A Wild Weekend

As you might have surmised, if you read my post about the Pole Vault, this weekend has been CRAZY!
In fact, it's hard to believe it's only January 17th!
While the Professionals--with 1 or 2 exceptions--are still in their rust-busting phase, the younger athletes have already made a TON of noise--in the guise of all kinds of Records and Top 24 Marks, normally reserved for 2 or 3 weeks later on the calendar!
So, with the exception of the Pole Vault---Been there, Done that!--let's see what damage has been done to the Record Books these past 48 hours!

We'll start with a new Collegiate Record in the Men's 1000 meters!
Brannon Kidder ran away from his "competition"--Robby Creese finished over 3 seconds behind!--stopping the clock at 2:18.26 for the CR.
It's also the Collegiate Senior Class Record!
He's now 7th A-T US, tied with 1 other!

In the same range of events, Donavan Brazier exploded onto the INdoor 800 scene with a mind-numbing "solo" (2nd was several seconds back!!) run of 1:45.93!
We knew he was talented---He had the fastest HS time last year!--but 1:45.93??
In his first Collegiate 800 race??
Anyway, it's the Collegiate Frosh Class Record!
He's now 5th A-T Collegiate.
And he's 6th A-T US!!

Sticking to Records for a bit, let's turn to the HS'ers!

Tyrese Cooper, born in THIS century, broke TWO Frosh Class Records--in one meet, in the space of a few hours!
It was just a week ago that I reported the breaking or tying of the Frosh Class records for the 200 and 400.
Times of 21.84 and 48.76.
Well, you can erase those week-old marks!
Cooper blasted those distances in 21.54 and 47.97.
In HEAT races!!
Breaking records in short races by 0.30 and 0.79 seconds is some SERIOUS record-breaking!!

Speaking of HS prodigies, Candace Hill ran her first race as a Professional!
Her 60 meter time of 7.32 will qualify as a HS PRO record ONLY!!
(She'd run her heat in 7.34.)
It's also the HS PRO Junior Class record!
It's the first HS PRO record--INdoors or Outdoors--at a distance shorter than 800 meters!
(Keep in mind that the Age 17 INdoor 60 record is Ewe Swoboda's 7.20 from last year!  Hill only turns 17 on February 11th, so will have until February 10th of 2017 to chase that mark!!)

Another Class Record went down yesterday!
Raven Saunders, now a Soph at Ole Miss, PR'ed in the SP with her first round throw of 61-3, or 18.67 metric.
(She had another good throw--measuring 60-9.50!)
Yes, it's the Collegiate Soph Class Record, making this the 3rd Class Record Saunders owns---the HS Senior Class, and the Frosh and Soph Collegiate marks!
While she remains 4th on the A-T Collegiate list, she moves up one spot on the US list, from 14th to 13th!
She also PR'ed in the WT, her best measuring 64-4.
BTW, Jeneva Stevens--a Pro--finished 2nd in the SP with her 59-4!

More SP & WT marks to report.
An old mark I missed is Bobby Colantonio's 82-0.50 in the WT.
This moves him from 11th to 7th on the A-T HS list!

Amanda Bingson threw the Weight 69-2.50--not a PR.

Jeneva Stevens nabbed the Age 26 Record with her WT toss of 77-9.50.
This was in the same meet where she lost to Raven Saunders in the SP!

Dani Bunch PR'ed in the SP, her 60-8.50 moving her from 19th A-T US, tied with 1 other, up to 15th!

Three Men had good SP openers.
Stephen Mozia got the longest toss--69-0.
Nick Scarvelis threw the ball out 66-9.75.
And Ryan Crouser hit the floor at 65-8.25!

Greg Skipper threw the Weight 70-9.75.

Turning to the dashes, there wasn't any Record activity, but several athletes had decent rust-busting times.
Teahna Daniels eked out a win from Morolake Akinosun in the 60, both timed in 7.26.
Daniels is a Collegiate Freshman!
Akinosun also had a 200 of 23.47.

Rai Benjamin opened his Collegiate career with a 200 in 21.28.

Cameron Burrell ran the 60 in 6.55--after a heat in 6.63.
Christian Coleman was a watch tick slower--not the same race!--running 6.56.
John Teeters ran the distance in 6.60.
And newbie Professional Trayvon Bromell opened in 6.59.

Besides Ms's Hill, Akinosun, and Daniels, the Women had a bunch of good sprint openers.
Michelle Lee-Ahye ran 7.17, with her heat in 7.26.

In the Seattle meet, Jasmin Todd sped the 60 in 7.24.
She beat, among others, Octavious Freeman (7.27), Hannah Cunliffe (7.31), and LJ'er supreme Brittney Reese (7.40).
Todd ran her heat in 7.31, Reese ran 7.35, while Freeman and new Oregon Duck Cunliffe both ran 7.37's.

Running a good 200--but his time negated by the size of the track!!--was Brycen Spratling, whose 20.96 was lost to Lexington, Kentucky's 290 meter oval.

On a legal track Bryce Robinson ran 20.86.

Danyel White made my HS DDD with her 23.76.
In a heat, no less!
She's now 21st A-T HS.
Cut OFF that list was one Candyce McGrone, whose 23.79 from 2008 was erased!

Felicia Brown ran a good 300, time of 37.22.

Bralon Taplin rocked the 400 world with his runaway win in 45.20.
He's now 8th A-T US.
And 13th on the World list!
Another Big Name erased from my US DDD list was Steve Lewis, whose 45.53 dated from 1992!!

Aliyah Abrams ran a solid 53.21.
She's an Alabama Frosh.

A couple of other good Women's 400 times came in.
Jaide Stepter, a Senior at Southern Cal, ran 53.18.
And one Brianne Thiesen-Eaton ran a solid (for a Heptathlete!) time of 53.87!
(She finished 3rd in that race!)
Too bad they were run on Seattle's 307 meter track!
Goodbye, those times!!

But perhaps the greatest loss to the Demon Gods who created OT's was the fantastic 600 time run by Oregon's Raevyn Rogers!
She sped the distance in 1:26.34--which just happens to be faster than the best time run by Ajee Wilson!!
Except that Wilson's time is legal!
I won't go into all the high places on All-Time lists, or all the various Records she would have engendered--had the race been run on a track measuring 200 meters!!
(For one, though, let me mention she lost a new Collegiate Record!!  Enough said!!)

Also losing out from that race were Brook Feldmeier's 1:28.21, and Olivia Baker's 1:29.08.

A legal 600 was run by 600 specialist Erik Sowinski--time of 1:16.67.
Another good one was a time of 1:29.11, by Bethany Praska.

Moving up in distance, Seattle offered a few more sad tales.

Kim Conley was supposed to DNF the Seattle 3000--she was the designated pacer!
But with 2 or 3 laps remaining, she decided to finish--and she won it in 9:01.51.
Nicole Sifuentes followed in 9:05.01.

BTW, Stanford's Dynamic Duo of Aisling Cuffe and Elise Cranny were supposed to race in Seattle, but didn't.
Don't know the reason!

Back a bit in that 3K was Amanda Eccleston, who finished in 9:10 & change.
She was doubling back after winning the Mile in 4:36.13.
Alli Cash finished 2nd in the mile in 4:37.26.

Erin Teschuk ran a legal Mile in 4:37.49.

A couple of good 800's came from Kaela Edwards--2:03.60--and Laura Roesler, in her first race back from injury--a 2:05.25.

Trevor Dunbar won a Mile in 4:01.41.
Dusty Solis followed close behind in 4:01.48.
Dunbar also won the 3000 in 8:00.68!!

Charles Jones ran a 600 in 1:18.03.

Stephanie Brown opened 2016 with a 1000 in 2:41.68.

In The Armory, Infinite (!!) Tucker ran 600 in a HS leading 1:20.54.

A couple of good 500's came from Clemson Soph Olivia James--a 1:11.37--and Tennessee Frosh Ari Cogdell--a 1:02.47.

A few Nike Oregon Project runners did some rust-busting on the track that will be used for the World Championships!
Jordan Hasay won the Mile in an snail-ish 4:49.88.
But she returned to pace Shannon Rowbury part way to a time (for Rowbury) of 8:53.52 over 3000 meters.
Also running a 3K was Matthew Centrowitz, who timed out in 7:55.25.

Laura Muir ran an 800 somewhere in this world--her time of 2:01.13 a World Leader---so far!

And in a Road Mile in Bermuda, the Queen of Road Miles--Heather Kampf--did it again!
Her time of 4:42 was a Course Record, and beat, among others, Jamie Cheevers, who finished third!

A couple of Long Jump marks to report.
Harrison Schnage jumped 24-11.25.
This makes him 18th A-T HS.

Andrea Geubelle had a jump measuring 21-1.25.

The High Jump welcomed a solid performance by Chaunte Lowe!
She (and Laverne Spencer!) jumped 6-3.50.
Apparently, Lowe had a good try at 6-5!!
(She's back??!!)

Kyle Landon reached 7-4.25.

Avion Jones went a quarter inch higher, hitting 7-4.50.

A Texas foursome ran a good 4X400 Relay--their time of 3:33.80 beating the Texas A&M group, who ran 3:35.64.
Texas had Courtney Okolo on anchor, while A&M ran Shamier Little on 2nd leg!

I'll finish off this LONG report of Records & Marks (except for the Pole Vault--see my post from a few hours ago!) with a few Women's 60H times.

Sharika Nelvis ran 8.18.

Nia Ali beat Sasha Wallace in Seattle--8.12 to 8.19.
(Of course, 60's & 60H's are legal---even in Seattle!!)
Ali had run her heat in 8.17, while Wallace ran her's in 8.23.

Two who ran heats only (but not in Seattle!) were Jasmin Stowers and Lolo Jones!
Stowers ran 8.37, while Jones's time was 8.32.
Keep in mind that Lolo had hip labrum surgery just a few short months ago!!
I don't know why they didn't run the final.
My guess is that they just wanted to get a race in--and both did just that!

Some sad news from the Hurdles front!
Dior Hall suffered an injury in a December workout, and underwent ACL surgery on January 5th.
She'll be out all of 2016!

Ending his career of Record-setting races and exhausting years of disappointment is Ryan Hall.
He said he suffers from a low level of testosterone, brought on by over-training!
He'll remain as wife Sara's coach.
Not forgetting that, whatever people might think of his recent failures, he remains the ONLY American to break One Hour for the Half-Marathon--59:43 in the 2007 Houston race--and 2:05 in the 26.2 Mile race--in 2:04:58 in the Boston race of 2011.
He could be a GREAT coach!!

A few Appearance Announcements!
The Armory Track Invitational will feature a unique INdoor event.
Both the Women and Men will race the 4X200 Relay!
And it will pit Jamaica against the United States!
Other teams will include Trinidad & Tobago, the British Virgin Islands, Guyana, Antigua, Canada, and France!!
(I assume they'll run 2 or 3 teams in each heat!  Unless they want to turn it into a Roller Derby!!)

Also announced for the Armory meet are--
Nicole Tully, Sarah Disanza, and Sheila Reid in the 3000
Morgan Uceny in the Mile
Robby Andrews in the 800
Ajee Wilson and Laura Roesler in the 800
And, already noted, Drew Hunter will be gunning for Alan Webb's HSR of 3:59.86 in the Mile!

The Millrose meet has added Brenda Martinez and Ajee Wilson to their 800, and Erik Kynard and Derek Drouin for their High Jump!

Finally, Karlsruhe will feature high-end sprint match-ups.
The Women will toss Dafne Schippers up against Dina Asher-Smith.
The Men will pit Mike Rodgers against 39 year old Kim Collins!
Also, Raphael Holzdeppe will challenge Renaud Lavillenie in the PV!
(Will Shawn Barber show up??)

Speaking of iconic match-ups--it appears the IOC and IAAF have agreed to change the Olympic schedule---so Allyson Felix can attempt the 200-400 double!

One possible pitfall!
There are women named Dafne, Elaine, and Shaunae--not to mention Sanya, Shelly, and Francena, who might alter that dream scenario somewhat!!

Well, this was quite a weekend!
It necessitated my putting out TWO lengthy posts!!
Hope you enjoyed them, and I'll see you soon with more of the same!!