Is it REALLY only January?

What an amazing--and record breaking!--month!
Makes you wonder if it really IS still only January!
Probably should have seen this storm coming, considering how HOT December was, and the fact that we got our first notable mark in November!!
Well, there is a TON of stuff to report, so let's get right to it!

I'll begin with some "oldies"--meaning a few marks that came in (or I discovered them!) AFTER my last "news" post.
When that happens, I have 2 choices---add them to that last post, or wait to put them in the next one.
If you do the former, you risk the chance that your millions of readers have already read your blog, so will miss seeing those added marks!
That's why I chose the latter route!
(MILLIONS of readers?????  LOL)

Probably the best of these was Adam Hague's breaking of his own Age 17 record in the PV.
His 18-1 surpassed his previous mark of 17-11, set just a month earlier!
(Imagine where he'd be in the US HS system!!)

T&FN's eTN reported her time, but didn't highlight it!
I will.
Kellyn Taylor-Johnson finished 6th woman, and first US, in the Houston Marathon.
Her time of 2:28:40--in her debut race!--makes her 20th A-T US!!

Brittany Smith was far better known as a Hammer Thrower, but she showed some talent in the SP.
Her toss of 62-4.50 moves her to 10th A-T US.
This mark was in the same meet where Becky O'Brien threw 58-0.50--which I reported!
I have no idea why I didn't see Smith's mark then!

Amber Campbell, another noted HT'er, threw the WT 75-9.25.
That's the Age 33 record, and is her NINTH Age record for the WT!!

Finally, in the "oldie" category", the PV Summit had some good Women's HS marks!
Four girls hit 13-4's, making them ALL 20th A-T HS, and each tied with 4 others, including each other!!
They are Brooke Catherine (Yes, Catherine is her last name!), Mackenzie Shell, Meagan Gray, and Kaitlyn Merritt.

And speaking of the PV, let's begin the NEW marks with that "Event of the Decade"!!
Because we saw not 1, but TWO more CR's, plus several other GREAT marks!!

At a quad meet in Texas, Sandi Morris, FORMER CR holder, tried to win that title back!
She made 14-10.25, then tried for 15-2.75, but missed her 3 attempts.

So did Melissa Gergel, now a Pro.
But her make of 14-10.25 was a PR.
It moved her from 19th A-T US (tied with 2 others) to 17th, where she's tied with 1 other.

While (or around the time) this was happening, CR holder Demi Payne went up against ANOTHER former CR holder, in New Mexico!

Kaitlin Petrillose's 2015 isn't seeing her best start ever.
She'd NH'ed when Morris got her CR.
But here, she started to put things together.
She at least got a height!
Her 13-10 finished only 3rd, however!
In 2nd was Akaterina Stefanidi, who hit a good 14-6.

And the winner, and new CR holder, is.....Demi Payne!
And she broke her own record TWICE!!

She first broke it with her jump of 15-3.
Then she went for 15-7, and made it!
(With her Dad's--Billy Payne--mark of 19-2.25 added, that makes their 34-9.25 total the best Father-Daughter combo PV ever!!)

This makes her 3rd A-T US, tied with 1 other.
And it puts her in 11th place A-T WORLD, tied with 1 other!!
Remember, she's a Collegian, and a new mother!!

Speaking of Combined this and that, Renaud and Valentin Lavillenie moved up the ladder in the Brother-Brother category!
Renaud soared over his 2015 highest bar, hitting 19-8.25 (6.00 meters), while his brother Valentin rose to 18-8.25.
Their total (in one same day meet) was 38-4.50 (or 11.70 metric).
However, the Brothers Bubka (Sergey & Vasiliy) went 11.75....at least!....for the "record"!

BTW, Renaud's 19-8.25 ties the Age 28 record--held by Pere Bubka!!--set in 1992.

Another PV Age record went down! (Or should I say "UP"??)
Fabiana Murer went over 15-0.25 for the Age 33 record.
This breaks the 14-11 of Stacy Dragila from 2005!

Before we move on to other events---and yes, other events DID encroach on the sovereignty of the Pole Vault!!--there's 3 more marks of note from this event!

Pauli Benavides, who had vaulted 17-3 awhile ago, rose to 17-6.50.
This makes him 4th A-T HS, but tied with 3 others.

Jake Blankenship went over 18-8.25.
This makes him 10th A-T Collegiate, tied with 2 others!

And HSR holder(s)---she holds both the IN and OUTdoor records!---Desiree Freier got her first Collegiate 14 footer, hitting 14-2.25.

On the track---the 200 meter variety!--we have an American Record!

In a race set up for that purpose, Casimir Loxsom ran the 600 meters in 1:15.58, for the AR!
It's also the Age 23 record.
And it moves him up the ranks on both the US and World DDD's!
He moved from 3rd to 1st on the US list.
And from 11th to 4th on the World list!

Mark Wieczorek finished behind Loxsom, timed in 1:16.20.
For him, this makes him 9th A-T US.
But he misses the World list by....0.01 seconds!!
He does get the Age 30 record, however!

Two other 600's of note.

Kimarra McDonald ran 1:29.07, making her 21st A-T US.

And HS'er Luke Germanakos is also rated 21st (HS), with his 1:19.82.
((Both the above marks were at The Armory!)

Of all events, the Triple Jump has made a HUGE splash on the 2015 Indoor scene.
And it's all because of one young woman!

Former HS Superstar (in both the TJ and the LJ) Keturah Orji has suddenly EXPLODED onto the Collegiate scene!!

She spent her entire Senior year of HS trying to reach the magical 45 foot level---to no avail!
(Her OUTdoor PR is her HS mark of 44-11, which she reached in her Junior year of HS, in 2013!)

Well, Keturah, say Hello to the 45 foot world!
She not only reached (at least) 45 feet, she did it FOUR times in her series!!
Her best of 45-10.50 is the Collegiate Frosh Class record!
It's also, according to my records, the World Age 18 record!!
It ranks her 9th A-T Collegiate.
And makes her 5th best American!!

Her competition was no slouch, either!
Former HS wonderkind Ciarra Brewer also finally got past 45 feet, hitting the sand at 45-2.50, to place 2nd to Orji.
However, Brewer got just ONE mark over 45 feet!
It does move her from 18th A-T Collegiate to 15th, where she's tied with 1 other.
And it makes her 16th A-T US, where she's tied with 2 others!

Kendell Williams did her 1st Pentathlon of 2015, and it was a good one.
The OT will negate the mark for record and list purposes--although some believe this does not affect the 800 much, because of how slow most Pentathletes run!--but her 4609 points still is the 2nd best Collegiate mark ever.
And it WOULD be the Collegiate Soph Class mark, if not for the OT.
It stands as the best Collegiate mark in January, no matter the track size!

The Collegiate Record in the Men's Weight Throw was broken!

Michael Lihrman finally went past 80 feet, hitting his CR distance of 80-3.50.
It's also the World Age 23 record!
It's the Collegiate Senior Class record.
It moves him from 8th A-T US up to 5th.
And on the World list, it moves him from 9th to 6th!

A couple of Marathons produced a few noteworthy marks (besides the earlier-reported Kellyn Johnson's).

Gladys Cherono finished just 1 second behind the winner in the Dubai race, but her 2:20:03 makes her 19th A-T World!
(Note that this list still includes Rita Jeptoo's 2:18:57 mark.  I won't remove it until I know which races are  affected by her upcoming sentencing!  I'm assuming she'll lose that mark, but I want to get the OFFICIAL word before I revise my list!)

Also in Dubai, Asheti Behere Dido ran the best-ever 10th place, with her time of 2:23:43.
And Haydar Sultan finished with the best 12th place mark, running 2:24:44.
This of course makes this the most sub-2:25's in one race!!

In the Woman's Osaka race, Jelena Prokopcova became the Age 38 record holder with her 2:24:07.

The 60's produced a couple of good marks.

Trayvon Bromell ran 6.54 to tie for the Collegiate lead.
He's now 15th A-T Collegiate, but tied with a MASSIVE 12 others!!

Ageless Kim Collins opened his 2015 season with a 6.58, missing the Age 38 record by just 0.01.
Think he'll get it before season's end?

Cristobel Nettey LJ'ed 22-3.75 for a new Canadian National record.

Tatiana Marsh TJ'ed an even 40-0.
This improves her 2015 best by 10 inches, but leaves her 2 and a half inches shy of the 9th Grade record!

Shelby Houlihan ran the fastest Collegiate 3000 of 2015, but her 9:03.71 misses the Collegiate Top 24 list by 1.41 seconds!

In a Pro race, Stephanie Charnigo outran Ashley Higginson, 4:31.78 to 4:32.31, for the fastest legal track mile times of the season.

Rai Benjamin looks to be the best HS 400 prospect, as he ran the 300 in 33.40!
(The HSR is Michael Cherry's 33.05!)

A few Oversize Track marks rate some mention.

U of O's Eric Jenkins ran 13:31.76 on Lexington KY's 291 meter track to beat his Duckmate Parker Stinson, who ran 13:38.68.

Dominique Scott ran a fast OT mile in 4:32.48.

And Ed Cheserek ran 3000 meters in 7:49.56.

According to my 2014 Athletics Annual, Brittney Reese, ace LJ'er, ran 60 meters INdoors in 2011 in 7.24.
(I'd never heard of that, but AA is usually right!)
Well, now I KNOW she has some talent in the sprints!
She ran 7.32 for 60 meters---in a heat!
But she didn't run the final!

And once again, I'll close with my promised report on ANYTHING that MS victim Kayla Montgomery runs this year!
At the Emory Invitational in Atlanta, she ran 3000 meters in 10:34.54, finishing 7th in the race, but 4th of 6 among her Lipscomb teammates!
This is NOT a very good time, as the pace (about 3:31.5 per 1000) would give her about the same time she ran over the full 5000 in her first 2015 race, and first as a Collegian.
That 17:41.56 works out to about 3:32.3 per kilometer!
She's due to run the anchor on one of the two Lipscomb DMR teams entered!
I'll add her split as soon as I get it---if I do!
ADDED on MONDAY:  The Lipscomb "B" DMR team ran 12:46+ (The "A" team ran 12:00.).  Kayla anchored the "B" team.  I wasn't able to get her official split, but based on what the other girls ran in their earlier individual races, I'm guessing Kayla ran between 5:10 and 5:15 for her 1600 meter split.  It wasn't her best day, but it was productive for her winning team (They won the meet!), as she scored points in both her races.
NEW INFORMATION!!
It's reported that the reason Kayla ran "only" 10:34+ for the 3000 wasn't because she had, as I prematurely said, a "bad" race.
No, it's because she FELL while being right up front with the leaders halfway through the race!!
My belief that Kayla will have a GREAT 2015 has been renewed and strengthened!!

Well, that does it for this week, but NOT for January!

Next weekend, and especially January 31st, promises to add to the UNreality of this record-smashing month!
The 31st is the date of a few Pro meets, including a JDL meet, the Armory Track invitational, and a meet in Europe!

BULLETIN!
ADDED Minutes Later!!

Just found out Great Britain's Morgan Lake scored 4448 points in the Pentathlon, shattering the World Age 17 mark by 187 points.
The old mark was held by none other than Carolina Kluft!!
If she were a US High Schooler---and at Age 17, she would be!---she would've SHATTERED Kendell Williams's HSR of 4068!!