Actually, Friday was good: Texas’ Destinee Hooker easily won over a talent-laden high-jump field with a leap of 6 feet, 2.25 inches. And a hot discus competition saw two throwers – one a freshman from UCLA – throw more than 200 feet. But today is rainy and miserable, and many teams have already pulled out of the meet. The following is reprinted from the live blog of the meet that I’m keeping for Track & Field News magazine:
Worst. Texas. Relays. Ever.
April 7, 2007 by Lee Nichols
At least from a weather standpoint that’s true. (Or at least true from my experience — I suppose there might have been worse weather sometime in those several decades they held the meet before I was born.) It’s 40 degrees outside (hell yes I’m in the press box — you think I’m taking my laptop out in that mess?), although the wind chill actually doesn’t look too bad — the flags are hanging limp. A light but steady rain is coming down, too. I have to wonder if any of the sprinters will show up. Certainly if I were a pro, I wouldn’t want to put my European season in jeopardy with a pulled muscle today.
So here’s the bottom line, for which I apologize profusely: You’re probably getting no field event coverage today. As I noted yesterday, the view of the field events can be poor up here. Depending on which discus ring is used, or which direction the vertical jumps and pole vault go, it’s hard to see what’s going on. But if any are visible to me, I promise I’ll try to cover them. Even though I’m an old former distance runner, I’ve learned to absolutely love the field events, and I know how annoying it is when TV gives you no field coverage.
What’s going on right now: I’ve managed to miss the high school distance medley relays, and the prelims are wrapping up in the girls 400-meter relays. I should be able to get you coverage of the boys 400-meter relays, though.
Field events allegedly start at noon, but don’t be surprised if the first (women’s pole vault) doesn’t happen. The real centerpiece of the meet, the sprinting, starts at 12:15pm (CST).
Oh, man I’m hungry. I wanted to get down here as quickly as I could, so I skipped breakfast, assuming there would be a complimentary breakfast here for us, but all these other sportswriters actually showed up on time, so the bagels are all gone. Oh well, I suppose I have no right to complain — I guess this is my penance for having a nice warm press box to sit in while everyone else is out there shivering. I’ll quit whining now.
This article appears in April 6 • 2007.