the opportunity to take on eight of DI’s top 10 hurdlers, including a pair of NCAA finalists in the event from a year ago in No . 3 Jasmin Stowers of LSU (5th) and Donique’ Flemings of Texas A&M (6th).

Women’s 400 hurdles: Just as in its shorter hurdles counterpart, the 400 hurdles will feature 13 of this season’s top 25, including No. 1 Sparkle McKnight of Arkansas (56.62), No. 2 Ashley Spencer of Illinois (57.34), and No. 2 Eseroghene Okoro of Iowa State (57.84). Spencer is no stranger to 400 meters, but she is accustomed to running it without hurdles as the defending outdoor open 400 champion. This will be just her third collegiate race in the event. Defending outdoor DIII champ Michelle Cumberbatch of No. 1 Lincoln (Mo.) will also test herself against the best in the country.

Men’s Pole Vault: With 10 of the 16 competitors from the NCAA indoor competition a few weekends ago, this has the feel of an outdoor championship preview. Defending outdoor champ Jack Whitt will join Mississippi’s Sam Kendricks, Tennessee’s Ben Blankenship and Akron’s Shawn Barber as four of the top five finishers at NCAA indoors to compete at the Relays. Whitt, Kendricks and Blankenship all cleared 18-4½ (5.60m) indoors, while Barber and UCLA’s Michael Woepse both made 18-½ (5.50m). Also competing is former NCAA decathlon champ for Texas and 2012 Olympic silver medalist Trey Hardee.

Women’s Triple Jump: Indoor champ Andrea Geubelle of Kansas will open her outdoor campaign against a field that features eight of the top jumpers from the early 2013 outdoor season, in addition to four point scorers from the indoor triple jump. DI’s top jumpers aren’t all Geubelle has to worry about, as the top collegiate triple jumper so far this outdoor season is actually DII Angelo State’s Kearah Danville (43-5/13.23m), the indoor champ and defending outdoor champ for Division II.

Women’s Heptathlon: Arkansas’ Makeba Alcide and Mississippi State’s Erica Bougard went back and forth in the indoor heptathlon this season. Alcide claimed the SEC championship over Bougard with a collegiate-record 4,569 points, but it was Bougard who had the final word with an NCAA title to Alcide’s third-place finish. This is the first of what is sure to be several head-to-head competitions between the two this season.

TOP 10 IN ACTION
Men

Rank School Event Date
1 Texas A&M at Texas Relays Mar. 27-30
2 Arkansas at Stanford Invitational/Razorback Spring Invitational Mar. 29-30
3 Florida at Texas Relays/at Stanford Invitational/
at North Florida Invite Mar. 27-30
4 Texas at Texas Relays Mar. 27-30
5 Auburn at Texas Relays/at Yellow Jacket Invite Mar. 27-30
6 Oregon at Texas Relays/at Stanford Invitational Mar. 27-30
7 Wisconsin at Stanford Invitational/at Yellow Jacket Invitational Mar. 29-30
8 Southern California at Stanford Invitational Mar. 29-30
9 Florida State at Texas Relays/at Stanford Invitational Mar. 27-30
10 LSU at Texas Relays Mar. 27-30



Women

Rank School Event Date
1 Kansas at Texas Relays/at Stanford Invitational Mar. 27-30
2 Oregon at Texas Relays/at Stanford Invitational Mar. 27-30
3 Arizona at Stanford Invitational Mar. 29-30
4 LSU at Texas Relays Mar. 27-30
5 Texas at Texas Relays Mar. 27-30
6 Texas A&M at Texas Relays Mar. 27-30
7 Florida at Texas Relays/at Stanford Invitational/
at North Florida Invite Mar. 27-30
8 Arizona State at Stanford Invitational Mar. 29-30
9 Stanford at Stanford Invitational/at San Francisco Distance Carnival/at Cal Multis Mar. 27-30
10 Clemson at Texas Relays/at Raleigh Relays Mar. 27-30






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Kyle Terwillegar

U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association

Communications Assistant

1100 Poydras St., Suite 1750

New Orleans, LA 70163

(O) 504-599-8905 (F) 504-599-8909

Email: kyle@ustfccca.org

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