Who Needs To Be On Upset Alert On Day 2 At NCAAs?

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — During the first day of the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships, top-seeded field athletes didn’t have too much success.

Out of the six finals contested — men’s and women’s long jump, men’s and women’s weight throw, men’s high jump and men’s pole vault — only two athletes who owned the collegiate lead entering the meet won his or her event. Those fortunate two would be Alabama’s Quanesha Burks and Arkansas’ Jarrion Lawson, both long jumpers.

Other than that, here are how the top seeds fared.

• Men’s Weight Throw: Purdue’s Chukwuebuka Enekwechi finished second.
• Women’s Weight Throw: Wisconsin’s Kelsey Card finished 13th.
• Men’s High Jump: Texas Tech’s Bradley Adkins finished 9th.
• Men’s Pole Vault: Tennessee’s Jake Blakenship didn’t record a clearance.

On the track, neither of the top-ranked DMR teams (Oklahoma State men and Stanford women) won and Texas A&M freshman Donavan Brazier dropped out of the 800 after a few laps.

Should any top seeds coming into NCAAs be on upset alert today? Let’s take a look.

Ronnie Baker – Men’s 60

FINAL: 5:55 p.m. ET

Baker cooked up one of the fastest times in NCAA history at the Big 12 Championships.

His blistering 6.51 put him sixth on the all-time collegiate list. And as an aside, Baker said he saw himself slow down at the end when he watched film of the race.

Well, Baker might need to run through the finish line today.

During Friday’s prelims, Houston’s Cameron Burrell clocked a 6.50 to win his heat and break a meet record. That ties Burrell with Lee McRae for fifth all-time.

Let’s not forget Tennesee’s Christian Coleman or Oklahoma State’s John Teeters either. Coleman set a personal best of 6.53 on Friday and Teeters has a 6.52 to his credit.

"That fires me up: I love competition," Baker said after Friday’s prelims. "Bring it."

Zack Bilderback – Men’s 400

FINAL: 6:10 p.m. ET

If Bilderback wins his first individual NCAA title, he’ll have earned it.

Bilderback, who ran a 45.27 at the Big 12 Championships, recorded the third fastest time during Friday’s prelims.

That left Bilderback in a tough spot.

Bilderback is in a heat with three men ranked 11th, 13th and 14th in the event and none of them went sub-46 in 2016.

Conversely, his fiercest and fastest rivals are all in the second heat — LSU’s Michael Cherry (2nd), Florida’s Arman Hall (6th) and Florida’s Najee Glass (8th) — so they’ll know what mark they need to beat.

Bilderback must get out quick, hold on and put pressure on someone else’s shoulders.

To wit: Bilderback has done it before. He basically soloed the final at the Big 12 meet, where he won by 0.84 seconds.

Megan Clark/Lexi Weeks – Women’s Pole Vault

FINAL: 5 p.m. ET

Anything can happen in the pole vault.

Remember last year when collegiate record holder Demi Payne no-heighted in Fayetteville, Arkansas?

Go back less than 24 hours and see the cruel twist of fate Blakenship suffered.

Needless to say, Clark and Weeks — both of whom cleared 4.60m (15-1) this season — need to be on their ‘A’ game.

Who can keep Clark or Weeks from winning a title? Look no further than Texas’ Kaitlin Petrillose.

Despite this being a down season, Petrillose is a former collegiate record holder and was the first-ever female collegian to surpass 15 feet.