Falcon Flew To NCAA Distance Glory

Like his surname, Joe Falcon always swooped in at the right moment.

Known for his ferocious kick late in the race, Falcon captured seven individual NCAA titles between cross country, indoor track & field and outdoor track & field while competing for the University of Arkansas under legendary USTFCCCA Hall of Fame coach John McDonnell.

Falcon’s winning ways nearly started in the fall of his sophomore year at the 1986 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships in Tucson, Arizona, but a recessed sprinkler head had other ideas. The Razorback standout ran on the shoulder of eventual winner Aaron Ramirez for most of the race before pulling away as they ascended the final hill. Shortly after, Falcon stepped in a sprinkler hole on the golf course, tumbled to the ground and had to settle for a runner-up finish (Don’t worry: Falcon atoned for that mishap the following year to become the program’s first individual national champion in cross country).

That incident most likely fueled Falcon’s fire over the next few years as little kept him from NCAA glory from that point forward.

After winning his first NCAA title the following March in the indoor 3000 meters, Falcon closed in a scintillating 55.1 to capture the 10,000-meter crown at the 1987 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships. That would be the first of seven 10K crowns for the Razorbacks over the years, which has helped them become the highest-scoring program in that event in meet history.

Falcon went back-to-back in the indoor 3000 the following year and added the mile crown to his ledger for good measure. When he returned to the outdoor meet a few months later, Falcon had his eyes squarely set on the 1500-meter title, something only one other man in program history was able to bring back to Fayetteville (Frank O’Mara in 1983).

True to form, Falcon stayed right behind the leader (Steve Balkey of Penn State) and blew past him in the final 500 meters. Falcon had company, though, as the Indiana duo of Mark Deady and Charles Marsala went with him. The Razorback runner held off the Hoosiers’ harriers to win by one second, 3:38.91 to 3:39.91 (Marsala) and 3:39.92 (Deady).

To this day, Falcon remains the only man in meet history to win national titles in both the 1500/mile and the 10,000 meters — and is just one of two men to score in both of those events at the national meet in his career (Two-time The Bowerman finalist Lawi Lalang is the other, winning the 10K title in 2013 and finishing runner-up in the 1500 one year later).

Falcon snagged another NCAA indoor mile crown in 1989 and anchored the Arkansas DMR team to an all-time world best in the DMR at the Penn Relays that same year. However, Falcon’s quest to defend his 1500-meter crown fell 1200 meters short in June after he was tripped and pushed to the ground less than one lap into the NCAA final, in what would be his final collegiate race.