Ranking the Collegians

With the springtime being dominated by collegiate athletes and programs there are many college rankings out there. The U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) does a weekly Top 25 ranking of collegiate programs that can be found here. I like both of their current top 5’s. For the men they they rank: 1. Florida, 2. Texas A&M, 3. Oregon, 4. Texas Tech, and 5. Florida State. For the women they rank: 1. Texas A&M, 2. Oregon, 3. LSU, 4. Florida State, and 5. Florida.

These should be the programs that we watch battle it out for the national championship this June in Eugene, Oregon. I’m going to give you my listing of those individuals  that I expect to garner national championships at this year’s championships. This is a very early prediction that I will update periodically as the season progresses. There will be those rising stars that appear, as well as injuries that take their toll on title hopes. But these athletes, I believe, have what it takes to take home the gold come June.

 

2010 MEN’S COLLEGIATE CHAMPIONSHIIP FAVORITES

Event	Athlete	School
100 Meters	Jeff Demps	Florida
200 Meters	Curtis Mitchell	Texas A&M
400 Meters	Torrin Lawrence	Georgia
800 Meters	Andrew Wheating	Oregon
1500 Meters	German Fernandez	Oklahoma State
3000 Steeplechase	Richard Nelson	BYU
5000 Meters	David McNeill	Northern Arizona
10000 Meters	Sam Chalenga	Liberty
110 Hurdles	Ronnie Ash	Oklahoma
400 Hurdles	Jesua Anderson	Washington State
4 x 100 Relay	Rankin, Hall, Wilks, Demps	Florida
4 x 400 Relay	Anderson McQuay, Taylor, Smith	Florida
High Jump	Ryan Fleck	Auburn
Pole Vault	Jason Colwick	Rice
Long Jump	Alain Bailey	Arkansas
Triple Jump	Christian Taylor	Florida
Shot Put	Ryan Whiting	Arizona
Discus	Ryan Whiting	Arizona
Hammer	Marcel Lomnicky	Virginia Tech
Javelin	Sam Humphreys	Texas A&M
Decathlon	Ashton Eaton	Oregon

 

 

2010 WOMEN’S COLLEGIATE CHAMPIONSHIP FAVORITES

Event	Athlete	School
100 Meters	Gabby Mayo	Texas A&M
200 Meters	Porsha Lucas	Texas A&M
400 Meters	Francena McCorory	Hampton
800 Meters	LaTavia Thomas	LSU
1500 Meters	Jordan Hassay	Oregon
3000 Steeplechase	Mel Lawrence	Washington
5000 Meters	Nicole Blood	Oregon
10000 Meters	Lisa Koll	Iowa State
100 Hurdles	Queen Harrison	Virginia Tech
400 Hurdles	Queen Harrison	Virginia Tech
4 x 100 Relay	Tarmoh, Lucas, Duncan, Mayo	Texas A&M
4 x 400 Relay	Hall, Tate, Thompson, Thomas	LSU
High Jump	Amber Kaufman	Hawaii
Pole Vault	Melissa Gergel	Oregon
Long Jump	Blessing Okagbare	UTEP
Triple Jump	Deanna Young	New Mexico
Shot Put	Mariam Kevkhishvilli	Florida
Discus	Simone du Toit	SMU
Hammer	Nicola Lomnicka	Georgia
Javelin	Anna Wessman	UTEP
Heptathlon	Brianne Theisen	Oregon