The college track and field season inches closer by the day, and the excitement continues to build around what we could see this season.
The University of Florida took the collegiate track and field scene by storm under legendary coach Mike Holloway, and the Gators look to retain their dominance. The Gators women’s team returns superstars Talitha Diggs, Parker Valby, Claire Bryant and Jasmine Moore, while the men’s team returns a talented bunch as well.
But there’s another team in the SEC that has the attention of ESPN’s John Anderson.
“I’m anxious to see a newly engineered Arkansas team that I think can compete for a national championship and is not completely kind of distance heavy,” he said. “I feel like they have all of the long jumpers in the world there now with the transfers of (Wayne Pinnock) and Carey McLeod from Tennessee, in addition to the guys they had. They’ve got some throwers, they got a couple of hurdlers. So I think they’re going to be built a little different, so I’m curious to see how that turns out for them. I think they’ll be really good.”
There will be many storylines to follow this season in the sport. New coaches will look to make their marks at their new programs, such as Jerry Shumacher, who is now the head coach at the University of Oregon, Leroy Burrell, who is now the head coach at Auburn University and Duane Ross, who now is the head coach at the University of Tennessee, just to name a few.
New faces will also take the track and the field this season. The likes of Roisin Willis and Julliette Whittaker at Stanford will look to make their impact this season. Some of the best returning teams and talents will look to continue their dominance in the indoor and outdoor season, such as the NC State’s women’s team that’s led off by Katelyn Tuohey.
What are some of the other things that we can look forward to this season, and who’s on John Anderson’s early Bowerman Award list? All that and more can be found here on this episode of Track Talk.
