Payne loses, but gets CR

Since Demi Payne's 15-3.50 PV at the Drake Relays created some controversy, I'll start with that.
Ekaterina Stefanidi and Payne played Cat and Mouse with passing tactics, but in the end, Stefanidi won, while equaling her National Record of Greece, reaching 15-5.50.
Payne's 15-3.50 is the new OUTdoor Collegiate Record.
Or is it?

According to the NCAA, it's not.
You see, THEY believe the only place you can set a CR is at the NCAA Championships.
Luckily, the USTFCCCA (Coaches Assn) and T&FN have some common sense--that you can get a CR anywhere!

But wait, the NCAA has another rule that USTFCCCA and T&FN disagree with.
The NCAA says that CR's in the PV can only be set if the planting box has a collar around it!
Called a "box collar".
Well, according to a tweet by Payne, a couple of the "elite girls" didn't want one, so they left it off!
Thus, by the NCAA ruling, no CR

Well, luckily too, this blog agrees with the USTFCCCA & T&FN.
She gets the damn record!
(Which she's likely to break again....soon!)

Oh, and she gets the Senior Class record too.
She moves from 2nd A-T Collegiate, tied with 1 other, to 1st.
She moves from 9th A-T US, tied with 2 others, to 6th!
She misses the World DDD by just 1.50 inches!!
BTW, she also won the earlier Street Vault with a height of 15-1.50.
I won't detail the moves she made on various lists with that vault, since she soon improved on all of them!

The Drake Men's PV proved interesting too....for different reasons!
Renaud Lavillenie, as expected, won the Street Vault.
But his dominance was tested in the "regular" Drake PV.

For one thing, it was moved INdoors because of bad weather!
Second, the French Master LOST....and lost badly!
Sam Kendricks won, although Shawn Barber returned to "normal" (meaning consistent 19 foot vaults!) and tied Kendricks at 19-1.
This is where things get a bit confusing....at least for me.

You see, since I totally separate the INdoor from the OUTdoor season, and thereto the records and lists, do I list those 19-1's as the Drake Meet Record?
(They bested the 19-0.25 old record.)
Should I make a brand new record.....called the INdoor Drake Relays Meet Record??
T&FN would probably list it as the "absolute" MR!!
Haven't decided yet.
Will let you know when I do!

BTW, Monsieur Lavillenie couldn't go higher than 18-5.25!!

Well, let's move on to another controversy....this one at the venerable Penn Relays.

In the Collegiate Men's 4X1Mile Relay, it was supposed to be a showdown between Villanova and the Ed Cheserek-led Oregon Ducks.
The latter had a team that seemed capable of going sub-16:00....or at least breaking the MR of 16:03 and change!

All was copacetic through the first 3 legs, which found UO in a slight lead over Villanova at about 12:03.
A 4:00 by "King Ches" would get the MR, and a 3:56 or so would get them under the 16 minute barrier!
BUT they started slow---a 65 first lap---then....well, the race turned into a Velodrome Bike Race!

They STOPPED...or at least slowed to the type of crawl associated with bike drafters....or the jog you do between intervals!
This got several teams back into the mix!
Then one of the guys (Oklahoma State??) sprinted ahead....but then HE stopped, waiting for the others to catch up!
Finally, after just over 3 laps of this worse-than-rookie behavior, Jordy Williamz of Villanova took off.
His final 300 of about 38 seconds gave the temporarily-boxed in Ches no chance, and Oregon lost by a few tenths of a second in 16:18.

What a fucked up MESS!
And the most blatant of LOST opportunities!!
IMHO, Ches should be suspended from UO's team for the remainder of the year, and a portion of his scholarship withheld!!
At least, he should be scolded LOUDLY by his coach....and his much more professional teammates!!

Well, besides those 2 controversies, some good----even GREAT---marks were produced this weekend, so let's move on!

Maybe the most shocking was the sudden emergence into WORLD Class territory by 100 Hurdler Jasmin Stowers!
She blasted a 12.40 (1.7 wind) at Drake, leaving Dawn Harper-Nelson, Brianna Rollins and several other A-T greats in the DUST!!
The nearest to her ran 12.71.

This is the Age 23 record.
Also the Drake Relays Meet Record.
She becomes 5th A-T US.
And 13th A-T World.

She was on neither list just 12.40 seconds earlier!!

In the Men's 110H, Omar McLeod turned his INdoor 60H time of 7.45 into a 13.21.
This makes him 5th A-T Collegiate, tied with 1 other!
(He also left a World Class field---which included WR holder Aries Merritt---far behind!)

Not at Drake, but another 100H person made news.
Kendra Harrison is the top Collegian, running 12.62 for a big PR.
This makes her 6th A-T Collegiate, tied with 1 other.
And it puts her in 19th place on the US list!

A couple of lesser upsets happened at Drake as well.

Fran McCorory won the 400 easily, running 50.13.
She beat, among others, Sanya Richards-Ross, who nonetheless ran her fastest race of 2015, a 51.09.

Ajee Wilson beat Brenda Martinez and Alysia Montano in the Drake 800, running 2:00.03.
Martinez was coming on strong at the end, but ran out of room.
Montano, of course, is working her way back from giving birth, and ran 2:01.78 in 5th.
My favorite tweeter and blogger, Phoebe Wright---also trying to get back to her 1:58 form---finished a strong 3rd in a GREAT field of all Americans!
Wilson's time is the Drake Relays Meet Record!
The old mark was from 1998---by Suzy Favor Hamilton!!

Yet another Drake MR was broken---with alacrity---by Kirani James, who sprinted the fastest 400 of 2015, a 44.22, for the win, again over a strong field!

Among those in that field was Chris Brown, who continues to break 400 Age Records in almost every race!
This time, he got the Age 36 OUTdoor record with his 44.76!!

Brooke Pleger got a big PR in the HT.
She threw it 225-11, moving her from 18th A-T Collegiate up to 11th!!
She also moved onto the A-T US list, in 21st place!

Rodney Brown threw the Discus out to 213-4, making him 13th A-T Collegiate.

A comebacking Jillian Camarena-Williams got a SP distance of 60-8.50, a solid mark for her first meet of the year.
Or is that TWO years??

But she lost to Tia Brooks's Put of 61-5.
(Two others got past 60 feet!)

A couple of HS girls got good marks in the JT.
Sophia Rivera---who was the INdoor leader in the SP!!--got the spear out to 175-10.
This moves her all the way from 19th A-T HS, tied with 1 other, up to 5th!!

And Madison Wiltrout got a mark of 168-5, making her 11th A-T HS, tied with 1 other!

How good is Joe Kovacs?
Well, a few weeks ago, he got the 2015 leader in the SP, a stunning 73-4.
He won Drake with something over 70 feet.
Doesn't really matter, since no PR's or other records were set.

BUT one of his fouls was measured!
Throwaholics tweeted at first that it had gone 81-8.50---further than Michael Carter threw the TWELVE pound SP in HS back in 1979!
But then they revised that mark, saying he tossed it out to "just" 79-8!

Yes, it was a foul.
(I didn't see the video, so don't know how blatant the foul was.)
But come on, folks---79-8??!!!!

Keep your eyes on this dude!
I think he has some potential!!

Finally, some Marathon news---and not all of it is from London!

In the Dusseldorf race, American (but living in Norway!!) Annie Bersagel took 30 seconds off her PR, running (and winning) in a time of 2:28:29.
She moves from 22nd to 19th on the A-T US list!

In London's race, Mary Keitany, among others, were upset by Ethiopian Tigist Tufa's 2:23:22 fairly even-paced race.
Second was Keitany, in 2:23:40.

The Men's race was a tri-dual (??) between WR holder Dennis Kimetto, former WR holder Wilson Kipsang, and former track star, Eliud Kipchoge.
(Of course, since I honor Boston Marathon times, Kipsang's 2:03:23 was never REALLY the WR!!)
Kipchoge's winning time was 2:04:42, and his margin over Kipsang was 5 seconds.
Kimetto was with them after 30K, but fell off the increased pace, and finished 3rd, in 2:05:50, almost 3 minutes slower than his WR!

Ever hear of Paula Radcliffe?
She ran a halfway decent time in the London Marathon a decade or so ago....something like 2:15:25.

Well, this Queen of the 26.2 ran "just" 2:36:55 in what was widely advertised as her final marathon!
Yes, this 41 year old WR holder is hanging them up!
(Though she didn't wear spikes on the roads!)

We'll see her doing commentating (on the BBC), and maybe running some low key races, but her venerable track and road racing career of more than 20 years is finished!!

She ran the entire distance to unending cheers---and tears!!---relishing every single last step!!

My next post will be a Predictions post, and a Preview post (one post??).
I'll tell you all you need to know about the 2nd World Relays and the always HOT Payton Jordan meet---both of them next weekend!
I WILL say I've seen the list of entrants for the World Relays, and the "accepted entries" list for the Payton Jordan---and both are going to be EXPLOSIVE!!!

Details to follow--probably just a day before the meets start!