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Duncan wins NCAA title
LSU sophomore sprinter Kimberlyn Duncan completed an amazing 2011 season by capturing the 200-meter dash in the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Des Moines, Iowa Saturday.
"I just went out there to run my race," Duncan said. "I knew everybody I was running against was just as fast.I just tried to run like I have all season. I do think the better the competition, the more it pushes me."
Duncan, a native of Katy, Tx., who is the daughter of Ferriday High graduates Antonne Duncan, Jr. and Schrylean Nix- Duncan, won the 200-meter dash in record-setting time with one of the fastest performances in collegiate history. The win gives her a sweep of NCAA championships as she won the NCAA Indoor title earlier this year.
Duncan lined up in the final as the favorite after setting a wind-legal personal best of 22.39 in the qualifier on Thursday that earned her the No. 1 seed and preferred Lane 5 on Saturday. She also lined up as winner of six-straight 200-meter finals dating back to the Tyson Invitational indoors on Feb. 12, a streak boasting an NCAA Indoor title and a sweep of SEC Indoor and SEC Outdoor titles this season.
Duncan took control of the race early while running strong on the curve. She finished even stronger to the tune of a 2011 world-leading 22.24 for a new wind-legal lifetime personal best. That performance also set a new Drake Stadium record in the women's 200-meter dash, breaking the previous record of 22.32 set by Houston's Ebony Floyd during the 2007 season.
"I didn't realize I had broken a record, I just saw I had a personal best," Duncan said. "It wasn't until the announcer said I had broken the record that I knew that."
While eight different Lady Tigers have won NCAA titles in the 200-meter dash all-time, Duncan joins the great Dawn Sowell (1989) as the only two to complete the NCAA sweep of indoor and outdoor crowns in the same season. She is also the first to win the NCAA Outdoor title since Peta-Gaye Dowdie (2000).
"Coming out of high school I just set a goal of getting down to at least 23 flat," Duncan said. "I wasn't even thinking about 22 then."
The work for Duncan would not be complete until after the women's 200-meter final running within 40 minutes of the conclusion of their victory in the 4x100-meter relay.
Duncan continues her climb to the top of the all-time collegiate list as her 22.24 is the third-fastest time in NCAA history. It also ranks No. 2 in school history behind Sowell's collegiate record of 22.04.
Duncan has really taken her performance to another level as a sophomore as she is developing into one of the world's leading 200-meter specialists. She failed to make it out of the NCAA semifinals as a freshman in 2010 while running 23.58 in her first career appearance at the NCAA Championships.
"My main focus is always just to stay focused, run my race and take each event one by one," Duncan said. "I knew those girls were going to get out and go. I just wanted to run out with them and close like I know how. It's just a huge improvement from last year to this year. I'm not just dropping my times, but I'm better and more efficient in how I run the race."
After qualifying for the final with their seasonal-best time of 42.94 in Wednesday's semifinal round, LSU lined up with the squad of senior Kenyanna Wilson, junior Semoy Hackett, junior Rebecca Alexander and Duncan in search of its first NCAA title in the sprint relay since 2004.
But to do so, the Lady Tigers knew they would have to take down the four-time defending NCAA champs in the event as Texas A&M countered with an order of Gabby Mayo, Jeneba Tarmoh, Dominique Duncan and Ashley Collier in an attempt to defend its 4x100-meter relay national championship.
LSU blew away the competition in Saturday's final with a seasonal-best time of 42.64 seconds to take the collegiate lead in the event and snap the streak of four-straight NCAA titles by the Aggies in the event dating back to the 2007 season. The Lady Tigers won their lucky 13th national title in the 4x100 relay with their fifth-fastest time in program history and their fastest since running 42.59 in 2008.
The Lady Tigers locked up a third-place finish in the final team standings while scoring 43.5 points in the meet to finish behind Texas A&M (49) and Oregon (45) in the race for the national championship. Teams finishing in the top five of the final women's standings also include Oklahoma (42) and Arizona (35).
LSU Track & Field is the only program nationwide to take home four team trophies from the NCAA meet in 2011. Championship trophies are awarded to teams earning a top-four finish in the final team standings at both the NCAA Indoor and NCAA Outdoor meets over the course of an athletic season.
"We would have liked to have finished first, but I know a lot of things can happen," Duncan said. "To be one of the three best in the nation is quite an accomplishment."
Duncan admits she has thought about the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, which will be held in London beginning next July."That's a goal of mine, but right now I'm concentrating on continuing to drop my time," she said. "This year has really given me a lot of confidence. I just have to get better. Other people tell me about other runner's times and I pay attention to that, but I don't put a lot of focus on it." |
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