The surprising rise of Stanford men’s track & field
The University of Florida won the NCAA track and field championship again in 2023. At this point, I’ve lost count of just how many it has been in the past decade. But if you look at the leaderboard there is a new name in the top 5, because Stanford University finished third at the NCAA outdoor meet, which is a very big deal because they also finished fourth at the NCAA cross country championships earlier in the season! They are the only team to finish in the top 5 at both meets. With no team even going top 20 in both. This is not a fluke because the first national poll for Division 1 Indoor track and field in 2023 came out halfway through the regular season, and Stanford University was ranked number 1 in the nation in at that time. The Stanford Cardinal have been a distance running powerhouse for a long time, but their rise in track and field only happened because they figured out how to win more than just distance events. Udodi Onwuzurike is now the unlikely leader for Stanford University track and field, and he is a sprinter, with is even more alarming when you realize he has two more years of NCAA eligibility remaining! So all those smart guys at Stanford, now have a legitimate shot at becoming national champions, both in the fall and the spring, and we all get to witness it.
Udodi Onwuzurike is already one of the greatest NCAA sprinters ever
Udodi Onwuzurike won the NCAA 200 meter dash in a time of 19.84 wind legal, and that is surprising because he ran even faster than that in the prelims going 19.76! He also was a 100 meter finalist breaking the 10 second barrier to do it. From the moment he touched the track in college he was legit, and in only his second outdoor meet as a freshman he ran 10.07 and 20.38 to win the 100 meter and 200 meter dashes. From that point on, real NCAA fans knew that he was a national title threat. He finished third in the 200 meter at the national meet as a freshman, but left that season underrated because he runs in a Stanford uniform. The truth about college track and field is that only a few teams dominate the national leaderboards each season. Which is why Florida winning yet another national title is not surprising. Years ago Texas A&M used to dominate the national meet, and schools like LSU and Arkansas never stopped. All of those teams are in the SEC, and are known for having great sprinters. But Stanford is in the Pac 12, so nobody was really paying attention to Udodi, that is until now.
Stanford Cross Country has recruited the best of the best
The success of Udodi Onwuzurike in the sprints only matters so much because Stanford’s distance program has been dominant for a long time. Their cross country team went number 4 overall at the national championships. If you know anything about cross country, you cannot do that without a strong group of talented distance runners. From the team that ran that championship race, 6 of those 7 runners still have at least another season of eligibility remaining! The Stanford coaching staff has put together a masterful group of distance runners, including 4 men who were individual state champions, a New Balance National champion, the top 800m runner in the country in 2021, and one of Australia’s best Under 18 distance runners. If you want to win big you have to recruit big, and Stanford’s distance coaches have been hard at work.
Stanford has invested in every event group
Beyond Udodi and the distance crew, Stanford has invested in every event group. They now have nationally competitive athletes in the throws, and pole vault to go along with the sprints and distance events. The only area they appear to be lacking in is the jumps. The ability to recruit top tier talent in every event group is near impossible for a college track and field program, and Stanford has pulled this off. Without considering the relays, you only need one athlete to have a chance to win any specific event at a national championship. And Stanford is making sure that they always have a chance to win when the gun goes off.
Stanford has an incredible strength of schedule
Allow me to make myself clear, Stanford had a plan to achieve national level success that was well planned out. Track and Field is not a sport that tracks the strength of schedule for its teams. So allow me to fill in the gaps on that which goes unsaid. Stanford is a University that is only miles away from the Pacific Ocean in California. Yet the Cardinal opened their indoor track season in Boston, Massachusetts. They traveled to the state of Washington twice, and Fayetteville, Arkansas where ironically, the only other team that beat them outdoors was hosting a meet.
It is incredibly rare for most track programs, even within D1 to travel much more than 200 miles to any competitions. Stanford is willing to fly across the nation to compete against the best, because their plan is to beat the best. As a former head coach, I know first hand just how costly even a bus trip is for an NCAA team, so Stanford has determined to invest heavily in its men’s track and field program with so many airline flights on their schedule. And their men have responded by winning whenever they touch the track.
The Bottom Line
Winning in track and field is not rocket science, you get talented athletes and get them to put on your uniform. But the hardest part is getting enough talented athletes at the same time, in the same meet to show what they are capable of. Udodi Onwuzurike is capable of a whole lot, just like the rest of his team. And Stanford has pulled off recruiting him to lead a team of distance superstars. Now they’re better than almost anyone else in the nation. They may not be the biggest name in college track and field, but if they keep this up, they are my early pick to shock the world as the new national champions come outdoors.
KNOW THE GAME. WIN THE GAME.
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