NCAA Track and Field Championships

[goshox74]

The NCAA Track and Field Championships begin this weekend for the Shockers in Eugene, Oregon. The meet runs Thursday-Saturday in "Tracktown, USA" - site of next year's Olympic Trials.

The top 48 athletes in both the Western and Eastern halves of the country are sent to their respective "preliminaries" (East goes to Indiana) with the top-12 in each event advancing through to the "NCAA Finals" two weeks later in Des Moines.

Here are the Shockers qualified for this weekend and their current rankings:
Adam Capps - Javelin #37
Brandon Childs - High Jump #14, Long Jump #24
Josh Crawford - Triple Jump #30
Sam Garrison - 110m hurdles #40
Dylan Hartnett - 200m #38, 400m #47
Todd McKown - 110m hurdles #15
Lawson Montgomery - 110m hurdles #13
Tyler Simmons - Long Jump #19
Brett Trudo - Javelin #18
4x100m relay (Montgomery, Hartnett, McKown, Simmons) #23

Here's a link to all the qualifiers: http://www.ustfccca.org/weekly-resul...or-track-field

This meet could go either way for the Shockers. Last year they had a bunch of athletes finish from the 13-18 range (top 12 advance) and this year could be the same. With a good meet, however, the Shocks could advance a large number of athletes to Drake. Hurdlers Montgomery and McKown should have a good shot as both were at this meet last year and narrowly missed advancing. Crawford's wind-aided mark from MVC's would put him #8 so with a good jump he's right there. Simmons and Trudo have both qualified for the NCAA finals in the past and could do so again. Childs is one of the unsung heroes of the group and has a shot in both jumping events. The relay is a long shot but the 4x1 is always one of the most unpredictable events in track and field.

Good luck to all the Shockers as they begin their NCAA journeys!

[1972Shocker]

If I am reading the results properly (and I would suggest that's a long shot) it looks like Tyler Simmons was about 1/2" short of qualifying for the NCAA Finals at Drake. He finished at #13 with a jump of 24' 5.5". The 11th and 12th place finishers had jumps of 24' 5.75".

The Top 12 qualified for the NCAA Finals.

The 24'10" jump he made to win the MVC Title would have put him 10th.

Good effort from the Shocker Senior.

Edit: I failed to mention that Sophomore Brandon Childs finished 27th with a jump of 23' 6.25". Again a good effort by Brandon whose best event, the high jump, is on tap for tomorrow.

[1972Shocker]

Brett Trudo had a nice throw of 224'7" in the Javelin with the preliminary round still in progress.

Adam Capps had a tough day and could only manage a throw of 185'1" which puts him in 39th currently.

The top 16 advance to the finals for 3 more attempts.

The top 12 once the final attempts are completed advance to Drake.

Adam is out of it, but Brett is in solid position and should continue into the regional finals.

Good luck Brett!

:clap: :goshocks: :clap:

[1972Shocker]

Looks like Brett finished 9th after the 3 prelim rounds and advances to final 3 rounds.

Can he hang on!

[1972Shocker]

Brett's throw from the preliminary round was his best and just enough to hang on to a 12th place finish in Eugene.

Brett is on his way to the NCAA finals at Drake.

Congratulations Brett!

:good: :goshocks: :clap:

[1972Shocker]

Dylan Hartnett just misses finishing in the Top 24 which advance to the quarterfinals with a 47.56 in his 400M race.

He missed moving to the next round by about .2 of a second.

Another fine effort by a Shocker. Dylan is a Junior so he will get another shot at it next year.

[goshox74]

It was a real solid day for the Shocker men. Trudo comes through with a clutch 3rd round throw and then like mentioned earlier, hangs on.

Simmons' deal was heartbreaking because he barely made it into the finals then actually moved into 12th for a short time before being edged out by one centimeter by TWO different athletes! Tough deal for a guy who was injured most of the season and still almost made the NCAA finals.

Todd McKown is nursing a strained hamstring that may hinder him in tomorrow's hurdles. Hopefully he can manage his was through it.

[1972Shocker]

Interesting tidbit: On the Men's side 19 of the Nation's top 25 ranked teams are represented in the West regional. Only 6 of the top 25 teams are in the East regional. So the Shocks aren't exactly competing against chopped liver.

#1 Texas A&M looks to be loaded for bear.

[1972Shocker]

Brandon Childs clears the 1st high jump height of 6'7" on his first attempt.

Got to check out for now.

:goshocks:

[1972Shocker]

Brandon missed all 3 attempts at the 2nd height of 6'9" and finishes 25th. I imagine that he is a little disappointed in that performance.

[1972Shocker]

None of the Shocker threesome in the 110M hurdles qualified for the NCAA Finals.

Lawson Montgomery was 29th at 14.36 about 0.13 from qualifying, Sam Garrison was 40th at 14.74 and Todd McKown had the slowest time at 16.9 which leads me to believe his he could not overcome the hamstring strain mentioned by goshox74.

Both Lawson and Todd had times in the MVC Championship that would have been good for a top 5 placement in the regionals but it wasn't to be today.

Lawson and Todd are both Juniors so they hopefully will get another shot at this next year.

[1972Shocker]

Dylan Hartnett finishes 35th in the 200M prelims with a time of 21.81 and fails to advance to the quartefinals. Dylan is a Junior so hopefully he will get another shot at this next year also.

[1972Shocker]

Business left for the Shocks on Saturday:

Josh Crawford in the triple jump

4x100m relay (Montgomery, Hartnett, McKown, Simmons) Not sure if the Shocks can sub someone for Todd McKown or if they may have to pull out due to Todd's hamstring strain. goshox74 can hopefully provide that info.

[goshox74]

Yeah it was a rough day today for the Shocks. You are correct about McKown, he tried his best but it wasn't meant to be and luckily he didn't damage anything more seriously. Montgomery got behind early and finished strong but had too much to make up - probably the most disappointing part of the day. Garrison ran solid for him in his final race as a Shocker. Hartnett ran into the headwind but improved on his pre-meet chart - he had a nice meet. Childs looked good early in the HJ but I think he tweaked an ankle at 6-9 and never really looked good after that.

The 4x1 is going to scratch tomorrow because of McKown and Childs (sub) injuries, so Crawford is the lone Shocker remaining. He could definitely be a wild card in the triple jump - he has the potential to do very well!

[1972Shocker]

Josh Crawford did finish 11th in the triple jump and will be moving on to the NCAA Finals at Drake. Congrats to Josh.

:good: :goshocks: :clap: