University of Tennessee Athletics
2003 NCAA Track & Field Championships Preview
June 09, 2003 | Men's Track
June 9, 2003
OFFICIAL SITE | MEET PREVIEW | SCHEDULE | RESULTS
Tennessee travels to the West Coast for a chance at the most gleaming trophy in collegiate track and field -- the NCAA Outdoor Championship. The Volunteers join a collection of the nation's best talent at Sacramento State's Hornet Stadium in the national title hunt Wednesday through Saturday in Sacramento, Calif.
Tennessee suits up a 4x100m relay team and 11 qualifiers in nine other events for a shot at the NCAA Outdoor title. The Vols arrive in California as one of a handful of teams with at least a darkhorse shot at the crown. Most projections call for a tight race between the top six teams with Arkansas or Auburn edging out the field for the title.
"Our guys have competed like warriors every year at the NCAA Championships," head coach Bill Webb said. "We look forward to it. We appear to be as healthy as we have been all year. This NCAA meet should be one of the tightest and closest through the top six or seven teams that we've had in quite some time. You can make an argument for five or six teams winning if everything went right for them. We know we have a good track team. Tennessee will be in the mix like always.
Because the season has been lengthened two weeks and a full plate of competition awaits the athletes, the NCAA Outdoor Championships not only serves as a test of physical ability but also the much less predictable mental stamina. However, Tennessee's coaching staff has been training with the NCAA schedule in mind.
"In the NCAA meet, you have to have luck, have to qualify well for the finals and step up when you get there," Webb said. "As Tennessee learned in 2001, one point can be huge. Over the course of four days there will be ups and downs for every team. How a team responds to adversity will be key.
In last year's NCAA Outdoors, the Vols finished runner-up in Baton Rouge, La., after star sprinter Leonard Scott went down with an injury. Tennessee has won three NCAA Outdoor crowns, two of them on the West Coast. Tennessee won in 1974 in Austin, Texas. However, the Volunteers' last two NCAA Outdoor crowns came in 2001 and 1991 on storied Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
The NCAA meet visits Sacramento for the first time. One has to look back to 1968 to find the last time the national clash was held in California. UT tied for 14th with 10 points in 1968's Berkeley meet on the strength of Karl Kremser's runner-up high jump leap and Hardee McAlhaney's fifth-place 440 yd. dash finish. The 14th-place finish would be the lowest for a decade as legendary Vols like Ron Addision, Darwin Bond, Doug Brown, Richmond Flowers, Bill High, Reggie Jones, Phil Olsen, Bill Skinner and Willie Thomas would boost Tennessee's NCAA Outdoor stock until 1978 when UT tied for 17th place with 14 points.
