Predicting a national champion normally starts and ends with the defending champion. However the combination of Marcel Lomnicky's (Virginia Tech) dominance, and defending champion Walter Henning's (LSU) slow start makes it hard to pick Henning to repeat. Lomnicky leads the NCAA by nearly four meters, his average result is nearly two meters better than the season's best of the second ranked thrower. In addition, Lomnicky has won the meet before back in 2009. Henning, on the other hand, had a very slow start to the season. While he is finally rounding into form, his season best is almost seven meters behind Lomnicky. Even his personal best is meters behind Lomnicky. Lomnicky has yet to show any weakness this year, so he is our clear pick for winning this year's NCAA title.

Predicting the runner up is a bit more difficult. Henning has great credentials, as does last year's runner up Alexander Ziegler (Virginia Tech). I'm defering to Ziegler since he has shown consistent form this year and thrown over 70 meters on several occasions. I would be surprised to see Henning off of the podium, but Trey Henderson (USC) and Chris Cralle (Sam Houston State) will also challenge him after good performances in bad weather at the West Regional. Justin Welch (Georgia) is looking to be the top freshman at the meet, but Alec Faldermeyer (UCLA) will also be in that competition.

Click here for the final heat sheets

Men Hammer Throw Predictions
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     Name                        Year School          Season Best
=================================================================
  1  Marcel Lomnicky               SR Virginia Tech        75.84m
       Performance List: 1st   Average 2011 Result: 73.60m
       Regionals: 1st East     NCAA 2010: 3rd

  2  Alexander Ziegler             JR Virginia Tech        71.99m
       Performance List: 2nd   Average 2011 Result: 70.76m
       Regionals: 2nd East     NCAA 2010: 2nd

  3  Walter Henning                SR LSU                  69.09m
       Performance List: 4th   Average 2011 Result: 65.90m
       Regionals: 3rd East     NCAA 2010: 1st

  4 Trey Henderson                 SR USC                  69.45m
       Performance List: 3rd   Average 2011 Result: 67.10m
       Regionals: 2nd West     NCAA 2010: 5th

  5 Chris Cralle                   SR Sam Houston State    68.27m
       Performance List: 6th   Average 2011 Result: 67.09m
       Regionals: 1st West     NCAA 2010: Redshirted

  6 Justin Welch                   FR Georgia              68.63m
       Performance List: 5th   Average 2011 Result: 66.83m
       Regionals: 5th East     NCAA 2010: High School

  7 Dimitrios Fylladitakis         SR UTEP                 67.97m
       Performance List: 7th   Average 2011 Result: 65.87m
       Regionals: 3rd West     NCAA 2010: 6th

  8 Michael Lauro                  JR LSU                  66.71m
       Performance List: 11th  Average 2011 Result: 64.86m
       Regionals: 4th East     NCAA 2010: 12th

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