Schedule
Start Lists Men / Women 
LIVE STREAM Schedule

Wednesday is only the first day of the NCAA Champs, but we’ll see the first finals action in the running events with the women’s 10k. However, there are several terrific semi-final races to watch from Day 1 at Drake Stadium.

The 800's on both men's and women's sides are terrific.

800

The men's 8 features 9 runners who have broken 1:47 this year. Cory Primm of UCLA could be the slight favorite, as he has the fastest time in the nation currently (not just collegiately) with his 1:44.71 at Occidental just weeks ago. However, Robby Andrews of Virginia has national title experience and a dynamite kick. Furthermore, Elijah Greer or Oregon, Fred Samoei of Alabama, Charles Jock of UC Irvine and Ryan Martin of UC Santa Barbara have all run sub 1:46 this season. It truly could be anyone's race, and it will be interesting to see who looks most impressive in the semifinal round.

On the women's side, youngsters Anne Kesselring and Laura Roesler of Oregon both come into the meet with sub-2:04's in 2011. Kesselring and Lea Wallace of Sacramento State are the only two to have broken 2:03 for the year. However, Kate Grace of Yale, Anna Layman of Washington State and Natalja Piliusina of Oklahoma State all enter with 2:03 marks, so it very well could come down to any number of these women for the win.

400

The men's 400 is one of the deepest 400 fields ever assembled at NCAA's. Like the 800, it is difficult to pick a clear favorite. Tabarie Henry of Texas A&M, Kirani James of Alabama, Demetrius Pinder of A&M and Mike Berry of Oregon have all broken 45 on the year. Speaking to the depth of the 400 field this year, 23 men broke 46.00 in the NCAA this year! When one team (Texas A&M) has four men under 45.50, it is a stacked field. Can A&M grab an individual title in the open 4? Are they still the hands down favorite in the 4x400? Today should be a pretty good indicator.

The women's 400 is a logjam at the top. 4 women are separated by less than half a second. Jessica Beard of Texas A&M, Diamond Dixon of Kansas, Joanna Atkins of Auburn and Aiesha Goggins of East Carolina have all broken 52 this season. Beard looked dominant at the West prelim, running the only sub-52 of the day. She has to be the favorite heading into the weekend. Can she claim the individual title? Will A&M have enough to take the team crown?

100

Both the men and women 100's feature two favorites. On the men's side, there have been two runners to break 10 this year. Jeff Demps of Florida leads the nation with his 9.96 from mid-April. Nearly 2 months later is he still the class of the field? He figures to get great competition from Ngonidzashe Makusha and Maurice Mitchell of Florida State, Gerald Phiri of Texas A&M and Ryan Milus of Arizona State, who have all broken 10.10 on the year. As with most of sprints this year, it could be the SEC vs. Texas A&M show.

The women's 100 features two women under 11. Jeneba Tarmoh of Texas A&M and Semoy Hackett of LSU lead a field that includes seven women who have broken 11.10 on the year. Lakya Brookins brings championship title experience and a 11.02 to the race, as Hackett's LSU teammate Kimberlyn Duncan has run 11.02 as well. With the chance of hot weather in Iowa (forecast of 92 today), we could see some great sprint weather.

10k

Tara Erdmann, the senior from Loyola Marymount, narrowly leads the nation with her 33:10 time posted at the Stanford Invitational. Now that last year’s dominating champ Lisa Koll is gone, the 10k will be a much closer race. It was fun watching Koll tear it up out there (she ran a 31:18 collegiate record last season!) but this year should be much more competitive. 

At the East preliminary meet, 11 of the 12 qualifiers finished within five seconds of each other. The West regional was a little more spread out with a 17 second spread between first and eleventh. Qualifying races like these are often slow and tactical, but the West region winner Tonya Nero of Wichita State (33:24) was just 13 seconds off her season best, and the East region winner Kate Harrison of West Virginia (33:48) beat her PR by 11 seconds.

Returners from last year’s All-Americans include runner-up Betsy Saina (Iowa State), sixth place Tara Erdmann, and eighth place Stephanie Marcy (Stanford.) 

This year look for Erdmann and second-ranked Nero to battle it out, along with Nero’s third-ranked teammate Betsy Saina. While Erdmann relaxed during the West regional, Nero and Saina led almost the entire race, running side by side. Katie Matthews (Boston Univ.) and Juliet Bottorff (Duke, ranked fifth and sixth, should also be close to the front.

It’s anyone’s race in the women’s 10k, and it’ll be exciting to watch them battle it out over 25 laps.

The rest of the day’s running events are semifinals. The men’s and women’s 4x100, 800m, 400m, 100m, 400H and women’s steeple make up the day’s session. The championships’ four day schedule allows athletes a full rest day in between semifinal and final events, so the finals for these races will be on Friday.

Field Events:

Wednesday is also the big day for some throwers, jumpers and multi athletes. Finals taking place include the men’s and women’s discus, the men’s javelin and pole vault, and the women’s long jump. The first half of the decathlon will also take place throughout the afternoon. Some competitions to watch Wednesday afternoon...

Women’s Discus:

In the women’s discus, freshman Anna Jelmini of Arizona State leads the nation by 1.5m with her 60.54m best throw at the UCSD Triton Invitational. She won the East preliminary region, but don’t discount last year’s champ, junior Jeneva McCall of Southern Illinois. She comes into the national meet ranked seventh with her 54.91m throw. Annie Alexander of Tennessee surprised by winning the East, tossing a season's best of 58.58m. Should be interesting.

Women’s Long Jump:

Another freshman, Mara Griva from Nebraska, is top-ranked in the women’s long jump with her 6.70m jump last month at the Big 12 championships. She could get bigtime competition from April Sinkler of Clemson 6.64m and Ti'Anca Mock of Oklahoma. Chelsea Hayes of Louisiana Tech is a surprise #1 after winning the East in a 6.50m jump.

Men’s Discus:

Julian Wruck of Texas Tech hold’s the nation’s top spot in the men’s discus with a 63.42 throw, but third-ranked Mason Finley of Kansas (60.65m throw) is last year’s runner-up. Leif Arrhenius of BYU was top thrower out of either region, tossing a 59.87m from out West. He is #2 in the nation over the course of this outdoor season. Still, with Wruck leading the nation by almost eight feet, it is his to lose.