Vols favored at NCAA track championships

BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA - The men&#39;s team leader board at the NCAA Track and Field Championships might look a lot like a Southeastern Conference meet.<br> <br> Tennessee, with a powerful contingent led by sophomore sprint sensation Justin Gatlin, is favored to retain its title. The only team given much of a chance to catch the Volunteers is host LSU, with Arkansas and Florida not far behind. <br> <br> ``You come through the SEC you&#39;re battle hardened, you know how to compete,&#39;&#39; Tennessee coach Bill Webb said. <br> <br> Gatlin, who won both the 100 and 200 meters as a freshman, has the fastest times in both events entering the meet, which begins Wednesday and ends Saturday. <br> <br> Two weeks ago at the SEC championships in Starkville, Miss., he set a college record in the 200 at 19.86 seconds. <br> <br> The Volunteers are far more than a one-man team, even in the sprints. Leonard Scott, a senior who will be cheered by family and friends from his nearby hometown of Zachary, could give Tennessee a 1-2 finish in either sprint, making the Vols the overwhelming pick in the 400-meter relay. <br> <br> Tennessee, just like Arkansas in its championship run, has become everyone&#39;s target. <br> <br> ``I definitely know that the wind blows harder at the top of the mountain,&#39;&#39; Scott said. ``You&#39;ve got a lot of competitors coming at you every time you set foot on that track. If you&#39;re at the top of that mountain, you&#39;d better believe somebody&#39;s going to be grabbing at you and trying to get you off of there because they want your spot.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> LSU could challenge the Vols, especially on its home track, but the Tigers chances were hurt last week when the reigning indoor champion in the 400 meters, Alleyne Francique, was suspended from the team by the university. <br> <br> The 26-year-old Francique was born in Grenada. At issue was whether he competed in meets after he turned 21 but before he enrolled in Essex County (N.J.) Community College in 1999. If so, he would lose a year of eligibility. <br> <br> Francique won the NCAA 400 indoor title last winter. He was runner-up in the NCAA outdoor 400 last year and anchored LSU&#39;s winning 1,600-meter relay team. <br> <br> ``All the athletes that are here know that getting through this championship, you&#39;re probably going to have to have something go wrong,&#39;&#39; LSU coach Pat Henry said. ``It&#39;s whether or not you can bounce back from something going wrong from within your own team. We&#39;ve got to bounce back. That&#39;s where we are.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> In the women&#39;s competition, Angela Williams will try to become the first to win four NCAA 100-meter championships. The 5-foot-2 senior already is the first woman to win it three times. <br> <br> ``I&#39;m trying to do something really big and make history,&#39;&#39; she said. ``God willing, everything will come out well. I&#39;m motivated, having fun and I&#39;m just going to take all the experience I can and run with it.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> The Trojans will need everything Williams can give and then some to defend their title. Crosstown rival UCLA, which beat USC for the Pac-10 championship, enters the meet as the favorite, with South Carolina and LSU also in the mix. <br> <br> The UCLA women beat USC twice last year, in a dual meet and the Pac-10 meet, but the Trojans won in the NCAA competition. The Bruins won the first two NCAA women&#39;s outdoor championships in 1982 and 1983. Since then, they have seven second-place finishes - three in the last four years - but no firsts. <br> <br> ``It&#39;s kind of like that football team that kept losing - Denver,&#39;&#39; UCLA coach Jeanette Bolden said. ``All of a sudden they got it done, and everybody forgot about all the other times they lost. At some point, our luck&#39;s got to change.&#39;&#39;