What a more joyful way to begin February than to announce the birth of Carrie Tollefson's 3rd child, a son named Greer.
Birth time was 11:19 p.m. last night!
Congratulations to my favorite female announcer of T&F meets and Road Races!
(And my favorite producer of video interviews on her @CTolleRun website!)
This will be a wide-ranging collection of news items, all centered on this month, February!
What better place to begin than to make some CORRECTIONS!
Yes, this Blogger does make mistakes!
Although, in my defense, many of them are born from my reporting OTHER'S mistakes!
Remember me saying Melinda Withrow had PV'ed 15-1.50?
Well, that mark was wrong.
Turns out she topped 14-11.
So she's back to being 16th A-T US, tied with 2 others!
More an omission than an error, I failed to tell you that Stephen Mozia's recent SP marks---69-0 and 69-3.25, were both National Records of Nigeria!
While Oversize Track times---or errors about such times!--don't really matter, I must admit some mistakes I made from the Seattle meet results.
I reported that Mark Wieczorek and Shaq Walker, as well as Natalie Piliusina ran some really fast times in their 800's.
Well, Walker and Piliusina DID win their races, but NOT in the times I said in my last post!
No 1:45's for the men, nor a 2:01 for the woman!
I KNOW I saw those faster times somewhere--maybe as SEED times??---but whatever the case, they were WRONG!
But it's not always ME who F's up!
Occasionally, I'll find mistakes made by OTHERS!!
Even the vaunted eTN doesn't get it right sometimes!
In their newest edition (from late yesterday) came this.
Listing Chelsea (Reilly) Sodaro's 4:35 OT Mile, they listed her as being from Great Britain!
Nope, eTN, she's an American!!
Another eTN error was them noting that Jordan Geist's recent 71-2.50 SP was a HS Junior Class record.
No again!
The 11th Grade INdoor SP record is Nick Vena's 71-5 from 2010!
(Look it up in Jack Shepard's HS Track book!)
Now we turn to some Records and Marks that I either failed to report in my previous post, or that came in after I posted it!
Weini Kelati.
Oh, I reported her time of 9:19.99 correctly.
But I'd also said I would NOT list her time on my HS DDD.
Well, I've changed my mind, due to a comment received after my last post!
I WILL list this mark---and all future 2016 marks!---as legit HS marks.
My hesitation was because of her age.
She came to the US from Eritrea in the fall of 2014, entering school as an academic Freshman, even though she couldn't speak any English, and was then 17 years old.
(That previous summer, in the WJC, she'd run 9:12 in the 3000 race won by Mary Cain!)
But she's a VERY smart girl, and quickly learned English, and became a star runner for her HS team.
As we all know, she easily won the Footlocker XC race last fall.
But she turned 19 in December!
Here's what I know--
T&FN's Garry Hill has said he will put whatever marks she runs on HS lists, but that she is NOT eligible to break Class Records!
I agree!
Thus, her 9:19.99 is 4th A-T HS INdoors!!
BTW, her next race was said to be (in a DyeStat article) the 5000 at the NB Boston meet.
However, as far as I know, the longest Women's race there is to be the 3000.
I'm wondering if they meant the 5000 at the Millrose Games, where Molly Huddle is going to chase the American Record!
Guess we'll find out!
Wilma Murta.
Would make a GREAT character name for a novel about a young female Pole Vaulter!
Except that IS her real name!
Well, Wilma, welcome to the World of Age Record holders!
She actually broke the Age 17 record TWICE!
First was her clearance of 15-3, then again when she topped the bar set at 4.71, or 15-5.50!
It's also the National Record of Finland.
And it ranks her 19th A-T World, tied with 4 others!
(She was born June 11, 1998.)
Two other National Records in the PV were found!
In the same competition as Murta's 15-5.50, Nicole Buchler jumped 15-3 for the NR of Switzerland!
And Femke Pluim got the NR of the Netherlands with her 14-9.
Ruth Beitia's recent HJ of 6-4.25 is the new Age 36 record!
A couple of Collegiate 600's make my Top 24 list.
Daniel Kuhn ran 1:16.91 to become 7th A-T Collegiate, tied with 1 other.
He's also 18th A-T US, tied with 1 other!
Charles Jones's 1:17.67 ranks him 23rd A-T Collegiate!
Adam Gemili's return from injury was a 60 in 6.59.
He beat James Dasaolu's 6.64.
A couple of announcements.
Matt Tegenkamp has retired from competitive running!
He was a listed entrant in the OT Marathon.
Also OUT of the OT Marathon--although by injury, not retirement!--is Abdi Abdiraman!
He said he wants to run another spring marathon--and the OT 10000!!
On a more positive note, Craig Mottram--best known as a 5000 man--will run the London Marathon, trying to make his 5th Olympic team for Australia!
Remember my post where I listed the totals for my INdoor DDD's?
This was from my post of January 24th.
Well, I've done a recount, as of January 31st!
The World Men's numbers are the same, with just 2 marks from 2016 on that list!
However, the World's Women jumped from 3 to 6 marks from 2016.
The US Men gained 1, going from 2 to 3.
The US Women are WAY ahead--going from 11 on the 24th to 19 on the latest count!
Collegiate Men jumped from 5 to 8, while the Collegiate Women doubled their numbers, going from 7 to 14.
The HS Men went from 10 to 14.
The HS Women went from 7 to 14.
The Men's total went from 19 to 27.
The Women's total jumped from 28 to 53!!
The Grand Total went from 47 to 80.
(Still a bit short of the expected 300-plus!!)
Well, MANY of those 300 (or 400??) will come from the meets scheduled for February.
While I posted a "complete" schedule in October, there's been some changes since then.
So here is the schedule of the biggest (read-important!) meets for February!
Dates for these meets are the latest known, but are most likely the actual dates!
Lots to look forward to!
February 5th and 6th
House of Track Number Four
(Could be the best! The other 3 have featured some BIG names, and FAST times!)
David Oliver Classic
Armory Track Invitational
(Probably the best meet in the US this coming weekend!)
Governor's Cup in Volgograd, Russia
(Supposed to be where Yelena Isinbayeva makes her return to action!!)
February 6th
Karlsruhe
(The 1st of 4 IAAF meets from their World Tour! Will be--SHOULD be!--fantastic!!)
February 9th
Lievin, France
(Normally a pretty good meet!)
February 12th
Fast Track Invitational at the new Ocean Breeze facility on Staten Island
(Not sure what to expect, but this track is FAST!)
February 12th and 13th
USATF Cross Country in Bend, Oregon.
ISTAF meet in Berlin, Germany
(Another IAAF World Tour meet, so expect many BIG names!)
February 13th
US Olympic Trials Marathons in Los Angeles!!
(I expect to have a Preview post--probably the day before!)
Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas
(Those Fayetteville meets almost always feature a great Women's PV! Will the Weeks twins be there?? Any other big names??)
February 14th
Russian Winter
(Isi is expected to compete, as should all the best (clean!) athletes Russia has to offer!!)
NB Boston
One of the 2 best Invitational meets in the US INdoor season!!
(Expect TONS of great marks!! Will this be Meseret Defar's return to track racing??)
February 17th
XL Galan in Stockholm, Sweden
(Genzebe Dibaba--AND Abeba Aregawi!!-- will try to break Doina Melinte's INdoor Mile record of 4:17.14! Don't bet on IF. Bet on by HOW MUCH!!)
February 19 through the 21st
Asian INdoor Championships in Doha, Qatar
(Mutaz Barsheim, among all the best Asians, should be there!)
February 20th
The Millrose Games in NYC!
(This is where--as noted--Molly Huddle has said she will try to break the American Record in the 5000! Who else will be in that race?? Could be the highlight---of a STACKED and venerable and iconic meet---the Pre Classic of INdoor meets!!)
Glasgow, Scotland
(Mo Farah is supposed to shoot for a FAST time in the 3000!! Of course, as another IAAF World Tour meet, expect much MORE than just the MoBot!!)
February 21st
Olympic Trials in the 50000 Meter Walk
(I'm confused! Wasn't the 50K OT race last fall?? The USATF website lists THIS date as the date for the OT 50K!! Stand by for some HOPED FOR clarity!! My apologies!!)
(BTW, the 20000 meter OT races are scheduled for June 21st in Salem, Oregon!)
Last Days of February, starting on the 25th
All the Major Collegiate Conferences!!
Including the SEC, ACC, Big 10, and Big 12! Many others!
(These are always close to--if not actually--SENSATIONAL!!)
ALL of the Records (World, US, Collegiate, HS, Age, Meet, National--other than the US!), and ALL of the Marks good enough to make---or come close to!--my Top 24 Performers lists (DDD's)--will be posted ASAP after these events end!
And then there's MARCH!!
See you soon!
IMPORTANT NOTE
ADDED February 3rd!!
The IAAF World Tour meets are the following:
Karlsruhe
NB Boston
Stockholm
Glasgow
The Berlin (ISTAF) meet is NOT part of the IAAF World Tour!
Sorry for the error!
Which governing body actually decides which runner has a record and which runner does not?
ReplyDeleteDifferent bodies for different records.
ReplyDeleteIAAF for World Records.
USATF for American Records.
NCAA for Collegiate Records.
Not sure of name for HSR's, but whatever federation rules US High Schools!
T&FN magazine has their own rules about Collegiate Records, that no CR's can be set after the Championship meet, whether indoors or outdoors.
I agree with T&FN.
For high school records, though there is a "National Federation" that keeps records, these are not the most generally recognized set of HS records. The Federation is too restrictive, only allowing records in all-HS meets and only from schools who are members of the federation. They also don't allow any records made in dual meets, and other restrictions.
ReplyDeleteTherefore the most generally respected and quoted set of HS records is that published by Track & Field News. Their standards are high, but appropriate and not unnecessarily restrictive. When an athlete is at the level of achievement where they are setting national HS records, they are probably also competing against pros. So records made by HS athletes in pro competition should certainly count as records. And for T&FN and most of the track and field world, they do.
Many track and field statisticians keep their own proprietary sets of records. Some of these are very good. You won't find a better example anywhere than the author of this blog -- aaronk. This is the place to consult for all kinds of track and field records. Just keep reading the blog!
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