For Texas A&M head track and field coach Pat Henry, the 2010 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships were twice as nice.
Once again.
“This is tough business to win a track meet like this,” Henry said. “What a great accomplishment for us today. This is what track’s all about.”
The Aggie men (55 points) held off heavily favored Florida by a point in the meet’s final event – the men’s 4×400-meter relay – while the Texas A&M women’s team sealed the victory early in the competition, with 72 team points.
Oregon finished third on the men’s side with 45 points and second on the women’s side with 57 points.
“The home-field advantage is not a home-field advantage, necessarily,” Oregon assistant athletic director Vin Lananna said. “A lot of people think it’s easy to have the meet at home, but there’s a lot of things you have to do. I think the kids were focused on what they had to do.”
Looking for any spark to increase their chances, the Oregon women found one in Jordan Hasay. The freshman from Arroyo Grande, Calif., challenged Florida’s Charlotte Browning for the women’s 1,500 meters lead late in the race, but Browning surged ahead to win in 4:15.84. Gabriele Anderson caught up to Hasay with five meters remaining to take second in 4:16.25. Hasay’s third-place time was 4:16.43.
“I was just trying to do my best to get points for the team,” Hasay said. “I just wanted to make it an honest race because I didn’t want it to come down to the last 200 (meters). I thought if I made it to the last hundred meters, the crowd would carry me through, and they definitely did.”
That led to the men’s 1,500m, which ought to go down as one of the greatest races in Oregon history.
At the halfway point, A.J. Acosta was jockeying for the lead with New Mexico’s Lee Emanuel and Wisconsin’s Jack Bolas in a slow-paced race. Acosta backed off slightly as Matthew Centrowitz began advancing, eventually finding himself among the race leaders at the bell lap.
As the field rounded the back straightaway, senior Andrew Wheating began to employ his kick, rounding into full form with 150 meters to go. Centrowitz held onto the lead, and Acosta found an extra gear and began to move up.
During the last 20 meters, the NCAA single-day record crowd of 12,812 cheered at Autzen decibel levels as the Duck men rearranged themselves before crossing the finish line. Wheating hit the tape first, in 3:47.94. Acosta was second in 3:48.01, Centrowitz third in 3:48.08.
“I knew I was getting crept up on,” Wheating said. “The crowd roared, and I knew that I was going to catch Centro or someone was going to catch me.”
“It was just crazy that it happened,” Acosta said. “The way everything came together with 200 to go, I’m sure everyone was worried. I was worried because it was so slow of a race to begin with.”
The Hayward crowd would enjoy one final show in the last track event of the day, as Oregon senior Keshia Baker battled Texas A&M’s Jessica Beard for the NCAA title on the 4×400-meter relay anchor legs. Beard, a world championship gold medalist in the mile relay, came from behind to pass Baker with 200 meters remaining, but the Fairfield, Calif., native quickly closed on her. Running neck and neck down the stretch with the crowd yet again roaring in their ears, Baker got one step on Beard toward the finish line, which proved to be enough. The Ducks took the race in 3:28.54 to the Aggies’ 3:28.57.
Florida (40 points), Penn State (34) and Virginia Tech (33) rounded out the women’s top five team finishers. The Arizona State men (37) and the USC men (35.5) cracked the top five in the team standings as well.
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Texas A&M takes dual titles; Oregon finishes in top three
Daily Emerald
June 11, 2010
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