McDonnell turns meet into last-chance event
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008
FAYETTEVILLE - Arkansas Coach John McDonnell makes his final home appearance this weekend at the track and field facility bearing his name.
McDonnell, who has led the Razorbacks to 84 conference championships and 42 national titles in cross country and indoor and outdoor track, will coach Arkansas'men's team in the NCAA Mideast Regional on Friday and Saturday at John McDonnell Field.
McDonnell has announced his retirement effective the end of the outdoor season, which concludes with the NCAA Championships on June 11-14 in Des Moines, Iowa.
"This will be the last chance to see a John McDonnell-coached team here in Fayetteville, that's for sure,"McDonnell said with a chuckle. "It's the last hurrah."
McDonnell said he doesn't want fans to make a big fuss about him, but he hopes there will be large crowds to support the Razorbacks.
Arkansas edged No. 1-ranked LSU 1 131 / 2 points to 122 to win the SEC Outdoor Championships. The Razorbacks also won the SEC cross country and indoor track titles this school year.
"I don't want to make a big deal about this being my last meet here, but I'd sure like to have good crowds,"McDonnell said. "I know our athletes would appreciate it, and I think they deserve the support after the performance they had at the conference meet.
"We weren't the favorite, but our guys came through to win like they have so many times before."
McDonnell said he wants to stay focused on coaching this weekend and not get caught up in the emotion of his final home appearance.
"I'm going to try and not be emotional,"he said. "I might get mad if we're not doing good. But I think we'll have a good meet."
Team totals are kept at the four NCAA regional meets, but the main goal is for athletes to advance to the NCAA Championships.
The top five finishers in each final automatically advance, and the national field is then rounded out using lists based on top performances from throughout the year. But an athlete has to compete at a regional meet to be eligible for the nationals.
The No. 8 Razorbacks have 20 athletes competing in 11 events this weekend, led by four SEC champions: junior Nkosinza Balumbu (triple jump ), sophomore Alain Bailey (long jump ), senior James Strang (5, 000 meters ) and freshman Luke Laird (javelin ).
The busiest Hog will be junior sprinter J-Mee Samuels, who is competing in the 100 and 200 and running a leg on the 400 relay.
McDonnell said he expects at least 16 Razorbacks to advance to the NCAA Championships.
Arkansas junior Shawn Forrest already has qualified to run in the 10, 000 at nationals and won't be running this weekend.
The 10, 000, decathlon and heptathlon aren't held at the NCAA regionals based on the belief that asking athletes in those events to compete twice within a two-week span is too demanding.
Athletes in the 10, 000, decathlon and heptathlon make the NCAA Championships based on having the top marks this outdoor season.
That's how qualifiers for all events at the NCAA Championships used to be determined, but the regional format was adopted six years ago, beginning with the 2003 outdoor season, because it was supported by a majority of coaches and offered increased opportunities for the athletes.
McDonnell and coaches at other elite programs have been against holding regional meets because they extend the outdoor season by two weeks. That means added expense to house and feed athletes on campus as well as pay for travel to the regional meets, which isn't covered by the NCAA.
A way to shorten the season and accommodate more athletes, Mc-Donnell said, would be to expand the national meet by one day and have preliminaries Tuesday and Wednesday, an off day Thursday, and finals Friday and Saturday.
"That would be an awesome meet, but I don't think it will ever happen,"McDonnell said. "There are too many people with too many agendas, and none of them are good for track and field."
While McDonnell isn't a fan of the regionals, he's glad the Razorbacks don't have to travel this weekend.
"Being at home, you don't have to worry about getting hung up in airports, which is pretty common now,"McDonnell said. "It's a lot less stressful on the athletes."
LSU and Arkansas are among five of the top 15 teams competing at the Mideast Regional, along with No. 6 Auburn, No. 12 Tennessee and No. 15 Kentucky.
"The Mideast is the most powerful region,"McDonnell said. "So if fans want to see tremendous performances in track and field, they're going to see them here."
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