More of Lightning Strikes

A bit of truth-telling.
The MAIN reason I chose to end the first part when I did was due to a health scare.
I was feeling a bit light-headed, and when it didn't go away, I decided to try sleeping it away.
Thus, I ended the report on Pre when I did.
My apologies.
But now I'm feeling good, so here's the rest of my report.

Keturah Orji had a windy 47-11 Triple Jump at the SEC meet.
Her best legal jump then had been over 16 inches less.
Well, she's taken care of that discrepancy a bit.
This rarity--an American TJ'er who just might become World Class--has moved into even more rare territory--that of holder of the Collegiate Record!!

Orji leaped an outstanding 46-10.75 at the East "Regionals" or "Prelims" or whatever, to become the very best Collegiate TJ'er in history!
It's also the Collegiate Soph Class record.
She moved from 4th A-T Collegiate to the top rung!
She also moved from 7th to 5th A-T US!!

Another Collegiate Soph Class record came unexpectedly from Maggie Ewen in the Hammer Throw, as she threw it out to 231-3!!
Just when I thought DeAnna Price would have that event all to herself at the NCAA's, here comes Ewen with her huge improvement!
She suddenly becomes 6th A-T Collegiate!
She's also 15th A-T US, tied with 1 other!

Ebony Morrison had never broken 13 seconds in the 100H.
She has now!
Her 12.76 (1.3 wind) makes her 23rd A-T Collegiate, tied with 1 other!
Oh, it does something else too.
It takes OFF my Collegiate DDD one Ms Lolo Jones, her 12.77 dating from 2004!!

"Prelim" distance races aren't normally fast.
(In fact, neither are Championship distance races, but that's a whole other story!)
Well, tell that to Marta Freitos.
She led the 1500 field with her 4:09.80, which makes her 16th A-T Collegiate!!

There were lots of other solid performances at those "whatchamacallits".
Nathaneel Mitchell-Blake ran a windy (3.6) 19.96 in the 200.
In another heat, but also windy (4.3), Brendon Rodney ran 19.97!
Brandon McBride sped a non-PR 800 time of 1:44.89.
Donovan Brazier had run the same distance in 1:46.53.
Devon Allen was fastest at 110H, time of 13.37.
Jamiel Trimble's surprising 20.12 in the 200 leaves him just 0.03 from my Collegiate DDD list!
He beat Jarrion Lawson's 20.17.
Deajah Stevens also came within 0.03 of the Collegiate list with her 22.48 in the 200.
Felicia Brown also ran 22.48.
Autumne Franklin ran the 400H in 55.12.
She's just 0.13 shy of the Collegiate list!
Hannah Cunliffe led the 100 with her 11.13, but it had an aiding wind of 3.0.
Courtney Okolo's 51.06 took the 400 over Chrisann Gordon's 51.39.
The Women's 4X400 Relay produced some good times!
Arkansas ran 3:25.48, moving them from 8th A-T School to 4th!
Texas was next with a 3:25.59.
Then came USC, their 3:26.73 moving them from 14th A-T School to 9th!
Stephen F Austin, of all schools, saw their Men run a School record time of 3:03.56.

A couple of distance Women had good doubles.
Not so much with their times, but just in making it to NCAA's!
The best Freshman woman at Boise State was supposed to be Allie Ostrander, but she's been injured.
That left it to Brenna Peloquin to lead the Bison team.
She goes to Eugene in 2 weeks, thanks to her 34:25.45 and 16:09.14 in the 10000 and 5000.
Also going there will be Lauren LaRocco of Portland.
If you remember, she made vast improvements at the Payton Jordan and Hoka One One meets.
Her times of 34:25.40 and 16:21.09 send her to Eugene as well.

Courtney Frerichs cruised her 3000SC in 9:51.48.
Elinor Purrier ran 9:53.22, leading another 8 women under 10 minutes in the East race!
Mason Ferlic's 8:29.77 wasn't a PR, but easily led the men!
Nick Miller threw the Hammer 252-4.
(As noted in my first Pre meet report, he threw there too!!)
BTW, that mark moves him from 13th A-T Collegiate to 7th, tied with 1 other.
Nikki Okwelogu led the East Women in the Shot Put (Raven Saunders was 3rd!), throwing 58-9.25.
This makes her 23rd A-T Collegiate, tied with 1 other!
I mentioned a Ms Orji earlier!
Well, she also led the LJ, leaping 21-8.75 INTO a wind of 0.4!!
Anima Banks and Hanna Green ran good 800's, times of 2:02.49 and 2:02.69.
Shakima Wimbley ran the 400 in 51.26.

These Collegiate whatever's are almost as interesting for who FAILS to qualify for NCAA's as it is for those who do!
The list is long!
Here's the most prominent, IMHO.

From the East, you will NOT see (in Eugene)---
Liv Westphal (13th in 5000)
Sarah Collins (19th in the 10K)
Ryan Clark (13th in 200)
Megan Moye (DNF in 1500)
Robby Creese (24th in 1500)
Andres Arroyo (1:48.61 in the 800 didn't make it!)
But maybe the most shocking in the running events was Kyra Jefferson's 23.18 in 19th not making it in the 200!!
In Field events, Raven Saunders made it in the SP, but not in the Discus Throw, her 170-10 in 13th falling a bit short!
Leontia Kallenou's 5-7.25 in the HJ--nope!
Neither did Nicole Green make it with her 13th in the HJ.
Shelby Ashe had 3 fouls in the Hammer Throw!
Jessie Johnson reached 13-5.25 in the PV, but failed to qualify!



The West meet had its share of "name" non-qualifiers too!
Audie Wyatt no-heighted in the PV!
Paulo Benavides and Mackenzie Shell were two other Vaulters who didn't make it, reaching only 16-10 and 13-6.25, respectively!

Brianna Nerud's 10:40.44 fell well short in the 3000SC.
Molly Grabill was 13th in the 10000, and 21st in the 5000.
John Dressel was 13th in the 5K, as was Bethan Knights in her 5000.
Ashley Maton (Matthew's sister) didn't make it in the 1500.
Neither did Nikki Hiltz or Maddie Meyers.
Meyers also didn't make it in the 5000!
Collins Kibet was a shocker non-Q man in the 800.
Aldrich Bailey failed to Q in the 400.
Teahna Daniels, winner of the NCAA INdoor 60, was 13th in the 100.
But once again, the "honors" for BIGGEST name to fail belongs to Hannah Cunliffe, whose 23.30 in the 200 was just 16th!!
(She did make it in the 100, however!  See above!)

Now back to the Profeshes at the Prefontaine Classic.

Boris Berian, proudly displaying his New Balance jersey on enemy Nike's home turf, took the 800 with his 1:44.20!
Three others--Ferguson Rotich, Mo Aman, and Adam Kszczot--all finished at sub-1:45.

Kirani James and LaShawn Merritt had another "CLASSIC" duel, with James again edging out his main foe, 44.22 to 44.39.

Vashti Cunningham couldn't quite get it together, her 6-3.50 in the HJ taking just 5th, with 3-time Mom Chaunte Lowe taking the win with her 6-4.75..

Egypt's Ihab Abdelrahman threw the Javelin 286-7 to set a new Meet Record!

Christian Taylor also got a Pre Meet Record, his TJ measuring 58-3.25.

Renaud Lavillenie was able to beat Shawn Barber (and Sam Kendricks), but his & Barber's 19-0.75 failed to impress.

Omar McLeod took the 110H in 13.06.
Michael Tinsley took the 400H in 48.74.

Shaunae Miller beat Fran McCorory in the 400, 50.15 to 50.23.
In 7th was Sanya Richards-Ross's 52.39!

Field event wins went to--
Joe Kovacs in the SP--72-7.25
Pawel Fajdek's 263-5 in the HT, with Collegian Nick Miller taking 6th!
Sandra Perkovic in the DT--an "average" 224-11
Brittney Reese's first LJ measured 22-8.50, enough to hold off Ivana Spanovic's 22-7.

In the HS 400's Sammy Watson took the Women's race in 53.21.
The Men's race saw Keshun Reed run  46.71, while Freshman Brian Herron ran 47.24 in 3rd!

Alysia Montano won her 800 battle, her 2:00.78 outlasting Kate Grace's 2:01.15.
Laura Roesler finished 7th in 2:02.27.

In other news---some of it from a week or so ago---some good HS marks.

Jordan Geist is moving ever closer to a HSR most experts--and most anyone who follows the sport---feel will NEVER be broken--namely Michael Carter's other-worldly 81-3.50 SP with the 12 pound ball.
His latest attack landed 74-3 from the ring.
It breaks his own Junior Class record.
And it moves him one spot on the All Time HS list, from 7th to 6th!
And please key in on those 2 words---Junior Class!
Yes, he has the rest of this year, and all of next, to make Mr Carter a bit jittery!

Kathleen Young's 51-9 SP mark misses my HS DDD list by less than 2 inches!
Joy McArthur is suddenly a good Hammer Thrower.
Her 193-3 is good for 9th A-T HS.
Marcus Krah's 13.32 in the 110H makes him 4th A-T HS, tied with 1 other.

Then there's young Ewe Zwoboda (She turns 19 on July 26th!).
Her latest 100 PR of 11.18 had a legal wind of 1.2.

From some earlier European meets come these marks---
Anita Wlodarczyk threw the Hammer 260-9.
Julia Fischer PR'ed in the Discus Throw with a pretty fair 224-9!
Lijao Gong had a SP mark of 67-0.50.
In the Rabat DL, Ekaterina Stefanidi's PV measure of 15-7 moves her from 21st A-T World, tied with 1 other, to 19th, tied with 2 others.
And from Hengelo, Elroy Gelant ran the 5000 in 13:04.98 for the National Record of South Africa!
He was 4th in that race.

From the Russian Team Championships come these marks--
Anzhelika Sidorova PV'ed 15-3
She missed 3 attempts at 15-9!
Sergey Shubenkov ran 110H in 13.24.

Also, Yelena Isinbayeva announced that if the ban on Russia is lifted, she will take part in a couple of meets before the Russian Olympic Trials!

As my readers know, I unabashedly support the lifting of the ban.
Ban the CRIMINALS, not the INNOCENT!!
No nation, no matter the size of its list of guilty, should be banned, taking with it its innocent, even if it's just a few handfuls!!


Kim Collins won a 100 race today in 9.93, breaking his Age 40 record by a massive 0.16 seconds!
This makes him not only the first man Age 40 or over to break 10 seconds, but it's the fastest by anyone over Age 34!!



Katerina Johnson-Thompson, aka KJT, just can't seem to join together her potential with her final Heptathlon point total!
If she did, she'd surely (IMO) score 7000 or more points!
As it was in the Gotzis Multis, she was 9 points ahead of her pace when she hit her PR (in the 2014 Gotzis!) of 6682.
Then came the LJ!
We all know of her disastrous LJ in the Beijing WC's!
Well, here she had 2 measured jumps, but the furthest was just 6.17.
She's capable of going 7 meters!
So her score of 6304 gave her just 6th place, after she was a close 2nd to eventual winner Brianne Thiesen-Eaton after the 1st day.
BTE's winning total was a non-PR--but solid--6765.
Laura Ikauniece-Admidina scored 6622 in 2nd, breaking her own National Record of Latvia!
Carolin Schafer's 6557 took 3rd!
In the Decathlon, Damian Warner opened with an incredible 100 time of 10.15!!
Legal wind!
But while he couldn't sustain that pace, he did win, point total of 8523 enough to defeat Kevin Mayer's 8446.
The 1st day leader was American Jeremy Taiwo, but he too couldn't finish at that level, ending in 4th with a non-PR total of 8203.



One last item of note!
Jasmine Todd has left the University of Oregon team!!
(But maybe not the UO itself!)
She was a DNS in the West qualifier.
Then she tweeted that "due to unforeseen circumstances", she was ending her UO T&F career!
She said it was NOT injury related!
There's a thread on this woman's decision on the T&FN Message Board!
BTW, does this mean Todd is turning Pro---like tomorrow??
Another Oregon sprinter who MIGHT turn Pro--after the NCAA meet!--is Hannah Cunliffe!!
You heard it here first!
LOL

And that is that!!
See you soon!