Official 2016 NCAA Men's Outdoor Track and Field Discussion Thread

As for announcing, I want to reserve special criticism for Jill Montgomery. Stones is fine, nothing brilliant--makes mistakes, but quickly corrects them, is straightforward and pretty likable. Rawson's mannerisms are legendary, but you can't help but regard him with some affection, like Phil Rizzuto or Howard Cosell. My wife, not really a track fan, but willing to sit with me for the big meets, loves him, waiting for him to say "long story short" counting how many times he reverses verb and subject "from Michigan, is Brazier" and rooting for him to repeat origin stories that may or may not be true: "they used to literally run from steeple to steeple." So we'd both really miss him.

But Montgomery not only continually repeats the most annoying question a trackside announcer can ask. "You just won the NCAAs--how does that make you feel?" (I just would love it for someone to say "I feel like I'm going to throw up.") When she is not asking the "how does that make you feel" question she is making a statement and then turning it into an unanswerable question. "You won by turning it on down the final straightaway. How did you turn it on down the final straightaway?" (Here the response I'd like someone to say is, "No, I won by running the curve well.")

But tonight is why I'm off on this rant. It was clear to anyone watching T.V. that Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake was injured in the 4 x100. Stones and Rawson missed it, probably because they were watching from above. But Montgomery not only must of witnessed it directly trackside, she interviewed the LSU team with Blake missing! Would it have killed her to mention what happened to Mitchell-Blake--what the injury was, how likely he was to return? No, we were left in the total dark, as we always are with her trackside interviews.

How does it make me feel? Frustrated!

JamesPardon wrote:

So from a distance runner's perspective, I thought this was an awesome meet! Winning times for distance events this year

1500: 336

3000m steeple: 827

800: 143!!

5000: 1325

When was the last time we saw those strong of performances in all of those events at one NCAA meet? Well done men!

5000m was a final only. Not impressive when compared to past.

He won't hit the A standard at the Trials. No one ever runs a fast 1500 final at the Trials. It's a sit and kick race every year. He won't risk it. He has the Olympic standard in the 800. Can you imagine him passing on the 800 and running the 1500 and placing top 3 but not getting to go to Rio cus he ran a 3:40 in the jog and kick final?

Meanwhile he could have been a top 3 lock with the A standard in the 800 and on his way to Rio.

Also, no way he doubles. No one does that double. You run 3 hard, fast rounds in the 800. Then after that if you can still manage to get thru 2 x1500 heats and get to the final, you'll be on running on empty when they run a 1:48 - 1:50 last 800 in the 1500 final. He's a strong, talented kid but remember this isn't the NCAA.

one to go wrote:

Nopers. wrote:

Unless Murphy gets the 1500 A standard in the next 2 weeks , he'll have no choice but to run the 800 at the Trals. No chasing allowed after the Trials.

I think Murphy can feel pretty confident he can get the 1500 standard at the Trials.

I do expect him to run the 800 because it comes first, to maximize his chances. Then he can decide whether to go for the 1500, either to make the team or to double.

Forgot to include these quotes in my comments above.

Pat Tiernan was 4th at Aussie Olympic Trials 5000. He then missed the Olympic standard (13:25) by less than a second at Payton Jordan.

Wait until you hear the butcher job Rawson and Stones did on the woman's 4x100 meter relay! They miscalled virtually the entire race, claiming Oregon was leading throughout. It wasn't until the finish line that they finally realized that it was LSU that they were raving about the entire time. The camera work was terrible too, perhaps because they were following the announcer's cues. In all my 50+ years of watching track on TV, I had never seen the announcers get it completely wrong until today!