For the first time ever, track and field athletes across the country don’t give a hoot about the NCAA Championships during their meets in April.
Well, they always care about the NCAA Championships. But this year, there’s a road block on the road to
the national meet — a very big road block in the form of the NCAA regional meets.
NCAA track now has a similar set-up to its spring-sports brethren softball and golf, where athletes must qualify for a regional meet before heading to the NCAA Championships. The qualifying standards are lower for the regional meets, and the NCAA will determine who goes to the national meet based on the athletes’ performances at the regionals.
And many track coaches still don’t know how to prepare their athletes for the coming change.
“We’re trying to figure out exactly the best way to train for the regionals,” Oregon head coach Martin Smith said earlier this season. “We don’t know if we’ll figure it out this year or not.”
For Arizona head coach Fred Harvey, the change is positive. Harvey was a longtime assistant at Arizona before taking over as head coach this year, and he said the Wildcats love the new NCAA format. He said that instead of trying to hit big marks, which is what they’re usually trying to do at this time of the year, most of the team’s potential qualifiers are just waiting for the NCAA regionals.
“Our training volume is different now at this time of the year,” Harvey said. “We can go to the Drake Relays next week, for example, and just have fun — just run a bunch of odd relays. We don’t need to say ‘Oh, we need to run the 4×1 because we need that qualifying standard.”
So with regional qualifying times similar to conference-meet qualifying times, does that de-emphasize conference meets, which have previously been last-chance meets for athletes desperate to qualify for NCAAs? Harvey doesn’t think so.
“We are definitely coming into the Pac-10 Championships trying to do the best we can, however, we’re going to keep in mind regional championships are the next week,” Harvey said. “But the importance of the meet, in my mind, is still there. I still want to be the Pac-10 champion.”

Dr. Santi?
Star decathlete Santiago Lorenzo will not compete in the Oregon Invitational decathlon Thursday and Friday. Understandable, considering he’s already qualified for the NCAA Championships and doesn’t want to push himself too hard.
But it’s also understandable considering Lorenzo has a much bigger test Saturday than any small-college decathlete could ever give him.
Lorenzo will take the MCAT exam, the entrance exam for medical school, Saturday. He said the test is scheduled to last until 5 p.m., and he’ll try to rush back to Hayward Field for the twilight portion of the Oregon Invitational, which starts at 3 p.m. He’s planning to run the 4×400-meter relay, which is slated to start at 7:50 p.m.
“It’s going to be good to get over here and run and get the stress out,” Lorenzo said, “because my brain is going to be fried.”
Lorenzo said he’ll be glad to get his test out of the way so he can concentrate on winning his second NCAA decathlon title in three years.
“I’m taking it easy, getting better slowly, day by day,” Lorenzo said.
Lorenzo will compete in the Pacific-10 Conference Championships decathlon May 10 and 11.

Samie = speed
Samie Parker has always been fast, but Saturday at the Mt. San Antonio College Relays, he proved he belongs among the fastest sprinters ever to run for Oregon. Parker clocked a personal-best 10.43-second 100 at the Mt. SAC Relays.
“I still think I’ve got a little bit of improvement,” Parker said. “I think I can finish the race a little better and get a faster time.”
Parker will get a chance to run that faster time at the NCAA regional meet later this season.