Going OUTdoors!--A Preview

In reality, the OUTdoor season is 365 (or 366) days long!
Australia and New Zealand are in their Summer season as the New Year begins!
In the US, you have some OUTdoor meets in the first 2 months, in the sunnier climes!
But generally, the US OUTdoor season kicks off with the Texas and Florida Relays.
For Europe and other areas, it's even later!
So let's see what the 2016 Olympic year is SCHEDULED to bring us.
Following is a Schedule of meets (HS, Collegiate, World, and US, as well as some key Road Races and XC meets!) which are NORMALLY the best meets for quality results!
ALL of the information comes from the March issue of Track and Field News.
This list is in no way complete!!
And dates could turn out to be wrong!!
I'll try to keep you informed of any changes as the year rolls on!
That said, here's the 2016 OUTdoor Meet Schedule!
(After this, I'll report a LOT of quite good and/or interesting results from OUTdoors already in!!)

March 25-26  Florida State Relays, PAC-12/Big 10 Invite, Raleigh Relays, CARIFTA Games in Grenada!
March 30--April 2  Texas & Florida Relays, Stanford Invite, Don Kirby Memorial, Duke/Michigan/NC Tri, Challenge of Champions (HS) in Alabama, South America Championships!
April 3  Paris Marathon, Carlsbad 5K, Cherry Blossom 10 Mile
April 8-9  Sun Angel Classic, Baylor Invite, Johnson/JJK Invite, Pepsi Team Invite (Eugene), Towns Invite (Georgia), Stanford/Cal & Texas A&M/UCLA duals, Arcadia Invite (HS)!!
April 10  Rotterdam Marathon
April 13-16  Kansas, Oregon, and Mt SAC Relays, ACC/Big 10 Challenge, Longhorn Invite
April 18  Boston Marathon
April 21-23  Penn Relays, Georgia Tech Invite, McDonnell  Invite, Owens Classic, Michael Johnson Invite
April 24  London Marathon
April 27--May 1  Drake Relays, Payton Jordan (!!), LSU & UTEP Invites, Arizona/ASU & UCLA/USC duals, Bloomsday 12K
May 6-7  Doha DL (!!!), Jamaica Invite, Oxy Invite, Arkansas & Oregon Twilights, beginning of HS State meets (7 for these dates)
May 12  Hoka One One Distance Carnival
May 13-15  Collegiate Conferences, including SEC, Big 12, Big 10, PAC-12, ACC, Shanghai DL (!!!), and 5 more State HS meets!
May 18  Beijing IWC
May 21  Ostrava
May 22  Hengelo, Rabat DL (!!!)  Replaces NY DL!
May 27-29  Gotzis Multis, Prefontaine Classic/Eugene DL (!!!), East & West NCAA Regionals
June 2  Rome DL (!!!), Great Southwest (HS)
June 4  Znaminskiy Memorial, Freihofer 5K (Women only)
June 5  Birmingham DL (!!!)
June 6  Prague
June 8-11  NCAA  (Eugene), Golden West (HS), Bislett Games/Oslo DL(!!!)
June 11-12  Portland Track Festival
June 16  DN Galan/Stockholm DL (!!!)
June 17-19  NBN (HS), Brooks PR (HS), Jerome Classic, Portland Summer Twilight, Grandma's Marathon, Adidas GP/NY  (NOT a DL!!)
June 24-26  USATF Junior Championships
July 1-10  USATF/Olympic Trials (Eugene) (!!!)
July 4  Peachtree 10K
July 6-10  European Championships
July 15-17  Eberstadt HJ, Herculis/Monaco DL (!!!), Heusden-Zolder
July 19-24  World Junior Championships (Poland)
July 22-23  London Anniversary Games DL (!!!)
July 25-31  USATF Junior Olympics, TrackTown Classic
August 6  Portland 10K (track)
August 12-21  Rio De Janeiro Olympic Games (!!!!!), Falmouth 7.1 (August 21)
August 25  Lausanne DL (!!!)
August 27  Paris DL (!!!)
September 1  Weltklasse/Zurich DL (!!!), around this time, beginning of Collegiate XC season
September 3  ISTAF (Berlin)
September 5  New Haven 20K
September 9  Van Damme Memorial/Brussels DL (!!!)
September 11  Rieti
September 13  DecaNation
September 17-18  Philadelphia Half-Marathon, Talence Multis
September 25  Berlin Marathon
October 9  Chicago Marathon
October 10  Tufts 10K (Women only)
October 16  Amsterdam & Twin Cities Marathons
November 6  NYC Marathon
November 19  NCAA XC Championships
late November-early December (??) NXN & Footlocker XC (HS)

As noted, the above schedule is from T&FN!!
Please watch this blog--or T&FN website!--for updates!

Also as noted, the US OUTdoor season has begun with marks I don't remember seeing in such quantity--and being so good!!--this early!!
Normally, the first tumble of great marks comes at the Texas Relays!
Does this portend a FANTASTIC year of OUTdoor T&F??
Or is it just a damn brain-tease??
Well, let's take a look at what I have for you!

Sam Mattis threw the Discus 221-3!!
This is the Collegiate Senior Class Record!
It makes him 3rd A-T Collegiate!
And 19th A-T US!!

Sean Donnelly had a HT of 243-11.
It makes him 17th A-T Collegiate, and 23rd A-T US, tied with 2 others!

Maggie Malone threw the Javelin 198-0!!
She is now 3rd A-T Collegiate.
And 5th A-T US!!

As noted in a previous post, Molly Huddle won the NY Half-Marathon in a fast 1:07:41, JUST nipping Joyce Chepkurai at the tape, as she was given the same time!
Diane Nikuri was 3rd in 1:09:41.
The Men's race was taken by Stephen Sambu in 1:01:16, over Wilson Chebet's 1:01:35.
Sam Chelanga was 3rd in 1:01:43, while Diego Estrada was 5th in 1:02:15!

Molly's 10K splits?
Would you believe 32:51 and 31:14??!!

In a 20K Walk race in Japan, Maria Michta-Coffey tied her American Record of 1:30:49, taking 5th place!!
Also Walking a great race was Miranda Melville, as she PR'ed with a time of 1:31:42, for 7th place!
Melville is 2nd A-T US!!
Rui Ling won the race in 1:28:43.
The Men's race was won by 2014 World Junior Championships 10000 track winner, Matsunaga Daisuke in 1:18:53!!

Stephanie Brown-Trafton had a DT of 196-0.
Valerie Allman was 2nd with 190-7.

Amber Campbell had a HT of 234-6.
DeAnna Price was even better!
Her HT mark (different meet!) was 236-10, just 4 inches short of her PR!!

Speaking of the Hammer,  former HS Shot Put star Stamatia Scarvelis is now a Freshman at UCLA.
In her FIRST-EVER Hammer comp, she threw it out to a promising 195-8!!

Tripp Piperi slightly improved his PR in the SP to 70-3.
He moves up one spot on my OUTdoor HS DDD, from 23rd to 22nd A-T!
But even better, Bronson Osborn--whose 2015 best is listed as 61-9!--threw the Shot a massive 70-4.50!
As far as I know, this was his first meet of the year!
If so, he improved his PR by 8 feet 7.50 inches!!!
(Memories of Raven Saunders in late 2013??!!)
Osborn is now 21st A-T HS!
Pushed OFF my list was Ryan Whiting, his 70-0 dating from 2005!!

Rachel Baxter opened her OUTdoor season in the Pole Vault with a chunky improvement from 2015.
Her 13-10 Vault is the US Age 16 Record, according to a source!
The old record was held by Desiree Freier, her 13-9 mark dating from 2013!
This makes Baxter 12th A-T HS!!
She's a HS Junior!
Her best as a Soph was 13-3!!

Raven Saunders opened her OUTdoor campaign with a BANG!!
She tossed the SP ball out 61-6.25, missing the Soph Class Record by less than 3 inches!!
She moves from 9th A-T Collegiate, tied with 1 other, to 6th!
And on the US list, she moves from 24th A-T, tied with 1 other, to 17th!
Oh yes, she also threw the Discus a PR of 186-6!
Both were Ole Miss school records!!

Tyrese Cooper had a good meet.
No wind info, but he ran the 200 in 20.96.
He added a 400 in 46.51, plus ran a leg on a 4X400 Relay!!

HSR holder Bailey Roth, now an Arizona Frosh, ran the 3000 SC in 8:59.38!
He graduated HS in 2014, so he might have either redshirted last year, or taken the year off, starting college this year!

Other good marks included--
Kylie Price LJ of 21-4.75.
Kristin Hixson and Demi Payne (in separate meets!) PV'ing 14-7.25.
(NOTE--An error about my report of Diamara Planell Cruz's 14-7.25 from a previous post!  That was NOT in the World Championships!!  It was at another meet!  I might have made it seem like it was in the WC!!  BUT--it's still the INdoor Puerto Rico National Record!!)
Duane Solomon opened with an 800 in 1:46.45!
There was a good Women's 400!
Ebony Eutsey won with a time of 52.25!
She beat the 52.83 of Shalonda Solomon, and the 52.95 of none other than VCB, aka Veronica Campbell-Brown!!
Chanelle Price won a 1500 in 4:20.93.
In 2nd was comebacking Natosha Rogers, her time being 4:22.78!
Good to see Rogers back in the mix!
Madison Pachner of BYU threw the Discus  196-6!
She misses my Collegiate DDD by just 6 inches!
Raevyn Rogers showed some good 400 speed, running 52.30!
Annie LeBlanc ran an 800 in 2:04.38.
Jasmine Quinn, a Kentucky Frosh, battled a -0.8 wind to run the 100H in 13.01!
Devon Allen fought a -1.2 wind to run the 110H in 13.40.
He also ran a 100 and 200 in wind-legal times of 10.36 and 20.79!
Ronnie Baker had a helpful 2.7 wind to register the first sub-10 (windy or not!) of 2016, a 9.95!
And in the 4X100 Relay, the Texas A&M Men ran a good 39.17!
Oregon's Women ran 43.31.
Their team included Jasmine Todd, Hannah Cunliffe, and Arianna Washington!!

Returning to INdoors for just a sec, I have 2 significant marks to report!
Darryl Sullivan HJ'ed 7-3, making him 9th A-T HS, tied with 1 other!
BTW, his mark adds one to my overall INdoor DDD count (See previous post!) of 372.
Remember I'd said it fell one short of my 2015 total?
Well, Sullivan's mark now makes the 2016 total EQUAL to 2015's!!

And Bobby Colantonio apparently took a swing at the Professional weighted Weight!!
His 64-3.25 is 2nd A-T HS in that category!!

Some brief notes of interest--some of which you probably already know!
Vashti Cunningham signed a Pro contract with Nike, thus ending her HS career, with her Senior academic year still ongoing!!
She hasn't decided on college yet!
No more HS meets (or Records or Marks!) for her!
She WILL be eligible for my HS PRO Record Book!!

As will Khalifa St. Fort, who ALSO has turned Pro, although as of right now, has not signed with anyone!
Her coach and manager is Ato Boldon!!
St. Fort has said she'll finish her HS academics in Florida, and will take a year off before deciding on a college!!
She said she'll open her Pro career at the Texas Relays!

Watch (maybe!!) for former HS Pro Alana Hadley in the 1st heat of the Raleigh Relays 10000!
She's listed as an entrant.
However, she was ALSO listed on the 2015 entry list for the 10K, but DNS'ed!!
She remains the HS Freshman Class Record holder for the distance, her 34:59.38 from 2012 remaining her PR!!

See you all soon!