Picture: Finnish Vaulter

Beach, a junior from Albuquerque, N.M., was the indoor season’s NCAA and ACC Champion of the heptathlon. With a score of 6,183 points in the event at the national championships, Beach became the third-best performer in the collegiate history of the event. Beach sits only behind world-record holder Ashton Eaton (Oregon) and Olympic medalist and two-time World Champion Trey Hardee (Texas) on the all-time list.

Also at the NCAA Championships, Beach reset his own heptathlon world record by four seconds in the 1000 meters with a run of 2:23.63 to secure overall victory. The time also placed him in the collegiate top ten of the open 1000 for the season.

Beach won the ACC title in the heptathlon by nearly 600 points with a score of 5,862.

DI National Indoor Track Athlete–U of A’s Lang

March 15, 2012 by mvrocket in Arizona | Permalink

Lawi Lalang, Arizona

Lalang, a sophomore from Eldoret, Kenya, had one of the most noteworthy collegiate indoor seasons of all-time. In a total of five distance races, Lalang never lost to a collegian, set a new collegiate record in the 5000 meters, and won two NCAA titles.

At the NCAA Championships, Lalang scored the 3000-5000 double with titles in both events – the first to do so since Oregon’s Galen Rupp in 2009. In the 5000, Lalang claimed a new NCAA-Championships record with a 13:25.11 run, clocking 28.09 in the final 200 meters, in holding off Stanford’s Chris Derrick. The next night, Lalang again held off Derrick and won the 3000 by a sixth-of-a-second in 7:46.64, just off the meet record of 7:46.03. Lalang closed the 3000 with laps of 28.60 and 27.28.

Earlier in the season, Lalang toppled the collegiate record in the 5000 meters by 10 seconds with a 13:08.28 run at the Millrose Games where he finished second only to professional Bernard Lagat.

Lalang also won the MPSF 3000-meter title in 7:44.48 (OT) and opened the season by winning the Razorback Invitational mile in 3:55.09, the third-fastest time in collegiate history

DII National Indoor Men’s Head Coach of the Year–GCU coach

March 15, 2012 by mvrocket in Arizona | Permalink

In only its second year of existence, Flood led the Grand Canyon program to their first NCAA track & field title as the ‘Lopes won the national meet with 54 points, seven ahead of Adams State. Sophomores Dominique Hubert and Karlin Stewart won national crowns in the 60 meters and long jump, respectively, to lead the team to victory. Of Grand Canyon’s 12 entries in the meet, nine earned scoring positions. The team earned a 1-2-5-6 national finish in the long jump alone