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Preview - 10 Women's Storylines For NCAA Division 1 Indoor Championships

Published by
DyeStat.com   Mar 8th 2017, 4:52am
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By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

The 35th NCAA Division 1 Women’s Indoor Track and Field Championships are scheduled for Friday-Saturday in College Station, Texas.

Here are 10 storylines to follow from one of the strongest competitions in meet history:

Georgia approaching rarefied air

Since the triple jump was added to the women’s championship schedule in 1985, no school has captured the high jump, long jump and triple jump titles in the same year. But Georgia has the potential to achieve the historic feat, which could propel the Bulldogs into contention for its first top-two team finish since taking runner-up in 1996.

Keturah Orji boasts collegiate and American records in the triple jump at 46-11.75 (14.32m) and is the overwhelming favorite to repeat, looking to become the first back-to-back winner since Kansas’ Andrea Geubelle in 2012-13.

Georgia also has the top two entries in the high jump with senior Tatiana Gusin and junior Madeline Fagan both having cleared 6-2.75 (1.90m), looking to win the event for the third time in four seasons after Leontia Kallenou secured consecutive championships in 2014-15.

But Georgia’s pursuit for the elusive jumping triple crown rests on the long jump, where it has three entries in Kendell Williams, Kate Hall and Orji, but none are the favorite. All three women have surpassed 21 feet, but Orji was third and Hall placed fourth at the SEC Championships, behind the top two qualifiers Sha’Keela Saunders of Kentucky and defending-champion Quanesha Burks of Alabama. Both Saunders and Burks jumped beyond 22 feet at the SEC finals, along with Orji, the first time three collegiate women accomplished the feat at the same meet.

Georgia crowned its only long jump champion in 2004 when Hyleas Fountain won the title.

Five times in NCAA Division 1 indoor history, the same school has produced women’s long and triple jump champions in the same year. Only once has the same program captured the long and high jump titles in the same year (Texas, 1988) and never has the same team won high and triple jump crowns in the same season.

Arkansas looking to cash in big on the vault

Twins Lexi Weeks and Tori Weeks could rewrite the women’s pole vault record books in multiple ways for Arkansas, looking to keep the Razorbacks in contention for a third consecutive top-two team finish.

Since the event was added to the NCAA Division 1 finals schedule in 1998, Arkansas has more champions with four than any other program and whether Lexi repeats or Tori captures her first title, expect that number to reach five, the most for the Razorbacks in any women’s indoor event.

No team has produced three consecutive winners, with Arkansas primed to do so after Sandi Morris captured the title in 2015. And no program has ever had teammates place 1-2 in the women’s pole vault final, with the possibility of Desiree Freier also stepping up for the Razorbacks to potentially produce the most points for Arkansas in any event in NCAA indoor finals history.

The Razorbacks scored 21 points in the men’s triple jump in 1992, with Arkansas’ women’s record for a single event 17 points in the 3,000 meters in 2000.

Finally, the Weeks twins are looking to become the first sisters in any event to sweep the top two spots at the championship. Stanford brothers Brad Hauser and Brent Hauser went 1-2 in the 5,000 in 1999.

Five events for four titles

Georgia senior Kendell Williams is attempting to become the first female athlete in Division 1 indoor championship history to win four consecutive titles in any event when she pursues another pentathlon title and potential collegiate record Friday.

Former Arizona State star Jackie Johnson had three championships and one runner-up in the pentathlon and Brianne Theisen-Eaton secured three titles and a third-place finish during her stellar career at Oregon, but Williams put herself in position to do so by winning as a freshman, a feat neither of the other three-time champions achieved.

Only two male athletes have won four in a row in a single event at the Division 1 indoor finals, with UTEP’s Suleiman Nyambui sweeping the mile from 1979-82 and SMU’s Michael Carter dominating the shot put from 1980-84.

Williams is also looking to break her own collegiate pentathlon record of 4,703 points, which she produced at last year’s championship meet.

Oregon seeking sprint trifecta

Not since Nebraska’s Merlene Ottey, Angela Thacker and Janet Burke swept the top three spots in the women’s 55-meter dash in 1984 has the same school had the potential to capture gold, silver and bronze in any women’s event as Oregon does this season in the 60 or 200 with Hannah Cunliffe, Deajah Stevens and Ariana Washington.

The better opportunity comes in the 200, with Cunliffe having run 22.60, Stevens 22.65 and Washington 22.80, all three seeded among the top five entries. Although Cunliffe set the collegiate record Feb. 11 when she clocked 7.07 in the 60-meter dash, neither Stevens nor Washington have run under 7.20 this year, making the prospect of a sweep more difficult.

Cunliffe is seeking Oregon’s first title in the 60 since English Gardner in 2012 and could capture the Ducks’ first indoor championship in the 200, although Washington swept both the 100 and 200 crowns at last year’s outdoor final.

Oregon does have experience with a top-three sweep at the Division 1 indoor final when Eric Jenkins, Edward Cheserek and Will Geoghegan took the top three spots in the men’s 3,000 in 2015, helping the Ducks capture the second of their three straight team titles.

Preparing to join the dynamic dozen

Only 12 American women have ever eclipsed the 2-minute barrier in an indoor 800-meter race.

After Texas A&M sophomore Jazmine Fray broke the collegiate record Feb. 11 by clocking 2:00.69 at the Clemson Tiger Paw Classic, that elite group of U.S. middle distance runners could have company following Saturday’s final.

Oregon junior Raevyn Rogers has won the past two Division 1 outdoor 800 titles, with a personal-best 1:59.71, in addition to capturing last year’s indoor championship. Rogers also boasts an indoor best of 2:00.90.

BYU senior Shea Collinsworth ran a personal-best 2:01.42 at the Iowa State Classic, with Virginia Tech senior Hanna Green entered at 2:01.91, along with an outdoor best of 2:01.17.

Although Stanford junior Olivia Baker has an indoor season best of 2:03.41, she can’t be counted out either with an outdoor best of 2:01.02.

Hurdlers hoping to make history

Following the switch to the 60-meter hurdles in 1999, only once have four women dipped under the 8-second barrier in the Division 1 final, and that was at altitude in Albuquerque, N.M., in 2014.

This season, five women have already run 7.98 or better, led by a 7.91 from Oregon senior Sasha Wallace, which makes her equal to the No. 8 all-time among collegiate performer.  Ironically, Wallace did not finish that 2014 race, before moving up to fifth in 2015 and runner-up last year, looking to become the Ducks’ first female champion in the event.

Purdue senior Devynne Charlton (7.97), Illinois junior Pedrya Seymour (7.98), UTEP sophomore Tobi Amusan (7.98) and LSU junior Mikiah Brisco (7.98) could make it the fastest women’s 60-hurdles final ever contested at the championship meet.

One more run at a record

Oregon’s Lilli Burdon, Ashante Horsley, Raevyn Rogers and Katie Rainsberger smashed the collegiate indoor record in the distance medley relay Jan. 27 at the Columbia East-West Challenge by clocking 10:48.77.

Now the Ducks’ quartet has their sights set on the all-time collegiate mark of 10:48.38 set outdoors in 1988 by Villanova.

If Oregon can eclipse that standard, the only groups that would remain in front of the Ducks on the all-time world list would be national teams from Australia, Kenya, Poland and the U.S., along with a trio of all-star quartets.

Rebels throwing their weight around

Since the women’s 20-pound weight throw was added to the Division 1 finals schedule in 1996, no school has captured both the shot put and weight throw titles in the same year.

Mississippi has the potential to be the first with Raven Saunders in the shot put and Janeah Stewart in the weight throw.

Saunders won the shot put championship in 2015, before finishing a disappointing 12th last year. Saunders, who also qualified in the weight throw, boasts the top shot put mark by an American female and second in the world this year at 62-8 (19.10m).

Stewart, who is also entered in the shot put, ranks seventh among U.S. women and ninth in the world this season in the weight throw at 76-07.5 (23.18m), but is more than 18 inches ahead of the next competitor.

The Rebels have never won two individual titles in the same year, regardless of gender.

Schweizer’s seasonal distance double

Missouri junior Karissa Schweizer will attempt to follow Notre Dame’s Molly Seidel by winning the Division 1 cross country championship in the fall and the indoor 5,000-meter title in the winter.

Seidel became the sixth woman to achieve the feat by winning the 2015 cross country crown and the 2016 indoor 5,000.

Texas Tech’s Sally Kipyego had a triple-double, winning cross country titles from 2006-08 and indoor 5,000 championships from 2007-09, the only female athlete to win both in the same school year more than once.

Villanova’s Sonia O’Sullivan and Jen Rhines, along with Arizona’s Amy Skieresz and Dartmouth’s Abbey D’Agostino also accomplished the daunting double.

Oregon trying to reach seventh heaven

Oregon has already equaled the longest women’s championship streak in NCAA Division 1 indoor history by winning five consecutive titles from 2010-14, matching LSU’s impressive run from 1993-97.

The Ducks have also produced the best seven-year span by winning six titles, the most recent coming last year, along with a runner-up finish in 2015.

Oregon is now trying to not only move past Texas for second all-time with its seventh women’s team championships, but produce the most successful stretch in meet history by capturing those seven titles in an eight-year span. It took LSU nine seasons to win seven championships.

Oregon is also pursuing Texas’ all-time women’s team scoring record of 71 points from 1988.

 



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