We Got a Winner!

Just over a year ago upon her graduation senior Alyssa Abbott received a very prestigious NCAA Post Graduate scholarship.  This year the PAC-12 has honored her with their Post Graduate scholarship.  After sitting out two years in both cross country and indoor track due to injury during her Utah career, the NCAA granted Abbott a sixth year of eligibility in those sports.  She took full advantage by finishing 24th at the PAC-12 championships and helping the Utes finish 8th in their first ever league meet.  Then she finished 14th in the NCAA regional meet and just missed qualifying for the NCAA championships.  On the indoor circuit she led off the school record distance medley relay team in 3:24 for 1200m.  Their time of 11:05 was the first time in NCAA history for that time not to qualify for the championships.  Abbott graduated last spring with a 3.899 GPA in exercise sport science.  She is currently enrolled in Utah's physical therapy program.  Congrats!

Day 8...The Big Finale

The anticipation of Day 8 was big because there were seven event finals and six of them had huge story lines.  Both long hurdle races and both 1500 races along with the men's 200 final were the talk of trials for many. The fact that they fell on the final day added to the drama.  The men's hurdles were full of drama as a former world champ was left home and a past Olympic gold medalist made his fourth team. The women's race was a mix of long time vets and a collegian who didn't even make the NCAA final (she fell) are off to London.  The women's 1500 and long jump competitions saw the favorites do their thing and advance.  The men's 1500 was going to leave some real talent at home.  The US depth in this event has really grown and is still quite young.  However, a couple of hometown guys and a big time kicker were able to secure spots.

The women's 100 was looking forward to a run off today for the third and final spot due to a dead heat in the final,  however one of the competitors gave up the spot.  She will still represent the US on the sprint relay team.

As you can imagine it was an amazing experience being among over 20K fans each day watching the events live.  Everyday there were amazing performances despite weather conditions that were often less than idea.  This was my fourth OT's in a row and it was probably the best one yet as I was able to see several meet records, yearly world bests, and a World Record.  There is no doubt the 2016 OT's (where ever they are held) have a lot to live up to in order to compare to this year's version.

Day 7 featured a great mix of Olympic returnees, first time qualifiers, and a view into the future of US Track and Field.  The women's HJ was probably the most intriguing event as the this years NCAA Champ was bookended by two vets.  Another trials record went down when 6-7 was cleared.  A high school sophomore finished fifth after clearing 6-2.25.

The women's multi team was decided before the final however, the third placer still needed to run under 2:20 to secure the A standard.  A lifetime best 2:17 did the trick.  The men's triple jump went as expected.  The women's 200 final was explosive and featured the silver medallist in the last two World Championships plus the 100m and 400m champions along with all of the top four from the women's 100m.  Somebody really good was getting left home.   A lifetime best by Alyson Felix of 21.69 broke yet another trials record. 100m champ Carmaleta Jeter was second and 400m champ Sanya Richards Ross was third.

The men's 110 high hurdle final was also very fast.  After a sub 13 second race in the semis the final featured two more.  First time Olympian, Aries Merritt (12.93) ran within .04 of the American Record to beat US Indoor Champ Jason Richarson who ran 12.98 for the second straight race.

Today's pics...The actual ducks here are much friendlier than some of the Duck fans.  A true taste of a London Pub with fish and chips as the main course.