NCAA D-1 Pre-Nationals coverage page

Race Videos
Race Photos

Original Results

This is a combined finish of the Mens and Womens White & Blue races with team scores if the two races had been combined.  Since most of this had to be done by hand, only the top 200 individual places overall and the top teams have been scored.  Post any comments here.

MEN | WOMEN

Men Combined - NCAA D1 Pre Nationals 2009

Women Combined - NCAA D1 Pre Nationals 2009

Since my last blog after Lignano, Italy I was doing alot of traveling and racing and just never got around to writing a blog so this one will probably be a little longer as I try to recap everything from the past couple weeks. Go here for videos and results of all of my races.

Belgium
My next two meets were in Liege and Heusden. After running well in Italy I was anxious to get back on the track making the small adjustments I thought would take me to a 1:46 low. There was a slight snag in the travel when Geena Gall's and my luggage got lost. Of course I just had a carry-on but it was just a touch over the 10kg weight limit so I had to check it. We had a short layover in Rome before landing in Brussels and the bags never made it onto our second flight. But that side story doesn't get much more interesting as the bags arrived at our hotel the next day.

But as far as the race goes, we had a pace maker that was supposed to pace for 600 meters going through the 400 in 50.5 - 51.0 so I wanted to get out right behind him and see what I could do. At the gun I got out well and positioned myself into second right behind the pacer exactly where I wanted to be. About halfway down the backstretch I started to notice that the pacer was working ridiculously hard just to get to the front. At the 200 mark he was in an all out sprint...and slowing down. I didn't want to run a slow tactical race so on the curve I moved past the pacer. As soon as I came up on him he started to break down completely and ended up stepping off the track before the 300 mark. Probably the worst pacer I've had in one of my races. So now I was in the lead, which ended up not being a good thing for me as I started over striding trying to stay as relaxed as possible. I came through in 51.5 and things started to move when we got to the backstretch. When it was time to kick with 200 to go I realized that 300 meters of over striding had completely zapped my legs and I was out of gas. I finished a ways back at 1:49. So not a good race for me and sort of a waste of a good opportunity.

Three days later I raced at Heusden. Heusden has been one of those tracks for alot of people where they just run fast. Alot of people have had PR's on it and it is where Alan Webb ran his 1:43 a couple years back. I was in the B section but we still had a pacer that was supposed to go out in 51.0. I think we ended up going out in 53 something but this time I just tucked myself in 3rd place. Off of a slow pace like that people usually just start to sprint with 300 left. I was in second after the pacer stepped off at 500 and then made a decisive move with 250 to go and I took the lead. I kept pressing through the curve and into the homestretch. I ended up getting passed by one guy but still finished very well with a 2nd place 1:48.1. It was probably my best race for going out in 53 so there were definitely some positives from it. And another plus was that I ended up placing 8th overall including the A race, which put me in the prize money.

Finland
After the two Belgium meets I changed my schedule and decided to go run my next two races in Joensuu and Lapinlahti, Finland. I ran both of those meets last year so I knew what to expect. It took the better part of a day to take a train to Brussels, fly to Riga, Latvia, change planes to Helsinki, and then a 3-4 hour train ride to Joensuu. I got in around 8pm and was to race the next evening.

The race did not have a pacer and from a slow first 100 I took the lead off the break. This time I was much more prepared to lead and tried to focus on keeping my stride frequency up while still staying patient and relaxed. We all got around to 250 to go when things started to pick up. There was a guy in the race from South Africa, and he was moving on the outside while my teammate, Kevin Hicks, was moving just to my outside. When we were all abreast, the SA guy completely just moved down on Kevin and he got shot back to 5th. By then we were headed into the curve and the guy tries to do the same thing to me. I battled with him with elbows and body contact as he was trying to get on the rail. Eventually I squeezed past him but got tripped and almost went down. It was everything I could do to not fall. I got onto the homestretch and tried to kick but after the 100m physical battle I didn't have a strong kick left. Kevin actually ended up coming back and winning the race in 1:48. I was not far back at 1:49. I wasn't happy with that race at all. I feel like I was positioned well and would have had a 1:47 race if I hadn't had to waste so much energy trying to stay upright and on the track. But that's racing, that happens sometimes and you have to deal with it. In hindsight I should have just given the SA guy a hard solid bump at the first sign that he was going to be a problem. I'm usually always the biggest guy in the race and shouldn't be afraid to be the aggressor.

For the 5th time in about 15 days I race - my last of the season in Lapinlahti, Finland. Now I can finally start to feel all of the traveling, racing, and stress of the season weighing on me. So I decided to run as conservative as possible and make sure I finish well. I got out well but still stayed near the back of the pack, just chillin. I was in last with 200 to go and made a strong move to the finish. I passed 4 or 5 guys but finished 6th. I probably should have moved a little earlier or been in a bit better position before the kick but it was a good finish so I was happy with it.

After Finland I returned to London to the OTC apartment where most of the other guys were. The trip getting back is a pretty good story. One of the things I like to do in Europe when I'm not training or running is getting around or to where I'm going completely on my own. I like trying to figure out public transit or train routes to get somewhere the cheapest I can. So for my return to London, I was scheduled to get into Stansted airport at 11:55pm. This airport is also about a hour drive from downtown London and the OTC apartment is probably a 40 min drive on the other side of the city center. So it would be a challenge for me to make it back at all, not to mention trying to do it in the middle of the night.

Our bags took forever to come into baggage claim so I ended up walking out of the terminal at 1am to start my journey. Of course when I know I'll be in this kind of a situation I never research ahead of time about the best way to get there. I always just assume that it will work its way out eventually, and I knew I had plenty of time. At the worst I wanted to make it back to the apartment by 10am. I caught a break because the first thing I saw for public transit was the last train for the night headed into London city center. I hopped on that and 50 min later I was downtown. There was a bus station right outside so I hopped on a bus that was headed in the general direction of Teddington (SW). I get off a stop where I knew I could get on the tube because once in that system it is really easy to get close to Kinston or Teddington. But my first piece of bad luck is that the tube doesn't start running until like 5 in the morning.

I start walking back to a place I can get back on the bus and luckily the bus runs every 15 minutes. Now at 2:30 am as I'm waiting there this very nice $80,000+ Audi is driving by and slows down in front of me. I can see that there are two guys in it. The car then drives off but makes a u-turn in the middle of the street about a half a block down. They come back and again slow down in front of me (about 30-40 feet away) but this time they stop. Then one of the guys gets out of the car and starts walking toward my side of the street. At the same time there is some other guy already walking my direction on the sidewalk. This guy stops to engage me in conversation as the guy from the car walks past me to an ATM behind me. The sidewalk guy asks me if I live around here or know the area. I quickly tell him I don't while I'm trying to keep the two guys and the car in my range of vision. Luckily the guy accepts my answer and just keeps on walking. So I feel a little safer now that I know I can just take off running if I need to and I'm not in the middle of everyone. I watch the ATM guy very closely to see if he's going to make a move to mug me or something. But he gets his cash and jogs back to the car and they take off. My bus comes a few minutes later and I'm out of a potentially bad situation.

That was the exciting part of the journey by far. The rest just involves me hopping around different buses trying to get to a place I've seen before so I can walk to the apartment. Finally, as its approaching 5:30 am, I recognize where I am and start walking in the direction of the apartment. I get there 20 min later and crawl into bed about 6 am.

Now I've just been hanging around, trying not to run too often or eat too much. We've been playing alot of hearts games and rummy. We have even resorted to a game of go fish yesterday. Most of the guys are starting to leave back to the states now so there are fewer and fewer. Will Leer, Russell Brown, Nick Symmonds, Sally Kipyego, Lauren Fleshman, and Ben Bruce are still here for now. I will be around for a bit longer until I head to Iceland to vacation around for a week and then head home to Eugene in mid August, just in time to watch the world championships in Berlin.

After 4 consecutive nights of up and down sleeping I think I finally will be able to get into a normal routine here in Belgium. Those 4 nights of sleep went like this: 11, 2.5, 12, 3.5. Last night I did the normal 8-9 hours and now that I won't be flying or having to get up at 4am to catch a train or plane I should be able to sleep normal for a couple weeks. But I've been dealing with the up and down sleep pretty well. I have to if I want to continue running well. That's one of the things about competing in Europe on this type of circuit. You have to roll with things and continually stay positive and upbeat. The minute you let it get to you, let it start weighing you down, your level of performance will suffer too. And when I say 'this type of European circuit' I mean what a majority of American athletes compete in. Not the upper 10% that are good enough to get into the super grand prix's and pick and choose their meets. Most don't get to do that and end up going from meet to meet at the will of convenient travel itineraries and connections.

So on to the meet. I opened up my European tour with a solid performance in Lignano, Italy. My body felt great warming up and the pace maker was scheduled to go through in 50.5 which is perfect for me. There were several good runners in the race including Brandon Shaw, Christian Smith, and Tom Chamney of Ireland. The pace went out in 50.9 and we rolled through the 600 at an equally solid pace. I went out behind the pacer and then led from 500 to 600 when Chamney took the lead. Coming off the curve Christian Smith went by and we finished in that order. So 3rd place with a 1:46.86, my 4th fastest time of me career and by far my fastest race in Europe. I felt strong all the way through and was very happy with my strategy and tactics. Often times the first race in Europe is a little off from all the traveling so if that holds true to me I believe I can get a new PR in the coming weeks. in my next races I would like to maybe get out a little bit fast and finish just a little bit stronger and I'll have a 1:45.5 or better for sure. I am now in Belgium in Liege where I'll be running on Wednesday followed by a race in Heusden, Belgium on Saturday.

Check out the RACE VIDEO here

The rest of the meet:

MENS 100M
Asafa Powell was in this race as he and several other Jamaicans are using it as their Europe base. Powell got out well from the blocks but looked about 95% effort through his drive phase. With 40 to go you could clearly see him start easing up and with 5m to go he COMPLETELY shut down, coming to a WALK just a few steps past the finish line. Of course running this way, the entire field caught back up to him and everyone crossed in a blanket finish. He ended up 3rd with a 10.42. There were even some boos from fans in response to his effort. Trell Kimmons took the win in 10.25.

MENS 400M
Rumors made it through the hotel the day before the meet that Jeremy Wariner wanted a shake out race before getting into his normal European tour and was a late add to the field. Wariner got out fast, making up the stagger of two lanes in about 120 meters and looked to keep the pace through the 200 mark before starting to let up and cruising to a 45.74 win. Although he won by just a half second, the win was never in doubt. He looked very comfortable and was barely even breathing hard afterwards.

WOMENS 800M
A good field with Geena Gall, Morgan Uceny, and Nicole Edwards. The pace was supposed to be 57 for the first 400 and I think it was a little slower than that. Gall was out right behind the pacer looking comfortable. At 600 the pacer looked as though she slowed to stop but didn't get off the track very quickly. The two runners directly behind her also slowed visibly and Yus Santiusti Caballero of Italy who was on Gall's shoulder easily took over the lead. Gall battled back down the homestretch getting the win by .03 at the line in a personal best of 2:00.44. Uceny was 3rd in 2:02.03

WOMENS 100M HURDLES
A pretty straight forward race with Lolo Jones out well and no one challenging. She got the win in 12.92 and Andrea Bliss of Jamaica was second in 13.18.

I did not see the other races so can't give very good recaps of them past looking at results. I have just a few of the races on video and the links are below.

VIDEO: Mens 800m

VIDEO: Womens 100m Hurdles

VIDEO: Womens 800m

FULL RESULTS

Right now I am sitting in my London flat chilling out after doing a short second run with Will Leer. Bushy Park is right outside my door and is terrific for running. I'm not sure on its size but is 7-8 miles around the outside and there are dozens of different paths in between. It seems like a popular place to walk dogs and was surprised to see herds of deer roaming around. They seem pretty tame and let you get with a few feet of them.

I arrived yesterday afternoon (local time) after what was one of my better transatlantic trips. My flight itinerary went Eugene to Denver and then Denver to London Heathrow. I can barely get anywhere in the US in two flights out of Eugene but had no problem getting to England. I'm not even sure how long the second flight was. I watched Duplicity (an ok movie) and then was lights out until about 45 min before landing. I was traveling with my coach, Mark Rowland, and Nick Symmonds. Will was arriving an hour before us so we met up with him after customs and rented a car to drive to our flats.

Along the way we were about to enter a round-a-bout when we look to our right and see a city bus driving into the guard rail up over the curb and onto the sidewalk. I was a little confused at first but the we saw the driver was slumped against the window and not conscious at all. Another guy was running to the door and got it open to stop the bus. If he had been going faster we would have been the first car to get hit as we were right in front of it. As we were getting out of the way we could see them getting the driver out of the seat and his arm was twitching pretty violently so we think it must have been a seizure. Hope the poor guy is ok.

After getting the keys to our flats the first thing we did was get groceries. We all have mini kitchens in our flats so will prepare alot of our own food while we're here. At the checkout the guy in front of me forgot his credit card after he paid so the cashier asked me to run him down. He was half a block down by the time I got to him. So less than two hours in London and I've had to be on my toes.

Today we checked out the track at St Mary's, our primary training location and saw Jemma Simpson for the first time in 5 or 6 weeks. i'll just get to do one workout there tomorrow before I head to Lignano, Italy for my first race on Sunday. Most of OTC will be staying here in the same place. I already mentioned Nick and WIll. Geena Gall is also here and the two of us are both going to the Lignano meet and then on to Belgium for a couple races. Early next week several of the other guys will come in. Not sure who but I think 4-5 of them.

I guess we are actually staying in Teddington and Kingston is close by as well. There are several cafes, shops and restaurants around too so definitely some places to see. Hopefully I'll be able to get into downtown and see some of the more tourist type stuff at some point.

I'll have my next blog after I race in Lignano and with any luck, I'll have a video of it too.

Last Race: 800m - Olympic Trials
1:47.14 for 12th place

Today I ran in the semi-finals of the Olympic Trials. I finished 5th in my heat and needed to be 4th to advance to the finals. I was obviously disappointed with the result as I would have liked to make it the final and have a good shot at representing the US in Beijing, but after having some time tonight to think about everything I am happy to have gotten this far and done this well.

I still have the European season ahead of me ally through July and will be looking for my first 1:45. After Europe I plan on being in Illinois for a month for a vacation until starting up training for next year.

I wanted to say thank you to everyone who has supported me throughout my career so far and a special thanks to the dozens of people that called, emailed, texted, sent letters and cards, talked to my parents, ect. It was awesome to feel such a high level of support from everyone the last month. It was awesome and inspiring, and I want you all to know that it went a long way for me. So THANK YOU!!

~Matt

Because I know several of you might be wondering what I've been up to since I haven't been on RunnerSpace, I have decided to write a blog and let you all know. For the last several hours I have taken my email inbox from 782 emails all the way down to 33. I couldn't tell you the last time I even had less than 300 in my inbox and probably never had less than 50.

Getting this part of my life organized feels incredibly refreshing. I can now check my email and not have to see that there are over 100 new emails that I haven't read or that need deleted. Tomorrow I may file and organize all of my finances so next year's tax season won't be rediculously challenging. But of course for that I need my excel file that has alot of that info and I do not have it... I know where it is and who has it so I guess I'll work on that first.

Now its off to the pool for a little bit...

Here are the final rankings for this year.

Men Individual Elite-8 Rankings - June 7, 2008

Here are the final rankings for this year.

Women Individual Elite-8 Rankings - June 7, 2008

NAIA Coverage by RunnerSpace.com

NAIA Cross Country / Track Championships

57th Annual Men's & 28th Annual Women's Outdoor Track & Field Championships
May 22-24, 2008
Ralph Korte Stadium
Edwardsville, Ill.
Hosted by St. Louis Sports Commission, Lindenwood University, McKendree University and Missouri Baptist University

Men's Predictions

Men 100m
Favorite: #1 Tyrell Cuffy - King College

Dark Horse: #8 Orion Nicely - McKendree
2nd 10.34 and 3rd 21.27 in 2007

Men 200m
Favorite: #2 Tyrell Cuffy - King College
Won last year with 20.94 over Mike Rodgers who won the us indoor 60 and competed for the us team at world indoors

Dark Horse: #11 Hylton Campbell - Mid America Nazarene

Men 400m
Favorite: #1 Ramon Miller - Dickenson St
Ran 46.33 this season, and finished 3rd last year. Will have to fight off William McCaskill who won last year.

Dark Horse: #14 Greg Torres - Doane

Men 800m
Favorite: #1 Michael Saalfeld - Concordia
Was 5th last year won indoors and only mark sub 150 this year

Dark Horse: #10 Durrell Williams - Oklahoma Baptist

Men 1500m
Favorite: #1 Aron Rono - Azusa Pacific

Dark Horse: #8 Christopher Sinick - Malone
Went 3:49.08 in finals last year for 5th place finish in a deep field.

Men 5000m
Favorite: #1 Aron Rono - Azusa Pacific

Dark Horse: #7 Luka Thor - Concordia (Neb)
Was 6th at NAIA cross nationals in 2005, and finished 6th in last years 10k

Men 10000m
Favorite: #1 Aron Rono - Azusa Pacific
No explanation needed

Dark Horse: #18 Sammy Maiyo - Cornerstone
Finished 5th in the 5k last year and 3rd in the 10k

Men Marathon
Favorite: #2 Chris Heezen - Dakota State
4th last year, and lost to Mejia by 2 tenths of a second. He should be primed for some revenge this year

Men 110m Hurdles
Favorite: #1 Lamar Baskin - Oklahoma Baptist

Dark Horse: #10 David Pichler - Azusa Pacific

Men 400m Hurdles
Favorite: #4 Ross Harlan - Oklahoma Babtist

Dark Horse: #6 Matt Sparks - Azusa Pacific

Men 3000m Steeple
Favorite: #1 Aaron Melhorn - Malone

Dark Horse: #20 Simion Tooh - Mid America Nazarene

Men 4x100m
Favorite: #1 Oklahoma Baptist

Dark Horse: #12 McKendree

Men 4x400m
Favorite: #9 Dickenson State

Dark Horse: #17 St Gregory's
Won last year

Men 4x800m
Favorite: #1 Oklahoma Baptist
Always deep in the mens 800

Dark Horse: #13 Siena Heights

5000m Race Walk
Favorite: #2 Thiago Ferreira - Missouri Valley

Dark Horse: #6 Brad Sinick - Malone

Men High Jump
Favorite: #2 Michael Mason - British Columbia
Won last year and set the NAIA Championship record. Went on to place 8th at the IAAF Indoor World Championships

Dark Horse: #4 Ryan Gass - Morningside
Is only a frosh and was the GPAC Champ indoors this year

Men Pole Vault
Favorite: #8 Zach Burrington - Bethal (Ind)
Was 5th last year and won indoors this year.

Dark Horse: #7 Seth Brown - Oklahoma Babtist

Men Long Jump
Favorite: #1 Eric Tisdol - Cumberlands
Has been jumping well all season. Jumped 7.40m in two meets this season

Dark Horse: #10 Dominic Goodman - Dickinson St
Won indoors and was 2nd outdoors last year

Men Triple Jump
Favorite: #1 Dominic Goodman - Dickinson St
Was 2nd indoors and outdoors last year. Will be tough with Chamov of Lindenwood trying to defend his indoor title

Dark Horse: #8 Julius Williams - McKendree
Was 3rd in this meet last year

Men Shot
Favorite: #1 Paul Castaneda - Concordia (Cal)
Won last year and has jumped almost a full meter higher than anyone else this season

Dark Horse: #7 Ben Michand - Cedarville
Was 3rd indoors this year and 2nd outdoors last year

Men Discus
Favorite: #1 John Bowman - Indiana Wesleyan
Has 1.5 meters on the rest of the field coming in. Was 2nd last year

Dark Horse: #14 Steve Hammond - McKendree

Men Hammer
Favorite: #3 Scott Vancura - Hastings
Won indoors in the weight throw and was 3rd in this meet last year

Dark Horse: #10 Kendall Thomas - Olivet Nazarene
Was 7th in this meet last year

Men Javelin
Favorite: #2 Jeff Buller - Bethal (Kan)
Was last year's champion

Dark Horse: #13 David Daugharthy - Bethal (Kan)
Was 6th last year and will be looking to overtake his teammate Buller

Men Decathlon
Favorite: #1 David Pichler - Azusa Pacific
Was 3rd last year. Starts strong and will hold off Gregory of Doane in the 1500 to get this year's title

Dark Horse: #5 Casey Stevick - Azusa Pacific
Beat favorite Pichler back in February. Was 5th indoors in the heptathlon




Womens Predictions

Women 100m
Favorite: #1 Kimberly Smith - Wayland Baptist
Is 3 tenths ahead of 2nd and won the indoor 60, setting the NAIA meet record.

Dark Horse: #8 Lanece Clarke - McKendree
Has shown potential to compete up front with her 11.82 in the finals last year.

Women 200m
Favorite: #1 Kimberly Smith - Wayland Babtist
Despite only being a freshman, Kimberly has shown great talent and is the favorite for the 100/ 200 double.

Dark Horse: #13 Dominique McDonald - Langston
Ran 24.82 to qualify for last years finals where she finished 2nd.

Women 400m
Favorite: #2 Ruky Abdulai - Simon Fraser
Won last year with 52.40 in the finals.

Women 800m
Favorite: #3 Beth McCubbin - Embry-Riddle
Finished 7th last year in a strong field with a time of 2:12, and won the 1000 indoor in 2:54.

Dark Horse: #7 Kelly Cozmanciuc - Cumberlands

Women 1500m
Favorite: #2 Bethany Carr - Olivet Nazarene
Has consistently been one of the NAIA's top middle distance-distance runners and it will be a good race up front with Jamie Canterbury who is also running the 5000 and likely the 4x800.

Dark Horse: #8 Olivia Johnson - Northwestern (Iowa)

Women 5000m
Favorite: #1 Jamie Canterbury - Azusa Pacific
Will be a good run up front with Alyssa McKraig who dominated the field indoors in the 5000. Despite running so well, McKraig will have already run the 10,000 which will help even out Jamie running multiple events, and its tough to pick against Jamie with how well she has been running this season. Also in the mix will be Jamie's teammate Jackie Kipwambock who won the indoor 3000.

Women 10000m
Favorite: #1 Alyssa McKraig - Indiana Tech
Will be running fresh on Thursday night, it is likely she will be alone crossing the finish line.

Women Marathon
Favorite: #2 Kaitlin Fadden - Houghton

Women 110 Hurdles
Favorite: #1 Shannon Hellman - Black Hills State
Won last year as well as indoors this year in the 60 hurdles.

Dark Horse: #6 Courtney Reed - Cedarville
5th indoors in the 60 and 7th in this event last year behind several graduated seniors.

Women 400m Hurdles
Favorite: #1 Sherene Pinock - Oklahoma Baptist
Set NIAI indoor national record in the 600 by 2 seconds in 1:30 and is over 5 seconds in front of the field on the performance list.

Dark Horse: #8 Optimum Baker - Oklahoma Baptist
Made the finals last year and will be in the mix this year.

Women 3000m Steeple
Favorite: #1 Dallon Williams - Cal State San Marcos
Ran 2 seconds faster this year than last years winner (who set the NAIA meet record). Jen Kempers of Dordt may just have to settle for consecutive runner-up finishes.

Women 4x100m
Favorite: #2 Oklahoma Baptist 2
OBU is always strong in the sprints and they finished 2nd last year by .01 seconds.

Women 4x400m
Favorite: #1 Oklahoma Baptist
They are sitting 3 seconds in front of the field, and they won last year.

Women 4x800m
Favorite: #1 Olivet Nazarene 1
Won last year with OBU the only close contenders.Despite graduating Carmin Green, they should be primed for another win since OBU lost multi-time All Americans Amanda Mayfield and Kyli Bean.

Women 3000m Race Walk
Favorite: #1 Megan Hozzes - British Columbia
47 seconds ahead of the field on the performance list may be too much to be overcome.

Women High Jump
Favorite: #2 Ruky Abdulai - Simon Fraser
Won indoor this year and outdoor last year

Dark Horse: #9 Katie Bartels - Doane
Was 3rd indoor this year and 10th outdoor last year

Women Pole Vault
Favorite: #1 Meagan Bauer - Doane
Current best is .16 meters from the Championship record. Was 6th last year and NH indoors. Will have to hold off last year's champ Kelsey Aide of Dickinson.

Dark Horse: #9 Erin Eitzmann - Concordia (Neb)
Was 3rd indoors and 7th last year outdoors. She is a senior and will be looking to go out on a good note and go out on top.

Women Long Jump
Favorite: #1 Ruky Abdulai - Siimon Fraser
Won in '05 and '06. Ruky is leaps and bounds better than the rest of the field. She also holds the Championship record

Dark Horse: none. Abdulai is all but unbeatable.

Women Triple Jump
Favorite: #1 Sarah Ensslen - Cedarville
Has jumped .2 meters better than anyone else in the field this year. She won last year but will have to out-jump indoor champ Natalie Friesen.

Dark Horse: #8 Ruky Abdulai - Simon Fraser
With talent like hers anything is possible

Women Shot Put
Favorite: #2 Jessica Becker - Bethany (Kan)
Beat #1 Aubrey Baxter indoors but will have to be on her game to do it again.

Dark Horse: #8 Katherine Tripp - Concordia (Ore)
Was 3rd last year as a frosh

Women Discus
Favorite: #1 Annie Hess - Concordia (Ore)
Has thrown 7 meters further than anyone else this season. She was last year by 4 meters. Will have a shot at the Championship record.

Dark Horse: #7 Megan Ilertsen - Azusa Pacific
Was 2nd last year and with the solid throws program of Azusa she will be looking to improve

Women Hammer
Favorite: #1 Aubrey Baxter - Black Hills St
Has thrown 5 meters further then #2 Emily Brown and over 10 meters further than the rest of the field. She will have a VERY good shot at the Championship record. Also won indoor weight throw by 2 feet.

Dark Horse: #5 Megan Ilertsen - Azusa Pacific
Was #5 last year

Women Javelin
Favorite: #1 Elizabeth Gleadle - British Columbia
During the season she threw 3.5 meters further than the current Championship record. She won last year by 4 meters.

Dark Horse: #6 Kelsey Stolz - Oregon Tech
Was #3 last year and will be looking to repeat a top 3 performance

Women Heptathlon
Favorite: #1 Zora Golcevska - Azusa Pacific
Had the lead with 2 events left last year only to finish 2nd. This year has already gone over 5200, which is 300 points higher than last year's point total.

Dark Horse: #5 Adelle Johns - British Columbia
Was 9th last year and is capable of some big marks. This is one to watch.

Men Individual Elite-8 Rankings - May 20, 2008