I know everyone is watching Arkansas and Cal State Fullerton playing in the College World Series, but just one quick update at track before we write our stories and call it a weekend.

Texas A&M pulled off the stunner, of sorts, sweeping its way to both the men’s and women’s national titles. They become just the second program to ever win the men’s and women’s outdoor meet in the same year. The only other school to do it was LSU.

Texas A&M coach Pat Henry coached every single one of those teams to accomplish the feat.

The women scored 50 points, sealing its win over Oregon (43) and Arizona State (41) with Yasmine Regis’ second-place finish in the triple jump. It is the first national championship for Texas A&M.

The men were a surprising winner, coming from behind on the last day to beat overwhelming pre-meet favorite Oregon. There was plenty of drama in the men’s final day. Heading into the last event, there was the possibility of a four-way tie for the overall title between Oregon (46), Florida (41), Texas A&M (40) and Florida State (36).

Florida, Texas A&M and Florida State had teams running in the 4×400. Oregon did not.

Florida State won the race, Texas A&M finished second and Florida was fourth. So the final scoring went like this: Texas A&M (48), Oregon (46), Florida State (46) and Florida (46). Unbelievable.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Texas A&M sprinter Justin Oliver, who ran the anchor leg of the 4×400. “You work so hard. Four years I worked so hard for something like this to happen. and for it to come down to my last race, to do it for my team the way I did it, it’s amazing. I can’t describe it.”

As for the Razorbacks, the men’s team finished in ninth place with 27 points. The women were 29th with 10 points.

Pick up a copy of The Morning News, or read our copy at RazorbackCentral.com tomorrow for more on the meet.

The final day of the NCAA Outdoor meet is flying by right now. I’m gonna do my best to catch you up to speed so far:

• First, Arkansas’ Shelise Williams ran a personal best of 52.01 in the 400 final to finish seventh and secure two points for the Razorbacks. Williams was the only women’s team member participating today. Arkansas finishes with 10 points.

• Nkosinza Balumbu is currently fifth in the triple jump final. Dorian Ulrey will be running the 1,500 in a few minutes.

• Some national champions: Oregon’s Andrew Wheating won a dramatic 800, diving across the finish line to beat Texas’ Tevan Everett; Geena Gall of Michigan won the 800 women’s title; Florida State’s Charles Clark picks up the 200 men’s crown while Texas A&M’s Porscha Lucas grabs the women’s title; Auburn’s Joanna Atkins wins the women’s 400 title; Florida State’s Jonathan Borlee wins the men’s 400; Michigan’s Tiffany Ofili just won the women’s 100 hurdle title.

We’ll be back with more as soon as we can. The 1,500 finals and 4×400 finals are the two running events left.

Day three of the NCAA Outdoor Championships is in the books. Before we go home and catch some sleep, here’s a quick look back at a fun day and a look ahead at Saturday.

FRIDAY RECAP:
Athlete of the Day: LSU sprinter Trindon Holliday won his first national championship in the 100-meter dash, running the event in 10 seconds. Holliday, who also plays for the LSU football team, now has national championships in two sports.
Height of the Day: 268 feet, 4 inches. Georgia’s Chris Hill won the javelin national title late Friday night with an impressive throw that nearly set an NCAA meet record. Hill missed that mark by just three inches.
Time of the Day: 42.36. The Texas A&M women’s 4×100-meter relay team scorched the track en route to a national title. The Aggies time set a collegiate record, besting LSU’s 42.5-second run in 1989.
Quote of the Day: “People don’t just want me to win, they want me to set a record or something. You want to meet people’s expectations. You want to give them the show they paid for.” — Colorado’s Jennifer Barringer after running the 3,000 steeplechase in 9:25.54. The mark eclipsed her own college and NCAA meet records in the event.

HOW ARKANSAS ATHLETES FARE
Nkosinza Balumbu (Triple jump qualifying): Finished sixth in the qualifier, jumping 53-1. Will particpate in the finals.
Tarik Batchelor (Triple jump qualifying): Failed to qualify for the finals in the triple jump. He jumped 49-5 3/4.
Etienne Chaplin (Heptathlon): Moved to 7th in the heptathlon after five events, but finished in 12th overall.
Katie Stripling (Pole vault final): Couldn’t equal her third-place finish last year, finishing fifth in the pole vault final.
Sarah Landau (Pole vault final): Senior set a new personal record with a pole vault of 13-9 1/4. Finished eighth.
Scott MacPherson (3,000 steeplechase final): Finished fifth in the final by setting a personal best of 8:38.87.
Shelise Williams (400 semifinal): Qualified for the finals of the 400 after finishing fourth in her heat in 52.85.
Denise Bargiachi (5,000 final): The senior finished 11th in the 5,000 final, running the race in 16:49.40.

WHAT TO WATCH SATURDAY
1. Will Oregon complete the job? The Ducks hold the men’s lead over LSU and are on the verge of claiming the school’s first triple crown (cross country, indoor and outdoor track championships) for the 2008-09 season.
2. Will freshman Will Claye of Oklahoma, who was recruited by Arkansas, win the national title in the triple jump. Claye looked impressive in turning in an automatic qualifying jump Friday.
3. The 1,500-meter final could turn into a “dogfight,” as Arkansas coach Chris Bucknam put it, with Razorback distance runner Dorian Ulrey going up against Oklahoma State’s German Fernandez for bragging rights and a crown.
4. Texas A&M sprinter Porscha Lucas looked impressive in the opening rounds of the 200-meter dash this week, setting the collegiate-leading time in both her races. Will Lucas run even faster than 22.52 en route to a national championship today?

RAZORBACKS COMPETING SATURDAY
Nkosinza Balumbu (Triple jump final)
Dorian Ulrey (1,500 meter final)
Shelise Williams (400 Final)

  Arkansas junior Katie Stripling’s bid to win a national championship came to an end late Friday night when she took fifth in the women’s pole vault.

  She cleared 14 feet, 1 1/4 inches, but she missed on all three of her attempts at 14-5 1/4. 

  Stripling’s fifth-place finish scored four points for the Razorbacks, and they got another point when senior Sarah Landau took eighth. The last bar Landau cleared was 13-9 1/4.

Arkansas sprinter Shelise Williams‘ goal entering the NCAA Outdoor Championships was to qualify for the 400 finals.

The sophomore accomplished it here a few minutes ago.

Williams finished fourth in her heat to earn a spot in the final, which will take place tomorrow afternoon.

“It hurt to get there, but then again, it feels good,” Williams siad. “My first at nationals. So I’m excited.

“Words can’t describe how I feel right now. … underneath all the pain.”

Williams was hurting largely because she admitted to going out too fast in the race. She was competing in a heat that included sprinters Francena McCrory, Leslie Cole and Jessica Beard. So Williams said she really had no choice but to run fast.

It caught up to her down the homestretch, though. Williams had to grit out the last 80 yards and slipped across the finish line in fourth place with a time of 52.8o seconds.

“She had to really work,” Arkansas coach Lance Harter said. “I tell you, Shelise is unique because she’s just so tough. She has kind of that distance mentality where when you’ve got to dig deep, she can dig really deep. That’s what got her to the final.”

  Well, Arkansas distance runner Scott MacPherson pulled off a bit of a surprise on Friday night.

  The senior hung with the leaders in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, was third with one lap remaining and finished a surprising fifth in the finals with a time of 8 minutes, 38.87 seconds. 

  MacPherson’s impressive showing scored four points for the Rarzorbacks and moved them into third in the overall team race with 18 total points. Not bad for his final outdoor race of his collegiate career.

We’ve had two record-setting performances at NCAA Outdoors in the running events tonight.

The first came from the Texas A&M 4×100-meter relay team. The Aggies won the national title and set the collegiate record with a time of 42.36 seconds. It broke a record that had been held by LSU (42.50) since 1989.

A little later, Jennifer Barringer of Colorado bested the collegiate record she set earlier this year (9:26.20) in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. She also topped the NCAA meet mark (9:29.20) she set last season. Barringer won her third outdoor national title in the event with a time of 9:25.54 a few minutes ago.

It’s been a pretty eventful night so far. Check back for more later.

  Arkansas triple jumper Nkosinza Balumbu wanted to take all three of his attempts in Friday’s qualifying round. At the same time, the senior didn’t want to do too much.

  Balumbu wanted to post a few good marks, qualify for Saturday’s finals and then move on. He accomplished what he set out to do.

  Though surprisingly nervous, Balumbu advanced through the qualifying round with a jump of more than 53 feet, 1 inch on his second attempt. His mark was sixth-best of the day.

  Arkansas freshman Tarik Batchelor didn’t have as much luck. His disappointing showing at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships ended when he failed to qualify in the triple jump with a mark of 49-5 3/4.

There was good news and bad news for Arkansas senior Etienne Chaplin during the second day of the heptathlon.

The good: Chaplin’s long jump of 20 feet, 7 inches set a school heptathlon record, was third best in Arkansas history all-time, and propelled her from 16th to 7th in the standings after five events.

The bad: She couldn’t hold the position in the final two events (the javelin and 800) and finished 12th.

“I’m happy with the long jump,” Chaplin said. “I couldn’t ask much more for the long jump. I’m happy with that. It just wasn’t’t enough altogether in the day. The long jump helped me get in position, made up for what I missed yesterday, but it still wasn’t enough.”

Chaplin was in 16the entering the final day of the event and she and Arkansas coach Lance Harter were optimistic she remained in position to score points for the Razorbacks. She said the second day of the heptathlon is typically her best and it looked to be the case in the long jump, when Chaplin finished with the second-best score in the meet.

However, Chaplin said things unraveled in the javelin. She said the throwing events have been her weakness and were once again this week, ending her chance of picking up a top eight finish.

“The throws are fairly new,” Chaplin said. “I got to college and it was something I experimented with. Since I got to Arkansas that’s something we’ve been developing. It is a big technical event. You do one thing wrong and that’s everything.”

The Arkansas women’s team still has scoring chances the rest of the night.

Katie Stripling and Sarah Landau are competing in the pole vault in a couple of hours. Shelise Williams will run in the semifinals of the 400 meters. And Denise Bargiachi is competing in the 5,000-meter final.

  Track officials are getting John McDonnell Field dry and suitable for today’s competition after heavy rain and lightening pushed back the start of the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

  A revised schedule of events has been released. Running events will now begin at 7:10 p.m., around an hour later than originally scheduled. Meanwhile, the field events have been moved because of the weather.

  Here are some of the events that involve Arkansas athletes:

  The heptathlon will start at 3 p.m. with the long jump, followed by the javelin at 4:15 p.m. and the 800-meter run at 6:15 p.m.

  Senior Nkosinza Balumbu will kick off his bid to win his first outdoor triple jump national title at 6 p.m. today.

  Junior Katie Stripling will take the track at 8:30 p.m. in hopes of winning a pole vault national championship.