The crazy eight
Otukile Lekote (1:46.88) has the fastest 800-meter time in the nation. No surprise
there. But what about all those Kentucky guys behind him? The Wildcats have
six runners under 1:50. What’s strange is that Kentucky has never had
an 800-meter champion – not even during outdoor.
Also in the hunt is Sam Burley from Penn (1:48.16). That school has never had an 800-meter champ either. And it hasn’t had an outdoor champ in that race since Earl Eby won the inaugural NCAA 880-yard championship in 1921.
And if Lekote wins (keep in mind that he is South Carolina’s only 800 champ ever), he’ll tie Josa Parilla’s record of four NCAA 800-meter championship titles.
The mysterious mile
Luke Watson (3:57.83), the fast miler in the NCAA so far this year, adds a little
bit of notoriety, too. Notre Dame hasn’t had a mile/1500m outdoor champion
since Charles Judge in 1926. And it’s never had an indoor champ.
Behind him are three runners from Eastern Michigan. That school doesn’t have any mile/1500 champs either -- not even during outdoor. And Rob Myers from Ohio State – well the Buckeyes have never had an indoor or outdoor champ either.
Besides them it’s just a bunch of freshman and sophomores running sub-four (Brannen, Willis, Hayden). No big deal, right?
The tricky three
The 3000-meters is an event that has seen 5 runners win multiple times in the
last 15 years. But this year, neither defending champ Adrian Blincoe nor two-time
champ David Kimani have met the standard.
So look out for Alistair Cragg (7:45.22) who ran 12 seconds under the automatic time for a college record. He’d be the first runner to win the 3000 while on his home track. He would also be the 8th runner from Arkansas to win the title in its 19 years of competition.
Behind him are Boaz Cheboiywo of EMU (7:51), Dalibor Balgac of SMU (7:55), and Luke Watson of Notre Dame (7:55). None of those schools have a 3000m/2-mile champion in its record books.
The fickle five
Alistair Cragg seems to be the name this year. His 13:35 last weekend put him
ahead of the field for the fast time in the NCAA. A victory for him would give
the event 6 straight years of back-to-back champions (Brad Hauser and David
Kimani). That would be longest streak in a single-runner indoor event.
But if Richard Kiplagat (Iona, 13:41) or Boaz (EMU, 13:44) sneaks by Cragg, it’ll be the first 5k champion for their respective schools – you guessed it, indoor or outdoor.
The devious DMR
Stanford and Arkansas? No surprise there, right? Well, the Hogs have only won
the DMR once (in 1994) since it’s nearly 40 years of existence. And now
they have two teams with two of the top 3 times in the nation.
Then there’s Kentucky (9:35) again. The Cats’ B squad posted the #4 time in the nation at the Armory last weekend. A win for them would be the schools first DMR championship.
No. 5 Michigan (9:35) has also only won the DMR championship a mere one time (in 1995). Not bad for a gang of freshman and sophomores.
Behind the big guns are Southern Methodist, Kentucky, Washington and Arizona. None of these schools have ever had a championship DMR team.
The age of speed
So what’s going on here? No matter who wins these races, it’s going
to be some kind of a first. Is there young blood on the track? The track and
field world will find out on March 14th when the University of Arkansas hosts
the 39th annual NCAA indoor championships.