Spring is in the Air

NCAA Indoor Nationals came and went. Our coverage is here. Oregon and Tennessee won the team titles. I'd say Galen Rupp was the MVP as he won the 5000m, DMR and 3000m easily.

On the women's side, Jenny Barringer ran a 8:42 3000m pretty much by herself. Sarah Bowman beat Sally Kipyego in the mile by less than a second. Kipyego won the 5000m though. It was Sally's last college meet, but I can't wait to see how she does as a pro.

Now that spring is here, we can start thinking about the outdoor season. It's Rupp's last NCAA season and German Fernandez's first. I want to see those two race each other. Fernandez did not run at NCAA's last week because he is going to Amman March 28 for the IAAF World Cross Country Championships. 

The Stanford Invitational is also the weekend of March 27-28. It's the first major track meet of the outdoor season. Some of the top high school, college and professional runners will compete. Also coming up are the Texas Relays, April 1-4, at the University of Texas. I plan to be at that meet with PreRaceJitters.com.

Perhaps the biggest week for outdoor track and field (other than national championships) will be April 19-25. Penn Relays, Drake Relays and the Boston Marathon are all that week! 

Technically the Boston Marathon isn't track and field, but it's muy importante. Ryan Hall, Brian Sell and Kara Goucher are running. Could Hall win? He is up against some tough [Kenyan] competition, so things should get interesting.

Speaking of major marathons, don't forget about the most competitive of them all...London. Dathan Ritzenhein (USA) will try that one April 26, but look for someone like Martin Lel (KEN) Sammy Wanjiru (KEN) to win it.

Back to track and field... The outdoor season continues long into the summer. The NCAA National Championship meet will be held at the University of Arkansas, June 10-13. USATF Nationals are in Eugene, June 25-28.  

It's difficult to make individual predictions at this time. Last year was so huge because of the Olympic Trials and Olympics, but now a lot of athletes are refocusing and trying new events. Some have even dropped their old coaches and moved across the country. And don't forget about the inconsistency of Alan Webb.