5 Must-See Conference Match-Ups
5 Must-See Conference Match-Ups
With conference championships going down around the country, we decided to highlight some of the most anticipated match-ups this week. Here are just a few o
With conference championships going down around the country, we decided to highlight some of the most anticipated match-ups this week. Here are just a few of the duals we are looking forward to watching this weekend.
Pac-12 Championships — Women’s 800m
This race features defending NCAA champion Raevyn Rogers and the up-and-coming force that is current NCAA 800m leader Olivia Baker. Baker showed major improvement just two weeks ago at the Payton Jordan Invitational when she finished fourth in the fastest section with a massive personal best of 2:01.02. The mark is a three-second improvement from her previous PR and locked her in to compete at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials.
Watch her race below:
Rogers recently split an effortless 2:05 on Oregon’s sprint medley relay and anchored the Ducks to victory on the 4x400m at Penn Relays. She holds a season’s best of 2:02.81 from Mt. SAC Relays, but already ran 2:00.90 in February. Pac-12s was a breakout for Rogers last year when she set a huge then-PR of 2:01.67 to claim the conference title.
Watch her reaction after winning her first Pac-12 title:
This match-up could preview what’s to come during the NCAA Championship portion of the season, and we can’t wait to witness it all go down.
Big 12 Championships — Men’s 100m
Defending 60m NCAA Indoor champion Ronnie Baker will contend with stiff competition between the return of Texas All-American Senoj-Jay Givans and Oklahoma State’s John Teeters. Baker ran 9.95 (+2.7), the fastest all-conditions 100m in the NCAA this year, at the TCU Invitational in March and most recently clocked a 200m PR of 20.64 at the Florida Tom Jones Memorial. Givans did not compete at the Big 12 Indoor Championships, but returned outdoors with an all-conditions season’s best of 10.08, which is the fourth-fastest 100m in the NCAA currently. Teeters owns a season’s best of 10.16 (+2.0) from the John McDonnell Invitational, which is the eighth-fastest 100m in the NCAA this year.
Last year’s Big 12 Outdoor final proved to be a race for the record books with then-Baylor NCAA champion Trayvon Bromell leading the charge in 9.91, and this year should be just as competitive.
Watch last year's race below:
SEC Championships — Women’s 100m and 200m
Arguably the deepest competition of the weekend, the women’s 100m and 200m finals at the Southeastern Conference Championships are poised to stun the crowd.
Eight ladies ranked No. 3-10 in the NCAA 100m this year will contend for conference bragging rights. Kentucky will bring their “A” game with Destiny Carter, Kianna Gray, and Javianne Oliver, who all ran under 11.17 (all-conditions) at the LSU Invitational on April 30. Florida’s NCAA Championship-winning relay squad will roll out their stars in Shayla Sanders and Kyra Jefferson, and LSU will bring stud sprinters in Mikiah Brisco and Kortnei Johnson. Finally, Tennessee’s Kali Davis-White will contend after posting a season’s best of 11.18 at the LSU Alumni Gold Invitational.
The women's 200m is already off to a crazy-fast start after NCAA Indoor champion Felicia Brown posted a 22.19 to lead the field heading into the final. Destiny Carter and Taylor Ellis-Watson followed with the second and third-fastest times of the day in 22.41 and 22.52, respectively. The preliminaries were so fast that the sprinters all had to run under 23 seconds to reach the final!
SEC Championships — Men’s 800m
The men’s 800m showdown at SECs will be a much-anticipated preview of what could be the NCAA Outdoor final. With two-time NCAA champion Brandon McBride, rising star Andres Arroyo, Texas A&M standout Hector Hernandez and freshmen phenoms Carlton Orange and Donovan Brazier, the 800m final will thrill the crowd.
Despite sitting out the NCAA indoor season, McBride returned to the 800m with a bang just two weeks ago when he ran 1:44.63 — the third-fastest mark in NCAA history. The performance was a vast improvement from a disappointing 2015 season and gave McBride the confidence in his strength training.
RELATED: Q&A With Brandon McBride After 1:44
He will face competition in Florida’s All-American Arroyo, who ran a then-NCAA leading time of 1:45.78 at the Florida Relays and has since posted a 1500m season’s best of 3:44.89. Hernandez of Texas A&M is also on a roll this season after a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships and later a 1:46.29 personal best at the UCLA vs. Texas A&M dual. His teammate Donovan Brazier should also be a serious contender after bursting onto the scene last January with an American junior record of 1:45.93. Unfortunately, he was forced to drop out of the NCAA Indoor Championships due to injury, but returned outdoors with a season’s best of 1:47.33. Another freshman talent to watch will be Carlton Orange, who just posted a massive personal best of 1:46.96 at the John McDonnell Invitational.
ACC Championships —Men’s 1500m
NCAA leader and defending NCAA Indoor champion Henry Wynne leads a star-studded crew of All-Americans in the men’s 1500m at ACCs. Wynne emerged as a stunner at the NCAA Indoor Championships when he claimed the mile victory and has since posted improvements throughout the outdoor season.
Watch Wynne's NCAA-winning mile:
He ran 3:38.35 at Florida Relays and improved upon the performance with a 3:38.05 winning time at the Virginia Challenge.
He will have fierce competition in the pack of Syracuse Orange that includes All-Americans Justyn Knight, Adam Palamar, and Joel Hubbard. Knight holds a 3:39.23 season’s best from the Virginia Challenge 1500m race where he finished second to Wynne. He most recently clocked a 5K PR of 13:27 at Payton Jordan. Palamar is returning from a 3:40.49 season’s best, which is also from the Challenge, and Hubbard recently claimed a 3:43 victory in his heat at Payton Jordan.
North Carolina State standouts Graham Crawford and Luis Vargas should also put up a challenge after each posting 3:40.69 and 3:42.67 season’s bests, respectively. And Neil Gourley of Virginia Tech stands to compete after posting a 3:42.70 season’s best at Payton Jordan.
Pac-12 Championships — Women’s 800m
This race features defending NCAA champion Raevyn Rogers and the up-and-coming force that is current NCAA 800m leader Olivia Baker. Baker showed major improvement just two weeks ago at the Payton Jordan Invitational when she finished fourth in the fastest section with a massive personal best of 2:01.02. The mark is a three-second improvement from her previous PR and locked her in to compete at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials.
Watch her race below:
Rogers recently split an effortless 2:05 on Oregon’s sprint medley relay and anchored the Ducks to victory on the 4x400m at Penn Relays. She holds a season’s best of 2:02.81 from Mt. SAC Relays, but already ran 2:00.90 in February. Pac-12s was a breakout for Rogers last year when she set a huge then-PR of 2:01.67 to claim the conference title.
Watch her reaction after winning her first Pac-12 title:
This match-up could preview what’s to come during the NCAA Championship portion of the season, and we can’t wait to witness it all go down.
Big 12 Championships — Men’s 100m
Defending 60m NCAA Indoor champion Ronnie Baker will contend with stiff competition between the return of Texas All-American Senoj-Jay Givans and Oklahoma State’s John Teeters. Baker ran 9.95 (+2.7), the fastest all-conditions 100m in the NCAA this year, at the TCU Invitational in March and most recently clocked a 200m PR of 20.64 at the Florida Tom Jones Memorial. Givans did not compete at the Big 12 Indoor Championships, but returned outdoors with an all-conditions season’s best of 10.08, which is the fourth-fastest 100m in the NCAA currently. Teeters owns a season’s best of 10.16 (+2.0) from the John McDonnell Invitational, which is the eighth-fastest 100m in the NCAA this year.
Last year’s Big 12 Outdoor final proved to be a race for the record books with then-Baylor NCAA champion Trayvon Bromell leading the charge in 9.91, and this year should be just as competitive.
Watch last year's race below:
SEC Championships — Women’s 100m and 200m
Arguably the deepest competition of the weekend, the women’s 100m and 200m finals at the Southeastern Conference Championships are poised to stun the crowd.
Eight ladies ranked No. 3-10 in the NCAA 100m this year will contend for conference bragging rights. Kentucky will bring their “A” game with Destiny Carter, Kianna Gray, and Javianne Oliver, who all ran under 11.17 (all-conditions) at the LSU Invitational on April 30. Florida’s NCAA Championship-winning relay squad will roll out their stars in Shayla Sanders and Kyra Jefferson, and LSU will bring stud sprinters in Mikiah Brisco and Kortnei Johnson. Finally, Tennessee’s Kali Davis-White will contend after posting a season’s best of 11.18 at the LSU Alumni Gold Invitational.
The women's 200m is already off to a crazy-fast start after NCAA Indoor champion Felicia Brown posted a 22.19 to lead the field heading into the final. Destiny Carter and Taylor Ellis-Watson followed with the second and third-fastest times of the day in 22.41 and 22.52, respectively. The preliminaries were so fast that the sprinters all had to run under 23 seconds to reach the final!
Uhhh... #SECTF women are ROLLING in the prelims! LIVE RESULTS: https://t.co/UOwqE1Tf0I pic.twitter.com/dwrj8j361b
— FloTrack (@FloTrack) May 12, 2016
SEC Championships — Men’s 800m
The men’s 800m showdown at SECs will be a much-anticipated preview of what could be the NCAA Outdoor final. With two-time NCAA champion Brandon McBride, rising star Andres Arroyo, Texas A&M standout Hector Hernandez and freshmen phenoms Carlton Orange and Donovan Brazier, the 800m final will thrill the crowd.
Despite sitting out the NCAA indoor season, McBride returned to the 800m with a bang just two weeks ago when he ran 1:44.63 — the third-fastest mark in NCAA history. The performance was a vast improvement from a disappointing 2015 season and gave McBride the confidence in his strength training.
Brandon McBride, ladies and gentlemen. @mcbride46 took full control of the first section of 800m. #HailState pic.twitter.com/301E6LDj2D
— MSU Track & Field (@HailStateTF) April 30, 2016
RELATED: Q&A With Brandon McBride After 1:44
He will face competition in Florida’s All-American Arroyo, who ran a then-NCAA leading time of 1:45.78 at the Florida Relays and has since posted a 1500m season’s best of 3:44.89. Hernandez of Texas A&M is also on a roll this season after a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships and later a 1:46.29 personal best at the UCLA vs. Texas A&M dual. His teammate Donovan Brazier should also be a serious contender after bursting onto the scene last January with an American junior record of 1:45.93. Unfortunately, he was forced to drop out of the NCAA Indoor Championships due to injury, but returned outdoors with a season’s best of 1:47.33. Another freshman talent to watch will be Carlton Orange, who just posted a massive personal best of 1:46.96 at the John McDonnell Invitational.
ACC Championships —Men’s 1500m
NCAA leader and defending NCAA Indoor champion Henry Wynne leads a star-studded crew of All-Americans in the men’s 1500m at ACCs. Wynne emerged as a stunner at the NCAA Indoor Championships when he claimed the mile victory and has since posted improvements throughout the outdoor season.
Watch Wynne's NCAA-winning mile:
He ran 3:38.35 at Florida Relays and improved upon the performance with a 3:38.05 winning time at the Virginia Challenge.
He will have fierce competition in the pack of Syracuse Orange that includes All-Americans Justyn Knight, Adam Palamar, and Joel Hubbard. Knight holds a 3:39.23 season’s best from the Virginia Challenge 1500m race where he finished second to Wynne. He most recently clocked a 5K PR of 13:27 at Payton Jordan. Palamar is returning from a 3:40.49 season’s best, which is also from the Challenge, and Hubbard recently claimed a 3:43 victory in his heat at Payton Jordan.
North Carolina State standouts Graham Crawford and Luis Vargas should also put up a challenge after each posting 3:40.69 and 3:42.67 season’s bests, respectively. And Neil Gourley of Virginia Tech stands to compete after posting a 3:42.70 season’s best at Payton Jordan.