Mark Maloney on Kentucky sports

The women’s and men’s watch committees for The Bowerman have named the 10 semifinalists for collegiate track and field’s biggest award. The Bowerman, track and field’s version of what college football has in the Heisman Trophy, is presented in conjunction with the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

A 10-person Bowerman Advisory Board will trim the list to three finalists, to be named July 13 (men) and 14 (women).

Women’s semifinalists

Name, year, school, events, hometown
Nia Ali, sr., Southern Cal, hurdles/jumps, Philadelphia
Brigetta Barrett, so., Arizona, jumps, Duncanville, Texas
Jessica Beard, sr., Texas A&M, sprints, Euclid, Ohio
Emma Coburn, jr., Colorado, distance, Crested Butte, Colo.
Kimberlyn Duncan, so., LSU, sprints, Katy, Texas
Jordan Hasay, so., Oregon, distance, Arroyo Grande, Calif.
Sheila Reid, jr., Villanova, distance, Newmarket, Ontario, Canada
Tina Sutej, jr., Arkansas, pole vault, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Jeneba Tarmoh, jr., Texas A&M, sprints, San Jose, Calif.
Brianne Theisen, sr., Oregon, combined events, Humboldt, Saskatchewan, Canada

Nia Ali

Nia Ali – Winner of the NCAA outdoor 100-meter hurdles with a wind-aided 12.63. Ali clocked a personal-best time of 12.77 to win Pac-10 title and is ranked seventh in the world in 2011. Finished sixth at the NCAA outdoor meet in the high jump; had a season best of 6-1¼ to finish second in the Pac-10 to Arizona’s Brigetta Barrett. Ali was also an NCAA qualifier indoors in the 60-meter hurdles.

Brigetta Barrett – Claimed NCAA high jump titles in both the indoor and outdoor seasons to join six others that have accomplished the feat (most recently, Texas’ Destinee Hooker in 2009). Barrett cleared six feet or more in each of her 11 competitions and notched an all-around personal best of 6-4 to win the Pac-10 title. Barrett won 10 of 11 meet crowns in the high jump during both indoor and outdoor seasons.

Jessica Beard

Jessica Beard – Became the third female in NCAA Division I history, and first since 1999, to win both 400 national titles in the same year and run on both winning 4-by-400 relays at the NCAA Indoor and NCAA Outdoor Championships. Beard, four-time Big 12 indoor 400-meter champ, recorded the world’s fastest 400 time indoors with a 50.79 clocking to win the national crown. Outdoors, Beard clocked 51.10 for the NCAA win and split 49.13 for the Aggies as anchor of the winning 4-by-400 relay.

Emma Coburn – Won the NCAA 3,000-meter steeplechase title in a wire-to-wire 9:41.14 and bettered the field by more than six seconds. Coburn was undefeated in the steeplechase during the season and clocked a 9:40.51 personal best to win the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational -– a mark that ranks sixth among collegians all-time. Coburn also finished eighth at the NCAA Indoor Championships in the mile.

Kimberlyn Duncan

Kimberlyn Duncan — Swept the NCAA 200-meter titles and, in both seasons, notched world-leading times. Duncan became the sixth woman in NCAA Division I history and the first since Auburn’s Kerron Stewart in 2007 to sweep 200-meter titles in the same season. Indoors, Duncan won the SEC title in 22.78 for the world’s best time of the season. Outdoors, Duncan was undefeated in the 200 and clocked a low-altitude collegiate record (and the third-best overall) with a 22.24 run. Duncan was also the NCAA 100-meter runner-up and anchored the Lady Tigers to an NCAA title in the 4-by-100 (42.64).

Jordan Hasay – Won NCAA indoor titles in the mile and 3,000 meters, becoming the fifth overall and the first since Northern Arizona’s Johanna Nilsson (2006) to claim such a double. Hasay also led the Ducks to a runner-up finish in the distance medley relay at the national indoor meet. Outdoors, Hasay finished fourth nationally in the 5,000 meters and eighth in the 1,500.

Sheila Reid

Sheila Reid – Tallied three NCAA crowns and five Big East titles during the 2011 seasons. Outdoors, Reid became the first woman in Division I history to win the NCAA 1,500 and 5,000 in the same championship. Indoors, Reid anchored the Wildcats to the NCAA crown in the distance medley relay and was second nationally in the 3,000 meters. In the Big East, Reid won the 1,500-5,000 double outdoors and was a three-time titlist indoors with wins in the 1,000 meters, 4-by-800 and DMR.

Tina Sutej

Tina Sutej – Set collegiate records indoors and outdoors. Indoors, Sutej vaulted a best of 14-10¾ to set the all-time collegiate best in winning the SEC crown and went on to win the NCAA title. Outdoors, Sutej again won the SEC league title with a collegiate-record vault – a clearance of 15-1½. Overall, Sutej collected 13 straight meet victories before finishing runner-up at the NCAA outdoor meet, but tied the championship-meet record with Oregon’s Melissa Gergel, who took the crown on virtue of misses.

Jeneba Tarmoh

Jeneba Tarmoh – Was twice the NCAA’s runner-up in the 200 meters, matching performances both indoors and outdoors. Tarmoh won NCAA titles indoors and outdoors on the Aggie 4-by-400-meter relays and collected another silver as a member of the 4-by-100 squad. Tarmoh recorded top-five world times both indoors and outdoors in the 200, running 22.34 in the national finals to move into the collegiate all-time top 10 in the event. Tarmoh swept Big 12 outdoor 100- and 200-meter sprint titles and was on Texas A&M’s winning 4-by-100 relay.

Brianne Theisen – Twice set the collegiate record in the pentathlon during the indoor season and won her second straight NCAA crown in the event. Her score of 4,540 bettered her previous all-time collegiate best mark of 4,507, set in January at the UW (Washington) Invitational and ranked among the world’s top five in the event for the season. Theisen also scored at the NCAA indoor meet for the second straight year as a member of Oregon’s 4-by-400 relay team. Outdoors, Theisen did not compete as a result of injury.

Men’s semifinalists

Name, year, school, events, hometown
Jeshua Anderson, sr., Washington State, hurdles, Woodland Hills, Calif.
Robby Andrews, so., Virginia, distance, Englishtown, N.J.
Sam Chelanga, sr., Liberty, distance, Nairobi, Kenya
Will Claye, jr., Florida, jumps, Phoenix
Kirani James, so., Alabama, sprints, Gouyave, Grenada
Leonard Korir, jr., Iona, distance, Iten, Kenya
Ngoni Makusha, jr., Florida State, jumps/sprints, Zimbabwe
Maurice Mitchell, jr., Florida State, sprints, Kansas City, Mo.
Scott Roth, sr., Washington, pole vault, Granite Bay, Calif.
Christian Taylor, jr., Florida, jumps, Fayetteville, Ga.

Jeshua Anderson

Jeshua Anderson – Joined Brigham Young’s (and former University of Kentucky faculty member) Ralph Mann (1969-70-71) and Iowa State’s Danny Harris (1984-85-86) as the only three to win a third NCAA-championship title in the 400-meter hurdles. Won the title in 48.56, over a half-second ahead of the rest of the field. Earned the season’s collegiate best, and current American-leading, 400-hurdle time of 48.13 in winning a fourth-straight Pac-10 crown. Clocking also ranks second in the world so far in 2011 and ranks among the collegiate all-time top five.

Robby Andrews

Robby Andrews – Won his first NCAA outdoor 800-meter title with a memorable, come-from-behind 200-meter sprint to the finish. Sitting in last place at the 600-meter mark, Andrews used a 26.44-second final 200 to pass the field and grab the win from UC Irvine’s Charles Jock by only four hundredths of a second. Final time at the NCAA meet of 1:44.71 equaled the best collegiate and current best American mark of the year (Cory Primm, UCLA). 

Sam Chelanga

Sam Chelanga – NCAA champion outdoors in the 5,000 meters and national runner-up indoors in the 5K and outdoors in the 10K. His title  in the 5K was won in a season’s best time of 13:29.30 which included a 58.15 final-lap split. Recorded the collegiate-season’s best 7:48.24 indoors in the 3,000 meters at the professional-laden New Balance Games in Boston in February.

Will Claye

Will Claye – Claimed the NCAA indoor national championship in the triple jump and was the nation’s runner-up indoors in the long jump and outdoors in the triple. Also finished third outdoors in the long jump. Outdoors, notched SEC victories in both horizontal jumps, the first to do so since 2004. Wind-legal performances during the outdoor season of 27-2½ and 56-11¼ are among the world’s top five in 2011. Wind-aided triple jump of 57-9¾ at the NCAA outdoor meet is the third-best all-conditions collegiate mark of all time.

Kirani James

Kirani James – Claimed NCAA outdoor title in the 400 meters for the second straight year, becoming the first back-to-back titlist in the event since Auburn’s Avard Moncur in 2000 and 2001. Swept SEC crowns in the 400 with indoor and outdoor wins and recorded an all-time world junior indoor best with a 44.80 clocking in taking the league’s indoor crown in February. Clocked 44.6 split as the second leg of Grenada’s 4-by-400-relay team that finished third in the USA vs. The World race at the Penn Relays.

Leonard Korir –Indoor 5,000-meter and outdoor 10,000-meter NCAA champion. Split a 56.18 final lap to claim the outdoor national title. Also finished third outdoors nationally in the 5,000 and sixth indoors at 3,000. In clocking 27:29.40 in the 10K at Stanford’s Payton Jordan Invitational in May, he moved to second all-time in collegiate history in the event (Sam Chelanga, 27:08.39, 2010).

Ngoni Makusha

Ngoni Makusha — Won NCAA outdoor titles in the 100 meters and long jump, joining Carl Lewis, Jesse Owens, and Michigan’s DeHart Hubbard as the fourth man in NCAA Division I history to claim such a double at a single championship. Also claimed NCAA long jump title during the indoor season, becoming the first since 2006 to sweep the event’s two titles (Arturs Abolins, Nebraska, 2006). Notched a third NCAA title as second leg of 4-by-100-meter relay. Run of 9.89 in the NCAA 100-meter final broke the 1996 collegiate- and championship-meet record of 9.92 set in 1996 by UCLA’s Ato Bolden. Clocked 9.97 to win ACC crown and swept league titles in the long jump. Season’s best in the long jump and 100 meters rank amongst the world’s top five this year.

Maurice Mitchell – NCAA outdoor 200-meter champion in a wind-aided 19.99 and third leg of Florida State’s national champion 4-by-100-meter relay team. Was national runner-up indoors in the 200 and was only bested by Oklahoma’s Mookie Salaam who took the title by two thousandths of a second in a different section. Placed third at the NCAA meet indoors in the 60 and outdoors in the 100 meters. Did not lose a 200-meter race in 13 tries during the indoor and outdoor seasons.

Scott Roth – Claimed a sweep of NCAA pole vault crowns during the year, becoming the fourth to do so since 2000. Marked indoor personal best of 18-1 during the indoor season and an overall personal best of 18-9¼ to take victory at the Mt. SAC Relays. At the end of the collegiate season, season’s best mark ranked among the world’s top five.

Christian Taylor

Christian Taylor – Winner of the NCAA outdoor triple jump title with an all-time, all-conditions collegiate best mark of 58-4¾. The wind-aided title clincher came on the final attempt of a back-and-forth battle with teammate Will Claye. Marked wind-legal 57-1 in the competition’s fourth round to claim the season’s collegiate best mark and current American-leading mark. Finished second nationally indoors to Claye in the triple jump and qualified for both meets in the long jump. With Florida’s 4-by-100- and 4-by-400-meter relay teams, qualified for the national finals in both events outdoors. At Penn Relays, 4-by-100 squad finished second in the Championship of America race.

Former University of Kentucky softall All-American Molly Johnson was named Friday to the United States National Team.

Molly Johnson (Staff file photo, 2009)

Johnson, a shortstop, became UK’s first softball All-American in 2009, when she broke three school records (81 hits, 53 runs, .498 on-base percentage) and set career highs in nine offensive categories. She completed her UK eligibility in 2010 and served as an assistant coach for the Wildcats this year.

This will be her third consecutive season representing Team USA. She also played for the USA Futures squad last year.

The 2011 National Team has an 18-player roster and one alternate.

The team will open play against the USA Softball Junior National Team on Saturday, June 25, with a doubleheader exhibition series at Plant City, Fla. Exhibition doubleheaders against the Junior Nationals also are set June 29 at Salem, Va., and July 1 at Bowie, Md.

Then, it will be on to international play.

Team USA will go to Surrey, British Columbia, for the Canadian Open Fast Pitch International Championship, July 9-17. That will be followed by the World Cup of Softball VI, July 21-25, at Oklahoma City.

The Americans will be after their ninth Pan American Games gold, Oct. 17-23, at Guadalajara, Mexico.

South Florida’s Ken Eriksen will coach the National Team, assisted by Olympic gold-medalists Tairia Flowers and Stacey Nuveman. Flowers is head coach at Cal State Northridge, while Nuveman is an assistant at San Diego State. Completing the coaching staff is Oregon head coach Mike White.

The National Team roster (with school attended): Valerie Arioto (California); Whitney Canion (Baylor); Kaitlin Cochran (Arizona State); Lauren Gibson (Tennessee); Kelly Grieve (Tennessee); Taylor Hoagland (Texas); Ashley Holcombe (Alabama); Molly Johnson (Kentucky); Stacy Johnson (Iowa); Megan Langenfeld (UCLA); Jenae Leles (Arizona); Michelle Moultrie (Florida); Christine Orgeron (Louisiana Lafayette); Keilani Ricketts (Oklahoma); Brittany Schutte (Florida); Jordan Taylor (Michigan); Rhea Taylor (Missouri), and Chelsea Thomas (Missouri). Alternate: Jessica Shults (Oklahoma).

The University of Louisville has been recognized with the U.S. Olympic Achievement Award.

Swimmers Elaine Breeden of Lexington and Caroline Burckle of Louisville earned recognition for their respective universities, Stanford and Florida.

The U.S. Olympic Committee, U.S. National Governing Bodies for Sport and National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics joined together to create the award, which recognizes the colleges and universities whose student-athletes and coaches have won Olympic medals.

Ron Mann

A total of 43 colleges and universities contributed to U.S. medal successes at the last two Olympics — the 2008 Beijing Summer Games and 2010 Vancouver Winter Games. Schools are recognized based on two criteria: having a current student-athlete who was part of a medal-winning performance or a coach who was a credentialed member of the U.S. Olympic Team delegation and his/her athlete or team won a medal. Ten schools met both criteria, 16 had a student-athlete and 22 had a coach.

U of L’s Ron Mann was part of the U.S. coaching staff in athletics (track and field) at Beijing.

The U.S. Olympic Achievement Award will be presented every two years following the Olympic Games.

Below are the lists of the universities, athletes and coaches that will be honored.

Colleges/universities — Alabama, Arizona, Boston College, Cal-Berkeley, Cal-Irvine, Concordia, Duke, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Harvard, Humboldt State, Illinois, Iowa, Louisville, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, North Dakota, Northeastern, Northern Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Penn State, Pepperdine, San Diego State, Santa Monica College, Seton Hall, Shelton State, South Carolina, Southern Illinois, St. John’s, St. Mary’s, Stanford, Syracuse, Tennessee State, Texas, Texas A&M, UCLA, Southern Cal, Wesleyan, Wisconsin.

Coaches (with sport and school) — Harvey Glance, athletics, Alabama; James Li, athletics, Arizona; Frank Busch, swimming, Arizona; Mike Candrea, softball, Arizona; Teri McKeever, swimming, Cal-Berkeley; Jamie Morrison, volleyball, Concordia; Mike Krzyzewski, basketball, Duke; Gregg Troy, swimming, Florida; Jack Bauerle, swimming, Georgia; Sue Woodstra, volleyball, Humboldt State; Jon Valdez, gymnastics, Illinois; Terry Brands, wrestling, Iowa; Ron Mann, athletics, Louisville; Kerry McCoy, wrestling, Maryland; Bob Bowman, swimming, Michigan; Dave Flint, hockey, Northeastern; Myles Avery, gymnastics, Ohio State; Mark Williams, gymnastics, Oklahoma; Randy Jepson, gymnastics, Penn State; Erica Walsh, soccer, Penn State; Marv Dunphy, volleyball, Pepperdine; Kim Keenan-Kirkpatrick, athletics, Seton Hall; Dawn Staley, basketball, South Carolina; Connie Price-Smith, athletics, Southern Illinois; Yury Gelman, fencing, St. John’s; Rob Browning, volleyball, St. Mary’s; John Rittman, softball, Stanford; Jim Boeheim, basketball, Syracuse; Chandra Cheeseborough, athletics, Tennessee State; J.J. Clark, athletics, Tennessee; Bubba Thornton, athletics, Texas; Eddie Reese, swimming, Texas; Gail Goestenkors, basketball, Texas; John Speraw, volleball, Cal-Irvine; Jeanette Bolden, athletics, UCLA; Jillian Ellis, soccer, UCLA; Jodi McKenna, hockey, Wesleyan; Mark Johnson, hockey, Wisconsin.

Athletes — Lacey Nymeyer, swimming (one silver), Arizona; Kelly Stack, hockey (silver), Boston College; Molly Schaus, hockey (silver), Boston College; Nathan Adrian, swimming (gold), Cal-Berkeley; Tim Hutton, water polo (silver), Cal-Irvine; Caroline Burckle, swimming (bronze), Florida; Walter Dix, athletics (two bronze) Florida State; Emily Cross, fencing (silver), Harvard; Jonathan Kuck, speedskating (silver), Illinois; Tobin Heath, soccer (gold), North Carolina; Joceyln Lamoureux, hockey (silver), North Dakota; Monique Lamoureux, hockey (silver), North Dakota; Adam Wheeler, wrestling (bronze), Northern Michigan; Jonathan Horton, gymnastics (silver, bronze), Oklahoma; Stephen Strasburg, baseball (bronze), San Diego State; Ronda Rousey, judo (bronze), Santa Monica College; Deontay Wilder, boxing (bronze), Shelton State; Elle Logan, rowing (gold), Stanford; Julia Smit, swimming (silver, bronze), Stanford; Elaine Breeden, swimming (silver), Stanford; Jessica Steffens, water polo (silver), Stanford; Ricky Berens, swimming (gold), Texas; David Walters, swimming (gold), Texas; Christine Marshall, swimming (bronze), Texas A&M; Lauren Cheney, soccer (gold), UCLA; Amy Rodriguez, soccer (gold), Southern Cal; Klete Keller, swimming (gold), Southern Cal; Rebecca Soni, swimming (gold, two silver), Southern Cal; Kameryn Craig, water polo (silver), Southern Cal; James Krumpholz, water polo (silver), Southern Cal; Meghan Duggan, hockey (silver), Wisconsin; Hilary Knight, hockey (silver), Wisconsin.

She is, in my opinion, the greatest female athlete of the 20th century.

Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

Jackie Joyner-Kersee

Sharrieffa Barksdale

At the invitation of Lexington’s Sharrieffa Barksdale, her teammate at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, “JJK” will be instructing at a three-day track and field camp next week — June 7-9, Monday through Wednesday — at Mercer County High School. (That’s a change from the original site plan, Henry Clay.)

JJK won a silver medal in the heptathlon at the 1984 Olympics (while brother Al Joyner won gold in the triple jump).

At the 1988 Seoul Olympics, JJK won gold in the heptathlon and the long jump. Her heptathlon score of 7,291 points remains the world record.

At the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, she successfully defended her heptathlon gold and added a bronze in the long jump.

Finally, at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, JJK netted a hard-earned bronze in the long jump.

The camp will have split sessions each day: 9 a.m.-noon for ages 7-11, and 1-4 p.m. for ages 12-18. Cost for three days is $300, and $200 for coaches. Some scholarships may be available.

For more information, call Barksdale at (859) 519-7131, or e-mail at Blairs3833@yahoo.com.

Barksdale, former American record-holder in the 400-meter hurdles, also will be an instructor.

As for JJK, she had plenty to say during a recent phone interview.

Question: What you’re doing these days?

Answer: “Actually doing camps, clinics, working with young people and really a part of wellness and fitness. Everybody’s on this obesity kick but, to me, it’s about having people be fit for life. Sharrieffa, who is a good friend of mine, we got to talking and we were just talking about some of the basics that we feel some of our kids are missing at a very young age. Let alone trying to become world-class athletes. It’s just really learning the basic fundamentals. So, with me, basically, doing a lot of after-school programs and motivational talks. I’m an asthmatic myself, so I try to bring awareness to asthma. So that’s it, in a nutshell.”

Q: Where do you work out of?

A: Out of St. Louis. … St. Louis, but I do a lot of my work in East St. Louis (Illinois, her hometown).”

Q: You’ve done a lot for East St. Louis over the years …

A: That will always be home base. … And then my husband (Bobby Kersee) still works with a lot of world-class athletes, so I’m really like a mentor to a lot of the athletes, like Allyson Felix and Ginny Powell, Dawn Harper –- some of the athletes that he’s still coaching. From my standpoint, I talk with them more on the mental side of it. Because, physically, I think that we’re all gifted. But, to me, to be able to stand on top of the podium, you’ve got to have that mental toughness and a mental work ethic to understand that nothing is going to come easy. … Conversing with them and try to figure out what is it that gets you off your game, why your mind wanders. And when you are picked to win a gold medal or picked to be on top, how do you handle that? How do you deal with it without putting all that pressure on you, but still be able to go do something that you’ve trained all your career for? But you train, one, because you love doing it. Two, show the world that you love it. Along the way, you’re going to have some ups and downs, but it’s how you deal with the ups and downs.

Q: Are all the athletes you work with under Bobby?

A: Yes, all Bobby’s athletes. And then some of the other athletes that might call. Like some of the heptathletes want to get my advice. … It’s been enjoyable for me.

Q: You had that trait even as a competitor.

A: I was always one that wanted to give advice. Because I believe that when you’re at that level and you come to a national championship, you might see a young athlete that might be struggling. So I would give them advice. I’d try to help them out. It had nothing to do with how well I was going to perform or anything like that, because either I’m ready to go at the point or I’m not. My little advice that I might give you, it shouldn’t change what I’ve still got to do because, when it’s all said and done, we all have to get our there and execute.

Q: That camaraderie seems more common in the multis, distances and some of the field events.

A: To me, that was the great thing about the multi-events. Because we might be out there 12 hours with each other. Or longer. Who has time to bottle up so much anxiety? You’ve got to lean on one another. That was one of the great things that I would notice when I would … do the open hurdles or sprints, where they have so much attitude. You know what, to me when it’s all said and done, if we can’t be friends after this because of a tenth of a second or half of an inch, then we’ve got a problem here. Because there’s more to life. But that’s unfortunate. Because I do believe in rivalries. I believe in that. But I also believe in a rivalry that is a friendship. Just because we’re going up against each other, that don’t mean I don’t like you. It’s just on that day, I want to beat you. But after the race we should be able to shake hands, embrace and still go on.

Q: Your friendship with Sharrieffa goes back to the 1984 Olympics?

A: That’s the one great thing about me. I made friends with people in all the events. And Sharrieffa and I, we just always stayed close from my collegiate days and just had a true admiration of one another. I came to -– I think it was Lexington or it might have been Louisville –- I was speaking and Sharrieffa came out (five or six years ago), and we just talked about trying to do something then. Then we didn’t really put anything together, and then we would see each other at different events. Then, we were just talking on the phone and Sharrieffa’s like, ‘well what do you think about us just doing a camp in the area?’ Because she’s seeing it, working with young people, and I’m seeing it. And I told her ‘why not?’ We have this knowledge. Let’s, instead of someone else trying to bring us in and controlling it, ‘no, let’s do it ourself.’ That’s how we came up with the idea. She wanted to start at home first so I said ‘OK.’ Plus, the work I was doing in East St. Louis, at one point Sharrieffa would have her dance kids. They came up and performed for us. So it was just really a way to really work in an area that we both have a passion for and hopes of tying to show our knowledge, and trying to reach young people. We call it ‘Speed and agility, track and field.’ But it’s going to encompass so much more, to be able to reach kids at a very young age in hopes of them picking up great habits that they will continue for the rest of their lives.

Q: Will Bobby be coming with you?

A: No, Uh-uh.

Q: Is he in Europe now?

A: Bobby also helps volunteer for UCLA. I think that’s their (NCAA) regional. That was the toughest part when we were trying to (find a time to) do this, so it could fit in to the school year, off time, when they can do something, along with us having collegiate nationals, along with senior nationals, so when was the best time? And this was the time we came up with.

Q: How often do you actually get to be with Bobby?

A: For me, it’s actually too much sometimes (she laughs). Hey, whenever he gets a breather, that’s good. Because they were just in Doha (Qatar) last week, and now they’re in London. Bobby’s trying to get back because, with that volcano, they have cancelled a lot of the flights. Hopefully he’ll be back in L.A. tomorrow and then he might have to fly out to Korea. But that’s the difference with the world-class athletes.

Q: So you see him often enough?

A: Oh, yes. Enough to the point where I know that I get on his nerves (laugh). One great thing about not competing now is I can say what I want to say when I want to say it. (laugh) It’s great and I really enjoy the ability to –- when he reaches out to me and tells me ‘I need you to talk with this person’ or ‘could you give this person …’, because Bobby knows that I like that. And it might not be just with his athletes. It’s other athletes, too, especially if I see young talent and they’re just struggling. A word of encouragement. Because I think that’s so important, and you don’t get that a lot without people thinking you want something. To me, ‘Hey, I just want to see you do well.’

Q:  You had those feelings even when you were competing?

A: I’ve always tried to be who I am. Some people might not have understood it. … When I’m in competition, I’m really focused on what I have to do, because I really believe in performing well. I want to perform well. I want to make my coaches proud of me, from the standpoint of all the work they’ve put into me. Now, the payback for any coach is to see their athlete be able to execute what you’ve been preparing to do. I talked to a young lady the other day out of St. Louis and she was like ‘oh, it didn’t go according to how…’ and I told her, ‘you know what? Just continue to stick with it. If you put in the work, eventually it will pay off. But don’t get sidetracked.’ She was like, ‘well, we didn’t make it here.’ I said, ‘you know what, was this meet to qualify you to go to State?’ She said, ‘no, we’ve got one more.’ I said, ‘Then put this behind you, learn from the experience and get your teammates, and you guys have got another shot at it. Then I had some girls from … Facebook. One of the girls had contacted me, and they had brought in a world-class coach. They were running like 12.4, and they brought in a world-class coach and were running like 12.8. So I had to remind them: you have to be patient. And you also have to look at the weather, it has has not been great to be doing sprinting. I said, ‘if you haven’t put in the work, those times (won’t be low). Don’t give up on your coach yet.’ Because they’re ready to throw their coach under the bus. I told them, it depends on the work load. If the coach has been having you do a lot of conditioning work, you haven’t even gotten into your speed work yet, give it time. … It’s unfortunate. They have coaches and they’re second-guessing them. And I can see why a lot of our kids are confused sometimes. Instead of going, ‘hey, you know what? You haven’t done what you’re supposed to do. Give it time. It’ll work out.’

Q: When you step up in quality, you’re often stepping up in what is asked of you in workouts, and that can be an adjustment …

A: Exactly. Because ‘we want it now!’ I’ll never forget, when I first got started, I was doing the heptathlon and my numbers –- I made the World (Championships) team. And Bobby told me at that time, ‘you know what? You’re a world record-holder. I’m like, ‘yeah, right -– look at my numbers.’ He goes, ‘no. The world’s just got to wait to see. You have all the ability but you’ve got to be willing to work hard. And he broke down the heptathlon to me. He showed me on paper, like in the hurdles, I remember going up against Jane Frederick and he was like ‘Jane Frederick is running 13.20 in the hurdles and you’re running 14.8.’ I’m (saying) ‘Yea-ah?’ ‘And then in the high jump you’re jumping six feet to clear 5-8 because of poor technique. Shot put was ‘you’re not going to get a lot of points.’ And he said ‘This is why I believe you can be a world record-holder.’ And I said, ‘why?’ He said ‘you run 23.7 in the 200. She’s running 25 seconds. That doesn’t make sense to me. If I put barriers in front of you, she can outrun you. But if the barrier’s not there, you would leave her. That’s technique.’ So I’m like, ‘ohh!’ Then I started understanding why technique was so important. It wasn’t about how fast I was going to run, it was about mastering the technique. Because once you get into a race, your competitive spirit’s going to get in there. But you’ve got to have the right technique. If you don’t have the right technique, it doesn’t matter how much your competitive spirit gets in there. I was still jumping the hurdles and she was running them (laugh). That’s the thing about what we’re trying to do when we have the camp is to teach the kids the basic fundamentals because that technique is so important. When I hear kids say today, ‘well, I ran fast running like this,’ I say ‘I don’t care how fast you ran running like that. When you run up against somebody with equal talent and they’ve got better technique, they’re going to beat you.’

Q: Can you quantify how much you can teach these kids in three days?

A: I think outside of Sharrieffa and I being able to touch them with a message, but just leaving them with some of the basics and hopes of not just making this a three-day camp this time, but being able to do it year in and year out. In hopes of them, their coaches, being able to take something away that might help them. It might just be one thing, just teaching basics –- how to jump right, how you land in the pit. Because I see kids nowadays -– and this is even on the world-class level –- they’ve got some sloppy landings. And they don’t realize how that takes away. So just the basic standing long jump, teaching that, and landing into the pit. Or just the basic running technique. You’re not going to get fast overnight, but the combination of speed-endurance work, stretch work, when you do stretch work versus when not to do stretch work, when you’re doing speed work. Because it’s one thing to be quick, but it’s another thing to be fast. There are some people that are quick, but they’re not fast. So in being able to teach that, but teaching you how to run with the accuracy of maximizing what it is that you’re trying to do. In hurdles, it’s just learning the basics, trying to get young people to get down to the three strides. ‘What can we do?’ We might drill, we might show you but then, throughout the remaining of the summer, with their coaches, maybe you’re going to set the hurdles. You might bring the hurdles in so they can learn how it feels to do three strides. Then, eventually start taking those hurdles back and back and back to the right mark. You want to have their confidence and let them know, ‘oh, I can do this.’ Because you see in middle school and even sometimes in high school, when you’re doing the 80-meter hurdles or the 100-meter hurdles, depending on what state you’re in, you shouldn’t be taking no four or five steps. But some of the kids do. So you have the baby hurdles. What we’ll be able to do is to allow them to be able to take away some of the techniques that we’ll be able to teach them and they can incorporate that into their training. So if it’s the coaches, the parents and making sure there’s a balance there. Because sometimes they don’t want to let their kids go. It’s like, ‘OK. (We’re) not trying to take anything away from any coach. What we’re trying to do is to supplement something that they’re already doing.’

Q: What about the boys who might shy from being instructed by a woman?

A: To me, there’s no difference. When I see them, I see athletes. Even though it’s boys, girls, I just see athletes. Last year, we had a young guy that was from East St. Louis and he didn’t want to go to the Junior Olympics, so the coaches called me to talk to him. I was telling him, because this little boy is gifted, and from me talking to him, he told them that he wanted to go. I’m just talking to him and telling him about ‘this is where it starts, it starts at the Junior Olympic level, and your coaches see something in you that you don’t know that you have.’ With Sharrieffa and I working with the boys, it’s no different. Because when you’re young and you’re trying to learn technique –- the running techniques, they’re not that different, even with the hurdles. It’s just that all of a sudden as you get older and you get up to the 42-inch, there’s a difference in the arm pitch or how might pitch into the hurdles, but I’ve been around bit. That’s one great thing about working with Bobby and working with … (former world-champion hurdler) Greg Foster. It’s not that big of a difference. … It’s the same way when people question a man coaching girls. You know what? They’re coaching us. To me, the training technique, it doesn’t change. I’ve heard from going to some after-school programs that some kids can’t take someone raising their voice at them. OK. So then you find another way to get it across to them. And it’s not so much raising your voice, it’s how that kid interprets what you’re saying. Because you might have a coach and, to a kid, they might think they’re raising their voice. But what they’re missing is that the passion that that coach has to say ‘I know you can do this.’ I’m trying to pull it out of them. And when it comes to Sharrieffa and myself it’s just like ‘hey, when we train the 400 hurdles, we train with both boys and the girls. When they run the 330 lows, they run the 330 lows the same way, the girls and the guys. The times might be a little bit different, but the distances are the same. Now it all depends on who’s going to try to hop them versus who’s going to run them like a sprint. When to attack, when not to attack. What’s going to be the stride length? And, guys, you go from a 13-stride-length pattern to a 15-stride-length pattern and then, as you’re coming home, it might change. That’s in the 330(-yard)s or 300(-meter)s. Then all of a sudden when it becomes 400 hurdles, it’s going to be the same stride pattern. Because the … strength of the athlete is going to be different.

Q: Speaking of technique, I once heard Bobby explaining the idea of getting up and over the hurdles -– back onto the track — as quickly as possible, because every split second in the air is a split second in which you’re losing speed. He said he had a drill where he says, ‘Jackie, I’m going to set this dime on the hurdle. I want you to knock it off, but don’t touch the hurdle.’

A: Exactly. And that’s why we use the hurdle pads. Because you’re trying to run through that hurdle. And then that trail leg is going to back to the middle and down, and you’re trying to run away from that hurdle. In my case, being 5-10 and having a two-meter stride length, I’m trying to really cut that down to 1.96 to 1.98. So I was always at a disadvantage when I would run agains a Gail Devers because it’s going to work fine for Gail, but then I have to figure out a way to not break my stride pattern so I can still keep the velocity up. That’s why, in the men’s hurdles, the distance would have been ideal for me, because it would have allowed me to open up. People think because you’re tall, the hurdles are going to be easy. It’s difficult for a taller person. A shorter person is going to have a better cadence.

Q: The same problem was true for Greg Foster.

A: Exactly. … The taller you are, the harder you’ve got to work. You can’t lose a lot of time or space in the air. It’s the same way even in sprinting. The person that’s spending a lot of time in the air versus the person that’s making ground contact, they’re moving. So while you’re floating –- just like Allyson (Felix). Allyson runs like a gazelle, smooth. But when she runs the 100, she wants to float. You can’t float. Because they’re going to be turning over and they’re going to leave you. Now, when she runs the 200, she has the ability to make that up because those sprinters that are faster, they are going to start to decelerate while she’s getting stronger. But in the 100 there’s not enough real estate for her to float. … In the 400, she can run that good. You can float a little bit. But (the 100), no.

Q: With all your world records, World Championships and Olympic medals, do you recall a favorite moment and, also, a favorite lesson learned?

A: I think all the moments have been great because I have experienced both on the high note -– an Olympic champion — and then also struggling with injuries. I think ’96, for me, was very, very telling as far as my career was concerned because I’m always stressing to young people ‘never give up.’ And even though I had a world record, I had gold medals and I could have walked away from Atlanta, I stayed with it. Because regardless of what other people might have thought or ‘why is she doing it?’ I believed I could still win. And I think having that attitude really afforded me that Olympic bronze medal, and that medal meant a lot to me because I didn’t give up. Winning gold medals, yes, that’s the ultimate. But today, to make one Olympic team, two, three and four, and still try to compete at the highest level really, to me, says a lot about your commitment and your desire to want to be out there. That you’re willing. I always told Bobby that ‘I will always be a student, and I don’t care how much people praise me.’ For me, it’s really about being a student of the game and respecting my coach as my coach. Even though he’s my husband, I have to look at him as the coach. Because the coach and the athlete must always be on the same page. Regardless of what people say, you’ve got to be on the same page because that’s the person that’s with you day in and day out, through the ups and downs, knows what your weaknesses are, knows where you’re strong, they’re with you when you’re breaking down. What I’ve learned from athletics, in a nutshell, is the ability to deal with challenges both on and off the field. And always keeping things in perspective. It’s not getting so caught up in what your news clippings say about you, but know who you really are.

Western Kentucky University’s Toppers on Tour will be making six stops over 19 days in June, starting Friday (June 4) at Good Ol’ Days BBQ Farm in Versailles. The program, at 544 Old Frankfort Pike, is scheduled to start at 6 p.m.

Featured will be: Ross Bjork, director of intercollegiate athletics; Willie Taggart, fooball coach; Ken McDonald, men’s basketball coach; Mary Taylor Cowles, women’s basketball coach; Chris Finwood, baseball coach, along with student-athletes, cheerleaders, Topperettes and mascot Big Red.

Other scheduled stops on the tour will be in the Louisville, Elizabethtown, Nashville, Glasgow and Owensboro areas. The schedule: June 14, 6:30 p.m., Heritage Hills Golf Club in Shepherdsville; June 15, 5:30 p.m., Lincoln Trail Country Club in Vine Grove; June 17, 7 p.m. (6 CDT), at the home of Julie Taleghani, 1416 Willowbrook Circle in Franklin, Tenn.; June 21, 6:30 p.m. (5:30 CDT), Glasgow Country Club in Glasgow; and June 22, 6:30 p.m. (5:30 CDT), WKU-Owensboro, 4821 New Hartford Road.

Bjork was hired by Western on March 12. He worked the previous five seasons as senior associate athletic director for development and external relations at UCLA. He had previous stops at Miami (Fla.), Missouri and, in 1996-97, was assistant development coordinator at WKU.

Taggart, a quarterback who set 11 school records from 1995 through 1998, is one of four players in WKU’s 91-year football history to have his jersey retired. He was named head coach last Nov. 23. He had been running backs coach at Stanford (2007-09) and, before that, served eight season on the Hilltoppers staff.

Cowles is a three-time Sun Belt Conference coach of the year. She has been head coach the past eight seasons, served seven seasons as an assistant coach and played four seasons. She has been a part of 426 of the program’s 806 all-time wins.

McDonald is entering his third season as men’s basketball coach. In his first season, he led the Hilltoppers to their 41st conference championship and a first-round victory over Illinois in the NCAA Tournament. Under McDonald, WKU also has wins over Louisville, Vanderbilt, Mississippi State and Georgia.

Finwood is in his fifth season as baseball coach. He was coach of the year in the Sun Belt in 2009, when he led the Hilltoppers to a second straight NCAA Tournament appearance. WKU had a school-record six players drafted by Major League Baseball last year.

Coming up

South Atlantic League baseball

Kannapolis Intimidators at Lexington Legends

What: Four-game series

When: Monday through Thursday (7:05 Monday, Tuesday and Thursday nights; 10:05 Wednesday morning)

Where: Applebee’s Park

Tickets: Call    (859) 422-7867   

Major League affiliates: Houston Astros (Legends); Chicago White Sox

Brandt Walker

Jose Cisnero

Robby Donovan

Tanner Bushue

Probable pitchers (Legends listed first): Monday, RH Brandt Walker (1-1, 8.27) vs. RH Cameron Bayne (1-3, 4.15) Tuesday, RH Jose Cisnero (1-0, 4.82) vs. RH Matt Hopps (0-1, 5.12); Wednesday, RH Tanner Bushue (1-1, 2.81) vs. RH Justin Collop (0-2, 6.75); Thursday, RH Robby Donovan (1-3, 3.91) vs. LH Joe Serafin (3-2, 2.64).

Trayce Thompson

Intimidator to watch: CF Trayce Thompson (6-foot-3, 195 pounds, from Ladera Ranch, Calif.) is hitting .278 with three homers, seven RBI and eight runs over 14 games with the Intimidators. A second-round draft pick of the White Sox last year, Thompson said no to UCLA and signed out of Santa Margarita High School for $625,000. He played seven games with Great Falls of the Pioneer League and 25 with Bristol of the Appalachian League last season, hitting a combined .198 with 10 RBI. Baseball America rates Thompson as the sixth-best prospect in the White Sox system. He is the son of Mychal Thompson, the No. 1 pick in the 1978 NBA draft.

Jake Goebbert

Legend to watch: LF Jake Goebbert (6-0, 200, from Hampshire, Ill.) leads the Legends with 12 doubles and ranks third or better in several other offensive categories, including: 29 hits, 16 RBI, 19 runs, 46 total bases, .465 slugging percentage and .804 OPS. The left-hander (batting and throwing) has yet to commit an error and has hits in each of his last three games and five of six contests. Drafted by the Astros in the 13th round (401st overall) of last year’s draft, out of Northwestern University, Goebbert broke a 31-year-old school record for the Wildcats when he belted a Big Ten-leading 22 doubles in 2008, his sophomore season. He also led the team homers (10), RBI (48), walks (28), slugging (.665) and on-base percentage (.458) that season, batting .353 over 49 games. As a junior, Goebbert hit .280 with four homers and 23 RBI over 30 games, while earning Academic All-Big Ten honors. Upon being signed by the Astros, Goebbert played 59 games with the Tri-City ValleyCats of the New York-Penn League. With Tri-City, he hit .238 with 18 RBI.

Radio: WLXG AM-1300

Promotions, etc.: Monday is “Kids Eat Free Night” at Applebee’s Park. … Tuesday is Quarter Hot Dog Night and Kraft Singles Night. … Wednesday is Education Day, Ladies Day and Mascot Olympics Day. … The Kannapolis series concludes with Thirsty Thursday. … The eight-game homestand continues with four games against the Greensboro Grasshoppers, Friday through next Monday (May 10).

Louisville and Kentucky both have squads among the top 25 in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) pre-season rankings for the Division I outdoor track season.

The Florida men and Texas A&M women have the No. 1 spots. Florida won last month’s NCAA Indoor Championships. A&M’s women are defending NCAA outdoor champs.

U of L came in at 14th in the men’s poll and 20th on the women’s side.

UK’s men are unranked, but the women are No. 21.

The Southeastern Conference leads the men’s rankings with eight teams ranked: 1. Florida; 7. Auburn; 8. LSU; 11. South Carolina; 12. Mississippi State; 15. Arkansas; 21. Tennessee; and 23. Mississippi. The Pac-10 is next with six, followed by the Big 12 with five.

The SEC also tops the women’s rankings with six teams: 3. LSU; 4. Florida; 13. Auburn; 21. UK; 22. South Carolina; and 23. Tennessee. The Pac-10 and Big 12 have five each.

For more on the rankings and links to guidelines and rationale, visit

http://www.ustfccca.org/rankings/division-i-rankings

Men’s rankings

(School, points, 2009 final ranking)

1. Florida, 371.37 (2); 2. Texas A&M, 347.88 (1); 3. Oregon, 258.41 (2); 4. Florida State, 226.14 (2); 5. Texas Tech, 219.96, — (unranked).

6. Southern California, 186.25 (10); 7. Auburn, 173.46 (12); 8. LSU, 171.22 (5); 9. Arizona State, 153.53 (8); 10. Nebraska, 149.76 (17).

11. South Carolina, 149.65 (6); 12. Mississippi State, 149.35 (17); 13. Oklahoma, 134.71 (25); 14. LOUISVILLE, 127.17, –; 15. Arkansas, 125.37 (9).

16. UCLA, 114.84, –; 17. Virginia Tech, 110.86 (16); 18. California, 105.42 (25); 19. Baylor, 104.89 (20); 20. Minnesota, 104.02, –.

21. Tennessee, 91.26, –; 22. Washington State, 88.01 (17); 23. Mississippi, 85.03, –; 24. Brigham Young, 84.99 (13); 25. Wisconsin, 83.10, –.

Women’s rankings

(School, points, 2009 final ranking)

1. Texas A&M, 347.28 (1); 2. Oregon, 274.57 (2); 3. LSU, 266.69 (6); 4. Florida, 186.92 (9); 5. Florida State, 186.57 (4).

6. Baylor, 177.14 (10); 7. Southern California, 176.22 (8); 8. Oklahoma, 170.55 (23); 9. Virginia Tech, 154.08 (12); 10. Brigham Young, 144.51 (15).

11. Texas-El Paso, 140.48 (25); 12. Washington, 133.80 (19); 13. Auburn, 122.01 (25); 14. Penn State, 121.97 (14); 15. Miami (Fla.), 116.87 (16).

16. Nebraska, 116.34, –; 17. Texas, 102.76 (5); 18. UCLA, 97.46 (16); 19. Stanford, 95.99, –; 20. LOUISVILLE, 88.22, –.

21. KENTUCKY, 86.23, –; 22. South Carolina, 85.29, –; 23. Tennessee, 84.00 (10); 24. North Carolina, 82.61, –; 25. Illinois, 82.05 (12).

Kentucky’s men are No. 19 and Louisville’s women are 14th in the first regular-season U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association rankings of NCAA Division I teams.

The Florida State men and Texas A&M women retained the No. 1 spots awarded in the pre-season. Oregon is No. 2 in both men’s and women’s rankings.

The UK men dropped two spots from the pre-season. The Wildcats are last among seven Southeastern Conference teams ranked among the top 20.

The top 25 men’s teams include seven each from the SEC, Pac-10 and Big 12, plus two each from the ACC and Big Ten.

Louisville’s women climbed four spots from the pre-season. The Cardinals are the first of three Big East teams among the top 25.

The SEC leads the women’s poll with six teams among the top 25. The Big 12 has four teams, followed by the Big East, Pac-10 and ACC with three each.

Both Louisville and Kentucky will be in action this weekend at UK’s Rod McCravy Memorial Meet.

Friday’s schedule is limited to four field events — men’s high jump, women’s pole vault and weight throws for men and women.

Saturday’s card begins at 10:30 a.m. with the women’s high jump and long jump. The first track event, semifinals of the women’s 60-meter hurdles, is set for 12:30 p.m.

MEN                                                                                   WOMEN
Rank (previous rank) School (points)                     Rank (previous) School (points)

 1. (1) Florida State (135.17)                                        1. (1) Texas A&M (189.67)
 2. (3) Oregon (124.74)                                                 2. (2) Oregon (120.25)
 3. (2) Florida (120.22)                                                  3. (5) Brigham Young (117.86)
 4. (8) Texas A&M (118.10)                                           4. (3) LSU (105.16)
 5. (4) Nebraska (107.17)                                             5. (4) Florida State (103.16)
 6. (9) LSU (106.59)                                                       6. (10) Penn State (91.38)
 7. (5) Arkansas (94.10)                                                7. (9) Clemson (85.29)
 8. (7) Arizona State (89.48)                                          8. (12) Tennessee (82.15)
 9. (6) Oklahoma (88.97)                                               9. (6) Florida (79.60)
10. (11) Baylor (67.78)                                                 10. (17) Arkansas (75.59)
11. (14) Texas Tech (65.59)                                       11. (7) South Carolina (74.18)
12. (10) Minnesota (62.80)                                         12. (11) Nebraska (66.28)
13. (13) Virginia Tech (61.23)                                     13. (8) Washington (65.98)
14. (19) Georgia (57.62)                                              14. (18) LOUISVILLE (63.40)
15. (12) South Carolina (57.45)                                 15. (21) Oklahoma (61.68)
16. (38) Indiana (53.65)                                              16. (16) Baylor (61.40)
17. (16) Stanford (48.07)                                             17. (26) Arizona (58.12)
18. (15) Auburn (47.67)                                               18. (13) Virginia Tech (56.30)
19. (17) KENTUCKY (47.42)                                        19. (27) Auburn (53.31)
20. (101) Arizona (41.20)                                             20. (23) Southern Illinois (53.29)
21. (18) Washington State (40.92)                            21. (14) Connecticut (47.74)
22. (20) California (40.72)                                           22. (20) Indiana State (46.28)
23. (22) Kansas State (40.59)                                    23. (22) West Virginia (44.97)
24. (21) Oklahoma State (39.64)                               24. (19) Illinois (44.91)
25. (36) Washington (37.87)                                      25. (25) Texas-El Paso (44.56)

Cardinals 21st, Wildcats 26th in softball pre-season poll

Louisville is No. 21 and Kentucky is one spot shy of making the ESPN.com/USA Softball Pre-Season Collegiate Top 25 poll released Tuesday.

Topping the list is defending NCAA champion Washington (51-12 last season), taking 17 of 20 first-place votes.

U of L (48-11) is one of two Big East teams ranked, one spot behind DePaul. The Cardinals open their season Feb. 12 in the Marriott Tournament at Houston. In order, U of L will face Kansas, No. 15 Baylor (twice), Houston and No. 16 Ohio State.

UK (34-23) had the most votes of “others receiving votes” – 26th overall. The Wildcats begin play Feb. 11 in the Kajikawa Classic where they will face, in order, host and No. 7-ranked Arizona State, San Diego State, Cal State Fullerton, Western Michigan and No. 11 California.

Five Southeastern Conference teams are ranked ahead of UK: No. 2 Alabama, No. 5 Florida, No. 8 Georgia, No. 13 LSU and No. 18 Tennessee.

Rank, Team (first-place votes), 2009 record, points

 1. Washington (17)         51-12   479
 2. Alabama (1)                 54-11   457
 3. Michigan                       47-12   430
 4. Arizona (1)                    46-17   424
 5. Florida                           63-5     407
 6. UCLA (1)                       45-11   396
 7. Arizona State                47-19   387
 8. Georgia                         47-12   363
 9. Missouri                        50-12   337
10. Oklahoma                    41-16   306
11. California                     38-20   282
12. Stanford                       48-11    256
13. LSU                           34-18-1    234
14. Georgia Tech               46-15   215
15. Baylor                            40-22   214
16. Ohio State                     47-11   187
17. Northwestern               31-15   167
18. Tennessee               40-18-1   163
19. Florida State                 44-16   128
20. DePaul                          39-14   107
21. LOUISVILLE                  48-11    93
22. North Carolina              47-13    91
23. La.-Lafayette                 45-13    84
24. Fresno State                 28-20    70
25. UMass                           41-10     55
Others receiving votes: KENTUCKY (26), Jacksonville State (17), Auburn (14), North Dakota State (14), Nevada (12), Oregon (11), Oklahoma State (10), Texas (8), Cal Poly (7), Notre Dame (7), Nebraska (6), Texas A&M 5, Ball State (4), Brigham Young (4), San Diego State (4), Long Beach State (3), Purdue (2), New Mexico State (1), Virginia Tech (1), Western Michigan (1).

SCORE one for the ol’ coach

Jeff Bennett

Former UK baseball coach Keith Madison, now national baseball director of SCORE International, is helping raise funds for the non-profit organization through an online sale of baseball memorabilia. The pair of items come courtesy of Jeff Bennett, relief pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays and an annual supporter of SCORE. The sale on eBay runs through January.

Descriptions follow.

1. 2009 official MLB Rawlings baseball, with 22 autographs from the World Series champion New York Yankees. Signatures include Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, CC Sabathia, Mariano Rivera, Johnny Damon, Mark Teixeira, Jorge Posada, (World Series MVP) Hideki Matsui, Andy Pettitte, AJ Burnett, Robinson Cano, Melky Cabrera, Nick Swisher, Joba Chamberlain and Manager Joe Girardi.  Online, see: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=220543520321&Category=73418&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26its%3DI%26otn%3D1

2. 2009 official Mark Teixeira-autographed baseball bat. The bat was donated from Teixeira’s personal game collection, straight from the Yankees clubhouse, and is signed in permanent silver ink. Online, see: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220546270071

The University of Kentucky men’s team jumped from 20th to No. 11 in the final U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll of the season. The NCAA Outdoor Championships open Wednesday at the University of Arkansas and continue through Saturday.

Texas A&M moved from No. 2 to No. 1 in the final poll. Oregon also moved up a spot to No. 2, followed by four Southeastern Conference squads — previously top-ranked Florida, Arkansas (up from 6), LSU (up from 8th) and South Carolina. In all, the SEC has eight of the top 20 teams. 

Texas A&M also moved from No. 2 to No. 1 in the women’s poll, switching places with Oregon. Third is LSU, which leads five SEC teams in the top 20.

UK has the top-ranked women’s team from the state, improving from No. 34 to 32.

The UK men are led by Rashaud Scott, the Field Athlete of the Year in the Southeast Region (see below). He is coming off a sweep of regional shot put and discus titles and is defending NCAA champion in the latter event. He is ranked No. 1 in the discus and No. 8 in the shot. Teammate Chase Madison is No. 7 in the discus.

In addition, the Wildcats qualified in both the 4-by-100 and 4-by-400 relays, ranking sixth and 12th, respectively.

Rondel Sorrillo, who anchors the 4-by-100 unit, also made it in the 100 (ranked No. 22) and 200 (No. 5).

Louisville’s men improved from 37th to 29th in the team rankings. The Cardinals are led by a pair of top 10-ranked athletes — Corey Thorne, No. 2 in the steeplecase, and Tone Belt, No. 6 in the high jump.

Western Kentucky jumped 14 spots to No. 37. The Hilltoppers are led by Gavin Smellie, ranked No. 2 in the 200, and Mandhla Mgijima, No. 7 in the long jump.

Eastern Kentucky moved from No. 163 to 137. The Colonels’ lone NCAA qualifier is 5,000-meter runner Joseph Maina (No. 27).

UK’s women have four NCAA qualifiers, all ranked 17th or better: Ashley Muffet (No. 4, discus), Kristin Smith (No. 7, hammer throw), Ashley Trimble (No. 11, heptathlon) and Emilee Strot (No. 17, discus).

Louisville is ranked No. 35, an improvement of 14 spots. The Cards are led by Jere’ Summers, who ranks sixth in the discus and 10th in the shot.

Western Kentucky jumped 19 spots to No. 53. Janet Jesang, No. 5 at 5,000 meters, leads the Hilltoppers.

The final team rankings:

WOMEN

1. Texas A&M

2. Oregon

3. LSU

4. Arizona State

5. Tennessee

6. Florida State; 7. Southern Cal; 8. Penn State; 9. Baylor; 10. Texas.

11. Michigan; 12. UCLA; 13. Miami (Fla.); 14. Florida; 15. Washington.

16. UTEP; 17. Oklahoma; 18. Arkansas; 19. Nebraska; 20. Auburn.

21. Illinois; 22. Virginia Tech; 23. Indiana; 24. BYU; 25. Stanford.

MEN

1. Texas A&M

2. Oregon

3. Florida

4. Arkansas

5. LSU

6. South Carolina; 7. So. Cal; 8. Stanford; 9. Nebraska; 10. Ariz. State.

11. KENTUCKY; 12. Fla. State; 13. Miss. State; 14. Texas; 15. Auburn.

16. Minnesota; 17. Kansas State; 18. Texas; 19. Baylor; 20. Georgia.

21. Wash.; 22. Arizona; 23. Cal; 24. Boise State; 25. Wash. State.

Division I regional athletes and coaches of the year

Rashaud Scott

Erik Jenkins

Kentucky shot put/discus ace Rashaud Scott has been named by the USTFCCCA as men’s Field Athlete of the Year in the Southeast Region.

Western Kentucky’s Erik Jenkins was named Women’s Head Coach of the Year in the Southeast Region.

The full list of award winners follows.

Name (school) region

Tiffany Ofili

Women’s track — Tiffany Ofili (Michigan) Great Lakes; Clara Grandt (West Virginia) Mid-Atlantic; Angela Bizzari (Illinois) Midwest; Jenny Barringer (Colorado) Mountain; Danette Doetzel (Providence) Northeast; Murielle Ahoure (Miami, Fla.) South; Porscha Lucas (Texas A&M) South Central; Francena McCorory (Hampton) Southeast; Charonda Williams (Arizona State) West.

Destinee Hooker

Women’s field — Kara Patterson (Purdue) Great Lakes; Gayle Hunter (Penn State) Mid-Atlantic; Liz Roehrig (Minnesota) Midwest; Blessing Okagbare (UTEP) Mountain; Tahari James (Boston U.) Northeast; Kim Williams (Florida State) South; Destinee Hooker (Texas) South Central; Dorotea Habazin (Virginia Tech); Southeast; Sarah Stevens (Arizona State) West.

Trindon Holliday

Men’s track — Adam Harris (Michigan) Great Lakes; Sean Tully (Villanova) Mid-Atlantic; German Fernandez (Oklahoma State) Midwest; Gil Roberts (Texas Tech) Mountain; Kyle Heath (Syracuse) Northeast; Calvin Smith (Florida) South; Trindon Holliday (LSU) South Central; Sam Chelanga (Liberty) Southeast; Galen Rupp (Oregon) West.

Aston Eaton

Men’s field — Derek Drouin (Indiana) Great Lakes; Clarence Smith (Penn State) Mid-Atlantic; Will Claye (Oklahoma) Midwest; Dimitrios Fylladitakis (UTEP) Mountain; Nico Weiler (Harvard) Northeast; Chris Hill (Georgia) South; Jason Colwick (Rice) South Central; RASHAUD SCOTT (KENTUCKY) Southeast; Ashton Eaton (Oregon) West.

T. Buford-Bailey

Women’s head coach — James Henry (Michigan) Great Lakes; Beth Alford-Sullivan (Penn State) Mid-Atlantic; Tonja Buford-Bailey (Illinois) Midwest; Wes Kittley (Texas Tech) Mountain; Bill Morgan (Connecticut) Northeast; Caryl Smith Gilbert (Central Florida) South; Jim Bevan (Rice) South Central; ERIC JENKINS (WESTERN KENTUCKY) Southeast; Dan Steele (Oregon) West.

Brian Forrester

Women’s assistant — Brian Forrester (Akron) Great Lakes; Chris Miltenberg (Georgetown U.) Mid-Atlantic; Marc Burns (Wichita State) Midwest; Scott Irving (U.S. Air Force Academy) Mountain; Clive Terrelong (Connecticut) Northeast; Karen Harvey (Florida State) South; Vince Anderson (Texas A&M) South Central; Carrie Lane (Virginia) Southeast; Robert Johnson (Oregon) West.

Chris Bucknam

Men’s head coach  – Dennis Mitchell (Akron) Great Lakes; Joe Compagni (Monmouth) Mid-Atlantic; Gary Pepin (Nebraska) Midwest; Mark Robison (Brigham Young) Mountain; Nathan Taylor (Cornell) Northeast; Michael Holloway (Florida) South; Tie: Chris Bucknam (Arkansas) and Sean Brady (Southeastern Louisiana) South Central; Jason Vigilante (Virginia) Southeast; Ron Allice (Southern California) West. 

Don Babbitt

Men’s assistant – Rodney Zuyderwyk (Purdue) Great Lakes; Sheila Burrell (Georgetown U.) Mid-Atlantic; Billy Maxwell (Nebraska) Midwest; Dion Miller (Texas Tech) Mountain; Michelle Eisenreich (Brown) Northeast; Don Babbit (Georgia) South; Dick Booth (Arkansas) South Central; Tim Hall (Clemson) Southeast; Mark MacDonald (Washington State) West.

Rashaud Scott

Kentucky’s Rashaud Scott remains the No. 1 discus performer, but the Wildcats team dropped from 21st to No. 25 in the released U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association men’s poll that was released Wednesday.

Cross-state rival Louisville, led by second-ranked steeplechaser Corey Thorne, also fell, from No. 25 to 27.

Oregon reclaimed the No. 1 team ranking, dropping Florida to No. 2.

Florida and Kentucky are among seven Southeastern Conference teams ranked in the top 25. The SEC Championships open Thursday and last through Sunday at Florida.

Texas A&M is No. 1 in the women’s poll. Kentucky is 37th, Louisville 42nd. LSU is the top-rated SEC team, No. 4.

                            MEN                                                     
    Team                     Conference                 Points                    

 1. Oregon                 (Pac-10)              278.52 
 2. Florida                 (SEC)                    265.86
 3. Florida State        (ACC)                   265.23
 4. Texas A&M          (Big 12)                 236.25
 5. Nebraska              (Big 12)               205.59
 6. Arizona State         (Pac-10)             187.09
 7. South Carolina       (SEC)                  172.25
 8. Arkansas               (SEC)                   169.58
 9. Texas                    (Big 12)               162.35
10. Stanford               (Pac-10)              162.10
11. Baylor                   (Big 12)               159.03
12. LSU                       (SEC)                  158.29
13. Auburn                 (SEC)                  149.12
14. Washington          (Pac-10)             137.66
15. Texas Tech          (Big 12)               120.31
16. Souther Cal         (Pac-10)              119.30
17. California            (Pac-10)               114.77
18. Minnesota           (Big Ten)              111.72
19. Brigham Young   (Mountain West)    94.94
20. Georgia               (SEC)                     93.64
21. Washington State (Pac-10)              91.25
22. Virginia Tech       (ACC)                     91.17
23. Liberty                 (Big South)           91.11
24. Missouri              (Big 12)                 90.43
25. KENTUCKY           (SEC)                   90.27

Other Kentucky and SEC teams — 27. Louisville (Big East), 79.85; 34. Tennessee, 68.73; 37. Western Kentucky (Sun Belt) 62.39; 43. Alabama, 54.34; 46. Mississippi State, 50.94; 71, Mississippi, 25.68; 146. Eastern Kentucky (Ohio Valley) 1.88.

                               WOMEN

 1. Texas A&M          (Big 12)              302.56
 2. Oregon                (Pac-10)            256.51
 3. Florida State        (ACC)                242.82
 4. LSU                      (SEC)                220.09
 5. Southern Cal       (Pac-10)            212.44
 6. Texas                  (Big 12)             192.53
 7. Arizona State      (Pac-10)            170.80
 8. Baylor                 (Big 12)               169.52
 9. Virginia Tech     (ACC)                     154.60
10. Brigham Young (Mountain West)   153.40
11. Michigan          (Big Ten)                150.96
12. Tennessee        (SEC)                    148.34
13. UCLA                (Pac-10)                146.00
14. Auburn             (SEC)                     126.52
15. Stanford           (Pac-10)                119.98
16. Miami, Fla.       (ACC)                     112.82
17. Washington     (Pac-10)                111.96
18. Nebraska         (Big 12)                 111.93
19. Oklahoma       (Big 12)                  111.81
20. Penn State       (Big Ten)               110.29
21. Minnesota       (Big Ten)                  95.52
22. Arkansas         (SEC)                       92.82
23. Texas Tech     (Big 12)                     89.26
24. SMU                (Conference USA)     88.60
25. Indiana           (Big Ten)                  86.12
Other Kentucky and SEC teams — 29. Florida, 71.01; 37. Kentucky, 59.25; 39. Mississippi, 55.93; 42. Louisville (Big East), 52.88; 53. South Carolina, 42.53; 60. Alabama, 37.76; 72. Georgia, 25.96; 73. Western Kentucky (Sun Belt), 24.58; 83. Mississippi State, 17.06.

Event-by-event leaders (plus Kentuckians in top 20)

                       MEN

Gavin Smellie

100 — Jacoby Ford (Clemson) 10.11; 13. Gavin Smellie (WKU) 10.29.
200 — Trey Harts (Baylor) 20.29; 6. Gavin Smellie (WKU) 20.58.
400 — Gil Roberts (Texas Tech) 45.27.
800 — Tevan Everett (Texas) 1:47.39.
1,500 — Matt Centrowitz (Oregon) 3:36.92.
5,000 — Brandon Bethke (Arizona State) 13:27.74.
10,000 — Sam Chelanga (Liberty) 27:28.48.
110 hurdles — Oma Osaghae (Texas Tech) 13.42.
400 hurdles — Jeshua Anderson (Washington State) 49.44.

Corey Thorne

3,000 steeplechase — Jake Morse (Texas) 8:34.57; 2. Corey Thorne (U of L) 8:39.19; 12. Matt Hughes (U of L) 8:47.36.
4-x-100 relay — Florida State 38.75; 17. WKU 39.93.
4-x-400 relay — Florida State 3:01.54; 8. UK 3:05.77.
High jump — (Tie) Trent Arrivey (Washington State) and Matt Fisher (Minnesota) 7-4 1/2; 13. Tone Belt (U of L) 7-1.
Pole vault — Jason Colwick (Rice) 18-9 1/4.
Long jump — Brian Chibudu (Florida State) 26-5; 4. Mandhla Mgijima (WKU) 25-11; 6. Rudon Bastian (U of L) 25-8.
Triple jump — Will Claye (Oklahoma) 55-3/4.
Shot put — Ryan Whiting (Arizona State) 66-11 1/2; 15. Steve Hnat (U of L) 60-6 1/2; 16. Rashaud Scott (UK) 60-3 3/4; 20. Chase Madison (UK) 59-11 1/4.
Discus — Rashaud Scott (UK) 212-9; 6. Chase Madison (UK) 196-7.
Hammer throw — Chris Rohr (Missouri) 235-11.
Javelin — Cyrus Hostetler (Oregon) 272-10.
Decathlon — Ashton Eaton (Oregon) 8,091.

                        WOMEN
100 — Alexandria Anderson (Texas) 11.09.
200 — Tiffany Townsend (Baylor) 22.63; 20. Miaie Williams (WKU) 23.43.
400 — Jessica Beard (Texas A&M) 51.52.
800 — Molly Beckwith (Indiana) 2:02.51.
1,500 — Jenny Barringer (Colorado) 4:08.38.

Janet Jesang

5,000 — Jenny Barringer (Colorado) 15:07.64; 10. Janet Jesang (WKU) 15:52.22.
10,000 — Lisa Koll (Iowa State) 32:43.85; 20. Janet Jesang (WKU) 34:08.18.
100 hurdles — Tiffany Ofili (Michigan) 12.82.
400 hurdles — Eric Cray (Bethune-Cookman) 51.80.
3,000 steeplechase — Nicole Bush (Michigan State) 9:39.38.
4-x-100 relay — Texas A&M 42.91.
4-x-400 relay — LSU 3:31.81; 20. WKU 3:37.43.
High jump — Destinee Hooker (Texas) 6-3 1/2; 11. Rachel Gehret (U of L) 5-11 1/4.
Pole vault — Natalie Willer (Nebraska) 14-4 1/2.
Long jump — Blessing Okagbare (UTEP) 22-6 1/4.
Triple jump — Kim Williams (Florida State) 44-9 3/4; 10. Seidre Forde (U of L) 42-11 3/4.

Ashley Muffet

Ashley Trimble

Shot put — Mariam Kevkhishvili (Florida) 59-2 1/4; 12. Ashley Muffet (UK) 53-4 1/2; 20. Khadija Abdullah (U of L) 52-2.
Discus — Annie Alexander (Tennessee) 188-9; 3. Ashley Muffet (UK) 187-8; 13. Jere’ Summers (U of L) 173-8; 17. Emilee Strot (UK) 171-2.
Hammer throw — Eva Orban (Southern Cal) 226-10; 11. Jere’ Summers (U of L) 199-10; 13. Kristin Smith (UK) 199-2.
Javelin — Kara Patterson (Purdue) 191-7.
Heptathlon — Brianne Theisen (Oregon) 5,986; 20. Ashley Trimble (UK) 5,438.