THE WARM-UP LAP: Tyson Invitational – National Meet of the Week Preview (Part II)

MEET INFO: Live Results | Entries | Schedule | SEC Network+ Broadcast

Track events took center stage on Friday, and Saturday belongs to the field events with invitational sections of most of them kicking off at 5pm ET/4pm CT.

That’s not to say there isn’t great action on the track as well. Check out the stacked 200-meters and 4×400 relay fields below.

Men: 200 | 4×400 Relay | HJ | PV | TJ | SP
Women: 200 | 4×400 Relay | HJ | PV | TJ | SP

Saturday Events

Women’s Pole Vault Invitational – 1pm ET/12pm CT

There are only 10 vaulters in this field, so we should be able to get to the main attraction much sooner than usual: two of the three women in collegiate history who have cleared 15 feet in the pole vault in Sandi Morris of Arkansas and defending national champion Kaitlin Petrillose of Texas. The Year of the Vault marches on.

Morris and Petrillose came up short last week in New Mexico in their first three-way match-up with current collegiate record holder Demi Payne of Stephen F. Austin, but good things may be in store for Morris this weekend based on a pattern she herself has observed:

Just noticed, this year, I have PRd every other meet… Guess I'm due for one this coming competition! ;) 4.45,4.61,4.55,4.65,4.56,????

— Sandi Morris (@SandiCheeks15) February 8, 2015

Payne (who is competing early next week at the Southland Conference Championships) and Morris have been leaps and bounds better than anyone else this year. Is Petrillose ready to reclaim her 2014 indoor form and join them at historic heights? How about Morgann Leleux of Georgia, who’s ranked No. 8 but has flirted with the 15-foot barrier before?

Here’s the top-20 competitors in the field:

Women’s 200 (Sections 1-4) -3:35pm ET/2:35pm CT

What Saturday lacks in the quantity of premier track events it makes up in quality. For instance, as many as four past national champions could line up for the women’s 200, albeit likely in different sections. Both reigning indoor champion Dezerea Bryant of Kentucky and outdoor champion Kamaria Brown of Texas A&M are in the field and could race against one another, as are the Texas duo of Courtney Okolo and Ashley Spencer who have combined for the past three NCAA outdoor 400 meters titles.

If No. 1 Brown vs. No. 2 Bryant isn’t enough for you, how about this: they’ll potentially be joined by No. 3 Kyra Jefferson of Florida, No. 4 Cierra White of Texas Tech, No. 6 Olivia Ekpone of Texas A&M, No. 7 Ashton Purvis of A&M, No. 8 Felicia Majors of Tennessee and No. 9 Destinee Gause of Florda.

Plus five other top-20 women for a total of 15 – tied for the best in the meet with the men’s 60. One of those five is Florida’s Shayla Sanders, who was a first-team All-American a year ago along with champ Bryant, runner-up Jefferson, fourth-place Purvis, and fifth-place Gause.

Check out this loaded group of contenders.

Men’s 200 (Sections 1-4) -3:50pm ET/2:50pm CT

What if I told you the men’s 200 was nearly as deep as the women’s race and every bit as loaded at the top? Outdoor champ and indoor runner-up No. 1 Dedric Dukes of Florida is slated to make his season debut, and he’ll be thrown into the fire right away.

No. 2 Shavez Hart of Texas A&M is the collegiate leader this year, and teammate No. 3 Arman Hall was a fourth-place finisher in this event nationally a year ago. No. 5 Aaron Ernest of LSU is back in his prime form with the second spot on the 2015 descending order list, followed closely by No. 8 Sam Watts of TCU and No. 10 Bryce Robinson of Tulsa.

No 13 Trayvon Bromell of Baylor, the defending NCAA outdoors100 meters champ and collegiate leader at 60 meters, is also among a group of contenders listed below.

Men’s Pole Vault Invitational – 4:30pm ET/3:30pm CT

Fresh off his collegiate indoor pole vault record this past weekend, defending national champion Shawn Barber of Akron returns to action at the site of this year’s NCAA Championships. Awaiting him is the toughest field of collegians he has yet faced this season (though he’s already handled former collegiate rival and two-time NCAA champ Sam Kendricks multiple times this year).

Barber is the only 19-foot vaulter this season among collegians (he’s done it five times), but of the 11 other men who have cleared 18 feet, five of them are slated to compete. That includes No. 2 Jake Blankenship of Tennessee, who has sneakily moved up to No. 10 on the all-time collegiate performers list with his clearance of 18-8.25 (5.70m) in late January, as well as two-time NCAA indoor champion Andrew Irwin of Arkansas. Can the former champ regain his magic on his home track to close out his indoor career?

And now begins the parade of streamlined invitational sections of field events that all kick off at 5pm ET/4pm CT. Each and every one one of them features top-five match-ups with national title implications.

Women’s Triple Jump

At the Rod McCravy Memorial in late January, the duel betwee collegiate leader No. 1 Keturah Orji of Georgia and No. 2 Ciarra Brewer of Florida resulted in Orji joining the all-time collegiate top-10 performers list with a U.S. Junior indoor record and Brewer coming up just short of that all-time list. What will they do for an encore? Especially considering that meet was Orji’s collegiate debut in the event…

They’ll have to get past national runner-up No. 5 Marshay Ryan of Auburn, as well as No. 4 LaQue Moen-Davis of Texas, No. 6 Tamara Myers of Arkansas (thanks again for the Twitter pole vault updates from New Mexico last weekend!) and No. 8 LeAnna Morrison of South Carolina.

Men’s Triple Jump

Felix Obi of Baylor is the defending indoor national champion in this event, but was forced to miss the outdoor season with injury. During that time, Florida’s Marquis Dendy stepped in and won the national outdoor title. The two will square off for the second time this season dating back to McCravy, which Dendy won. Obi is No. 2 on the USTFCCCA list by virtue of last-season’s NCAA-winning jump, but he’s just No. 22 in 2015, while Dendy is No. 11 on the USTFCCCA list and No. 7 on TFRRS.

Looking to notch wins over the national champions are No. 9 Latario Collie of Texas A&M and four more top-20 contenders – including the aptly named Brian Leap of Penn State.

Men’s Shot Put

Three-time NCAA Champion No. 1 Ryan Crouser of Texas is the king of the collegiate shot put, but he’ll have a majority of the challengers to his throne against him in the field at Tyson. The collegiate leader will have to face No. 3 Stipe Zunic of Florida, No. 4 Darrell Hill of Penn State, No. 5 Ashinia Miller of Georgia, No. 6 Kole Weldon of Texas Tech, and No. 8 Nick Vena of Georgia.

Women’s High Jump

Four women are currently tied for the 2015 Division I high jump lead at 1.86m (No. 5 on the USTFCCCA lists), and two of them will go head-to-head Saturday in Akron’s Claudia Garcia-Jou and Nebraska’s Marusa Cernjul. They’ll have to also contend with defending indoor and outdoor NCAA champion Leontia Kallenou of Georgia, as well as a pair of No. 3 athletes in Florida’s Taylor Burke and Kansas State’s Akela Jones, and outdoor runner-up Alyx Treasure of K-State.

Men’s High Jump

Four of the top five men on the USTFCCCA lists will hit the high jump apron in Fayetteville this weekend looking to emerge as the frontrunner in the race for the NCAA title. Jacorian Duffield of Texas Tech is No. 1 both on the USTFCCCA list and in 2015, and is also tied as the highest-returning NCAA finisher at fifth with his teammate No. 4 Bradley Adkins. The Red Raider duo will try to out-leap Nebraska’s No. 3 James White, Kansas State’s No. 4 Bryan Christoff and Auburn’s No. 9 DJ Smith.

Women’s Shot Put

With defending indoor/outdoor national champion Christina Hillman of Iowa State out of the picture for the indoor season (she’ll be back outdoors), a flurry of women have made moves to establish themselves as favorites. On the USTFCCCA list, Kearsten Peoples of Missouri is No. 3 as the third-place finisher at NCAAs a year ago, but she’s just 14th on the 2015 list.

No. 5 Tori Bliss of LSU had been the 2015 collegiate leader for much of the season before being surpassed by Southern Illinois’ Raven Saunders (not at this meet). She’s up against No. 6 Dani Winters (No. 3 in 2015) and No. 8 Jill Rushin of Missouri (No. 5 in 2015).

And, like all track meets should, the two-day extravaganza will close with a 4×400 relay competition for the men and women that feature 15 of the top 20 teams on the USTFCCCA lists. Get ready for some fireworks.

We’ll preview these as though teams will be running their top teams.

Women’s 4×400 Relay (6 sections) – 5:15pm ET/4:15pm CT

Headlining the field is a match-up between No. 2 Texas, No. 3 Florida and No. 4 Arkansas – a rematch from the McCravy Memorial.

Florida went sub-3:30 for the fastest time ever run by a collegiate team in the month of January, while Arkansas upset defending national outdoor champion Texas for second place just a share over 3:30. With three of the fastest outdoor 400-meter collegians in history (NCAA champ/collegiate record holder Coutney Okolo, two-time NCAA champ Ashley Spencer and Kendall Baisden), look for the Longhorns to make a strong play at reclaiming the collegiate lead. After all, this Texas group would have been the collegiate record holders if not for Oregon’s finish-line-herorics at NCAAs a year ago.

No matter what, it’s going to be fast.

Men’s 4×400 Relay (6 sections) – 5:45pm ET/4:45pm CT

If you take a break from the SEC Network+ (WatchESPN) broadcast following the women’s 4×4, be sure to get back for the fastest men’s sections. Any race with No. 1 Texas A&M and No. 2 Florida is guaranteed to be interesting (not to mention defending indoor NCAA Champion No. 3 LSU).

The Aggies very nearly broke their own collegiate record from last year, missing by just .03 of a second behind lightning quick legs from reigning The Bowerman Trophy winner Deon Lendore and Bralon Taplin, who went sub-45 on his split.

At McCravy, the duel between Florida and LSU came right down to the finish line, with Florida narrowly earning the W.

This could very well end up being the event of the meet. Need an idea for Valentine’s Day? Turn on WatchESPN and impress your date with your knowledge of the 4×4 as you watch the potentially epic race unfold.