A&M's Gilliam Indoor Track & Field Stadium question
During the recent SEC Indoor Track & Field Championship Meet, there were several comments by the narrators about the track. In particular about the banking and the narrow lanes (the narrowest the NCAA allows).
They kept saying that it was not as fast as Arkansas' Indoor facility the 8 million-dollar Randal Tyson Track Center. Since its opening in 2000, the Randal Tyson Track Center has held the SEC Championships 8 times and the NCAA Championships 12 times. The attendance for each day of the NCAA Championship Meets has usually been over 5,000. It is a 200-meter, 60-degree banked track.
By contrast, the Texas A&M University's Gilliam Indoor Stadium open in 2009. It is a 200-meter hydraulic banked track can be adjusted to varying heights / bankings and has a capacity of 4,100. It has held the Conference Championships 4 times (Big 12 -- 2009 & 2011; SEC -- 2014 & 2018), and NCAA Championships 4 times (2009, 2011, 2017, & [in a few days] 2018).
The narrators seem to imply that Gilliam is inferior to Randal Tyson.
My question: Is the Gilliam Track Stadium that inferior to Randal Tyson?
Since 2000, the NCAA Championships have been held at Randal Tyson or Gilliam except for three years:
2012 -- Boise State, 2014 -- New Mexico, 2016 -- Birmingham, AL.
Gilliam cannot be as bad as they seemed to imply, or we would not be allowed to put on the championship events.
Another question? Can Gilliam be banked as high as Randal Tyson so as to match its speed?
During the recent SEC Indoor Track & Field Championship Meet, there were several comments by the narrators about the track. In particular about the banking and the narrow lanes (the narrowest the NCAA allows).
They kept saying that it was not as fast as Arkansas' Indoor facility the 8 million-dollar Randal Tyson Track Center. Since its opening in 2000, the Randal Tyson Track Center has held the SEC Championships 8 times and the NCAA Championships 12 times. The attendance for each day of the NCAA Championship Meets has usually been over 5,000. It is a 200-meter, 60-degree banked track.
By contrast, the Texas A&M University's Gilliam Indoor Stadium open in 2009. It is a 200-meter hydraulic banked track can be adjusted to varying heights / bankings and has a capacity of 4,100. It has held the Conference Championships 4 times (Big 12 -- 2009 & 2011; SEC -- 2014 & 2018), and NCAA Championships 4 times (2009, 2011, 2017, & [in a few days] 2018).
The narrators seem to imply that Gilliam is inferior to Randal Tyson.
My question: Is the Gilliam Track Stadium that inferior to Randal Tyson?
Since 2000, the NCAA Championships have been held at Randal Tyson or Gilliam except for three years:
2012 -- Boise State, 2014 -- New Mexico, 2016 -- Birmingham, AL.
Gilliam cannot be as bad as they seemed to imply, or we would not be allowed to put on the championship events.
Another question? Can Gilliam be banked as high as Randal Tyson so as to match its speed?