Future Olympians compete at the 2023 NCAA track and field championships
The 2023 NCAA outdoor track and field championships began yesterday (Wednesday) at Mike A. Myers Stadium and Soccer Field in Austin, Texas, the home stadium of the University of Texas Longhorns, and will conclude on Saturday, June 10.
First held at Stagg Field in Chicago in 1921, the event has been the host of some of the greatest, most accomplished and impactful athletes in the history of sports. Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson, and Jackie Joyner-Kersee are some of the towering historical figures whose monumental achievements include winning NCAA outdoor track and field titles.
In 1935 Owens, competing for Ohio State, won the 100-yard dash, 220-yard dash, 220-yard low hurdles and the broad jump. One year later, he repeated in the 100, took the 200-meter dash, the 220-low hurdles again, as well as the broad jump. Robinson won the 1940 long jump for UCLA, and Joyner-Kersee earned first place UCLA in 1982 and 1983 in the heptathlon.
The current group of collegiate track and field participants have in turn displayed the potential to go on to be Olympic medalists like so many of their predecessors. But first, they are seeking to indelibly etch their names among the past NCAA champions. As a collective, the University of Florida, led by their head coach Mike Holloway, is the defending men’s and women’s champion.
Some of the competitors to look out for are Terrence Jones of Texas Tech in the men’s 100-meters, Emmanuel Bynum of Tennessee in 400-meters, and Dylan Jacobs of Tennessee in 5,000- and 10,000-meter races. The women will have Kentucky’s Masai Russell in 100-meter hurdles, Arkansas’ Britton Wilson in the 400-meter hurdles, LSU’s Michaela Rose in the 800-meters, and North Carolina State’s Katelyn Tuohy in the 5,000-meters all vying for titles.
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