WEEKEND PREVIEW: Under-The-Radar National Contenders at Conference Meets

NEW ORLEANS – While most of the so-called “Power Five” conferences have one more week until their indoor track & field conference championships get underway, championships season is actually already underway.

The Big Ten, SEC, MPSF (a Pac-12 indoor proxy), ACC and Big 12 compete next weekend, but the Southland kicked off the action earlier this week as Sam Houston State swept that league’s crowns.

Seven more conferences decide their conference titles starting today, all along the east coast and in the south.

MORE INFORMATION: Conference Championships Central

Among those conferences are a number of individuals who may be under-the-radar at present (and some who just recently broke through), but will be big factors at next month’s NCAA Championships in Birmingham, Alabama, on March 11-12.

We break them down below.

AMERICA EAST CHAMPIONSHIPS

Feb. 19 – Feb. 20 | Staten Island, New York
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One name that’s no longer under the radar is Elinor Purrier. The New Hampshire sophomore ran a blistering 4:29.71 for the eighth-fastest mile in collegiate history just this past weekend- career-best by more than six seconds. Last summer she finished seventh at the NCAA Championships in the 3000-meter steeplechase.

But she’s not the only athlete to watch for at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex this weekend. Not even the only distance runner, in fact. Christina Melian of Stony Brook announced herself as a national contender on the cross country circuit this fall with a win at the Coast-to-Coast Battle in Beantown and several other strong performances. She’s currently ranked No. 13 in the country at 5000 meters, and will contest the 3000 individually this weekend.

Purrier and Melian are slated to square off in the 1600-meter anchor leg of the distance medley relay.

On the men’s side, keep an eye on Drew Piazza of New Hampshire. The junior is ranked No. 6 at 800 meters with a 1:47.28 in late January, and will contest the mile, 4×400 relay and DMR this weekend.

NORTHEAST CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS

Feb. 19 – Feb. 20 | Staten Island, New York
LIVE RESULTS | MEET HOME

In the sprints void left by the professional departures of Trayvon Bromell and Andre De Grasse, one name to keep an eye on is Brendon Rodney of LIU Brooklyn. The senior has perennially been near the top of the NCAA leaderboards at 200 meters, but has yet to break through to an NCAA Championships final at 200 meters. He was, however, a semifinalist for Canada at last year’s IAAF World Championships and ran on on the bronze-medal-winning 4×100 relay.

As the collegiate leader with an indoor career-best 20.52 on the books in just one race over that distance this year, he appears to very much be in position to not only break through to the NCAA final but be a significant factor there. Consider this: he’s already shown improved speed and endurance with career-bests indoors at both 60 meters and 400 meters.

SUN BELT CHAMPIONSHIPS

Feb. 22 – Feb. 23 | Birmingham, Alabama
LIVE RESULTS | WATCH LIVE | MEET HOME

Of all the conference championship meets this weekend, the Sun Belt is most plentiful in terms of athletes ranked in the top-10 nationally with four – and they’ll all be competing at the site of next month’s NCAA Championships at the CrossPlex in Birmingham, Alabama. Could we see several of them back for that meet?

A name with which track & field fans may be familiar is Arkansas State’s Roelf Pienaar. The junior finished third in the long jump at last season’s NCAA Outdoor Championships, and was near the top of the leaderboard indoors. This year he’s ranked No. 9 in the long jump.

The Redwolves have a woman even higher on the NCAA leaderboards, as Kristina Knott is ranked seventh in the country at 60 meters. The sophomore is coming off a 7.28 over the distance two weekends ago.

Ranked more highly than anyone else in the conference, however, is high jumper Roland Sales of UT Arlington. The senior, who is the reigning indoor/outdoor Sun Belt champ, has cleared a career-best 2.20m (7-2½) this year.

Last but not least, Sean Collins of South Alabama is ranked No. 10 in the country in the pole vault. The freshman, who was third in last year’s USATF Junior Championships, has cleared 5.42m (17-9¼) so far this season.