Branta Set NCAA MRs In 1500, 3000
The women’s 1500-meter final at the 1985 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Austin, Texas, could have been billed as a clash of titans.
No one was mightier than Cathy Branta of Wisconsin.
Never mind that it was her first NCAA race at the distance that included meet record holder Claudette Groenendaal of Oregon, who was looking to repeat after winning the 800 with the MR in that event as well.
Branta proved herself swift at the shortest distance in her arsenal.
It was not the usual 1500 race, as Stanford’s Regina Jacobs tried to run and hide. Branta – stepping down in distance as a two-time winner in the 3000 as well as the meet record holder from the previous year (8:59.57) – broke away from the pack to catch Jacobs before the 800 meters, then ran by herself the rest of the way.
The result was Branta setting an all-time meet best of 4:12.64 to become the first (and only) woman with meet records in the 1500 and 3000.
“Cathy is a great racer and is very hungry,” said her coach, USTFCCCA Hall of Famer Peter Tegen, to Sean Hartnett for Track & Field News. “She has the ability to smell a win more so than a lot of other talented runners.”
Branta later became Cathy Easker after marrying John Easker. Both were part of the first Badger cross country teams to win NCAA titles for each program – men in 1982, women in 1984.
The NCAA and collegiate track & field will mark a momentous milestone in the spring of 2021 -- the 100th anniversary of the NCAA Championships and with that, the NCAA Track & Field Championships. In June 1921, the University of Chicago hosted the first track & field championships in NCAA history.
This point can’t be emphasized enough: Not only was the event the first for NCAA track & field, but the first championships for any sport under the sponsorship of the NCAA.
To celebrate, over each of the next 365 days, the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) will celebrate moments, student-athletes, and coaches that have made a century’s worth of championships special. From humble beginnings to important historical milestones to the modern-day, collegiate track & field has evolved with the American society.
The 2021 edition of the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships begin with preliminary round action on May 27-29 in Jacksonville, Fla., and College Station, Texas. The championships final site and culmination of the celebration is slated for June 9-12, 2021 at the newly rebuilt Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
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