2023 Pac 12 Championships thread - OUTDOOR TRACK AND FIELD (@ Walnut, Cal.; Friday, 5/12- Sunday, 5/14, Pac 12 Networks & Pac12.com)

[AztecBuff]

Earlier than I normally post this, but while thinking of them thought I'd start this thread for this year's addition of the Pac 12 Outdoor Track and Field Championships, which begin this Friday at Hilmer Lodge Stadium on the Mt. San Antonio College campus in Walnut, California (which is home to the historic Mt. Sac. Relays, and many other big meets and cross country races).

I will add more info as the Championships get closer to starting.

Note- Looks like weather isn't forecasted to be too hot right now, with highs only in the low to mid 80's all 3 days, and "only" around 72 degrees (with only moderate winds) when the 1st of the longest races (the 10000M) is scheduled to begin Friday evening. (Another forecasting site I found even showed Saturday and Sunday highs only in the mid to high 70's.)

The Pac 12 has seemed to be continually improving its live video coverage for these Championships, at least in prior years, with most if not all finals getting dedicated coverage via streaming, or begin part of main telecasts on the Pac 12 Network (last year on Saturday and Sunday). Hope that continues, even if they're not in their more common (at least recently) Eugene, OR location.

(Not related to this year but, as I already mentioned in another thread, I think I read somewhere (although I can't remember if the source was likely to be accurate or not) that CU may (???) be hosting next year's Championships, which willbe VERY cool for track and/ or Buff fans IF accurate.)
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Various Championship links (IF left blank, the links weren't available as I type this.):

Pac 12 Championships' homepage - https://pac-12.com/2023-pac-12-track-field-championships
com/sports/2022/5/11/2022d-championships.aspx

Accepted Entries list -

Heat sheets (As of Friday, so doesn't include finals for any races that have prelims.) - https://static.pac-12.com/sports/trackfield/pdf/2023/2023_Pac-12_TF_Champs_Heat-Sheets.pdf

Conference-only performance lists for this season - https://tf.tfrrs.org/lists/4232/Pac_12_Outdoor_Performance_List

Schedule (Assume all times are Pacific AND this might still be tentative/ preliminary.) - https://xs.pac-12.com/2023-03/Track & Field Schedule.pdf
(In general, looks like:

Friday:

• The Multi-event competitions begin their 1st of 2 days of competition, with the 1st women's heptathlon's 1st event beginning at 2:30 PM MT, and the men's decathlon beginning 30 minutes after that.
• Field events, all finals, are limited today to the hammer (men's only) and men's and women's javelin, with the hammer starting the action at 3:30 PM MT.
• Track action begins at 7:00 PM MT. (All races are prelims this day except for the 10000M races, the 1st of which is scheduled to begin at 8:55 PM MT.)

Saturday:

• Mutli-events are again he 1st action, starting with the men's decathlon's 1st 2nd day event beginning at 12:30 PM MT. (Both multi-events are scheduled to complete their final events in the early evening, with the men's 1500M scheduled to begin at 6:40 PM MT, and the women's 800M at 6:50 PM MT.)
• The 1st field event (women's hammer) begins at 1:30 PM MT, while the
• 1st track race is at 5:00 PM MT. (Like Friday, most of the track races are prelims, except for the 2 steeplechases, the 1st of which is scheduled to begin at 7:30 PM MT.)

Sunday:

• Field action begins at 12:00 PM MT with the men's discus, while
• the track gets busy, with ALL races this day being finals, at 2:00 PM MT.

)

Live results - https://finishedresults.trackscoreboard.com/meets/11549/events

"How to Watch" schedule (WHERE events can be viewed; assume all times in the attachment are Pacific):
Women's - https://xs.pac-12.com/2023-05/2023 WT&F Championships HTW.pdf
Men's - https://xs.pac-12.com/2023-05/2023 MT&F Championships HTW.pdf

 

[AztecBuff]

Although my impression is that the coaches (and guess most if not all the student-athletes feel the same way) take GREAT pride from conference results, so they are largely an end in themselves, did also want to include the information below, as these Championships are also the last chance for the top Buffs to qualify for the NCAA regionals (or Championships finals themselves for the multi-eventers).

Largely copying from my regular season thread (see http://www.ustfccca.org/meets-results/ncaa-championship-qualifying-criteria#d1OTF or https://www.ncaa.com/championships/trackfield-outdoor/d1/road-to-the-championships for the full qualifying procedures.), here are some rules and sources related to NCAA Championships qualifying -

• For multi-event athletes, the top 24 marks in the country by a designated date (usually right after conference championships complete for all the teams) for each gender who elect to go get to go to the NCAA championships and
• For all other individual events, the top 48 marks, distances or heights in each preliminary region (west and east) by athletes who accept entry for each event by a designated date (usually right after conference championships complete for all the teams) get to go to the NCAA preliminaries to try and qualify for the championships finals.
• For the 4X100M and 4X400 meter relays, it's the Top 24 times who accept entry in each of the 2 regions that qualify for the preliminaries.

Links for finding current top times and marks by event are-
For multi-events (National bests; since there are no multi-event marks yet as I type this in mid-March, the links are to the generic lists for all events for each gender as of now.) -
Men's Decathlon - https://upload.tfrrs.org/lists/4044/2023_NCAA_Division_I_Outdoor_Qualifying#event39
Women's Heptathlon - https://upload.tfrrs.org/lists/4044/2023_NCAA_Division_I_Outdoor_Qualifying#event40

For other events (West region bests) -
Men's - https://www.tfrrs.org/lists/4163/2023_NCAA_Div_I_West_Outdoor_Qualifying_List?gender=m

Women's - https://www.tfrrs.org/lists/4163/2023_NCAA_Div_I_West_Outdoor_Qualifying_List?gender=f

Both genders events listed/ combined - https://www.tfrrs.org/lists/4163/2023_NCAA_Div_I_West_Outdoor_Qualifying_List

 

[AztecBuff]

Have added to the OP links to documents that show how and where the various events that ARE covered*** can be viewed at this year's Championships. (For some reason, like with last year they've broken out the men's and women's viewing schedule whether than having ONE nice single won that shows the schedules for ALL events being viewed.)

(***Kind of disappointing that, like with last year, the Pac 12 will not be showing any of the Multi-event competition events, and won't be showing any of the preliminary track races. This is in contrast to MANY "lesser" (non P5) conferences that are able to stream or televise ALL the action at their Championships.)

Note - Still can't find links the accepted entries list(s), which I'd assume would HAVE to have been issued to the teams by now. And, of course, with that/ those not available, the heat sheets/ start lists are also not available.

 

[AztecBuff]

 

[AztecBuff]

Cubuffs.com preview in front of the Championships, which begin their 3 day stint in a little over 5 hours.
(It looks like the conference didn't end up posting separate entry lists or heat sheets/ start lists. (Edit- I did find that they have released heat sheets for today, and have added the link to the original post.) However, they are now all available within the live results, a link to which is provided in the original post and in the 2nd tweet below.)




Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2023/5/11/track-and-field-buffs-off-to-pac-12-championship.aspx

"
WALNUT, Calif. – The University of Colorado's men's and women's track and field teams are headed to Walnut, California this weekend to compete in the Pac-12 Track & Field Championships.

Field events kick off on Friday with the men's hammer throw. Tyler Sconce, fresh off a second-place finish at Air Force last weekend, and school record holder Matt Ward will also be competing.

The running events continue in the evening with the men's 1,500-meter prelims featuring Grady Rauba. Bailey Hertenstein and Carley Bennett will compete in the women's 1,500-meter prelims.

The men's 400-meter hurdle prelims get going later on in the night with Garrett Nelson, Colton Romig and Luke Dry representing the Buffs. Following that, Abbey Glynn and Emma Pollak will compete in the women's 400-meter hurdle prelims following the men.

The 10,000-meter prelims closeout Friday night featuring Charlie Sweeney, Jace Aschbrenner, Ethan Powell and Jake Derouin. The Buffs will have India Johnson, Kaitlyn Barthell and Karina Andersen going on the women's side.

Saturday's events begin the women's hammer throw, featuring Amanda Opp, Jane Powers and Bella Braun. Running events kick off with the men's 400-meter prelims, in which James Milholen, Tyler Williams and Ian Gilmore will compete. Grace Jenkins and Jaida Drame will compete in the women's 400-meter prelims, followed by Sam Beckham in the men's 100-meter prelims.

The men's 800-meter prelims will run under the lights with Isaiah Givens, Ryan Lindrud and Ben Greene representing the Buffs.

The men's 3,000-meter steeplechase prelims will also go off on Saturday night. Caleb Niednagel and Charlie Welch. The women's 3,000-meter steeplechase prelims will run after the men's with Elle Orie representing Colorado.

Field events on Saturday include the men's high jump with Jackson Meyer competing, the women's shot put with Lauren Whyrick and the women's long jump with Kara Lucyk.

Throughout the weekend Troy Colleran and Bianco will be participating in the men's decathlon, starting on Friday and continuing through the day Saturday, while Avery McMullen will compete in the women's heptathlon over the course of the weekend as well.

The finals of the running events will occur on Sunday, May 14.
"



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Also, the team posted a few more graduation photos yesterday.

 

[AztecBuff]

With Day 2 action a few hours away from beginning (1st event at 12:30 PM MT), a review of yesterday's (overall VERY solid) start to the Championships (which featured a new school record) -




Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2023/5/12/...ighlight-day-one-of-pac-12-championships.aspx

"
WALNUT, Calif. – Colorado's Jada Green and India Johnson found themselves on the podium at the end of day one at the Pac-12 Championships on Friday.

The CU women are in second with a team score of 15 points with two events scored. The men completed three scored events on the first day and sit in fifth with 14 points

Green picked up the Buffs' first podium finish of the meet, setting a new school record in the women's javelin. Green's first throw of 47.78m (156-9) was enough to get into the finals. Her second attempt in the finals, and fifth overall, topped out at 51.66m (169-6) and moved her into third.

Johnson, who finished sixth in last year's women's 10000-meters, improved by three spots to close out Friday night. She crossed the finish in 33:24.21, while Kaitlyn Barthell also scored points for the Buffs, placing sixth with a time of 33:35.09.

The day kicked off the men's hammer finals. Matt Ward's third throw of 66.11m (216-10) put him into the top nine. The toss held on in the final three rounds, finishing seventh.

Gustavo Alfonso threw a new personal best of 61.37m (201-4) to place ninth in the men's javelin. The mark moved his name up CU's performance list, improving on his previous mark of 185-08.

Charlie Sweeney, Jake Derouin and Ethan Powell all scored for the Buffs in the men's 10,000-meter final. The trio ran as a pack for most of the race, placing fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively.

The multis got their start on Friday. Avery McMullen, CU's lone representative in the heptathlon, placed third in the 100-meter hurdles with a personal best time of 13.47. The time moved her up to seventh on CU's performance list. Her day continued with a second-place finish in the high jump as well as fourth in the 200-meters. She totaled 3496 points and sits in fifth with the long jump, javelin and 800-meters still to come.

Troy Colleran and Nicholas Bianco are running fifth and seventh, respectively, after the first five events of the decathlon. Colleran secured the victory in the high jump, matching his personal best with a clearance of 2.00m (6-6.75). Bianco placed second in the 400-meter dash with a time of 49.52.

Bailey Hertenstein (4:16.92) qualified for the women's 1500-meter final, placing fourth in her heat and seventh overall.

Abbey Glynn clocked the fastest qualifying time of the day in the women's 400-meter hurdles with a time of 57.76.

Garrett Nelson and Colton Romig both qualified for the men's 400-meter hurdles final. Nelson placed fifth, clocking 53.04, while Romin placed eighth with a time of 53.48.

Day two kicks off on Saturday with men's 110-meter hurdles in the decathlon at 12:30 p.m. MT.
...
"

Full results - https://cubuffs.com/documents/2023/5/12/2023_Pac-12_TF_Champs_D1Results.pdf

 

[AztecBuff]

 

[AztecBuff]

Finally get normal TV coverage today (not just specific event coverage) as it's finals day for the Championships, with the 3-1/2 hour telecast scheduled to begin at 2:00 PM MT.
(Note that with it also, I believe, being busy Pac 12 playoff time for baseball and softball, looks like the T & F Championships are only on a couple channels - the National and Mountain ones.)

Heading into the final day, with 8 of 21 events scored for both genders, the women are in 6th and men in 7th place in the team points race, which is still VERY tight around both teams.. (With both teams only having select opportunities remaining to get good points (especially compared to the strong sprint schools like USC), I'd think things will have to go VERY well for both to keep or improve their positions.)



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Article after yesterday's action, which saw some nice pickup from the multi-eventers, including Avery McMullen getting VERY close to setting yet another school record. -




Direct ink - https://cubuffs.com/news/2023/5/13/...s-on-day-two-of-the-pac-12-championships.aspx

"
WALNUT, Calif. – Two top-10 marks and one podium finish in the multi-events headlined day two of the Pac-12 Championships for the Colorado Buffaloes on Saturday.

Avery McMullen found herself on the podium with a third-place finish in the women's heptathlon and a new personal best score of 5831 points. She placed second in the long jump with a mark of 6.18m (20-3.5), as well as second in the 800-meters with a PR time of 2:15.49. McMullen's point total is now the second most on the Buffs' performance list, falling just short of the school record set by Annette Tannander (5863) in 1983.

Nicholas Bianco (7175 points) and Troy Colleran (6905 points) placed sixth and seventh in the men's decathlon, respectively, both scoring points for the Buffaloes. Bianco has now entered the top-10 list at sixth all-time in CU history. He placed second in the 110 hurdles, clocking 14.68. Colleran hit a personal best in the javelin throwing 50.09m (164-4) on his final attempt.

All three CU men in the 800-meters qualified for Sunday's final. The trio of Ben Greene, Isaiah Givens and Ryan Lindrud placed fifth, sixth and seventh, spread across three different heats.

Elle Orie placed fourth in the women's 3000-meter steeplechase, clocking 10:04.83. She scored five points for Colorado. Charlie Welch ran to a sixth-place finish (9:02.32) in the men's 3000-meter steeplechase final to score three points.

With eight events scored, the CU women are sitting in sixth with a team score of 26 points, while the men are sitting in seventh with 22 points collectively.

Day three will begin tomorrow with Matt Ward and Lars Atkinson in the men's discus throw. Bailey Hertenstein (1,500-meters) and Abbey Glynn (400-meter hurdles) qualified in yesterday's preliminaries and will run in Sunday's finals. CU will have 15 runners combined in the men's and women's 5,000-meters.
...
"

Full results through Saturday - https://cubuffs.com/documents/2023/5/13/2023_Pac-12_TF_Champs_D2Results.pdf

 

[AztecBuff]

Article after the end of the Championships. The women, paced by 3 more second place finishes today, end up in 7th, while the men finished 9th.

Now onto regionals (scheduled to begin in 10 days) for many.




Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2023/5/14/...inishing-touches-on-pac-12-championships.aspx

"
WALNUT, Calif. - The Colorado track and field teams wrapped up the final day of the Pac-12 Championships with three more podium finishes on Sunday.

Allie Routledge found herself on the podium in the women's high jump, clearing 1.81m (5-11.25), matching her own personal best for a second-place finish.

Abbey Glynn improved her showing from a year ago. The 2022 third-place finisher in the 400-meter hurdles moved up a step on the podium, closing the race in second with a time of 56.77.

The women's 5,000-meters was a loaded field that saw three Buffs score points. Ella Baran led the charge, placing second with a time of 16:07.55. Elle Orie and Kaitlyn Barthell followed suit in seventh and eighth.

In the men's 800-meter final, Ben Greene placed fifth, scoring four points for CU with a new PR of 1:49.80. Ryan Lindrud also competed in the event and scored points for the Buffaloes, running a time of 1:51.88 to place eighth.

Garrett Nelson ran to a fifth-place finish in the men's 400-meter hurdles with a new PR of 51.62, scoring four points. He improved on his eighth-best mark in CU history. With a time of 52.86, Colton Romig placed eighth and scored one point for CU.

The duo of Charlie Sweeney and Hunter Appleton placed sixth and seventh in the men's 5,000 meter, both scoring points for the Buffaloes.

The men's 4x400 of Tyler Williams, Ian Gilmore, Garrett Nelson and James Milholen collectively placed fourth with a time of 3:06.86.

Grace Jenkins, Emma Pollak, Jaida Drame, and Abbey Glynn placed fifth in the women's 4x400 with a time of 3:36.99, scoring four points.

The CU women finished out the weekend with a team score of 57 points to place seventh, while the men scored 42 points to place ninth.

Colorado will be back in action at the NCAA West Preliminaries starting May 24.
...
"

Final results - https://cubuffs.com/documents/2023/5/14/2023_Pac-12_TF_Champs_FinalResults.pdf