The fact that a Triple Crown had never happened before in the 30-plus years the NCAA has been sponsoring women's track & field speaks volumes about how difficult it is. (I'm not sure how many men's Triple Crowns there have been, if any, but that's just as rare as it is on the women's side.)
Most schools don't even try to compete in at least one of the seasons, making the Triple Crown that much more elusive. With the exception of Arkansas, the SEC schools focus mainly on the sprints and jumps. Meanwhile, there are a number of strong distance programs that go all-in for cross country knowing that it's unlikely they'll win a National title indoors or outdoors. There are only a handful of programs that focus enough on each area to even think about the Triple Crown, and Oregon is one of them.
Scholarships are a big reason for this. Teams are limited in the amount of scholarships they're allowed to give out, and it's very difficult to spread them among the different event areas. That's why you're more likely to see a team load up in a few events and try to win the National Championship that way. That's what Georgia did. They went 1-2 in the high jump and long jump and had the winners in the heptathlon and triple jump (both of whom were Olympians). Throw in third place in the hammer throw and a tie for eighth in the pole vault, and that's all of Georgia's points. None of them came on the track.
Florida's men employed a similar strategy. They won the National title on the strength of their jumpers and sprinters. That's always been the case. Florida is nicknamed "Jumps U" for a reason. In fact, the entire 2012 Olympic team in the men's triple jump (including the alternate) was former Gators. They load up in the jumps (especially the long jump and triple jump), pick up some points in the sprints (using a lot of football players, who don't need track money), and don't worry about the distance events. The system works. They've won four outdoor National titles since 2012.
There are also plenty of distance-based programs that contend for the team championship in cross country, but don't have the depth to challenge for the title indoors and outdoors. Colorado is a great example of this. Same with Georgetown, Oklahoma State, Northern Arizona, Providence, Syracuse and Villanova (to name just a few). Every once in a while, they get enough distance points to place at the indoor or outdoor Nationals, but they usually aren't there at the end.
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So how does Oregon do it then? Well, they obviously have some studs. Oregon's top two sprinters--Deajah Stevens and Ariana Washington--were Olympians last year. They're two of the many Ducks that will be professional track & field athletes when they graduate. They've also got mid-distance superstar Raevyn Rogers and Katie Rainsberger, one of the top high school athletes in the nation last year.
Getting the top recruits certainly has a lot to do with it, but it's not just that top talent, or even the depth, that makes Oregon the top program. It's the fact that this talent is spread across the board. The more events you enter, the more points available to you. It seems fairly obvious. But it's easier said than done. Especially at the national level.
What makes it even more remarkable is that Oregon doesn't really concentrate on the field events. They have a handful of throwers and usually have one solid long jumper (who's often a sprinter, too), but haven't had a pole vaulter or high jumper in quite some time. And Brianne Theisen-Eaton is their only heptathlete over the last 10 years worth talking about. Yet they get so many points on the track, anything they get on the field is a bonus.
I also wouldn't really classify any of their cross country runners, except for maybe Rainsberger, as a "star." Which I think is intentional. None are "great," but they're all good. And they're remarkably consistent. They run together, bunching up their points and keeping their team score down.
It's those cross country/distance runners who have it the toughest, too. They run year-round, and most of them are usually competing all summer, too. USA Nationals are always at the end of June, which is just two weeks after NCAAs, and if they make the team, they're going until mid- to late-August. That's the other thing that makes completing the Triple Crown so difficult. Everyone needs to peak three times. In November, February and June. And these athletes are good enough to compete on the world stage, meaning they have to peak for those meets, as well.
Oregon has proven that winning the NCAA Triple Crown is possible, though. Whether or not they can do it again doesn't seem to be in doubt. My question is, now that it's been done, if another program (like Arkansas) will try to do the same thing.
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