Story by Bob Burns
For track fans, it’s the gift that keeps on giving.
Each year, as sure as the calendar turns to June, the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Track and Field Championships deliver one of the most compelling events in the world. World-class talent and college spirit are an unbeatable mix.
And for the fourth time in five years, the show is coming to
Sacramento . The 2007 NCAA Championships will be held June 6-9 at the Alex G. Spanos Sports Complex on the
Sacramento
State campus.
Florida
State and
Auburn will defend their men’s and women’s championships at this year’s NCAA meet. Among the top individuals expected to compete are
Florida
State sprinter Walter Dix, Wisconsin distance runner Chris Solinsky, Auburn sprinter Kerron Stewart and
Arizona
State heptathlete Jacquelyn Johnson.
The collegiate system is without equal in terms of developing talent, as the three previous NCAA meets in
Sacramento illustrated. The field for the 2003 NCAA Championships included Baylor’s Jeremy Wariner and Sanya Richards of
Texas . Both sprinters won Olympic gold medals the following year in
Athens .
In 2005, when the NCAA Championships began a three-year run in
Sacramento , three collegiate records were set within the span of two and half hours on the final day. One of the greatest NCAA meets in history concluded with LSU setting a collegiate record in the men’s 4x400 relay.
Last year, Xavier Carter of LSU became the first athlete since Jesse Owens in 1936 to win four events at the same NCAA meet. Carter won the 100- and 400-meter dashes and ran legs on the victorious 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 relay teams.
Florida
State won the 2006 men’s team title, and the Seminoles are considered the favorite this year. Dix won the 200 meters last year and was the NCAA champion in the 100 in 2005. His teammate, Ricardo Chambers, is a leading contender in the 400.
Auburn surprised by winning the women’s title last June, but the favorite this year is
Arizona
State . The Sun Devils won the NCAA women’s indoor championship earlier this month and head into the outdoor season with national-title contenders in Amy Hastings (5,000 meters), Sarah Stevens (shot put) and April Kubishta (pole vault). Johnson is the defending champion in the heptathlon.
The NCAA Indoor Championships offered a glimpse of what’s in store outdoors. In a word, speed. Dix won the 200 in 20.32 seconds, one of the fastest 10 collegiate marks of all time. Stewart won the women’s 60 and 200, the latter in the world-leading time of 22.58, and
South Carolina ’s Natasha Hastings won the 400 in a collegiate-record 50.80.
The distances feature a pair of exceptional talents in Solinsky and Texas Tech’s Sally Kipyego. Solinsky, the defending outdoor champion in the 5,000, led
Wisconsin to the 2007 NCAA indoor team title. Kipyego is 3-for-3 in NCAA competition,, winning the cross country title in the fall before finishing first in the 3,000 and 5,000 at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
On the field, Tommy Skipper of
Oregon defends his title in the men’s pole vault. The men’s high jump is loaded. Donald Thomas of Auburn cleared 7 feet, 7¾ inches to win the NCAA indoor title, and Andra Manson of Texas is a former NCAA outdoor and world junior champion in the event.
These names might not be familiar to casual sports fans, but history says several of them will be once the next Olympics roll around. The list of NCAA champions reads like a who’s who of track and field, including such legendary names as Carl Lewis, Michael Johnson, Jim Ruyn, Renaldo Nehemiah, Al Oerter, Gail Devers, Jackie Joyner and Florence Griffith.
Track and field is the oldest of the NCAA championships, going back to 1921. With the advent of regional qualifying in 2003, it’s now the largest as well as oldest NCAA championship event. A field of approximately 1,100 athletes will compete in this year’s NCAA Championships.
For ticket information, call (916) 566-2400 or visit www.sacsports.com.
