We are working on tomorrow's homepage (which once again will be delivered for the amazing price of zero) and came across on Lee Emanuel's preparations for World Indoors. In it, it referred to him being 29 and we were like, "Is that possible? Didn't he just win a NCAA track and field title a few years ago?"
We've looked it up. His DOB is 24 January 85 so when he won NCAAs in 2010 he was 25.
We know many like to rip on BYU for having old guys, but how about we start a list of oldest and youngest NCAA champions? It seems BYU may deserve more sympathy than many thought.
We'll start with Emanuel. Actually, we just realized today is Henry Rono's birthday and in realizing that we looked up how old he was in his prime. Rono was 26 when he set 4 world records in 1978 in the span of 81 days as a collegian:
Oldest NCAA Champs we can think of off the top of our head (add in yours)
1. Henry Rono (UTEP) - 26 and 3 months. 1978 NCAA steeple.
2. Lee Emanuel (NM) 25 and 1 month. 2010 NCAA mile.
3. Josh Rohatinsky (BYU) 24 and 8 months. 2006 NCAA XC.
Youngest NCAA champs off the top of our head
1. German Fernandez (Ok state) - German was just 18 and 7 months when he won the 1500 in 2009.
Please help us out.