At first glance, it was a relatively quiet week in the records and marks department.
But then you look deeper---like slightly OUTSIDE the scope of my DDD's (Top 24 A-T Performers lists)---and the list of accomplishments becomes a bit noisier!!
I'll begin with that "OFF-season" HSR in the title.
As you all know, I completely separate the indoor and the outdoor seasons.
You will never find an indoor mark on my outdoor DDD's, nor anywhere else but in the indoor half of my T&F Record Book!
Or vice versa!
Thus, when an event (or entire meet!!) is moved indoors, because of bad weather conditions, that event becomes eligible for any records or marks improvements that might happen there.
Doesn't matter what time of year it is!
Well, Ms Desiree Freier broke her own INDOOR HSR in the PV...at a HS meet in Texas.
She soared over a bar set at 14-6, breaking her old HSR of 14-2.75, set at the NBIN.
And she even had one solid try at 14-9
This mark is, of course, the new Senior Class INdoor record as well!!
She also has the OUTdoor record, that 14-3.25 she vaulted at the Texas Relays.
Now, back to the 2014 OUTdoor season!
Sticking with the girl's HS PV for a minute, Kaitlyn Merritt, who already holds the Frosh and Soph Class records, broke the Junior Class record with her great 14-0.75 vault.
This moves her from 10th A-T HS (tied with 2 others) up to 4th A-T HS!!
And this makes it TWO girls now over at least 14 feet this year outdoors!!
And there's now TWO Collegiate women over 6000 points in the Heptathlon this year!
Sami Spenner joined Kendell Williams over that barrier with her 6003 score at Mt SAC, where she finished 2nd to Barbara Nwaba's 6043.
This puts Sami into 16th place on the A-T Collegiate list!
(BTW, Williams is 14th A-T Collegiate!)
And Spenner's NOT going to be able to compete at the NCAA's??
For shame, NCAA, for shame!!
The Oregon Ducks had some solid performances this weekend, and they weren't all at the Oregon Relays!
At that meet, Dakotah Keys won the Decathlon with his first spin over 8000 points, his 8027 PR missing the Collegiate DDD list by just 60 points!
Laura Roesler ran an IN-season 800 PR of 2:00.54 while winning the Mt SAC race.
That "IN-season" label comes from T&FN's (and my) rule that Collegiate marks and records must come no later than the NCAA meet!
Roesler ran faster AFTER last year's NCAA, but that mark doesn't count as a Collegiate mark (or PR).
Anyway, she's now 8th A-T Collegiate with that 2:00.54!
One more item on Roesler and her fellow Lady Duck's 800 crew.
Last year, at Penn, they barely lost to Villanova in that CR 4X800 race, running 8:17.62 (to Villanova's CR 8:17.45).
Well, there are 4 Duck women whose 2014 times add up to....8:15.90!!
And they have a 5th woman (Claudia Francis) with a time just 0.03 outside their 4th gal to have as an alternate!!
But I don't know if they'll be racing that event at Penn next week!
(ADDED about 20 minutes later:)
Apparently Elise Cranny ran TWO 800's at Mt SAC!
The first was 2:06.61, not even a PR, as she ran a bit faster indoors at NBIN.
But I just learned she ran a SECOND 800 the next day, the one where Roesler won.
In a race with all Pro's and Collegians, Cranny finished next to last in her heat, but ran a PR of 2:04.89.
This mark misses the HS DDD list by just 0.06 seconds!!
(ADDED 2 hours later!)
Apparently, Cranny ran 2:04.81, not 2:04.89, as stated above!
This DOES move her onto my HS DDD list, into 24th place!!
The Mt SAC Men's 800 was a GREAT race....especially considering it's still April!!
Winning was Duane Solomon in 1:43.88.
This broke the Mt SAC Meet Record!
Behind him came Eric Sowinski's PR of 1:44.58.
This was ANOTHER near-miss at reaching my US DDD list!!
His time was just 0.02 off 24th place!!
Next was a new Puerto Rican National record, the 1:44.64 by Wesley Vasquez!
And then yet another near miss!
Brandon McBride ran 1:45.35, missing the Collegiate DDD by just 0.04!!
Another Duck who just missed entering my Collegiate DDD list was sprinter Jenna Prandini.
Her 11.11 misses that list by a whopping 0.01 seconds!!
And it makes her the fastest Collegian this year so far!!
The Hammer Throw has 2 great marks.
Julia Ratcliffe upped her NZ National record, throwing 230-7.
This gives her the Collegiate Soph Class record, and places her 5th on the A-T Collegiate list!
Sultana Frizell threw a great 246-0, winning Mt SAC.
But the mark just misses breaking her own Canadian record by 4 inches!
It is, however, the new Mt SAC Meet record!!
Some significant High Hurdles action this week.
Aleec Harris came from virtually nowhere (I believe his previous PR was just 13.65!) to run the 110H in a blazing 13.32.
This makes him 10th A-T Collegiate!
Sharika Nelvis ran a great 12.71 in the 100H, making her 13th A-T Collegiate, tied with 1 other.
And yet one MORE near-miss, this time belonging to Jasmine Stowers, whose 12.81 PR misses the Collegiate Top 24 by just 0.01.
A bit of distance action to report.
Speaking of near misses, Kennedy Kithuka's winning Mt SAC time of 13:26.98 misses the Collegiate DDD by 0.84.
One who did NOT miss was Elvin Kibet.
Her 32:40.22 makes the list, in 24th place!
Pushed OFF the list was Ellen Reynolds, whose 32:40.6 was run in....1986!!
The Larry Ellis meet produced two new 2014 marks for the A-T list.
Rachel Sorna (already on the list with a 9:50+ time) ran a season-leading time of 9:43.48 in the 3000 SC.
This makes her 12th A-T Collegian.
Following right behind Sorna was Leah O'Connor's 9:44.35, which makes her 13th A-T Collegian!
Finally, an old mark I didn't see earlier, from the Sun Angel Classic.
Ariana Ince, once a 13-5.75 PV'er (an indoor mark), threw the Javelin 189-11, making her 10th A-T US!!
She graduated from Rice in 2011 with a PR of 157-10.
She's 25 years old now.
Here's a bit of T&F Record Book trivia for you stat geeks out there!
Every year (or two), I count the number of marks each decade has produced on my 4 DDD lists.
(I do this count separately for indoor and outdoor, of course!!)
Meaning, I count the number of marks on my lists made within each decade, like from 1990 to 1999, or 1980 to 1989.
This gives me a general idea of the speed of progress each event (in each category--World, US, Collegiate, and HS) is making.
But I stopped the decade count after the 2000-2009 decade ended.
My new count groups the past 5 years (2010-2013, plus the partial year of 2014) in with the previous decade, creating one solid chunk of 21st century marks!!
I won't do the INdoor results now.
Save that for next year.
But I counted the marks last night for the OUTdoor lists.
The last time I'd counted these was in January of 2012.
Thus, these new counts indicate the progress made in the year's 2012 and 2013, plus the first few weeks of the 2014 season.
Here's the results, with the left hand mark the January 2012 count, and the right hand mark being the new count, with the difference in parentheses.
Comments to follow.
World-Men 282 307 (plus-25)
World-Women 286 296 (plus-10)
US-Men 239 268 (plus-29)
US-Women 323 365 (plus-42)
Collegiate-Men 206 234 (plus-28)
Collegiate-Women 274 310 (plus-36)
HS-Men 224 258 (plus-34)
HS-Women 295 337 (plus-42)
First, let me state that the counts did NOT include the "new" events I've added to my Book, such as the Relays.
Also, the events for the Men's and Women's lists match.
Meaning, there's the same number of events for each gender, and within each category.
(Though the Women's HS 3000SC has just 9 marks overall!!)
Also, the overall totals for each grouping don't match.
This is caused by some events being longer than 24 deep, caused by ties at the bottom!!
So some lists could have 30 or even 35 or more athletes on them, caused by those ties.
You'll notice that in the US, Collegiate, and HS categories, the Women improved more than the Men!
In the World category, the Men did better since January 2012.
You'll also notice that in ALL of the categories, the Women's numbers were larger in January 2012, in 3 of them (except the World), MUCH larger!!
The margins have gotten bigger in this latest count, except for the World category.
There, the 25 to 10 growth for each pushed the Men slightly ahead of the Women, 307 to 296.
Why are the Women so much better in the 21st century?
1. The "new" events. In the past 25-30 years, women have begun competing more and more in the 3000SC, TJ, PV, HT, 5000, 10000 and the Marathon. Thus, most of the marks in these events have been made in recent years. The matching Men's events have been going on for much longer! (The JT has changed for BOTH genders, with the new Javelin introduced around 2000.)
2. The US Women's rate of growth (over the World's rate of growth!)--42 to 10--is due to 2 factors mainly. One, a lot of the throwing event marks were made by Europeans in the 70's, 80's, and 90's. This was before the improvement in methodology and knowledge in drug testing. This is NOT saying that all of the older marks were enhanced by drugs!!! But knowing of the dangers of being caught by the upgrade and frequency in drug testing might have caused SOME athletes (and nations!!!) to NOT take any chances of being caught...and banned! Two, the US lists in the 20th century just didn't have the same quality or depth that the World list had! Thus, it's been easier for the US Women to make inroads onto these lists. Same goes for the Collegiate and HS Women. Overall, Women have progressed much more rapidly than Men have, again partially due to the fact the Men's events date from older historical roots than the Women's.
Well, a few days from now, the massive Penn Relays begins, as does Drake!
Both are expected to be of the highest quality, with some GREAT match-ups set, plus many elites making their 2014 outdoor debuts, and all those Relays!!
And tomorrow is the Boston Marathon!!
(As you all know, I include marks from Boston's course on my Marathon DDD's!!)
I MIGHT have an "extra" post about that.
But I'm not 100% certain yet.
We'll see.
(If not, it will surely be in next week's report!!)
See you soon!
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