Collegiate Domination of a Sport - Dallas-Mavs.com Forums

ocelot_ark · 03-14-2005, 07:00 PM

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Arkansas triumphed in the face of adversity on Saturday night and captured a monumental 40th NCAA Championship and 18th indoor crown, the most of any Division I NCAA program. The Hogs overcame a DMR disqualification from Friday night and the absence of one of its top sprinters, Tyson Gay, to score 56 points in front of a hometown crowd of 5,461 at the Randal Tyson Track Center. Florida finished second with 46 points and Wisconsin was third with 43.

“This morning I woke up and wasn’t sure if we were going to win No. 40, especially after what happened last night,” Arkansas head coach John McDonnell said. “After the team meeting this afternoon I assured them that no one was going to take the national title from us and we rose to the occasion. We came today to win. It’s a credit to my staff and the athletes. We overcame a lot today. It was amazing.”

The Hogs clinched the team title after the 3,000 meters when they added 11 points to make Arkansas’ total 54, more than 10 points ahead of the rest of the field with one event remaining. Sophomore Peter Kosgei made a move in the final 50 meters to grab second place with a career-best time of 7:54.45. Sophomore Adam Perkins also staged a gusty performance with a sixth place finish (8:03.43). Entering the event the duo was ranked 12th and 13th, respectively, and their improved finishes were a very pleasant surprise.

The mile run was the first running event of the day and Arkansas sat in second place behind Auburn with 22 points. After running two outstanding races on Friday night, junior Said Ahmed took to the track again for the finals. He registered a sixth place finish and added 3 points to make Arkansas’ total 22, but UA still trailed Auburn by six. Ahmed’s performance gave the Boston, Mass., native his fourth career All-America honor.

The 800 meters was next with senior James Hatch representing the Hogs. Hatch lifted the team’s spirit when he garnered runner-up honors with a career-best time of 1:47.40. Hatch’s performance was even more impressive based on the fact that he was the last athlete to qualify for the event.

Hatch staged a smart tactical race, staying comfortably in the third position and then moved up to second coming off the final turn. He held off Auburn’s Sherridan Kirk (1:47.64) and Michigan’s Nate Brannen (1:47.71) to pick up eight crucial points for the Hog team. It was Hatch’s best individual finish at a national championship meet and placed him at fourth on the UA all-time indoor top 10 list

“I really hadn’t had a good race all year,” Hatch said. “Being ranked low coming into the event took the pressure off me, because no one was really looking my way. Coach McDonnell always tells us that if someone falls down someone else needs to step up and that’s what I did.”

Another inspiring performance was turned in by senior Terry Gatson. Gatson lined up in the second heat of the 400 meters, against Olympic gold medalists Darold Williamson (Baylor) and Kelly Willie (LSU) and junior world record holder Kerron Clement (Florida). Gatson knew he had to post a solid performance even though he had competed in the both the prelims and DMR the night before.

Gatson came through with a second-place finish and career-best time of 45.29. His time broke the 13-year-old school record of 46.16 held by Calvin Davis and is the third-fastest time ever run by a collegian indoors. Gatson’s performance would have also set an NCAA meet record, but Clement powered to a world-record time of 44.57 for top honors.

“First place is always on my mind,” Gatson said. “I was expecting to run 45 and I did. I wanted to do it for myself and the team. We weren’t going to lose the team championship.”

After the 400 Arkansas gained the lead for the first time during the weekend with 38 points. Auburn was close behind in second with 36. Next on the schedule was the 60-meter dash, an event UA did not have an athlete entered. Following the 60 meters the Razorbacks still held a slim lead with three events remaining, but Florida (36) moved up to tie with Auburn, after UF’s Richard Adu-Bobie picked up six points with a third-place finish.

Senior Jaanus Uudmae added five points when he posted a mark of 53-6.50 in the triple jump. Uudmae earned the same measurement on his final two attempts. His performance kept the Hogs in the lead with 43 points, with Florida and Auburn still tied with 36 points. It was Uudmae’s second All-America honor as a Razorback.

The 4x400-meter relay concluded the evening and with the team title already a guarantee the Razorback team of senior Omar Brown, junior David Wittenmyer, Gatson and sophomore Wallace Spearmon recorded a time of 3:06.16 for seventh place. It is the first time since 1992 that an UA team has earned All-America honors in the event.

The Razorbacks put together a truly memorable team effort and for the weekend 10 athletes earned a combined total of 14 All-America honors. Now that the indoor season is over Arkansas can look ahead to the outdoor season. The Stanford Invitational will open the 2005 outdoor campaign for the distance runners in Palo Alto, Calif., on March 26.

Drbio · 03-15-2005, 09:22 AM

Arkansas has a university? Who knew? [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/img]

endtroducing · 03-15-2005, 09:26 AM

Auburn swimming

Big Boy Laroux · 03-15-2005, 12:03 PM

Auburn swimming has won what? the last 3 years? great achievement, but hardly a comparison to 40 total...

ocelot_ark · 03-15-2005, 12:11 PM

BBL, you should have just gone to the U of A. You've always got my back brother!

Big Boy Laroux · 03-15-2005, 01:17 PM

ha ha. it's just that one of my best friends is from Arkansas. he went to undergrad with me, but was always a big U of A fan (Pat Bradley is his all-tme favorite player). he went to med school at U of A, too. So i know more than my fair share about the Hogs.

Drbio · 03-15-2005, 02:32 PM

Quote:

So i know more than my fair share about the Hogs.

That is just so disrespectful to the Arkansas coeds.....just disrespectful man. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/img]

Murphy3 · 03-15-2005, 02:47 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by: Drbio
Arkansas has a university? Who knew? [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/img]

It doubles as a state prison..

ocelot_ark · 03-15-2005, 03:52 PM

For someone that went to UNT (right Murph?) you sure do make ballsy statements about other universities. Has UNT COMPETED in 40 athletic events..total..ever?

Murphy3 · 03-15-2005, 04:02 PM

If you're allowed to add them up from year to year...then yes.

I'm still waiting for the glorious track and field return for ACU.... ACU will be out for blood.

ocelot_ark · 03-15-2005, 06:43 PM

Hey, track and field is better than nothing, right? RIGHT? lol

Drbio · 03-16-2005, 03:12 PM

I love threads like this where we can toss shots at each others schools. Good job guys.

ocelot_ark · 03-16-2005, 03:21 PM

One thing that really impressed me about Baylor, Doc. They were able to get that track stud out of California that just happens to be an excellent football player. You can bet your ass I was mad that we never even went for the guy and instead signed a guy that is 5'6" 140 lbs. Ugh. Arkansas is pretty much the USC of college track. If we would have gone after him at all we would have had a nice shot to land a great football/track athlete. Congrats to them Bears.

Drbio · 03-16-2005, 05:17 PM

David Gettis is lightning fast. I think I heard that he won the California state quarter mile all four years in high school. I give U. of Ark. a ton of credit for their track program, but there is no equal to good ole' Quarter Miler University here in Waco. Clyde Hart has developed almost three times more olympians than any other collegiate coach. The roster is a who's who of international track success. Certainly the quarter mile has been a great event for us.

BTW...Hart was named the US Olympic coach of the year this week. Very nice honor.

Murphy3 · 03-16-2005, 05:30 PM

And honestly, when it comes to the running events, the only thing I really enjoy watching is the quarter. So, give Baylor the edge over Arkansas when it comes to "Collegiate Domination of a Sport".

ocelot_ark · 03-16-2005, 08:57 PM

Nice try...but nope. Track is a lot more than ONE event.

Mandyahl · 03-16-2005, 10:25 PM

hmmm...well, if you want to talk about collegiate domination of sports in general, then look no further than stanford, which has won a record 10 straight director's cups, the annual award given to the top sports program in the nation.

Murphy3 · 03-16-2005, 10:45 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by: Mandyahl
hmmm...well, if you want to talk about collegiate domination of sports in general, then look no further than stanford, which has won a record 10 straight director's cups, the annual award given to the top sports program in the nation.

Yeah, but most of the 'sports' that they excel in don't count....

Mandyahl · 03-16-2005, 10:58 PM

ok, i'll concede that we're not too good at football (although we were about five years back), but other than that we're quite competitive in just about every sport. and honestly, what other school excels in all the sports that meet the murphy seal of approval?

Murphy3 · 03-17-2005, 09:03 AM

UNT of course...

Big Boy Laroux · 03-17-2005, 11:11 AM

contrary to what you've heard, murph, beer pong is not a recognized sport by the NCAA.

Murphy3 · 03-17-2005, 11:14 AM

Drinking for sport isn't considered a sport by the NCAA?

ocelot_ark · 03-17-2005, 12:28 PM

My favorite sport at UNT was my own little invention: "guess the homo," or "Is he or isn't he?" You may have heard of them.

Murphy3 · 03-17-2005, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by: ocelot_ark
My favorite sport at UNT was my own little invention: "guess the homo," or "Is he or isn't he?" You may have heard of them.

That's at TWU sir!

ocelot_ark · 03-17-2005, 03:45 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by: Murphy3

Quote:

Originally posted by: ocelot_ark
My favorite sport at UNT was my own little invention: "guess the homo," or "Is he or isn't he?" You may have heard of them.

That's at TWU sir!

LMFAO. Drove around TWU once and you're right, it's twice as bad. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

Murphy3 · 03-17-2005, 03:51 PM

In all honesty, there's no better place to go to school as a guy than in sweet/clean Denton.

ocelot_ark · 03-17-2005, 10:43 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by: Murphy3
In all honesty, there's no better place to go to school as a guy than in sweet/clean Denton.

Well, I've only been to 3 different places: Denton, Fayetteville, and College Station.

The order went Fayetteville (2 years), Denton (6 months), College Station (2 years), and now back in Fayetteville. One of these things is not like the other...I'd never consider going back to Denton.

Murphy3 · 03-17-2005, 11:18 PM

Well, I've spent my fair share of time in Denton and in various places in Arkansas...Give me Denton.