This season, a stated goal of the Oregon women’s track and field team has been to align itself with the level of the men’s team. If a selection of track and cross country coaches are to be fully believed, this weekend, the women surpassed the men.
On the heels of a 165.5-point effort in the Pacific-10 Conference Championships this past weekend, the Oregon women were rewarded for their first conference title in 17 years with a No. 1 ranking in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll. The Oregon men, who scored 158 points – their most ever in a conference tournament – to win a third straight Pac-10 title, were relegated to the No. 2 position in the men’s poll, behind Florida. (The men entered the Pac-10 Championships with the No. 1 ranking.)
Texas A&M, Arkansas and Florida State sit behind the men. On the women’s side, the Ducks are ahead of Texas A&M, Florida State, LSU and USC.
Many of the major national conferences outside of the Pac-10 held their conference championships over the weekend. Here are the meet results and some of the top performances.
Big Ten Conference
Can it get any closer than this? The women’s team title race at the Big Ten Championships, at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in Columbus, Ohio, came down to the final event of the meet, the 4x400m relay. The Penn State women finished third to the Michigan women’s fourth, capturing the overall title by a quarter of a point, 139 to 138.75. Nittany Lions sophomore Shavon Greaves won the 100m and 200m individual titles to pace Penn State, while several runner-up finishes, such as Emma Schmelzer’s second-place finishes in both the hammer throw and discus throw, bolstered the Nittany Lions’ point total.
On the men’s side, the Minnesota Golden Gophers captured the Big Ten Championship, scoring 130 points to Ohio State’s 103 and Michigan’s 100. Sophomore Hassan Mead paced the Gophers in the distance races, winning both the 5,000m and 10,000m.
Big XII Conference
The Texas A&M women won their third straight conference title with 126.5 points, and the Nebraska Cornhuskers captured the men’s team title, their first since 2002. A series of individual performances, however, drew more of the attention.
Oklahoma State freshman German Fernandez, already one of the nation’s best distance runners, won the 1,500m and 5,000m in his first collegiate outdoor championship. Fernandez finished the 1,500m in 3:42.80 and the 5,000m in 14:21.05.
Destinee Hooker of Texas, who competed in the 2008 U.S. Track & Field Trials at Hayward Field and is also a standout volleyball player, high-jumped 6 feet, 4 3/4 inches to win her third individual championship in the event. Hooker’s mark is the best among collegians in 2009.
Jenny Barringer of Colorado, a Beijing Olympian in the 3,000m steeplechase, cruised to a 31-second win in that event at the Big XII Championships, winning the race in 9:58.14. She had not run the steeplechase since her appearance in Beijing.
Southeastern Conference
The more things change, the more they stay the same for the Arkansas Razorbacks. Legendary track and cross country coach John McDonnell retired last season after 36 years, and the Razorbacks won their fifth Southeastern Conference men’s outdoor championship with 141 points, over Florida’s 129. The title is the 93rd in the school’s history; McDonnell is responsible for 84 of them.
Arkansas, like Oregon, did it with distance races. At least two Razorbacks runners scored in the 800m, 1,500m and 5,000m races. The Razorbacks took first place in all three events.
The SEC is renowned for its sprinters, however, and LSU’s Trindon Holliday, who doubles as a wide receiver on the football team, did not disappoint over the weekend, running the 100m dash final in 10.01 seconds to capture the individual title.
The Florida women captured the team title with 133.5 points to LSU’s 113. Mariam Kevkhishvili set the tone in the shot put, with a school- and conference-record throw of 59 feet, 2.75 inches to secure the individual title.
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