Her effort, and the personal best efforts of teammates Feagin and Hill, were indicative of the attitude that Tiger head coach Pat Henry said is pervasive on this year's national championship team. Walker popped out of the blocks first, followed by Feagin. Feagin's time ranks second in the world this year and was a move up from her fourth-place finish in 1995. Those three sprinters exemplify what happens when you don't have to do it, but you do. I told the team, you don't have to win 10 titles, just do your best.
Individual effort is what it is all about, and as a result the team won a championship.
That can't help but put a smile on our faces. Some people thought we would buckle under the pressure, but we didn't. We knew the sprinters had to do it, and we did. We thought of this as just another meet, but we had to do better than we have been doing. This site features independant coverage of the 1996 NCAA Track and Field Division I National Championships and is not officially affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletics Association or the University of Oregon.