2008 NCAA Indoor: Two Collegiate Records Set. First-Day Recap and Results

(The Tenenessee Vols, Women's DM Winners)

Story by Eric.

The two-day NCAA Championships got underway on Friday, and there were no less than two collegiate records and several all-time marks set in the finals at the Randal Tyson Indoor Track Center on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville.

Record Day For Whiting in Shot

Arizona State's Ryan Whiting set off the record evening by winning the shot put with a massive toss of 21.73m, a mark which bettered by 23cm the previous NCAA record set 21 years ago, and also established a new NCAA Championship record.

Whiting took the lead on his first heave, and saved his record-setting toss for his last. Whiting found himself in second place following his first flight, however, as Idaho's Russ Winger was able to muster a 21.29m put in the second flight and threaten to put an end to Whiting's hope of winning his first NCAA title.

Whiting's series: 20.18m; 21.12m; FOUL; 20.23m; 20.69m; 21.73m.

Whiting, a redshirt sophomore out of Harrisburg, Pennyslvania, had a personal best of 20.01m when the season began. His winning mark on Friday propelled him up to being the the third-best performer in the world indoors in 2008, trailing only world leader Adam Nelson (22.40), and IAAF World Indoor Champion Christian Cantwell (22.18) - two athletes who hold the top-four marks in the world this season.

Stanford's Terri Albritton held the previous NCAA Indoor shot put record, having heaved a massive 21.50m in 1977. This marked the second time in as many attempts that Whiting had moved close to - or past - Albritton.

Whiting set a MPSF conference and stadium record in the shot put in recording a personal best of 21.47 metres two weeks ago, and had taken down Winger's stadium record (20.28m) in the process.

Whiting's mark at the MPSF Conference Champions was the second-best mark in Pac-10 history, trailing only Albritton's 21.50m.

Texas Sprinter Knight Sets CR in 200m

Texas freshman Bianca Knight, competing in her first collegiate national championships, showed that she had great things in store for fans following a 22,48 preliminary round - a time which took over the world lead from Porscha Lucas, who had run 22,86 two weeks ago at the Big-12 Championships in Lincoln.

Knight returned two hours later to improve on her personal best, churing out an incredible 22,40 to become the second-fastest American ever at the distance behind three-time Olympic gold medalist Gwen Torrence's 22,33 set 12 years ago in Atlanta, Georgia.

Knight's time of 22,40 also established a new World Junior record, taking 0,09 seconds off of Sanya Richards's previous mark, and also knocked Richards off the top of the Texas 200m indoor all-time list.

Knight's time also set new a new NCAA Championship record and set the Randal Tyson track record, eclipsing Veronica Campbell's time of 22,43 set four years ago.

Knight, a 23-time Misssissippi state titlist as a prep at Ridgeland High School, had high hopes for her first NCAA race.

"There was a plan for me and my teammate Alexandria Anderson to finish one-two," University of Texas's track report states.

"We put our faith in each other, and if I didn't get it done, she was to get it done. I wanted to spice things up, and I don't know if a freshman has ever won nationals, but if not, I wanted to be the first."

Knight was able to exact a bit of revenge on her rival, Lucas, as well, as she had finished a distant fifth (23,21) to her at the conference championships. Lucas finished fourth on Friday, timed in 22,83 seconds - a race which saw the top-four women run under Lucas' previous world leading mark.

Tennessee's Bowman Runs Brave DMR Anchor

One of the evening's most-anticipated highlights was thought to be the expected men's Distance Medley match-up between world indoor record-holders Texas against the likes of Stanford and Arkansas.

Whilst Texas did win their first NCAA indoor title (9.32,04), it was the women's Distance Medley Relay which provided the most thrilling action and drama of the two races.

Stanford's Lauren Centrowitz got the race off to a great start after leading the opening 1.200 meter segment in 3.25,5, and handed the baton off to teammate Idara Otu (54,6 for her 400m split). Tennessee was in the hunt in fifth place after freshman Brittany Sheffey split a 3.26, but brought itself even with Stanford following freshman Brittany Jones's sensational 400m segment heading into the third leg, an 800m distance.

Stanford's Alicia Follmar's split of 2.08,8 was not enough to keep Stanford at the helm, however, as Tennessee's sophomore sensation Phoebe Wright ran an excellent race, as did the University of Michigan's Geena Gall. Hall's tactical savvy brought Michigan the stick around in first place with anchor leg Nicole Edwards, the collegiate mile leader at 4.33,23, ready to take stave off challenges from Tennessee's Sarah Bowman and Stanford's Arianna Lambie.

Michigan and Tennessee opened up a lead on the rest of the field during the first half of the anchor leg, but Lambie worked her way up to the lead pack before making a decisive and commanding surge for the lead with just over two laps to go. Her move was a costly one, however, as Bowman, who was biding her time behind Edwards, blew past with 130m remaining and helped secure Tennessee's victory by splitting 4.35,3. Edwards (4.36,1), a Canadian, held off Lambie (4.34,8 split) for second, with the Standford troop finishing in third.

Tennessee's winning time of 11.01,97 set a new school record. Michigan finished with a time of 11.02,22. Stanford's third-place time of 11.03,87 was the second-fastest in Stanford history.

Villanova University set the collegiate record (10.54,34) 20 years ago, with a team of Celeste Halliday (2.06,8), Michelle DiMuro-Ave (56,1), Kathy Franey (3.22,7) and Vicki Huber (4.28,8) achieving their mark in Gainesville, Florida.

Williams Takes Advantage of Tyson Track

Tennessee senior Rubin Williams won the 200m dash in 20,36 and set a new school record in the process, taking 0,06 seconds off of Justin Gatlin's previous indoor collegiate best. Williams, who had run a collegiate-leading 20,55 at the same venue two weeks ago, finishes the season as the second-fastest 200m runner in the world indoors this year.

Other Action on the Track

In other action, Josh McDougal, who was featured on this blog's front page yesterday, finished out of the running in the men's 5.000m, placing sixth (13.58,62). McDougal may find redemption in today's 3.000m, but will be hard-pressed to out-kick Villanova's Bobby Curtis, the collegiate leader at 7.50,17.

Southern Illinois weight star Brittney Riley won her speciality (25,34m), as did long jumper Brittney Reese of Ole Miss (6,76m).

Texas Tech's Sally Kipkego thrashed the women's 5.000m field, running a world-leading 15.31,91. Providence's Kim Smith holds the collegiate record at 15.14,18.

Finally, Sweden's own Ebba Jungmark won the high jump by clearing 1.89m, and became the first Swedish woman to win an indoor title in this event. World indoor record-holder (2.08m) Kajsa Bergqvist took home two outdoor titles whilst at SMU, but was never able to finish higher than second indoors (1.91m in Indianapolis in 1998).

Selected Results:

Men 200m Dash Finals
1, Rubin Williams, Tennessee, 20.36. 2, Charles Clark, Fla St., 20.50. 3, J-Mee Samuels, Arkansas, 20.67.

Men 5000 Meter Run Finals
1, Shadrack Songok, A&M-CC, 13:51.26. 2, Jacob Korir, E. Kentucky, 13:52.91. 3, Sean Quigley, La Salle, 13:54.05.

Men 60 Meter Hurdles Finals
1, Drew Brunson, Fla St., 7.53. 2, Jason Richardson, S. Carolina, 7.53. 3, Ronald Forbes, FL Intn'l, 7.58.

Men Distance Medley
1, Texas (Jacob Hernandez JR, Danzell Fortson FR, Tevan Everett JR, Leonel Manzano SR), 9:32.04. 2, Arizona State (Joey Heller SR, Justin Kremer SO, Nectaly Barbosa FR, Kyle Alcorn SR), 9:32.49. 3, Wisconsin (Craig Miller SO, James Groce JR, Evan Jager FR, Jack Bolas SO), 9:33.83.

Men Pole Vault
1, Rory Quiller, Binghamton, 5.50m, (18-00.50). 2, Mitch Greeley, Clemson, 5.40m, (17-08.50). 3, Maston Wallace, Texas, 5.40m, (17-08.50).

Men Long Jump
1, Reindell Cole, Northridge, 8.12m, (26-07.75). 2, Norris Frederick, Washington, 7.99m, (26-02.75). 3, Ngonidzashe Makusha, Fla St., 7.97m, (26-01.75).

Men Shot Put
1, Ryan Whiting, Arizona St., 21.73m, (71-03.50). 2, Russ Winger, Idaho, 21.29m, (69-10.25). 3, Milan Jotanovic, Manhattan, 19.64m, (64-05.25).

Women 200 Meter Dash Finals
1, Bianca Knight, Texas, 22.40. 2, Nickesha Anderson, Kansas, 22.62. 3, Alexandria Anderson, Texas, 22.81.

Women 5000 Meter Run Finals
1, Sally Kipyego, Texas Tech, 15:31.91. 2, Lisa Koll, Iowa St., 15:54.90. 3, Maddie McKeever, Duke, 15:58.18.

Women 60 Meter Hurdles Finals
1, Tiffany Ofili, Michigan, 7.94. 2, Kristi Castlin, Virginia Tech, 8.02. 3, Queen Harrison, Virginia Tech, 8.03.

Women Distance Medley
1, Tennessee (Brittany Sheffey FR, Brittany Jones FR, Phoebe Wright SO, Sarah Bowman JR), 11:01.97. 2, Michigan (Danielle Tauro FR, Serita Williams SR, Geena Gall JR, Nicole Edwards SR), 11:02.22. 3, Stanford (Lauren Centrowitz JR, Idara Otu JR, Alicia Follmar JR, Arianna Lambie SR), 11:03.87.

Women High Jump
1, Ebba Jungmark, Washington St., 1.89m, (6-02.25). 2, Sharon Day, Cal Poly-SLO, 1.86m, (6-01.25). 3, Brittney Reese, Mississippi, 1.86m, (6-01.25).

Women Long Jump
1, Brittney Reese, Mississippi, 6.76m, (22-02.25). 2, Blessing Okagbare, UTEP, 6.68m, (21-11). 3, Natasha Harvey, Jacksonville, 6.60m, (21-08).

Women Weight Throw
1, Brittany Riley, S. Illinois, 25.34m, (83-01.75). 2, Jessica Pressley, Arizona St., 22.04m, (72-03.75). 3, Astin Steward, Purdue, 21.62m, (70-11.25).

Full results

Photo credits: UT press; ASU press; Kirby Lee.

Kosinski (4.39,54) Sets Oregon Mile Record; Sellers (2.29m) Wins First Big-12 Indoor Title

Story written and edited by Eric.

Freshman middle distance runner Alexandra Kosinski continues to impress this winter after setting a University of Oregon indoor record in the mile run on Saturday at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Indoor Championships.

Kosinski, the 2007 Pac-10 Cross Country Newcomer of the Year, posted a winning time of 4.39,54 at the University of Washington’s Dempsey Indoor Facility, and locked an automatic qualifying time into the NCAA Track and Field Indoor Championships scheduled for March 14-15 at the the University of Arkansas' Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville.

Leann Warren, who holds the current outdoor school 1.500m record of 4.05,88 (1982), held the previous Duck indoor record of 4.40,6 set in 1985.

“She certainly was one of the high points today and she ran fantastic,” Associate Head Coach Dan Steele said.

“Nicole (Blood) deserves a lot of the credit for going out hard at the start of the race and taking Alex with her. But at the end, she really looked great and ran away from the rest of the field.”

Kosinski had become used to dispensing of quality fields whilst a talent at Oak Ridge High School, setting the USA National Prep Federation record in the 1.600m run at last year's Meet of Champions in Sacramento (4.38,15) in the first of two races where she set national-leading times.

Kosinski's finishing drive demolished Mission Prep sophomore Jordan Hasay's kick and has gone down in the prep history books as one of the greatest two-person battles ever contested during the regular season. Kosinski doubled back to set a three-second personal best in the 800m, clocking 2.07,84.

Hasay and Kosinski would likely have squared off at the USATF Junior Nationals had Kosinski not been forced to halt her prep campaign one week before the California State Meet due to injury. Hasay went on to run 4.16,98 in the 1.500m in Kosinski's absence, leaving many hard-core fans in want of what might have been.

Kosinski's prep stardom is a thing of the past, however, and the 18-year-old is capitalising on her speed, tenacity and drive to make a great impact on the Oregon Duck programme, and become a national indoor contender in the mile.

Kosinski, a two-time Footlocker National Cross Country Championships qualifier in high school, is equal to Minnesota's Jamie Cheever for the fifth-fastest collegiate mile time in the country - though the order may shake up as a few powerhouse conferences will have their mile finals contested later today.

Michigan senior Nicole Edwards holds the national lead with a superlative 4.33,23 - a time more than three seconds faster than runner-up Sarah Bowman of Tennessee (4.36,51).

Kosinski was the top freshman finisher in the 2007 NCAA Cross Country Championships, finishing in 13th overall over the 6.000m course to help Oregon finish runner-up to Stanford University for the national title.


Sellers Impressive at Big-12 Conference

Kansas State junior Scott Sellers, the reigning NCAA outdoor champion, is making a terrific push to win his first indoor title next month after earning his first career Big-12 indoor title on Saturday, and the second such honour of his career.

Sellers, the national prep indoor record holder at 2.26m (7-5.25), set a new school record of 2.29m (7-6) in adding a quarter-inch to the record he set at the ISU classic last season.

Sellers narrowly missed his third and final attempt at a would be personal best of 2.23m (7-7.25), but was excited to add an indoor conference title to the won he won last spring.

“It feels good to win another title and my first indoor,” Sellers is quoted as stating on the K-State website (link).

“It wasn’t feeling good early on in the competition. I was all over early and I’d fix one thing and something else would go wrong. But Coach Rovelto and I made some adjustments.”

Sellers, who cleared 2.19m (7-2.50) to finish ninth at his first NCAA competition two years ago, and improved one inch and six spots last season to finish third (2.22m/7-3.50), is now the second-best jumper in the United States this season behind IAAF World Championships qualifier Jesse Williams.

Sellers has high ambitions this season following the indoor campaign and defending his national outdoor title: he plans on making a go at the Olympic team heading for Beijing. By all accounts, Sellers has as good a shot at not just peaking and making the U.S. team, but winning his first national senior title as well.

Sellers, like Kosinski, was a much-discussed prep star, having set the sophomore national record of 2.18m (7-2) during 2003 indoor season - and clearing 2.21m (7-3.25) during the outdoor season. He also established the national junior class record in 2004, clearing 2.26m (7-05.25).

One of Sellers' biggest earlier claims to fame was being named to the to USA Today-All-USA Track & Field team in 2003 and 2004 whist a student at Cinco Ranch High School in Katy, Texas.


Other Conference News Reports

The Stanford University men's distance medley team won the MPSF title on Friday with a time of 9.31,52. The team, composed of Hakon Devries (1.200m), Andrew Dargie (400m), Jacob Evans (800m) and Garrett Heath (1.600m) ran the fifth-fastest time ever recorded in the university's history.

A Stanford foursome of Gabe Jennings, Evan Kelty, Michael Stember and Jonathan Riley set the school record of 9.28,83 eight years ago - a time which still stands as the current American record and third-fastest collegiate clocking ever recorded.

Arizona State's Ryan Whiting set a MPSF conference and stadium record in the shot put in recording a personal best of 21.47 metres (70-5.25). The previous meet record of 20.00m was set 13 years ago by Olympian John Godina of UCLA. The University of Idaho's Russ Winger set the stadium record of 20.28m two weeks ago (16-February).

Whiting also recorded the second-best mark in Pac-10 history, trailing only Stanford's Terry Albritton, who tossed the shot 21.50m (70-6.50) in 1977.

Another field event of note at the MPSF conference was Norris Frederick's winning long jump of 8.12m (26-7.75) - a mark which is a personal best, leads the NCAA and is second-furthest in the U.S. this season (Brian Johnson, 8.13m/26-8.25).

Frederick, who holds the University of Washington record as the only athlete to jump 7-0 (2.13m) in the high jump and long jump 25 feet (7.62m), had a previous indoor best of 7.79m (25-6.25) set three years ago.

Ole Mississippi's Brittney Reese, a 2007 IAAF World Outdoor Championships qualifier in the long jump, broke her own American collegiate record at the SEC Indoor Championships at the University of Arkansas, leaping 6.87m (22-6.50).

Reese, a junior, set her first collegiate record two weeks ago at the Tyson Invitational in the same facility, jumping 6.81m (22-4.25).

Liberty University's Josh McDougal was named the 2008 Big South Conference Men's Track Performer of the Year after notching wins in the 3.000m (7.54,85) and mile (4.05,73) and adding 20 points towards Liberty's team victory.

McDougal, who is the fastest in the United States indoors this season at 5.000m (13.45,16), won the 3.000m by nearly 30 seconds, and had a six-second margin of victory in the mile.

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2008 MPSF Indoor Track & Field Championships
2/29/2008 to 3/1/2008
Dempsey Indoor
Women 1 Mile Run Results

1 Alexandra Kosinski, Oregon 4.39,54. 2 Amanda Miller, Washington 4.43,41p. 3 Nicole Blood, Oregon 4.43,77p. 4 Lauren Centrowitz, Stanford 4.43,94p. 5 Arianna Lambie, Stanford 4.44,15p. 6 Alicia Follmar, Stanford 4.45,47p. 7 Andrea Brown, Washington 4.47,70p. 8 Lindsay Allen, Stanford 4.48,33. 9 Lauren Jirges, UCLA 4.49,12. 10 Karen DeMartini, Washington St. 4.54,02. 11 Shannon Murakami, UCLA 4.54,55. 12 Shelly Splittberger, Arizona 4.55,81. 13 Bailey Schutte, Washington 4.56,16. 14 Anna Fero, Washington 4.56,72. 15 Mackenzie Edwards, Arizona 4.57,06. 16 Missy Barclay, Long Beach St. 4.58,77. 17 Kailey Campbell, Washington 5.04,43. 18 Angelina Cabrera, Arizona 5.10,94.

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Big-12 Indoor Championships
Lincoln, Nebraska
3/1/2008
Men's High Jump Results

High jump_1, Scott Sellers, Kansas State, 2.29 meters, NCAA
automatic qualifier, 7 feet, 6 inches. 2, Dusty Jonas, Nebraska, 2.26,
NCAA automatic qualifier, 7-5. 3, Raymond Harris, Texas, 2.18, NCAA
provisional, 7-1 3-4. 4, Paul Hamilton, Nebraska, 2.13, 6-11 3-4. 5,tie,
Kevin Snyder, Oklahoma; Lyle Leong, Texas Tech; Jason Miller,
Missouri, 2.08, 6-9 3-4. 8, Paul Gill, Oklahoma, 2.08, 6-9 3-4.
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Big South Conference
2/29 - 3/1/2008
Men's Mile

1 Josh McDougal, SR Liberty 4.05,73. 2 Matt Elliot, SR Winthrop 4.11,62
3 Anthony Harris, SR Va. Military Institute 4.13,04.

Men's 3.000m

1 Josh McDougal, SR Liberty 7.54,85. 2 Tamas Kovacs, JR High Point
8.22,66. 3 Jarvis Jelen, SR Liberty 8.25,21.
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Visit www.trackshark.com for all conference results in entirety.