Spearmon Sprinted Past Stacked 200 Field

The NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships made its second trip to Sacramento, California, in June 2005, and for Arkansas’ Wallace Spearmon, Jr., it was a trip never to forget.

The Razorbacks had won the national outdoor team crown ten times in the previous 14 years and were looking for a third-straight*. It came down to Spearmon’s epic run in the finals of the 200 meters that clinched another team national crown* for he, his teammates, and USTFCCCA Hall of Fame coach John McDonnell.

Spearmon, who won the crown in the same event the previous year as a freshman, was clearly one-of-many favorites in a loaded field that included LSU’s Xavier Carter, Florida State’s Walter DIx, and teammate Tyson Gay.

Prior to the 2005 meet, Spearmon had run a world-leading 19.97 at the Mt. SAC Relays, but was deflated after falling to defeat to LSU’s “X-Man” Carter at the SEC Championships and the NCAA Mideast Regional in the weeks between the sub-20 run and the NCAA finals.

“I don’t like losing. It’s a bitter taste in my mouth,” Spearmon said at the time. “Losing is not acceptable by my standards. (Carter) surprised me. I wasn’t expecting that.”

It was then no-doubt that Spearmon wasn’t going to accept anything but the championship crown: “I’ve got to make sure I perform the whole race.”

And, that, he did.

Despite a slight headwind, he blasted from the blocks and covered the half-lap in 19.91 seconds, besting the field by a sizable gap of nearly two-tenths-of-a-second. Not only did Spearmon become only the second man in meet history to win back-to-back titles in the event  during his freshman and sophomore seasons (Tennessee’s Justin Gatlin), but his ten points placed the Razorbacks over-the-top in the team race*.

Hollywood couldn’t write it any better, considering Spearmon’s father, Wallace, Sr., was a two-time All-American for John McDonnell and helped the Hogs to their first national title in 1985.

“You couldn’t ask for a better ending,” Spearmon said afterwards. “It’s like a Disney movie or something.”

Spearmon turned pro after that epic run, and would go on to win a World Championship silver medal in the 200. At the 2007 Osaka World Championships, he ran on the U.S. gold-medal winning 4×100 relay.

* NOTE: Arkansas’ participation in the 2004 and 2005 championships was later vacated by the NCAA Committee on Infractions due to the participation of a student-athlete who was later deemed ineligible. The team is still listed in the official NCAA record book as the team champions those years, but with the same caveat mentioned here.