United Athletic Conference

Related Material

Weekly Notes.pdf 2003 Top Performances.pdf

2003 NCAA INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIP - The 2003 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championship was held in Fayetteville, Ark., at the Randal Tyson Track Center. LSU brought home another womens title with 62 points, while Arkansas led the way for the men with 52 points. SMU, the 2003 WAC mens champion, tied for 34th with six points coming from the distance medley relay team. The team of Martin Allgeyer, Josef Rous, Abraham Ekal and Dalibor Balgac set a new WAC record, posting a time of 9:33.46, bettering UTEPs old mark set in 1976 by three seconds. UTEPs men grabbed a point from Henderson Dottin who tied for seventh in the high jump, clearing 2.13m. The SMU women earned a 17th-place finish, picking up 10 points. Nevena Lendel earned her first National Championship, winning the high jump with a mark of 1.89m. Defending 400m Championship, Rices Allison Beckford missed the finals, posting a time of 52.81. For complete results Click here.

Top Five Team Scores

   Men	    Points	Women	    Points
1. Arkansas	52	1. LSU          62
2. Auburn	28	2. S. Carolina	44
3. Nebraska	26	   Florida	44	
4. LSU          24      4. N. Carolina	38
5. S. Carolina	23	5. Texas	35
   Tennessee	23
   Villanova	23

2003 WAC INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIP - The Nevada women and the SMU men take home the 2003 Western Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field crowns, earning 127.5 and 147 points, respectively. Finishing in second place for the men was Rice with 139 points, followed by defending champion, UTEP (116.5), Boise State (92), Fresno State (80.5), Louisiana Tech (44) and Tulsa (39). For the women, Rice earned runner-up honors with 120 points, while UTEP (93), SMU (80), Louisiana Tech (71), Tulsa (62), Fresno State (53), Boise State (43.5) and Hawaii (10) round out the womens side.

BACK-TO-BACK WAC CHAMPIONS - There were seven mens and three womens championship who successfully defended their titles from 2002.
Men
Ryan Harlan, Rice - 60-Meter Hurdles
Ray Ardill, Boise State - 400 meters
Adam Davis, Rice - 800 meters
Rice - 4x400 Meter Relay
Russell Weaver, Fresno State - Pole Vault
Janne Vartia, UTEP- 35lb. Weight Throw
Ryan Harlan, Rice - Pentathlon (4x)

Women
Allison Beckford, Rice - 400 meters (4x)
Corine van Beek, UTEP - Mile
Erin Kelly, Nevada - Pentathlon

4x-fourth-straight season

HARLAN TO BE A FACE IN THE CROWD - Rices Ryan Harlan will appear in the Faces in the Crowd section of the March 24 issue of Sports Illustrated. Harlan, a senior from Hewitt, Texas, will be recognized by the magazine for winning his fourth-consecutive WAC indoor pentathlon title earlier this season. Harlan is the only male athlete in WAC history to win four-straight conference titles in any event. En route to his record-setting performance at the championship he placed first in three of the five pentathlon events, and set a new school and conference record 4,058 points.

TRACKWIRE POLL - The Trackwire 25 projects a hypothetical score for the NCAA meet, factoring in injury reports and other variables supported by information gathered from coaches and NCAA-qualfying competitions across the country. This projection is generated by scoring the Dandy Dozen, a power ranking of the top 12 athletes and relay squads in each NCAA event.

The factors used to build the D12 include quantitative values that measure performances in past major competitions (such as conference championships, national championships and Olympic competition), durability and freedom from injuries, demonstrated ability to compete well in multiple rounds of competition, ability in other events, head-to-head competition with other top athletes, and personal or seasonal bests.