Mark Maloney on Kentucky sports

What began four years ago with 38 campers at old Harrodsburg High School has blossomed — make that tripled — into a prestigious track and field camp at Centre College.

Sharrieffa Barksdale

Maximum Velocity Track and Field Academy is in its third year at Centre, with about 120 campers.

Recent instructors include Tyson Gay, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Francie Larrieu Smith and Dave Wottle.

The 2012 edition, which opened Wednesday and runs through Saturday, includes camp founder Sharrieffa Barksdale of Lexington. She competed in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and is the former American record-holder in the 400-meter hurdles.

Staff members back from last year include four-time Olympic sprinter Ato Bolden, two-time Olympic pole-vaulter Jeff Hartwig, Olympic gold-medalist and 400-meter hurdles world record-holder Kevin Young and former Southeastern Conference multi-event champion Ashley Trimble. Joyner-Kersee had a late schedule conflict and will miss the camp for the first time.

Also on staff are two-time Olympic triple-jumper Walter Davis, Olympic distance coach Rose Monday, two-time Olympic high-jumper Jamie Nieto and two-time Olympic Trials discus thrower Reedus Thurmond.

Barksdale will be coaching, of course, hurdlers.

“What we want to try to get across to the hurdlers is to ‘attack’ the hurdles. Don’t be afraid of the hurdle,” she said. “And it’s really good when you have someone that’s never ran the hurdles because then you can get them to alternate (lead legs), especially running the 300-meter hurdles. … Getting them to alternate and getting them to use both legs.”

Barksdale is a case in point.

Competing for Harriman High School, she won a Tennessee state high school team championship by herself, winning the 100, 200, 100 hurdles, long jump and high jump.

When she arrived at the University of Tennessee, she had never attempted the 300-meter hurdles, nor even an open 400. Her coach convinced her to switch from the 100-meter hurdles.

“Terry Crawford told me ‘if you want to be that elite athlete and make the Olympic team, then you have to transition from the 100-meter hurdles to the 400-meter hurdles.’ Because Benita Fitzgerald was running the 100-meter hurdles and I couldn’t hold a light to Benita.”

Fitzgerald won the 100 hurdles Olympic gold at Los Angeles.

Jeff Hartwig

“And when (Crawford) explained to me that it would be a possibility I could make the Olympic team, it was a no-brainer for me to switch over to the 400-meter hurdles,” Barksdale said. “And that’s what I want to instill and tell these athletes is that if you have a great attitude and you listen to your coaches, they know what’s best for you because they can see you every day, the way you train.  And if takes them to move you to a different event for you to be successful, then give it a try. But don’t have a bad attitude talking about ‘I want to quit; I want to leave school’ and stuff like that because it’s going to come.”

Hartwig, who made the Olympic team in 1996 and 2008, stresses to campers that everybody has to start somewhere. He started at just over 9 feet as a high school freshman, working up to 19-6 as an Olympian.

“When I was a freshman, I wrestled the 105-pound weight class, so I was a little bitty guy,” Hartwig said. “The whole thing was is I couldn’t jump up and grab the (basketball) rim or touch the rim, but I always thought it would be cool. That was kind of motivation for me. I thought ‘well, you know, if I have the help of a pole, I might be able to jump as high as the rim some day.’ And, of course, I went on and jumped almost twice as high.

“But the big thing that I look at with the kids is I grew up doing sports just because I loved doing sports. To be honest, I never dreamed of being an Olympian until very late in my career because it never seemed practical. I was doing it for the other reasons. The other reasons were it was fun and it was a challenge, and I crave knowledge. I just crave the help and the assistance and the coaching that I didn’t have when I was really young, and now this is a chance for me to kind of give back to these kids. It’s really fun.”

Centre College will again host the third annual Maximum Velocity Track and Field Academy, featuring Olympian instructors in several events.

The camp, June 12-15, is directed by Lisa Owens, men’s and women’s track and cross country coach at Centre.

Instructors include Lexington’s Sharrieffa Barksdale, former American record-holder in the women’s 400-meter hurdles and a member of the 1984 Olympic team.

Also featured is four-time Olympian Jackie Joyner-Kersee, arguably the greatest female athlete ever. “JJK” won three Olympic golds, one silver and two bronze, and holds the world record in the heptathlon.

Special guest clinicians include Olympic sprinter Ato Bolden, high-jumper Jamie Nieto, discus thrower Reedus Thurmond, intermediate hurdler Kevin Young, pole-vaulter Jeff Hartwig, triple-jumper Walter Davis and distance runner Rose Monday.

Cost is $400 for overnight campers (ages 12-19), $315 for commuters and $200 for commuting coaches and parents.

For more information, see the web site: www.mvtfa.com.

Deadline to register is Friday.

World record-holder Kevin Young, right, and campers watch as former American record-holder Sharrieffa Barksdale demonstrates a hurdles drill. (Mark Maloney photo)

The third annual High Velocity Track and Field Academy wrapped up Friday at Centre College in Danville.

With Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Dusty Jonas, Kevin Young, Dave Wottle, Francie Larrieu-Smith, Erin Gilreath, Jeff Hartwig and Ato Bolden, plus former Kentucky football player/Bryan Station jumper Littleton Ward, High Velocity continues to grow its reputation for having a staff filled with Dream Teamers.

Four-time Olympic medalist Ato Bolden demonstrates start technique. (Maloney photo)

The camp founder is pleased to see the camp growing and the Olympians continuing to help.

“Oh, my goodness — yes, yes, yes!” said Lexington’s Sharrieffa Barksdale, a 1984 Olympian and former American record-holder in the women’s 400-meter hurdles. “To have this caliber of track and field camp and to have this type of Olympians come … it’s phenomenal.”

Barksdale says the Olympians are willing to come to Central Kentucky because “we have a camaraderie. When you have that type of friendship and camaraderie, it’s hard to say no to me. It really is.” She doesn’t often take “no” for an answer.

Although the camp continues to take baby steps in growth, Barksdale would like to see a giant step. That will take a push from high school coaches to encourage, inform and maybe even help with fund-raising for their athletes, she says.

“When you have this type of Olympians that are coming into the state of Kentucky, you should have every kid here, trying to get them to learn from the best,” she said. “You can’t get no better than this.”

Mark Brummett

Barksdale has a believer in Rockcastle County Coach Mark Brummett, who was on hand to soak up as much knowledge as possible. His state-champion discus thrower, Amy Johnson, was among the camp participants, and he’s hoping to bring “a whole lot more” next year.

“I love it. I wish we had more Kentucky athletes here,” he said. “I think it’s a great opportunity. The Olympians are amazing. I don’t think our kids realize having Jackie Joyner-Kersee at our camp is the equivalent of having Michael Jordan for a basketball camp. … They work on so many different facets of everything. I spent just a few minutes with Ato Bolden and learned a whole lot that my program needs to work on for starting blocks and things. Just the fact that they’ll come and do a camp here — there’s nothing like it in the United States that I’ve seen. I’ve looked at some other camps and you might see a couple of Olympians, but the level and degree, the magnitude of these Olympians is amazing.”

We caught up with several of the Olympians.

Jeff Hartwig

The former American record-holder in the pole vault, indoors and outdoors, Hartwig competed in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.

Jeff Hartwig instructs pole vaulters. (Maloney photo)

He made his first tour at Centre in 2011, so he knew what he was in for this week.

“Last year, when I came down … you just don’t know what to expect,” he said. “And, to be honest, I’d never really heard of Centre College. Boy, I’ll tell you, the campus is beautiful, the facilities are outstanding and Lisa Owens — the coach here — just did an outstanding job of taking care of all the details for us, the camp staff, to make sure that we can contribute our knowledge to the young athletes in a positive way.

“I was really impressed with how good the kids were last year and how well the camp is run, so I had looked forward to coming back.”

So what can an Olympic athlete get across to a teen athlete in just a few days?

“When I was a young athlete, I didn’t have the benefit of getting the chance to work with anybody who had either competed at a high level or had a high level of knowledge,” Hartwig said. “Probably the biggest frustration for me when I got into college was having to ‘un-learn’ all the things that I learned incorrectly from the beginning.

“I always thought as I started to become a student of the event, as my career progressed, ‘one day I want to give back to kids because if I can get them started in a better direction right from the beginning, they have a much better chance of success.’ Because it’s hard enough to learn how to do it correctly, but then when you have to un-learn all the things that you do incorrectly before you can work on those things to move you forward, it makes it twice as hard.”

Kevin Young

A U.S. Track & Field Hall of Famer, Young ran a still-standing world-record 46.78 seconds to win gold at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games.

A necklace displays Kevin Young's world-record hurdles time. (Maloney photo)

Not that he’ll ever forget the time — the first to break the 47-second barrier — but he has a constant reminder thanks to a necklace that was presented to him by a friend.

Young, 45, has agreed to participate July 7 in an all-day hurdles festival in France — commemorating 25 years of the festival and 20 years since his world-record race.

Young, who lives in Kennesaw, Ga., near Atlanta, has his eye set on eventually getting the masters (age 40-over) world record of 55.18.

“I believe that if I train consistently, I should be able to break it,” Young said. “I wanted to do it this year. But I had these injuries — I have a lingering Achilles’ soreness, which was a lot worse a few weeks ago, and I’ve got a little nagging hamstring injury with scar tissue. But I feel I can get out there and finish the race and have a good time, and have fun.”

Young said he made debut on the international scene in the 1986 Goodwill Games, held in Moscow. Barring injuring setbacks, his dream is to qualify for the 2013 World Championships, which will be held in Moscow.

“I think I can get an ‘A’ qualifier,” he said. “I’m not necessarily trying to set the world on the fire, but I would like to get an ‘A’ standard qualifier. At least a ‘B’ standard qualifier, which is like … 49.5. If I get into that range, it will be a masters record, plus I can scare a lot of these young hurdlers. Like ‘the old man can still do it.’”

He says his experience at Centre helped him in his training. But that was an added benefit to the joy of being a mentor.

“The beauty of being here at the camp is the fact that you see them come out here as raw as they possibly can be, you give them a few instructions, show them some drills, give them some encouragement, let them know that the word ‘can’t’ isn’t used out here and, within five-10 minutes, a totally different person,” Young said. “They’re handling it. And they’re knocking things out of the park.

“I just pat myself on the back each and every time it happens. I’ve got a number of kids that are doing that, making me look good as a coach. And they can take home with them that they trained with the world record-holder, literally hung out, had lunch at the table with him. We went through what you need to do to prepare yourself for college, prepare for all the different changes in your routines from high school to college.”

Dave Wottle

Dave Wottle

A U.S. Track & Field Hall of Fame member and the 1972 Olympic gold-medalist at 800 meters, Wottle will turn 62 in August. He lives in Germantown, Tenn., and retired June 1 after 29 years at Rhodes College, where he was dean of admissions and financial aid.

At Munich, his roommate was marathoner Frank Shorter. As it happened, Wottle and Shorter were the last two Americans to win track gold medals at the 1972 Games.

Wottle won his medal three days before Palestinian terrorists infiltrated the Athletes Village, an event that would lead to the death of 11 Israeli athletes and coaches. Shorter, though, had not yet run.

“You couldn’t really focus that much on what was going on. I always say that was kind of a surreal feeling,” Wottle said. “Because very shortly after (International Olympic Committee president) Avery Brundage announced the Games would continue. Well, as soon as they said that, the athletes had to in a sense blank that out of their mind and focus on their events.

“Frank’s event was after the incident, so he had the marathon he had to run. You just can’t be thinking about two things. So we kind of said, ‘well, we’ll park it in the back of our mind and we’ll reflect on it after the Games.’ It sounds kind of cold and hard-hearted, but that’s really what you had to do. And that’s what most of us were able to do.”

Although Shorter was bewildered when he entered the Olympic Stadium. Unbeknownst to him, an imposter had slipped in ahead, pretending to be the marathon winner. The crowd quickly realized that the runner was a fake and responded with “Boooooo!”

“I think those German guys beat the crap out of that guy,” Wottle said, half-seriously, of the imposter. “They should have.”

Another Wottle-Shorter story from Munich involved a pair of shorts.

Wottle, married shortly before the Games, was among the last to pick up his uniform.

“Of course, no one takes the uniform they signed up for, so they had a pair of extra-extra-large shot put pants for my Olympic uniform,” Wottle said. “I go ‘I can’t wear these.’ I did not have any other shorts.

“Frank ran for the Florida Track Club, which had some light blue pants. He goes, ‘well, you can wear these; these are close enough. And if you win, you can have them.’ He’s like ‘I’ll get these back in a couple days.’”

Of course, Wottle won. Wearing his golf cap and Shorter’s shorts. Both clothing items were displayed in the U.S. Track and Field Hall of Fame before either athlete was inducted.

Said Wottle: “I always tell people the hat beat me into the Hall of Fame and Frank Shorter’s shorts beat him into the Hall of Fame.”

See kentucky.com and The Herald-Leader for some more of Wottle’s tales from the Munich Olympic Games.

College football has RG3.

Collegiate track and field has Jessica Beard and Ngoni Makusha.

Within a week of Baylor’s Robert Griffin III winning the Heisman Trophy as college football’s top player, Beard and Makusha have won The Bowerman — college track and field’s equivalent to the Heisman.

Beard, from Texas A&M, took women’s honors.

Makusha, from Florida State, won the men’s award.

Jessica Beard

Beard, who will graduate Saturday, won NCAA titles indoors and outdoors at 400 meters and the 4-by-400 relay. From Euclid, Ohio, she became the third women in NCAA history and first since 1999 to win both 400 and both 4-by-400 titles in the same year.

Beard clocked the world’s fastest time of the year indoors (50.79). Outdoors, she won the NCAA in 51.10 and had a 49.13 split as anchor of the Aggies’ relay. After the collegiate season, Beard placed fourth in the USATF Championships 400, running a season-best 51.06.

Ngoni Makusha

Makusha, from Seke, Zimbabwe, joins a list of 100 meters and long jump champions in the same NCAA Outdoor meet that includes Houston’s Carl Lewis, Ohio State’s Jesse Owens and Michigan’s DeHart Hubbard. The junior, who is passing on his senior season in order to turn pro, also won the NCAA Indoor long-jump title and is the first male to sweep the indoor and outdoor jump titles since Nebraska’s Arturs Abolins in 2006. Makusha won a third title outdoors, running the second leg on the Seminoles 4-by-100 relay. His winning time of 9.89 in the 100 broke the collegiate and meet record of 9.92 set by UCLA’s Ato Bolden, and also is the Zimbabwean national record. He also set a national record of 27-6 3/4 in the long jump.

The Bowerman award, named for legendary Oregon coach Bill Bowerman, was introduced in 2009. It is presented annually by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

The Bowerman winners

WOMEN                                                                                    MEN
Jenny Barringer,  Colo.               2009                 Galen Rupp, Oregon
Queen Harrison, Va. Tech         2010                  Ashton Eaton, Oregon
Jessica Beard, Texas A&M         2011                  Ngoni Makusha, Fla. St.

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.