Including the year 2001.
That was when Alan Webb finished just 5th in the Bowerman Mile.
A certain Mr Hicham El Guerrouj won the race, in 3:49.92.
But most of the crowd's cheers were for Mr Webb, who broke Jim Ryun's HSR in that race!
(I felt then like I was at a tennis match, trying to watch El G & Webb at the same time!! LOL)
I introduce my Pre meet post this way for a good reason.
No HSR's set, but in a way, a group of High School kids MADE this meet even better than it usually (ALWAYS!!!) is.
So, let's get on with all the reasons why.
As I did in my Preview (Hope it helped your enjoyment of the meet!), I'll do each day separately.
We'll begin with the Friday night Distance Festival!
Mo Farah?
A solid group of Kenyans in the 5K?
Good field events?
Nah!
What MADE Friday night (at least for ME!!) was the Women's HS Mile!
Yes, I said MILE!
None of that insane 1600 bullcrap at a meet honoring Steve Prefontaine!!
And what a race it was!!
Not 100% sure (Only 99.9% sure! LOL), but this was probably the DEEPEST High School Mile field (Or even....UGH!....a 1600 field!) EVER!!
ALL 10 runners ran under 4:45!
Seven went sub 4:42!
Any HS girl would KILL to run 4:41 and change!
Imagine running 4:41+ and finishing SEVENTH!!
Yes, this was definitely a WORLD Class HS race!!
In a thrilling last 50 meters, Ryen Frazier ripped past Danielle Jones, sending both under the magic 4:40 barrier.
Frazier didn't beat her elder sister Wesley's HS PR, but she came close.
Her winning 4:39.84 rates her 11th A-T HS.
Jones ALMOST won!
But her 4:39.88 is now 12th A-T HS
Perhaps the favorite (because of her recent 4:16 in the 1500!), Christine Aragon ran 4:40.75.
This makes her 18th A-T HS.
Next was Jordyn Colter, whose 4:41.10 makes her 20th A-T HS!
Then we have Lauren Gregory, who finished 5th in 4:41.11.
(Yep, just one tiny tick of the watch back of Colter!!)
Gregory's now 21st A-T HS!
Then we have Oregon girl Ella Donaghue, whose 4:41.66 makes her 24th A-T HS!!
That's a solid rewrite of my All Time HS Mile list!!
With all these girls coming ON my list, a few got kicked OFF the list!!
Among them were:
Vickie Cook from 1981.
Darlene Beckford from 1979!!
Haley Meier, twin sister of Hannah.
Jordan Hasay!!
And a certain gal by the name of Efraimson, who ran her time in 2012, while a Freshman at Camas HS in WA!!
(More on her later! LOL)
While the HS Girls Mile did the most damage to my Record Book, MoBot put on a good show too.
Running at or near the front (behind the pacers!!) for the first few K's of the 10000, Mo Farah went through 5000 in about 13:21, seemingly headed for a new PR (and British record!!).
But as happens in races like this, "racing" took over, and the pace slowed.
Geoff Kamworor and Paul Tanui---especially Tanui!---tried to keep the fires burning, but when you run just 66's doing that, well, there's goes any record attempts!
Running just 13:29 over the 2nd half (Races like this are normally negative split!!), Mo finished in 26:50+, about 4 seconds off his PR.
His final 800 was about 2:00---instead of what should have been 1:54.
Despite the time, I wasn't unduly impressed.
Just another "jog & kick" affair for Mo.
That said, Mo DID get the Age 32 record with his 26:50.97.
Cam Levins, one of the several NOP'ians----Is that like a Martian?? LOL---running here, ran 27:07.91, walloping the Canadian National Record to pieces!
Two Americans ran good times---for Americans!
Diego Estrada improved his PR to 27:30.53.
He moves from 14th to 12th on the A-T US list.
Hassan Mead's time of 27:33.04 is 15th A-T US!!
The 5000 produced an Age record too.
And in a race won in just 13:10, THAT became the highlight of the race!!
Bernard Lagat (Who else??) DESTROYED the Age 40 record---by about 29 seconds!!.
His Age 40 record is 13:14.97.
(Don't be surprised when he takes it down even more later this season!!)
The Women's TJ was a wild and great battle amongst 3 stars--Caterine Ibarguen, Olga Saladuha---and Yekaterina Koneva.
Ibarguen actually WON the event---but her mark was negated by excessive wind.
So the Pre Meet Record---with her 2nd place jump!---is now held by Koneva, who jumped 49-4.25.
This makes her 19th A-T World!
Saturday was the BIG day---or at least NBC considers it so!
(Tell that to the distance Nuts---who thoroughly LOVED the FREE Friday Night webcast, courtesy of USATF-TV!!)
While Genzebe Dibaba (and a few others) did their best to make Saturday ALSO Distance Day, it was the SPRINTERS who truly made the normally INSANE Eugene crowd even more NUTTY!!
Where do I begin??
Well, let's start with one of those "B" races---aka "International" or "National"!
English Gardner has been fairly quiet this year.
So her winning time of 10.84 was a shocker!
(Unless you're a big fan of Ms Gardner's! For a GREAT intro to this VERY talented girl, buy & watch the documentary called "We Grew Wings"---where she's featured!! It's available from Amazon!)
While it was a PR by 0.01 seconds, she remains 12th A-T US.
Tyson Gay ran his first OUTdoor race of 2015, winning the 100 in 9.88.
Back in the field was Kim Collins, who had recently KILLED the Age 39 record with a 10.03.
He took that Age record to another level---becoming the oldest person to go sub-10---with his 9.99.
Oh, and Bingtian Su of China ran 9.99 also.
This is not only the new National Record of China, but it's the first sub-10 by ANY Asian man!!
Justin Gatlin (BOOOOOO!! Ha Ha, just messing with you!1 I LOVE the dude!!) totally dominated the 200 field.
His 19.68 matched his PR, and won by 0.36 seconds!!
It garnered him the Pre Meet Record too!
AND...the Age 33 record!!
Second place---with a new South Africa National Record (breaking his own mark!)---was Anaso Jobodwana, who ran 20.04.
Then we had the Women's "A" 100.
WOW!!
Murielle Ahoure won over SAFP---barely!!
They both were credited with 10.81's.
Ahoure is now 17th A-T World, tied with 1 other.
I should interject here with the fact that there was MUCH talk among some in attendance that the wind readings----especially the LEGAL ones!---were WAY off---maybe DOUBLE what was reported!
This was in regards to all the sprint races, plus the horizontal jumps!
Some said the "wind machine" wasn't working, as some winds first labled as 0.0 later became 2.7 or whatever---wind-aided!
Until PROOF is given---or until the IAAF or whomever decrees it, I'm accepting all these times as legal!!
Speaking of wind affecting outcomes, Tianna Bartoletta jumped a PR of 23-4.50---but it was wind-aided!!
But Christobel Nettey got lucky, as her Canada National Record jump of 22-11.75 WAS legal!!
Another who was NOT affected by wind was PV Superstar Renaud Lavillenie.
He easily won the "competition" with his 19-10.25 OUTdoor PR.
This moves him from 7th A-T World to 2nd, wheree he's tied with 2 others!
He attempted the WR height of 6.16 (20-2.50), but missed his 3 tries!
And it's the new Prefontaine Meet Record!
That "other" vertical jump---the High Jump---had ITS own Superstar.
Or one of them---as Bogdan Bondarenko wasn't there.
Mutaz Barshim WAS there, however, and won with his new Pre Meet Record jump of 7-10.75 (2.41).
He didn't try for a WR, which surprised--and disappointed---some folks!
Giving Barshim SOME competition was China's Guiwei Zhang.
His jump of 7-9.75 came VERY close to China's National Record of 7-10 (by Zhu Jianhua in 1984!!)
But it does rank him 16th A-T World, tied with a massive NINE others!!
One who SAID she wanted to go for a World Record was Genzebe Dibaba.
But the lack of decent pacing (Who can stay ahead of Ms Dibaba---even for "just" 3000 meters??) and competition put paid to any record tries.
That said, she put on quite a show.
Coming through 3K in about 8:36 (14:20 pace!), she ran by herself the rest of the way, finishing in her OUTdoor PR of 14:19.76.
(That's about one second slower than her INdoor WR!!)
It's the new Pre Meet Record.
She moves from 9th A-T World up to 4th!
(One of her sisters---um, what's her name?? LOL---is ahead of her on that list!)
And she moves up on my Combined events list too.
In my Combined 1500-5000 list, her Combined time of 18:17.30 (3:57.54 & 14:19.76) is now 2nd best!!
Only Meseret Defar's 18:14.88 (4:02.00 and 14:12.88) is in front of her!
(Sister Tirunesh, who owns the OUTdoor 5000 WR of 14:11.15, doesn't have a 1500 time to her credit, as far as I know. But if and when she DOES run one, she'll surely be on my list!!)
Oh yes, sorry to say that Genzebe does NOT get the Age 24 record.
That belongs to Defar's 14:12.88.
Debuting in a track 5K was young Faith Kipyegon.
She was 2nd to Dibaba, running a great 1st 5K race time of 14:31.95.
And she ALSO makes my Combined 1500-5000 list.
Her Combined time of 18:28.93 (3:56.98 & 14:31.95) ranks her 9th on that list!
Almost forgot to mention it, but she now is 21st A-T World.
Kirani James easily beat LaShawn Merritt, winning in 43.95---which JUST misses Michael Johnson's MR of 43.92!
A ways back came the Bahamas Chris Brown, who isn't QUITE ancient at Age 36.
However, he's all alone when it comes to running fast 400's past the early 30's.
He broke his own Age 36 record (by 0.22 seconds!) with his 44.54.
Speaking of "old" guys---the always flamboyant Ezekiel Kemboi won the 3000SC with a Meet Record time of 8:01.71.
It's also the Age 33 record!!
But let it be known that Mr Kemboi has his work cut out for him.
Simon Vroemen ran 8:04.95 at Age 36 several years ago!!
Evan Jager ran a solid race in 3rd place, missing his AR by just 0.57 seconds!!
The closing Bowerman Men's mile was a bit UNDERwhelming---timewise!
No sub-3:50's this time!
But while Ayanleh Souleiman won it again (He set the Meet Record last year with his 3:47.32!), he got a bit of a challenge from American Matthew Centrowitz.
Centro's 3:51.20 wasn't a PR, but he beat some high quality runners, so all congrats to him!
(Asbel Kiprop was among his victims!!)
The Women's 1500 was also a bit slower than last year.
But it gave us some VERY interesting sub-stories.
(That term---"sub-stories"--reminds me of a good movie I once saw called "Subway Stories". Um, sorry for the slight digression!! LOL)
While NOT the TOP story, having Jenny Simpson beat "favored" Sifan Hassan (and "rival" Shannon Rowbury---who finished 4th!) provided a spark to what should be---and already IS!!---a HOT US Middle Distance season!!
She won it in 4:00.98, with her last 400 in about 62 seconds!!
Three Americans got Q's for Beijing---and solid PR's
Sarah Brown keeps getting better!
The former Ms Bowman ran 4:03.20, breaking her previous best by about 2 full seconds!
She is now 16th A-T US!
Katie Mackie is another who keeps improving.
She set her old best (4:04.60) while beating Mary Cain's HSR of 4:04.62 at 2013's Oxy High Performance (now called the Hoka One One High Performance meet!!).
Her new PR of 4:03.81 moves her from 23rd to 21st on the A-T US list.
Moved OFF the list----and with Mackie being one of the ones to do it, it seems almost providential!!! LOL---was one Ms Mary Cain!!
(What a lousy year SHE's having---first running awful in her 3 OUTdoor races, and now being shoved off my DDD list!!)
So---Simpson won the race, beating some high profile runners.
And we saw some impressive PR's from some American ladies.
Ho hum.
Because it was a HIGH SCHOOL girl who really made the crowd go WILD!!
She's not eligible for HSR's---because of her Professional status---so she gets ONLY my very own designated "HS PRO" records.
But Alexa Efraimson---still finishing her Senior year at Washington state's Camas High--ran 4:03.39 to DESTROY her PR of 4:07.05---run while she was still an "amateur"!!
It IS, as noted, the HS Pro record, as well as the HS Pro Senior Class record.
(So what if just TWO girls---so far!---have fit that description!!)
Oh yes, it makes Ms Efraimson, who turned 18 on February 20th, 18th A-T US!!
Well, that's a wrap on my Prefontaine Classic report.
This post is already too long for me to add all the OTHER news I have.
So stick around!
I'll have another post---covering Gotzis, the NCAA Regional meets, and assorted other stuff---up ASAP!!
See you soon!!
CORRECTIONS & ADDITIONS (added many hours later!):
ADDITION: Elaine Thompson, that shocking newcomer to Jamaican World Class sprinting, came in a VERY close second to English Gardner in the "B" 100, both being given times of 10.84.
It was a PR for both.
CORRECTION: While both were given the same time----10.81----it was Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce, NOT Murielle Ahoure, who won the main race of the 100!
Didn't want to wait till next week to make these changes.
See you soon!
WOW!!
Murielle Ahoure won over SAFP---barely!!
They both were credited with 10.81's.
Ahoure is now 17th A-T World, tied with 1 other.
I should interject here with the fact that there was MUCH talk among some in attendance that the wind readings----especially the LEGAL ones!---were WAY off---maybe DOUBLE what was reported!
This was in regards to all the sprint races, plus the horizontal jumps!
Some said the "wind machine" wasn't working, as some winds first labled as 0.0 later became 2.7 or whatever---wind-aided!
Until PROOF is given---or until the IAAF or whomever decrees it, I'm accepting all these times as legal!!
Speaking of wind affecting outcomes, Tianna Bartoletta jumped a PR of 23-4.50---but it was wind-aided!!
But Christobel Nettey got lucky, as her Canada National Record jump of 22-11.75 WAS legal!!
Another who was NOT affected by wind was PV Superstar Renaud Lavillenie.
He easily won the "competition" with his 19-10.25 OUTdoor PR.
This moves him from 7th A-T World to 2nd, wheree he's tied with 2 others!
He attempted the WR height of 6.16 (20-2.50), but missed his 3 tries!
And it's the new Prefontaine Meet Record!
That "other" vertical jump---the High Jump---had ITS own Superstar.
Or one of them---as Bogdan Bondarenko wasn't there.
Mutaz Barshim WAS there, however, and won with his new Pre Meet Record jump of 7-10.75 (2.41).
He didn't try for a WR, which surprised--and disappointed---some folks!
Giving Barshim SOME competition was China's Guiwei Zhang.
His jump of 7-9.75 came VERY close to China's National Record of 7-10 (by Zhu Jianhua in 1984!!)
But it does rank him 16th A-T World, tied with a massive NINE others!!
One who SAID she wanted to go for a World Record was Genzebe Dibaba.
But the lack of decent pacing (Who can stay ahead of Ms Dibaba---even for "just" 3000 meters??) and competition put paid to any record tries.
That said, she put on quite a show.
Coming through 3K in about 8:36 (14:20 pace!), she ran by herself the rest of the way, finishing in her OUTdoor PR of 14:19.76.
(That's about one second slower than her INdoor WR!!)
It's the new Pre Meet Record.
She moves from 9th A-T World up to 4th!
(One of her sisters---um, what's her name?? LOL---is ahead of her on that list!)
And she moves up on my Combined events list too.
In my Combined 1500-5000 list, her Combined time of 18:17.30 (3:57.54 & 14:19.76) is now 2nd best!!
Only Meseret Defar's 18:14.88 (4:02.00 and 14:12.88) is in front of her!
(Sister Tirunesh, who owns the OUTdoor 5000 WR of 14:11.15, doesn't have a 1500 time to her credit, as far as I know. But if and when she DOES run one, she'll surely be on my list!!)
Oh yes, sorry to say that Genzebe does NOT get the Age 24 record.
That belongs to Defar's 14:12.88.
Debuting in a track 5K was young Faith Kipyegon.
She was 2nd to Dibaba, running a great 1st 5K race time of 14:31.95.
And she ALSO makes my Combined 1500-5000 list.
Her Combined time of 18:28.93 (3:56.98 & 14:31.95) ranks her 9th on that list!
Almost forgot to mention it, but she now is 21st A-T World.
Kirani James easily beat LaShawn Merritt, winning in 43.95---which JUST misses Michael Johnson's MR of 43.92!
A ways back came the Bahamas Chris Brown, who isn't QUITE ancient at Age 36.
However, he's all alone when it comes to running fast 400's past the early 30's.
He broke his own Age 36 record (by 0.22 seconds!) with his 44.54.
Speaking of "old" guys---the always flamboyant Ezekiel Kemboi won the 3000SC with a Meet Record time of 8:01.71.
It's also the Age 33 record!!
But let it be known that Mr Kemboi has his work cut out for him.
Simon Vroemen ran 8:04.95 at Age 36 several years ago!!
Evan Jager ran a solid race in 3rd place, missing his AR by just 0.57 seconds!!
The closing Bowerman Men's mile was a bit UNDERwhelming---timewise!
No sub-3:50's this time!
But while Ayanleh Souleiman won it again (He set the Meet Record last year with his 3:47.32!), he got a bit of a challenge from American Matthew Centrowitz.
Centro's 3:51.20 wasn't a PR, but he beat some high quality runners, so all congrats to him!
(Asbel Kiprop was among his victims!!)
The Women's 1500 was also a bit slower than last year.
But it gave us some VERY interesting sub-stories.
(That term---"sub-stories"--reminds me of a good movie I once saw called "Subway Stories". Um, sorry for the slight digression!! LOL)
While NOT the TOP story, having Jenny Simpson beat "favored" Sifan Hassan (and "rival" Shannon Rowbury---who finished 4th!) provided a spark to what should be---and already IS!!---a HOT US Middle Distance season!!
She won it in 4:00.98, with her last 400 in about 62 seconds!!
Three Americans got Q's for Beijing---and solid PR's
Sarah Brown keeps getting better!
The former Ms Bowman ran 4:03.20, breaking her previous best by about 2 full seconds!
She is now 16th A-T US!
Katie Mackie is another who keeps improving.
She set her old best (4:04.60) while beating Mary Cain's HSR of 4:04.62 at 2013's Oxy High Performance (now called the Hoka One One High Performance meet!!).
Her new PR of 4:03.81 moves her from 23rd to 21st on the A-T US list.
Moved OFF the list----and with Mackie being one of the ones to do it, it seems almost providential!!! LOL---was one Ms Mary Cain!!
(What a lousy year SHE's having---first running awful in her 3 OUTdoor races, and now being shoved off my DDD list!!)
So---Simpson won the race, beating some high profile runners.
And we saw some impressive PR's from some American ladies.
Ho hum.
Because it was a HIGH SCHOOL girl who really made the crowd go WILD!!
She's not eligible for HSR's---because of her Professional status---so she gets ONLY my very own designated "HS PRO" records.
But Alexa Efraimson---still finishing her Senior year at Washington state's Camas High--ran 4:03.39 to DESTROY her PR of 4:07.05---run while she was still an "amateur"!!
It IS, as noted, the HS Pro record, as well as the HS Pro Senior Class record.
(So what if just TWO girls---so far!---have fit that description!!)
Oh yes, it makes Ms Efraimson, who turned 18 on February 20th, 18th A-T US!!
Well, that's a wrap on my Prefontaine Classic report.
This post is already too long for me to add all the OTHER news I have.
So stick around!
I'll have another post---covering Gotzis, the NCAA Regional meets, and assorted other stuff---up ASAP!!
See you soon!!
CORRECTIONS & ADDITIONS (added many hours later!):
ADDITION: Elaine Thompson, that shocking newcomer to Jamaican World Class sprinting, came in a VERY close second to English Gardner in the "B" 100, both being given times of 10.84.
It was a PR for both.
CORRECTION: While both were given the same time----10.81----it was Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce, NOT Murielle Ahoure, who won the main race of the 100!
Didn't want to wait till next week to make these changes.
See you soon!
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