NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships report
Posted on Sunday, March 16, 2008
Johnson still owns her event
Arizona State senior Jacquelyn Johnson knew going into the final event of the pentathlon that she only had to win the 800-meter run by more than four seconds to retain her NCAA Indoor Championships title.
She wasn’t the least bit concerned.
Johnson seized the lead immediately and dominated the field in the 800, capturing her third consecutive NCAA Indoors title with a collegiaterecord 4, 496 points Saturday at the Tyson Track Center.
The fifth-year senior also won the 60-meter hurdles portion of the pentathlon and finished second in the high jump.
“I was [confident ] because it was like deja vu,” Johnson said. “Last year I had to win [the 800 ] by three seconds [to win the title ].
“ Going into today I wasn’t thinking about winning the national championship for the third time. I was thinking about going out and beating the record, and I did it.”
Johnson is also a three-time NCAA Outdoors champion in the pentathlon, and she plans to try out for the U. S. Olympic team. Johnson finished 12 th in the 2004 Olympic Trials as a 19-year-old.
Johnson also played for Arizona State’s basketball team in 2004-2005, when the Lady Sun Devils advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
Quick study Kansas senior Egor Agafonov has made the most of his short time in America. The Russian-born Agafonov, 25, has been in this country just under four years, but he won his second consecutive NCAA Indoors weight throw title Saturday with a mark of 74 feet, 6 1 / 4 inches. That was almost three feet shorter than what Agafonov threw last year, but still more than a foot and a half ahead of his closest competitor.
“It feels great,” Agafonov said. “There’s real tough competition.”
Even though he was easily the oldest thrower in the field, Agafonov didn’t think his age gave him much of an advantage.
“I throw the same as three years ago,” Agafonov said. “It’s hard to say, ‘I’m older, [therefore ] I’m better.’”
Agafonov will try out for Russia’s Olympics team in the hammer throw. He finished fourth in the event at the 2007 NCAA Outdoors.
Nice finish Talk about an eventful event. The fireworks in the men’s 60-meter hurdles Friday began before the race ever got under way. Florida International’s Ronald Forbes collided with meet official Susan Polansky during warm-ups, knocking the native of Long Island, N. Y., to the ground, where she remained for several minutes. Polansky eventually was helped to her feet, examined by medical personnel and cleared to resume her duties.
“To her, I really apologize,” Forbes said. “It was completely unintentional.”
Forbes returned to the starting line in the meantime and prepared himself for the race. He said he was able to block the incident out of his mind as he awaited the starting gun.
“When I get focused on the [starting ] line, I get focused,” Forbes said. “I see nothing but the hurdles — nothing on the sides, nothing. Even with all the noise in here, it’s completely silent to me.”
Forbes then endured two false starts — including one by defending champion Ty Akins of Auburn — before setting a school record (7. 58 ) en route to a third-place finish.
“That was quick,” Forbes said with a smile, “eye-blinking quick.” No rib, no problem
If Tennessee pole vaulter Michael Hogue’s sixth-place finish Friday night seemed ordinary, look again.
Hogue, a senior, is wrapping up a truly remarkable career in All-America fashion, and aside from the scar near his neck, there’s not even a hint that his career was almost cut short in 2005.
That’s when Hogue was diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome, a condition in which one of his neck muscles had gotten so big that it elevated his first rib and pinched off circulation in a blood vessel. Three surgeries and 10 days in the hospital later, Hogue had one fewer rib and a condition some feared could end his career.
Instead, he made a mockery of the projected recovery time of 6-8 months, coming back to win the 2005 SEC Indoor title roughly three months after his last surgery.
“A lot of it is that I had a lot of support from a lot of people,” said Hogue, who smiled when recalling how his teammates filled in his hospital room every day.
Hogue has successfully defended his SEC title twice, earned indoor and outdoor All-America honors last year and added another such distinction Friday. None of those titles, though, seemed to mean as much as the one his teammates gave him prior to this season.
“They voted me captain this year, and it’s just been an overwhelming honor,” Hogue said. “I never would’ve expected the career that I’ve had, and I’m so grateful. I want to keep doing better, but I could retire right now and be happy.”
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