No. 21 Alabama Prepares for SEC Indoor Championships
2/25/2010 12:00:00 AM
Feb. 25, 2010
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The No. 21 Alabama men's track and field team is set for its return to the SEC Indoor Track and Field Championships being held in Fayetteville, Ark., at the Randal Tyson Track Center on Feb. 26-28.
The championship meet is set to begin for the men on Friday at 1:00 p.m. (CST) with only the heptathlon competition. The Crimson Tide will return to the indoor facility over the weekend for the running and field events as the meet is slated to conclude at 4:15 p.m. Sunday evening.
LIVE RESULTS AND STREAMING VIDEO: Live results and a live video stream will be available at the meet's central site. The live stream is a subscription-required event. The link for the meet central site is: http://www.arkansasrazorbacks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=6100&ATCLID=204888289.
TELEVISION: The ESPNU championship highlight show will air Thursday, March 11 at 8 p.m. (CST) on ESPNU. SEC Weekly TV will also be devoting a show to the championships. SEC Weekly TV airs Tuesdays at 5 p.m. CST on ESPNU and repeats a few times during the week. They also post some of the clips from SEC Weekly TV on SECSports.com.
IN THE RANKINGS: The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Week 5 Rankings were released this week. The Tide remained in the top 25 for the second consecutive week. There are 150 men's teams ranked this week.
The current USTFCCCA men's poll includes seven SEC teams in the top 25 led by the LSU Tigers checking in at No. 3. The Florida Gators are just behind at No. 4 and are followed by the Arkansas Razorbacks in sixth, the Auburn Tigers in 16th, the Alabama Crimson Tide in 21st, and the Georgia Bulldogs in 25th.
NO. 1 IN THE WORLD: On Feb. 6 at the Meyo Invitational, true freshman Kirani James of Gouyave, Grenada, sprinted to the current fastest 400m time in the world. His mark of 45.79, in his first indoor 400m open race, was well under the NCAA automatic qualifying standard of 46.15. The freshman was hardly pushed in the race, as the second-place finisher was almost a full second behind at 46.43. James set a new standard for Alabama 400m runners as well, breaking a 10-year school record of 46.46 held by Cori Loving - also set in South Bend.
POSSIBLE SEC SCORERS: Alabama currently has eight student-athletes in nine events and one relay ranking in the top eight in the SEC in their respective events. Kirani James leads the Tide with the No. 2 time in the 400m dash and fourth-best time in the 200m, while Fred Samoei (800m), Mike Edwards (high jump) and the 4x400m relay team (James, Fabian Norgrove, Stockstell, Matt Watson) check in with the third-best marks. Aaron Stockstell (800m) and Ray Jadusingh (60m) rank fourth in the conference, while Tyler Campbell is fifth in the high jump and Michael Hughes checks in at eighth in the heptathlon.
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFIERS: The Crimson Tide has tallied one NCAA automatic mark and seven provisional marks this season. Kirani James, in the 400m dash, holds the automatic qualifier, as well as a provisional mark in the 200m. Ray Jadusingh (60m), Fred Samoei (800m), Aaron Stockstell (800m), Mike Edwards (high jump), Tyler Campbell (high jump) and the 4x400m relay team (James, Fabian Norgrove, Stockstell, Matt Watson) all have notched provisional qualifying times or marks.
LEADING THE NATION: On Jan. 23 at the Razorback Invitational, senior Ray Jadusingh became the national leader in the 60m dash with a provisional qualifying time of 6.62. It was the second consecutive week Jadusingh had posted a provisional qualifier. Jadusingh held the fastest time in the nation and the SEC for one week until Auburn's Marcus Rowland sprinted to a time of 6.61 the following weekend.
Two weeks later, freshman Kirani James found himself No. 1 in the 400m dash with his automatic qualifying time of 45.79. His reign lasted one week as well as Georgia's Torrin Lawrence posted a time of 45.03 the next weekend.
QUICK LOOK AT 2009 SEC CHAMPIONSHIPS: Alabama finished ninth, tallying 35 points while Arkansas took top honors with 130 points. Tyson David claimed his second-consecutive indoor 5,000m title and finished third in the 3,000m. The DMR team (Andrew Kirwa, Matthew Watson, Aaron Stockstell, Emmanuel Bor) garnered All-SEC honors, finishing second to Arkansas. Tyler Campbell also notched a top-five finish in the high jump.
