This has been quite a weekend!
So much so that I had to divide my report into TWO posts.
And both are loaded with great records and marks!
On to the USATF Championships, held this year in Boston!
Casimir Loxsom's American Record in the 600 was the highlight of a fairly atypical USATF.
(Of course, if I were at all sarcastic, I would call the 2014 meet ALSO "atypical", with its boatload of controversies! But that's a whole different kind of atypical! LOL)
I called this meet "atypical" because they offered a somewhat different slate of events on the track.
Instead of the usual 400 and 800, they gave us the 300, 600, and 1000.
Not to mention the Two Mile!
Although the Two Mile HAS been run here before, as Lynn Jennings holds the MR with her 9:28.15 from 1986!
Best part was that they offered the exact same events for both Men and Women!
Anyway, Loxsom broke his own AR from earlier this season.
His time was 1:15.33
It's the Meet Record, bettering his time from the heats.
He also betters his Age 23 record!
But he doesn't move up on the World list, remaining 4th A-T.
The American 600 list was heavily revised!
Mark Wieczorek finished 2nd in 1:16.07.
This breaks his own Age 30 record.
He moves from 9th A-T US to 6th.
And it puts him on the World list, in 20th place!
Ja-von Hutchison's 1:16.32 makes him 10th A-T US.
Boris Berian improved his PR, running 1:16.57.
This moves him up 9 slots on the A-T US list, from 20th to 11th!
He had run 1:17.07 in his heat!
Brycen Spratling, who recently broke the 500 WR, ran 1:17.17 in his heat, but not improving in the final.
The time ranks him 22nd A-T US.
While the Women's 600 didn't produce an AR, the field had much greater depth!
And leading the way was new Mom, Alysia Montano!
However, she was SUPPOSED to have some MAJOR competition in Ajee Wilson, who had the fastest heat time, with her 1:26.56.
Which became---and still is!--the new Meet Record!!
But mid-way through the race, Wilson dove face first to the track after either getting clipped, or tripping.
And she went down HARD---just like Jenny Simpson and Shannon Rowbury did last summer!
(She somehow finished the race, running 1:39+!!)
So Montano, who VERY typically took the lead, won, but her time of 1:26.59 missed Wilson's MR by just 0.03 seconds!!
Afterwards, she was seen being interviewed, holding Baby Linnea!
Second was (hopefully!!) comebacking Phoebe Wright, one of my personally favorite people in our sport!!
She somehow avoided the crash site, finishing in 1:28.00.
But that wasn't her PR!
So let's go back to the Prelims, to see where the REAL action was!
As noted, Wilson ran 1:26.56, the fastest time of the meet!
She was followed by Kendra Chambers, who ran 1:26.73.
This ranks her 5th A-T US.
And she's 23rd A-T World!
Then came Wright, whose 1:27.81 stood up as her best mark.
She's now 11th A-T US.
Megan Malasarte was just behind Phoebe, running 1:27.87.
She's now 12th A-T US.
Bethany Praska's time of 1:28.19 moves her from 19th A-T US up to 16th.
Mckayla Fricker ran 1:28.24, making her 18th A-T US.
One tiny tick of the watch behind her was Shannon Leinart, who ran 1:28.25.
She's now 19th A-T US.
Megan Krumpoch ran 1:28.31.
She's 20th A-T US!
Finally, LaTavia Thomas ran 1:28.76 in her heat, and she's now 23rd A-T US.
Because of the crash (which took down Kendra Chambers also!), no one ran faster in the final!
Two events produced somewhat surprising winners.
(Well, maybe the winner of the Women's PV was NOT such a shocker!)
Collegiate Record holder Demi Payne took a break from Collegiate action, instead facing Pro's like Jenn Suhr and Mary Saxer for the 1st time!
But Suhr had bruised her heel exiting a swimming pool (!!), and she missed her opening height!
Still, Payne had some good competition, as Katie Nageotte got a PR.
Her vault of 14-9 makes her 21st A-T US, tied with 2 others!
Kayla Caldwell also PR'ed, clearing the bar set at 14-7.25.
But she doesn't make the US Top 24, because Nageotte's entrance ON the list set the 24th place mark 0.25 inches too high!
The more shocking winner was Lauren Wallace in the Women's 1000.
Treniere Moser was favored in a field that included HS Pro Alexa Efraimson!
(But no Mary Cain!)
However, Moser was caught in traffic, shuttled to the rear, and couldn't make up the distance in the last 400.
Wallace ran smart, hugging the curve, expecting an opening on the inside, which when it came, she took full advantage of!
Watch the USATF-TV video of this race to see the shocked look on her face while crossing the line, and for minutes afterward!
The Oiselle crowd, who she's aligned with, were VERY happy, to say the least!!
Her winning time was 2:40.42.
She moves from 23rd to 19th on the A-T US list!
(Charlene Lipsey had run 2:40.79 in her heat, establishing the MR, and (temporarily) making her 19th A-T US.)
Wallace had run 2:41.23 in her heat, making her--again temporarily---23rd A-T US.
The only other person to PR was Efraimson, who ran 2:41.23, finishing a respectable 5th in a strong tight field. (Only 0.81 seconds separated the first five!)
Well, here we go, with my newly designated HS Pro division!
Efraimson is now SECOND on that VERY exclusive list, headed by Mary Cain's 2:35.80 from last year!
(And it's now the 3rd best Performance on the HS Pro list!)
But it does place her on the A-T US list---barely.
She's 24th!
(She beat some good ones, among them Stephanie Charnigo and Geena Lara!!)
The 300's were taken by Manteo Mitchell's 32.86 and Natasha Hastings's 36.52.
These are the Meet Records, of course.
The Men's Two Mile had a good field, but they ran it strategically, meaning SLOW!
(Well, at least slower than their talent indicated they could---and should!!)
Ryan Hill won the race, timed in 8:26.72.
He's 18th A-T US.
Garrett Heath's 8:27.99 ranks him 23rd A-T US.
The Women's Two Mile was a veritable WALK!!
(With all due respect to REAL Two Mile Walk Winner Maria Michta-Coffey!!)
Shannon Rowbury was doubling, having won a slow Mile the day before in 4:34 and change.
So she ran to win, yet her time of 9:43.94 is the Age 30 record, and makes her 23rd A-T US.
She obviously could go a whole lot faster, even challenging Jenny Simpson's new AR of 9:18.35--if she'd so chosen to do so!!
Which she did NOT, winning a NOP 1-2 over Jordan Hasay.
The Men's One Mile was in the same (DE-)classe!!
Matthew Centrowitz ran his last 400 in the 53's, for a Mile time of 4:01-plus!
(YAWN!!)
Jasmin Stowers dominated the 60H field, winning easily in a PR of 7.84.
(No one else broke 8.00!!)
She moves from 19th A-T US, tied with 1 other, up to 12th, where she's tied with FIVE others!
She ran 7.89 in her heat, temporarily moving her into that 19th spot!
Michelle Carter won the SP with a throw of 63-9.75.
But Becky O'Brien joined the 60 foot club with her throw of 60-2.
(That's just one inch further than Collegian Tori Bliss threw this weekend!!)
She's now 16th A-T US!
Chaunte Lowe won the HJ for the umpteenth time at the USATF meet!
Her 6-2 clearance beat 39 year old Amy Acuff, who jumped 5-11.50.
Jeremy Taiwo showed his recent Oversize Track mark of 6344 in the Heptathlon wasn't a one-off.
He produced a "legal" point total here of 6273, winning the "competition" by over 700 points!!
Besides being the USATF Meet Record, it also makes him 19th on the World list!
And it moves him from 11th to 5th on the A-T US list!
Sharon Day-Monroe had won the Pentathlon with 4654 points!
A few marks to add to the LONGGGG list of them in my first post of the day!
Raven Saunders continues to produce prodigious marks in the SP as a Freshman at Southern Illinois.
But in her Conference meet, she JUST missed her PR of 59-0.25!
She reached 59 feet even!
And she added two more tosses of 58 feet-plus, so she's showing something Freshmen (or FreshWOMEN!!) don't normally show---consistency!
The NCAA should be quite a battle in the Women's SP!!
BTW, Saunders hit 57-9 and change in the WT, so her SP best beat her WT best by over a foot!
A HS meet on Penn State's track produced a great Men's 800!
John Lewis ran 1:50.57 to beat Elias Graca's 1:50.86.
Lewis is 6th A-T HS.
And Gracas is now 8th A-T HS.
I promised I'd report anything I could find on Multiple Sclerosis victim Kayla Montgomery, currently a Freshman at Lipscomb College in Tennessee.
She hadn't raced for the past two weeks, apparently having a slight niggle, which she rested.
So, her endurance off a bit, she was inked in to run a DMR leg and the One Mile at her Atlantic Sun Conference meet.
But she didn't run the DMR.
She DID race the mile, running 5:11.70, finishing 7th in a field of 13.
She was 2nd from her team in the race, which had 5 runners from her team!
Kayla's up and down season (No pun intended, though one would fit here, as she falls "down" at the end of every race, due to her MS! LOL) may seem lackluster, but if you compare it---relatively speaking---to some more elite College Frosh, it's not that bad!
Elise Cranny has run well....and run poorly!
Desiree Freier has Vaulted 14-2.75 this year, but has also gone a foot less!
Bethan Knights has been fairly quiet this year.
And Sarah Baxter hasn't even raced at all!
Well, that---added to my HUMONGOUS first post from earlier today, puts a "wrap" on this weekend's T&F activity!
And what a week it was!!
Next post MIGHT be Wednesday or Thursday, but only if enough good marks come in AFTER I post this!
Otherwise, expect the next post to be a week from today, with results from the European Championships, and whatever else I can find!!
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