CHAMPIONSHIPS HISTORY: Historically Deep Fields

This is the latest in a series of posts based on the USTFCCCA’s NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships History page – the most comprehensive collection of the meet’s history anywhere on the web – leading up to the 2016 edition March 11-12 in Birmingham, Alabama. The page can be viewed in its entirety here.

NEW ORLEANS — The 2015 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships were as historic as they were exciting.

Case in point: There were nine — count them, nine — championship records set in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

The Year of the Vault took the spotlight as Shawn Barber and Sandi Morris took down their respective gender’s marks, while records also fell in the men’s 60-meter hurdles, men’s 4×400, men’s triple jump, men’s weight throw, women’s 800, women’s mile and the women’s pentathlon.

Speaking of the men’s weight throw, it wasn’t just Michael Lihrman who stood out. Seven of the top-8 finishers in the event, including Lihrman, set placement records (best mark by a winner, best mark by a runner-up, so on and so forth). Refer to the chart below and our historical data sheet for further explanation.

That is just one example of how athletes rewrote certain parts of the record book last year.

Here are a few others listed by the most number of placement records broken.

• Women’s Pentathlon: Six of the top-8 (1-3-4-5-6-7), led by Kendell Williams‘ collegiate record (4678)
• Men’s 60: Six of the top-8 (2-3-4-6-7-8), led by John Teeters (2nd, 6.54)
• Women’s Mile: Five of the top-8 (1-2-3-4-5), led by Leah O’Connor‘s meet record (4:27.18)
• Women’s Shot Put: Five of the top-8 (2-5-6-7-8), led by Tori Bliss (2nd, 18.47/60-7¼)
• Women’s 3000: Five of the top-8 (4-5-6-7-8), led by Katrina Coogan (4th, 9:01.16)

As great as 2015 was, 2016 might blow it out of the water.

Out of the 34 events that will be contested at the CrossPlex in Birmingham, Alabama this weekend, eight have entire fields under the eighth best time/mark ever established at NCAAs. Those include seven men’s events (60, 400, 800, Mile, 3000, 4×400, DMR) and just one for the women (800), with another coming very close (15 of 16 in the long jump).

Let’s take a closer look at several of those events to see which ones could be historically significant.

QUICK LINKS: Men’s DMR | Men’s 800 | Women’s 800 | Women’s Long Jump

Men’s Distance Medley Relay

FINALS: Friday, 9:45 p.m. ET

We all know 2015 was "The Year of the Vault."

This season could arguably belong to the Distance Medley Relay.

Four of the fastest times ever recorded by collegians, regardless of conditions, were run in 2016. Penn State (9th, 9:27.20) and Stanford (10th, 9:27.27) duked it out in late-January at the Penn State National, then Oklahoma State (3rd, 9:26.60 and Washington (8th, 9:27.19) upped the ante in mid-February at the Alex Wilson Invitational.

Well, those teams are all entered in Friday’s race, as are six other track burners — Michigan, Oklahoma, Virginia, Georgetown, Villanova, UCLA, Oregon (maybe with Edward Cheserek) and Mississippi.

The fastest eighth-place finisher at the NCAA meet was Stanford in 2011 (9:35.02). The slowest seeded time by a team entered in 2016 is nearly five seconds faster than that (Mississippi, 9:30.48).

If teams continue to race it like they have throughout the season and don’t turn it into a glorified mile time trial, the meet record set by Michigan in 2004 (9:27.77) could also be in danger.

Men’s 800

FINALS: Saturday, 6:50 p.m. ET

Donavan Brazier opened some eyes and unknowingly had a target placed on his back in mid-January.

That’s when the Texas A&M freshman ripped off the fifth fastest time in collegiate history (1:45.93) and forced the rest of the NCAA to catch up.

This weekend the competition will be a standstill, at least until the starting gun gets Friday’s semifinals and then Saturday’s final underway.

All 16 of the men entered in the 800 have seeded times under Aldwyn Sappleton’s 1:48.37 in 2005. Why is that important? Sappleton ran the fastest time ever recorded by an eighth-place finisher.

The quickest 800-meter race at NCAAs, though, came in 2001 when the first-, second- and third-place finishers clocked the fastest times. Patrick Nduwimana‘s meet record of 1:45.33 still stands.

Depending on who makes it out of the semifinals, we could be in store for a historical final on Saturday.

Women’s 800

FINALS: Saturday, 6:40 p.m. ET

Oregon sophomore Raevyn Rogers will run her second and third 800-meter races of the season on consecutive days this weekend. That’s figuring she makes it to Saturday’s final, which she probably will barring catastrophe.

But it’s what Rogers did in her first that made people giddy for what might happen in Birmingham, Alabama.

At the Millrose Games, Rogers ran the second fastest time ever recorded by a collegian (2:00.90). Rogers narrowly missed the collegiate record of 2:00.75 set by Nicole Cook in 2005.

Even though Rogers’ seed time is nearly three seconds faster than the competition, the entire field is seeded faster than what Brooke Feldmeier ran last year to place eighth (2:05.80).

If Rogers gets out in the first 400 and pulls along Feldmeier, as well as the six other women in the championship heat, the record book might need to be rewritten.

Women’s Long Jump

FINALS: Friday, 8:20 p.m. ET

You know that song, originally composed for "Annie Get Your Gun," that goes "Anything you can do, I can do better/ I can do anything better than you"? Well, that was the theme song for the long jump this season.

Alabama’s Quanesha Burks, Kansas State’s Akela Jones and Kentucky’s Sha’Keela Saunders kept one-upping each other. Saunders established the national lead in the first month, then Jones and Burks traded marks the rest of the way with the latter two tied at 6.75m (22-1¾) now.

Jones won’t be in the field at NCAAs, however, as she elected to compete in the high jump and pentathlon.

That leaves Burks with the sizable advantage over the field, but the cream always rises to the top. There is no reason why the 15 other athletes involved, including Georgia’s duo of Chanice Porter and Kenturah Orji can’t push the envelope even father.

Keep Natasha Harvey’s leap of 6.34m (20-9¾) in mind, though. That’s the best mark ever recorded by an eighth place finisher and it could fall since 15 athletes are seeded better.