Notebook: Weather Takes Center Stage at NCAA Outdoor Championships
Saturday, June 11, 2011 | Track and Field
The 2011 NCAA Outdoor Championships have seen their fair share of dominating performances from athletes in a wide variety of events, but perhaps the factor that has taken center stage at the event has been the weather.
It all started on Thursday when the beginning of the second day of competition was delayed for an hour and 45 minutes. The meet was then halted at 9:15 p.m. ET due to lightning and heavy rain in the area and, it was eventually determined that the meet would be suspended until Friday. The event was halted with the men's long jump in the sixth round of jumps, the decathlon in the ninth event and the women's 4x400-meter relay about to start its third heat in the semifinal round.
There were just four competitors waiting to take their final jump in the men's long jump. They would finish the competition more than 18 hours later.
“I've never been a part of anything like that,” said Florida's Will Claye, who placed third in the long jump. “Every other time I have heard about a delay, you hear about jumping at like 12 at night.”
Still, Claye wasn't discouraged by the weather delay.
“When they told us that it was suspended until the next day, I was actually happy because I knew I would have fresher legs. I felt that it might be better.”
Claye and decathlete Gray Horn were two athletes who had their events suspended during the middle of competition. The gun hadn't yet gone off for the Florida men's and women's 4x400-meter relays, which raced Friday morning.
Florida head coach Mike Holloway says that his team prides itself on the fact that the weather doesn't affect his team's performances. Competition delays are no excuse for a poor performance, Holloway acknowledges.
“We don't focus on that,” Holloway said. “The thing we talk about is that if it's raining in your lane, it's raining in everybody else's lane, too. We don't focus on whether it's hot or cold or rainy or snowy. Whatever it is, we have to come out and perform. We've just talked a lot about execution.”
Still, recreating the excitement and momentum that was created at the start of the event can be difficult in recommencing a suspended event.
“Yesterday, everybody was really out here going big,” Claye said of the long jump. “When they gave us the delay, it was just hard to come back and repeat that feeling. But I still tried to come out here and simulate it. I just wanted to come out here and do my best and I just ended up fouling.”
The evening session of the meet Friday faced a weather delay of nearly an hour, but was able to complete each of its scheduled events.
FRESHMAN BRITTANY HARRELL IS SEC'S TOP FINISHER IN HEPTATHLON
Freshman Florida multi-event athlete Brittany Harrell turned in a performance on Friday that was not to be overlooked.
Competing in her first NCAA Championship event, Harrell placed 11th overall with a score of 5,308. She was the Southeastern Conference's top finisher in the event at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Harrell, who placed third at the 2011 SEC Outdoor Championships, on Friday placed better than the SEC Champion Makeba Alcide (14th) and the SEC's runner-up Kaylon Eppinger (20th).
“Brittany Harrell, her first time coming in here in the heptathlon and finishing 11th in the heptathlon and being the top conference finisher, I think that's a pretty impressive performance,” Holloway said.
NCAA OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS TO BE TELEVISED BY CBS
The final day of the NCAA Outdoor Championships will be carried live on CBS (national broadcast) from 1-3 p.m. ET live from Drake Stadium.
Ian Eagle will have the call, along with analysts Larry Rawson and Carol Lewis, and field reporter Dan O'Brien.
For all of the latest information on Florida track and field, please log on to www.GatorZone.com/trackfield or, for up-to-the-minute updates, follow the team's Twitter account @GZTrackField or www.twitter.com/GZTrackField.
