Florida State men, Arizona State women win NCAA titles as Dix shines
Posted Monday, 11 June, 2007
The Florida State men, led by a historic performance by Walter Dix, and Arizona State women won their respective team titles over the weekend at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Sacramento, Calif.
Florida State used a pair of individual wins from sprinter Walter Dix (100 meters, 200), Ricardo Chambers' victory in the 400m and a win in the 4x100m relay - on which Dix ran second leg - to amass 54 total points to win their second consecutive NCAA team title. LSU (48), Auburn (34), Tennessee (29) and Southern California (24) rounded out the top five in the men's competition.
Dix became the first athlete to win the 100m dash, 200m and 4x100 relay in the same NCAA Championships since John Carlos of San Jose State in 1969. He finished the meet by claiming the 200m on Sunday in 20.32. He ran the second leg on Florida State's winning 4x100m relay (38.60) and won the 100m (9.93) one day earlier. Dix's time in the 100 was just .01 off Ato Boldon's NCAA meet record set in 1996. Dix currently is entered in both events for the 2007 AT&T USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
On the women's side, the Sun Devils recorded six All-America athletes and three individual champions to score 60 points en route to the women's title. Louisiana State (49), Michigan (36), Texas A&M (34) and UCLA (30) rounded out the top five.
Jessica Pressley's win in the shot put (18.00 meters/59 feet 0.75 inch) Saturday, when paired with Jacquelyn Johnson's heptathlon (5,984 points) victory and April Kubishta's win in the pole vault (4.25m/13-11.25) both on Friday, accumulated half of the Sun Devils' team total. The Sun Devils also won the team title during the national indoor meet earlier this year.
Top women's individual performers included Natasha Hastings of South Carolina, who ran a world-leading time of 50.15 in the 400 meters, and 2006 World Junior silver medalist Nicole Leach of UCLA, who dominated the 400m hurdles winning in a then-world leading 54.32. The time was a personal best by more than a second.
For complete results from the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Championships, please visit www.ncaasports.com.
Contact:
Jared Slinde
Communications Intern
USA Track & Field
317-261-0500
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