MEET PREVIEW: McCravy Memorial Invitational

NEW ORLEANS — Welcome to the first big weekend of the 2017 indoor track & field season.

Our gaze is trained on the Nutter Field House in Lexington, Kentucky, where the Rod McCravy Memorial Invitational will be held Friday and Saturday.

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Four top-10 women’s teams in NCAA Division I and two top-10 men’s teams will be in action over the span of two days. On the women’s side, fans will see No. 4 USC go up against No. 5 Texas, No. 8 Kentucky and No. 10 Purdue. On the men’s side, the top-10 matchup is between No. 6 USC and No. 7 Texas.

From an individual standpoint, there could be some fireworks.

Let’s break them down a bit. All times are for final heats unless otherwise mentioned.

Women’s 60 Meters

Saturday, 12:55 p.m. ET

Two heats might produce 5 of the 9 athletes in the final, since the McCravy Memorial Invitational goes with the heat winners and the next four fastest times.

And that’s saying something when the defending NCAA champion sits alone in Heat 4.

Heat 1 should see a lot of action as Southern California’s Deanna Hill (t-No. 6 in the USTFCCCA Individual Rankings) tangles with Kentucky’s Javianne Oliver (No. 4) and Miami (Fla.)’s Kristina Knott (t-No. 6). Oliver finished 6th at NCAAs in this event last year, while Hill was 6th in the 100 at NCAAs outdoors.

Then, of course, we have Texas sophomore Teahna Daniels who makes her 2017 debut. Daniels burst on the scene last year at NCAAs as a freshman when she edged Oregon’s Hannah Cunliffe at the line for the 60-meter crown.

The final could be a great preview of what we could see in College Station, Texas on March 10-11 for the 2017 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships.

Women’s 400 Meters

Saturday, 1:40 p.m. ET

Fans will see the top-ranked woman in the USTFCCCA Individual Rankings as well as the 5th-ranked woman, but unfortunately they won’t be racing each other on Saturday.

Miami (Fla.)’s Shakima Wimbley, the top-ranked woman in our rankings, is entered in Heat 1. Wimbley clocked a time of 36.72 in the 300 meters last weekend, which is the 5th fastest time in collegiate history over that distance.

Purdue’s Brionna Thomas, the 5th-ranked woman, will face former The Bowerman Award finalist Kori Carter (2013) in Heat 2. Thomas opened with a time of 54.32 this season but has an effort of 52.48 under her belt that she ran last year at Big 10s.

The final could be quite fast and give us an idea of who the next Queen of the Quarter Mile will be now that Courtney Okolo is no longer in the NCAA system.

Individual Breakdown

Devynne Charlton, 60 Hurdles — We’ll have to wait for the showdown between Charlton, the No. 1 woman in our USTFCCCA Individual Rankings, against outdoor 100 hurdle champ Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, but we’ll see Charlton compete this weekend in her signature event. Charlton could, however, match up with 2015 The Bowerman Award finalist Kendra Harrison in the final. Harrison is entered in Heat 3 and should have an easy time advancing.

Randall Cunningham, High Jump — Another defending NCAA champ is in action this weekend, but not of the indoor variety. Cunningham, the outdoor high jump champ, opens his season in Lexington, Kentucky. When Cunningham jumped this early last year it turned out quite good for him. Cunningham soared a personal best of 2.26m (7-5) at the Conference Clash/Power 5 Invitational.

Senoj-Jay Givans, 60 Meters — The 5th-ranked man in our USTFCCCA Individual Rankings will compete in the 60 this weekend. Givans didn’t make the final at NCAAs last year, but finished 3rd in the 100 outdoors and went sub-10 seconds (9.96) in the prelims at Hayward Field.

Michael Norman, 400 Meters — Not many freshman find their way on The Bowerman Award Watch List, let alone before they debut. Well, not many freshman have the prowess as Norman. The Southern California freshman competes in the 400 this weekend and is seeded well ahead of the pack. Norman is tabbed at 45.19 and if he runs that time — or anything better than 45.61 — it would vault him to the No. 1 spot on the USTFCCCA Individual Rankings.

Raven Saunders, Shot Put — Every time Saunders steps in the circle, she puts on a show. Saunders opened her season last week and heaved it 19.10m (62-8). That was her 3rd career throw of more than 19 meters indoors and she is the only woman in NCAA history to accomplish that. Saunders set her collegiate record in mid-February last year, but one look at what she did last weekend leads you to believe she already eclipsed that pace and her own standard could fall this weekend.

Eric Sloan, Long Jump — We’ll have to wait a bit to see Sloan in his signature event (triple jump), but he’ll take to the runway this weekend in the long jump, where he’s ranked No. 9 in the USTFCCCA Individual Rankings. When it comes to the triple jump, however, Sloan is No. 1 by quite a bit and finished 4th at NCAAs last year. Sloan will also compete in the 60 against Texas’ Aldrich Bailey Jr. and the aptly-named Just’N Thymes, who is a fellow Trojan.