NCAA Single Day Tickets On Sale Friday 5/14
Single-day tickets for the 2010 NCAA Track & Field Championships go on sale Friday morning at 8:30 a.m. and this year's event looks to be among the most compelling in recent history.
Reigning men's and women's champion Texas A&M will attempt to defend their titles against the host school, Oregon, which finished as the runner-up in both races a season ago in Fayetteville, Ark.
The Ducks feature three defending NCAA Champions on their current roster, including senior Ashton Eaton in the men’s decathlon, senior Andrew Wheating in the men’s 800 meters and junior Brianne Theisen in the women’s heptathlon. In addition, the Duck teams boast a combined 23 All-Americans, 12 men and 11 women.
The talent traveling from around the nation to Track Town, USA, will be impressive.
The meet could feature 20 returning NCAA individual champions.
In addition to Eaton (decathlon) and Wheating (800 meters), the list of returning NCAA men’s champions includes Ronnie Ash of Bethune-Cookman (110 meter hurdles), Jeshua Anderson of Washington State (400 meter hurdles), Jason Colwick of Rice (pole vault), Ngonidzashe Makusha of Florida State (long jump), Will Claye of Oklahoma (triple jump), Ryan Whiting of Arizona State (shot put) and Marcel Lomnicky of Virginia Tech (hammer).
Conversely, the women’s competition looks to have Bowerman Award finalist Porscha Lucas of Texas A&M back to defend her title in the 200 meters, in addition to Kimberly Williams of Florida State, who is the defending NCAA champ in both the long jump and the triple jump. Other women's returning champions include Joanna Atkins of Auburn (400 meters), Angela Bizzarri of Illinois (5,000 meters), Lisa Koll of Iowa State (2008 10,000 meters), Elizabeth Patterson of Arizona (2008 high jump), Kylie Hutson of Indiana State (pole vault), Mariam Kevkhishvili of Florida (shot put) and Theisen in the heptathlon.
If the 2009 Championships are any indication, the 2010 team races could come down to the final event. The women’s competition was decided in the final 20 minutes of the meet, while the men’s came down to the last event, the 4x400 meter relay, with four different teams — Oregon, Florida, Florida State and Texas A&M — vying for the title before the Aggies eked out a two-point victory.
This will be the Championships’ first appearance in Eugene since 2001, and will be the 10th time overall that Hayward Field has hosted the NCAA meet. Chicago (13) and Eugene will be the only cities to have hosted at least 10 NCAA Track & Field Championships.
Be sure to visit www.goducks.com at 8:30 a.m. on Friday to get your tickets.
