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https://ucasports.com/news/2022/12/10/womens-track-and-field-bears-earn-16-prs-in-first-meet.aspx

Indoor Meet at Pittsburg State, 12/10/22

UCA in somewhat of a rarity typically competes in a December indoor meet (which used to be very common in college track) and uses the meet to take the temperature of its sprinters, hurdlers and jumpers. Distance runner are generally in a heavy mileage training time after taking off a couple weeks after cross country ended and do not want to split that training to do speed work for a track meet.

Link above to the recap of the meet for UCA. By the way, Pitt State, even though a D2 program, has a terrific indoor track and field facility that is 300m compared to the standard 200m indoor track.

What caught my eye in the recap were the two men at 7.00 or better in the 60m dash:

Ty Juan Huffman, 60m dash, 6.95
Preston Barker, 60m dash, 7.00

These are very solid early times. For example, the qualifiers for the 2022 NCAA D1 indoor were 6.61 or better. Now that is about 4m better than a 6.95 which is a lot in a short sprint race but can be the difference in the start out of the blocks and the strength to hang on the last 5-10m. That is a matter of coaching and training. Keep an eye on these young fellows.

Note the number of runners who ran the 300m dash. It is common in the first couple of meets that runners who normally run the 400m test themselves at 300m before adding the last 100m. The 300m is good indicator of raw speed in the 400m if the strength is developed to add the last 100m.

https://ucasports.com/news/2023/1/14/womens-track-and-field-williams-breaks-school-record-bears-earn-four-top-10-finishes.aspx

Got to go to all of this meet at Fayetteville on Friday night....

Did not see SO Kiara Williams set a new UCA record (was in an adjacent building to the track) in Women's weight throw at 15.31m (50' 3.75") and a new school record is always deserving of a shout out...

Thought Ty Juan Huffman (FR- Beebe) looked really strong in the men's 60m dash at 6.93 in his first indoor outing for Bears and his 21.84 for 200m was solid...first time on this steeply banked track can take some getting used to for sprinters...

SR Wesley Suen put in a very solid 6.89 in the 60m dash....sub 7.00 for college is competitive.....will not get you to NCAA nationals but you are in the race with the big guys...

GS Julian Haessner who is best at the longer distances (say the 5k and 10k) ran a good 3k race in 8:32.....he competed well with guys who are more shorter distance runners from Tulsa and Ok State....

https://ucasports.com/news/2023/1/20/womens-track-and-field-bears-earn-17-top-10-finishes-at-robert-platt-invitational.aspx

@Houston

Young team so there continue to be lots of PRs.....did not see any school records or near NCAA qualifying time....looks like we rested distance crew and top sprinters....

FR Gavin Frick posted an 8:40 for 3000m .....about 4:37 per mile pace....that is credible for a true freshman but needs to be in low 8:20s to be in the mix at ASUN Conference meet.....in 2022 it took 8:19 to score at ASUN meet...NCAA championship meet runners are typically in the 7:45-7:55 range...

Go Bears and SugarBears!!

Outdoor track season is quickly coming to a head....UCA has one last meet at Memphis this coming weekend then ASUN the following week at Jacksonville...

Most every team in the country has doing well at its conference as a very high goal and for most teams Top 3 at conference is the apex....it is VERY hard to win nationals....

As to nationals. Division 1 has a regional meet for the "east region" and "west region" (UCA in west) ...West is on 5/24-27 at Sacramento with nationals on 6/7-10 at Austin (ie, UT). If you want to see a terrific track meet go to D1 nationals...not only is the competition first class in every event but you will see MANY current and future Olympians for US and numerous other countries.

Qualifying for regionals for individuals and relay teams is based on performances during certified meets during the season. Advancing from regionals to nationals i based solely on finish at regionals. There is no team scoring at regionals. Combined events athletes do not compete in CEs at regionals and, as I recall, neither do the 10,000m qualifiers.

UCA has a slight chance of having some one qualify for West Regionals as, in general, the Top 48 individuals and Top 24 relay teams are selected. UCA has 5 athletes in the Top 95 of the West with the highest ranked tied for #59 being Natalie Louw. She has cleared 5'7. She probably needs to get to 5"10 or above to make regional. That is not out of the question on a nice day with no wind issues.

The others in the Top 95 for the West are:

200m: #77 - Tyjuan Huffman, 21.07
200m: #80 - Wesley Suen, 21.08

(probably takes 21.70 or better to qualify)

10000m: #80 - Julian Haessner, 29:32
10000m: #93 - Phillip Haessner, 29:55

(probably takes 28:30 or better to qualify)

Not qualifying for Regionals is no shame....making regionals is a big accomplishment....UCA has several over the years get to regionals and a couple nearly made nationals.

Will try to do some guestimating on chances at ASUN meet....

Bears and SugarBears at ASUN Championships this week....after reviewing the performance lists for entries on ASUN site it looks like Kennesaw and Liberty will fight it out for 1-2 in Men's with EKU, North Florida and UCA battling for 3rd...in Women's Liberty looks to be the class of the meet with Kennesaw 2nd and Lipscomb a distant 3rd. UCA looks to be in the middle of the pack.

UCA has some shots for individual champions especially in the M200, M4x1 relay and W4x1 relay.

Lots can happen when in the middle and a few surprises can move a team up or down several spots. We have quite a few within reach of Top 3 finishes but just not enough. Anything above 6th would be solid.

After Day 1 (Thursday) UCA men sit in 4th and Women in 7th. Men got more points in Hammer Throw and Javelin than expected but were blanked in 10k run where 9 points were expected. Women did better in High Jump than expected.

Live Results:

http://live.halfmiletiming.com/meets/575/events


Aidan Patton broke the UCA school record in the men's Hammer Throw with a personal record throw of 55.64m (182-6.0). Congrats to Aidan!!

If you cannot win events or score big points then set personal bests....quite a few as below...

Personal Records
Kiara Williams, Hammer Throw, 45.62m (149-8.0)
Miranda Nichols, Hammer Throw, 42.03m (133-8.0)
Aidan Patton, Hammer Throw, 55.64m (182-6.0)
Taylor Conway, 400m hurdles, 1:00.29
Tyrone Luckett, 400m hurdles, 55.08
Kayla Scott, 400m hurdles, 1:04.18
Ciara Tucker, 200m dash, 24.43
Indiyah Aldridge, 200m dash, 26.18
Emma Selph, 1500m, 4:36.85