The 2017 OUTdoor T&F season was driving forward at breakneck speed!
Until this weekend, when it settled into cruise mode, slowing the momentum a bit.
Unless you were in London!
(Things were way hotter in cool London-town than they were in the hot & rainy Bahamas!)
And it was all (or mostly) Mary Keitany's show!
This 35 year old Kenyan had been telling folks she intended to run fast--maybe at World Record pace!
Of course, for some record-keepers (NOT me!!!), there are TWO World Records for the Women's Marathon---the overall WR of Paula Radcliffe (2:15:25), and the Women Only WR---also held by Radcliffe--of 2:17:42!
When her 1st Mile was just 5:17, it didn't seem she was keeping her promise!
Then she picked it up to a 5:07.
But when she sped the downhill 3rd mile in 4:37, eyes popped open!
Two more sub-5's brought her to 5 miles in 24:56!!
At 10000, it was 31:16.
She was now running at just over 2:12 pace!
Tweeters were going crazy, most predicting a massive drop-off, maybe even a DNF!!
Radcliffe's WR (the faster one!) was an average of 5:09 per mile!
Keitany ran 2 of her next 3 miles in 5:09, with the middle one in 5:06!
It was 47:15 at 15K!
But her 5K's were getting progressively slower---from 15:35 to 15:41 to 15:59!
At this point, Vivian Cheruiyot (in her "Virgin" marathon--so to speak! LOL) was at 47:43, also well under Paula's pace!
As were a few others, including Turunesh Dibaba!
Her next 5K slowed even more--to 16:10, as she passed 20K in 63:25.
But when she came to the Half in 66:54, it took simple arithmetic to realize she was still at sub-2:14 pace!!
A 5:05 kept things going, but then she cruised a 5:16, bringing her to 25K in a World Record 1:19:43!!
Another World Record was broken at 30K--1:36:05!!
Yes, that's THREE 32:01 10K's in a row--non-stop!
But she WAS slowing--to 5:18's--thus losing about 9 seconds per mile to Paula's pounding rhythmic pace!
In fact, she was then projected to finish slower than the WR!
The talk changed--from one WR--to the "other" WR!
Tirunesh was then over a minute behind!
And she was having continual stomach problems!
Some said she threw up a few times--even stopped at one point with cramps!
Would the great Tiru DNF?
The question was answered when her next mile or two GAINED on Keitany!
Yes, Keitany was now grinding, her 7th 5K her slowest--16:34!
Her next two miles were in 5:31 & 5:25!
But while the numbers don't really show it, it was being reported that she pushed through a mile in 4:53 close to the finish!!
Her 40K time was 2:09:38.
Paula's "Women Only" WR was under attack---by an Army of One!!
Mary Keitany was now revived--and sprinted down London's final straight to resounding cheers from an SRO crowd--time of 2:17:01.
She remains 2nd A-T World!
She gets the National Record of Kenya.
She breaks the Age 35 record!
Her splits were 66:54 and 70:07!
Tirunesh Dibaba's 2:17:56 is the National Record of Ethiopia.
She is 3rd A-T World!
But she did NOT get the Age 31 record---that belongs to Paula Radcliffe & her 2:17:42!!
Laura Thweatt wanted a PR!.
When she hit halfway in 1:12:56---along with Kellyn Taylor--she was surprised--and a bit worried!
But her steady pacing ruled the day!
She came home in a PR of 2:45--her 2:25:38 taking 6th place---after being in 9th earlier on!!
She moves from 21st A-T US to 7th!!
(I include Boston times on my lists!)
Taylor slowed, but still ran 2:28:51--just 11 seconds off her PR---and in 13th place!!
BTW, Aselefech Mergia ran 2:23:08 for 3rd, with Cheruiyot taking 4th in 2:23:50!
The Men also wanted WR pacing---and got it!
But for them, the same kind of excitement never materialized, as they fell off the pace, and when Ken Bekele was falling back!
Daniel Wanjiri survived the best, winning in 2:05:48, with Bekele reviving for 2nd in 2:05:57!!
The 3rd edition of the World Relays---all held in Nassau, The Bahamas--was by far the WORST!
And worse than "worst"--they were BORING!!
Just one Meet Record was erased, the Women's 4X200--the Jamaican Women running 1:29.04.
For an example of the pathetic nature of this--and other times--remember that UO's 4 student-athletes had run 1:28.78!!
In fact, the most "exciting" moments came in the various DNF's & DQ's that abounded throughout!!
Jamaica's Men--sans Usain Bolt--DNF'ed in their 4X100 heats!
Canada's & Great Britain's Men DNF'ed in the final!
Tianna Bartoletta slipped and fell on the slippery track (It had been raining!), failing to make the 1st pass of the 4X100 final!!
The 4X800's had teams that--on paper--looked good for American Record times!
But after a 2:01.4 opening leg by Chanelle Price, each ensuing leg got slower and slower, with 1:58 INdoor gal Charlene Lipsey's 2:07 anchor being snail's pace!!
The Men had a super Kenyan team to contend with, so chose to "win", rather to gun it!
They won in 7:13 and change!
Trinidad & Tobago's NR was broken with their 4X200 time of 1:22. 79 in the heats, then again in the final with their 1:21.39!
The US took home the "Golden Baton" for their count of medals!
But Canada---with anchor Andre De Grasse doing a Usain Bolt, staring over at Justin Gatlin as he edged him at the tape in the heats--beat the US in the final--1:19:42 to 1:19.88.
After the DNF of the US team, Germany won the 4X100 in 42.84!
(UO's Women had run 42.12 a week or 2 ago!!)
The Mixed 4X400 Relay saw USA's Woman being overtaken on the anchor by the Bahamas;s anchorMAN, winning it in 3:14.42, with the US back in 3:17.29!
Want a more exciting--and Record-breaking--World Relays?
Bring back the DMR, and a 4XMile--and keep the 4X800's!
Or just have UO's Women run as the American team!!
Yes, the weekend was relatively quiet---but not entirely so!
Following--in condensed form--are the best marks---
Anthony Schwartz sped a 200 in 20.66, missing the HS list by 0.08 seconds!
Wayde Van Niekerk ran 200 in 19.90, a PR!
He actually slammed on the brakes with 10+ meters left to run!!
His Combined Events time for the 100-200-400 is now 1:12.91 (9.98, 19.90, and 43.03).
Sydney McLaughlin ran her 1st 400H of the year--a 56.15.
Jasmin Stowers ran 100H in 12.90 (1.9).
Chrisanne Gordon's 50.64 is the Collegiate leader!
She's 16th A-T Collegiate, tied with 1 other!
Jessica Beard ran 51.82 in 2nd.
Michael Cherry's 44.77 beat Vernon Norwood's 44.82.
Nathaneel Mitchell-Blake sped a non-PR 200 in 20.15!
Odean Skean ran the 100 in 9.98, using the max wind of 2.0.
He's 16th A-T Collegiate, tied with 2 others!
But knocked FROM my Collegiate DDD was one Leroy Burrell, his 10.01 dating from 1990!!
Aleia Hobbs had a windy (2.3) 100 of 11.06.
Fred Kerley and Emmanuel Korir had fast 400's!
Korir's 44.67 ties the Frosh Class record!!
And Kerley's 44.60 makes him 21st A-T Collegiate!!
The distances had several good 800's among them!
Hanna Green beat Danae Rivers, 2:02.17 to 2:02.53.
Isaiah Harris became 19th A-T Collegiate, tied with 1 other, with his 1:45.12 in Virginia!
Andres Arroyo was 2nd in 1:45.74, with Drew Piazza 3rd in 1:46.02.
Cecilia Barowski ran 2:01.96, and added a 400 in 53.46!
Edose Ibodin beat Jesse Karn, 1:45.91 to 1:45.96.
Drew Hunter took 2nd in a good 3:42.89 in the 1500!
Elise Cranny won the Stanford meet in 4:11.46.
Grant Fisher took the 5K in 13:37.77.
Dominique Scott returned to Arkansas to win the 1500 in 4:14.26.
The Kansas Relays saw a good 3200 battle, Callie Logue's 10:09.97 beating Molly Born's 10:10.64.
Field Events were rife with good marks---and several list placings!!
Mason Finley's DT of 212-2 took down the Kansas Relays Meet Record, dating from--1976!!
Gwen Berry remained hot, hitting a HT of 244-7 at Auburn!
Whitney Ashley's 209-6 DT isn't a PR!
Nor was Kelsey Card's 200-8.
Jill Shippee's HT of 196-2 makes her 6th A-T HS!!
Ryan Crouser took the Downtown SP at the Kansas Relays with his 72-6.50!!
Sweden's Daniel Stahl had a DT of 224-4!
At Stanford, redshirting Senior Valerie Allman got another HUGE PR--her DT reaching 212-3.
She moves from 20th A-T US to 12th!
But her redshirt denies her a Collegiate listing!!
Kellion Knibb's 202-1 in 2nd is a 6 inch PR!
She remains 13th A-T Collegiate!
Erin Famer's 59-5 SP makes her 20th A-T Collegiate!
Maggie Ewen's 197-5 DT misses the Collegiate DDD by just 3 inches!
Dani Bunch improved her SP to 62-8.75, moving her from 20th A-T US to 10th!!
Chris Nilsen is now 12th A-T Collegiate, after his PV of 18-9.50!
Emily Grove is now a 15 footer!
Her 15-1 moves her from 11th A-T Collegiate, tied with 5 others, to 6th, tied with 2 others!
She is the 9th Collegiate over 15 feet OUTdoors!!
She's also 18th A-T US, but tied with 7 others!!
Annie Rhodes topped out at 14-5.50.
Emily Presley, a Soph at Missouri Southern, PV'ed 14-5.25!
Quanesha Burks LJ'ed a solid 22-0.75, not a PR.
And Luvo Monyonga continues his Record-breaking ways in South Africa!!
He's now LJ'ed 28-4.50, which breaks his own National Record!!
He moves up one place on the A-T World list--from 12th to 11th!
In "off-track" news---
Brianna Rollins has been BUSTED---but NOT for drug USE!!
For missing 3 random tests--and not reporting accurately where she'd be!!
(One time, she was on her way to the White House to meet with President Obama!! The USADA testers never caught up with her at Atlanta's airport!!)
Her ban is for 1 year, and will end in mid-December of this year!
She misses the World Championships in London!!
In happier news, Sally Kipyego became an American Citizen--AND announced she's pregnant--so also will miss the 2017 season!
Lauren Fleshman--former elite runner and now spokesperson extraordinaire against the "problems" in our sport--is also pregnant, with her child due in October!!
And Mary Cain is still MIA!
And English Gardner and Alysia Montano both celebrated birthdays--English her 26th, Montano her 31st!
Later this week are the Penn and Drake Relays!!
(Certainly should be better than the World Relays!!)
See you soon!
`
Monday, April 24, 2017
Monday, April 17, 2017
Those Ducks!
Having lived in Eugene/Springfield for 11 years, and Lincoln City (2 hour drive to Eugene!) for another 5, I'm well versed in University of Oregon Duck lore!
From the 60's, with Dyrol Burleson my fave Miler, to the 70's being All Pre All the Time, then all those meets I attended in the next 20+ years, to the fantastic DVD of "We Grew Wings" (History of Duck Women from 1985 & 2011 teams!), to today's Record-Smashing squad, I might be seen as favoring "my" Ducks!!
Nope!
While I often say I'm a UO fan, it's what they DO on the tracks, fields, and roads that most impress!!
And this weekend continues the record onslaught of 2017 coming from TrackTown Women--past and present!!
The Boston Marathon!
Galen Rupp (2nd) and Jordan Hasay (3rd) made the podium in Boston today!
The Men ran as a 10-pack for over half the race, hitting 13.1 in 1:04:35, a bit faster than I thought, as the NBC announcers kept talking of those 5 minutes miles being run.
For their information, 5:00 mile pace would've come through a full minute SLOWER!
They need to remediate their arithmetic skills!
Anyway, as it came down to a pair (Rupp and Geoff Kirui), all the talk was of how Galen's 26:44 10K was the fastest of all entrants.
True, but as we've learned, to the fastest (track runners) does NOT always go the spoils!!
When Kirui hammered a 4:24 mile, Rupp fell back 60 meters, and never recovered!
Kirui's 2:09:37 prevailed over Rupp's 7 second PR of 2:09:58.
But while Kirui's time gets lost in the mob of Kenyan 26.2 Men, Rupp moves from 18th A-T US to 16th, tied with 1 other!
For the Women, Des Linden said she was out to WIN this race!
With the lead pack--and even leading for awhile--Linden looked solid at halfway!
But looking even better---and with much smoother body rhythm--was debut Marathoner Hasay!
So when it came down to a pack of 4, Hasay was right there.
That is, until 37 year old Kenyan cop (That's right, she's a police-woman!!), and mother of 5 (2 her own, 3 adopted after the deaths of their mothers!) Edna Kiplagat put down the hammer!
The 10 second gap grew to 20, then 30 and more, as this popular crowd pleaser skipped home to a win in 2:21:52---just 23 seconds off the Age 37 record!
But how she did it!!
The Half was reached in 1:12:33.
This was actually faster than expected after the first 10K had them at 2:29 pace!!
But when you add a second Half in 1:09:19, that pretty much ends any "race"!!
Hasay, however, hung tight, and came home in 2:23:00, her 2nd half split being 1:10:27!!
As I include Boston times on my A-T lists, Hasay now ranks 5th A-T US!!
And she SMASHED the US Women's "debut" record by 2:53 over that of Kara Goucher!!
Other Boston news---
NOP did great--with Rupp, Hasay, and Suguru Osako (in HIS 1st Marathon!!) on the podium--as Osako took 3rd for the Men in 2:10:28!
Meb Keflezighi ran his final Boston race--in fact, his last Marathon--still the most loved guy out there!
After finishing, he went over & kissed the hand of the dad of the boy killed in the Boston bombing!
Rose Chelimo took 2nd in the Women's race in 2:22:51.
Des Linden took 4th in 2:25:06, her 13.1 times being exactly the same (1:12:33's)!!
Tatyana McFadden--just 2 weeks post-blood clot surgery!!!--took 4th in the Wheelchair race, but PR'ed (for Boston) in 1:36:05!
On the Track, the Duck Women were even better!
TWO MORE Collegiate Records!!!
In a searing race with LSU's finest that came down to the wire, The Ducks smashed their own Collegiate Record of 42.34 with an awesome 42.12, with LSU pounding their own school record of 42.50 to pieces, ending in 42.14!
For LSU, they move from 3rd A-T School to 2nd!
Their old record dated from 1989, when CR holder in the 100 & 200, Dawn Sowell, ran for them!!
Also at Mt SAC (although this year's meet was held elsewhere, while Mt. SAC's stadium is renovated!), Raevyn Rogers beat a class Professional field to nip Suzy (Favor) Hamilton's old CR of 1:59.11 by the merest of margins, her 1:59.10 being the CR, the Junior Class record, and the Meet Record!
She moves from 4th A-T Collegiate to the top!
But she misses the A-T US list by 0.30 seconds!
SFH's CR had lasted 27 years!!
The Duck Women didn't stop there!
Laura Roesler--coming back super strong after a year's sabbatical--was 2nd in 1:59.54!
Next came Chanelle Price (also making a comeback of sorts!) in 2:00.38, then Chrishuna Williams in 2:00.41, with Kendra Chambers at 2:01.10 in 5th!
In the 100, Deajah Stevens sped to the win in 11.00 (0.7), making her 9th A-T Collegiate, tied with 1 other!
Arianna Washington followed in 11.06, becoming 22nd A-T Collegiate, tied with 1 other!
Kortnei Johnson was 3rd in 11.09, a PR, with Mikiah Briscoe 4th in 11.14!
Back in 8th was former Duck Jenna Prandini, time of 11.18, with yet another former Duck, Jasmine Todd, back in 12th (separate heat--wind of 0.8).
Stevens had a 200 in a non-PR of 22.31 to add to her W column!
Deanna Hill was 2nd in 22.59!
UO also took the 4X400 Relay in 3:27.98, with LSU far back in 3:31.61.
In a roundabout manner, the winner of the Bryan Clay Men's 1500 had a UO connection---of sorts!!
Scot Josh Kerr beat Ed Cheserek in the NCAA INdoor Mile in March!
Well, here he didn't have Ches to contend with, but his winning time of 3:35.99 did beat Ches's INdoor CR time of 3:37.01!!
Tenuous connection at best, but still there!
Kerr's time is the Soph Class record, and makes him 6th A-T Collegiate!!
He beat a good field--with Craig Engels missing the Collegiate DDD by 0.48 seconds with his 3:37.75, Ryan Hill next in 3:37.95, and Joshua Thompson next in 3:38.21, missing the Collegiate list by 0.94 seconds!
Removed FROM the Collegiate list were 2 HUGE names--
Steve Scott's and Matt Centrowitz's 3:37.29's--Scott's from 1977, and Centro's Dad's from 1976!!
Also at Bryan Clay, Dafne Schippers had "rust-busting" times of 10.95 (0.8) and 22.29 (1.4) to take both!
She beat Tianna Bartoletta's 11.08 in the 100, and Brit Desiree Henry's 22.69 in the longer race!
Clayton Murphy got Mt SAC's Men's 800 Meet Record with his 1:43.60--the fastest American April time ever!!
Eliud Rutto was 2nd in 1:45.70, missing the Collegiate list by 0.41 seconds!
Erik Sowinski was 3rd in 1:45.95.
To avoid a second post, I'm going to do all the rest of my news by event group!
Sorry if this makes it more difficult to process, but I try to avoid "double posts" when I can!
The Sprints
Adam Gemili took the Bryan Clay 100 in 10.08 (1.8).
Sani Brown was 2nd in 10.18, and won the 200 in 20.41.
LSU's Men took the Mt SAC 4X100 Relay in 38.57, with Houston right behind in 38.59!
Shae Anderson--She finished 2nd to Syd McLaughlin in the HSR 300H race (See previous post!)!--ran the flat 400 in 51.99, making her 16th A-T HS!
Is she the next to go sub-55 in the 400H as a HS'er??
Ronnie Baker ran the Mt SAC 100 in 9.99 (0.1).
Quincy Hall took the 400 in 45.12 over Duck Marcus Chambers's 45.29!
The Gamecock Invite saw some quick sprint times!
Ncinciliti Titi (Yes, the spelling is correct!!) ran the fastest 200 of the Collegiate season, 20.14 (1.7).
Kendell Williams was 2nd in 20.32!
Cejhai Greene took the 100 in 10.10 (1.6).
Brittney Brown of Iowa won the Mt SAC 200 in 22.69, beating (among others) English Gardner (22.97 in 4th) and Natasha Hastings (23.04 in 5th)!!
Fred Kerley took the UCLA 200 in 20.45.
Jaide Stepter took the UCLA 400 in 51.62.
Aries Merritt won the Mt SAC 110H in 13.51--INTO a wind of 1.7!!
Aleec Harris took 2nd in 13.61.
Christina Manning won the Gamecock 100H in 12.79 (1.2).
In the wind-aided category--mostly from the Clermont meet---
Kendra Harrison ran 100H in 12.54 (2.3) at the Texas Invite, beating Rochelle Burton's 12.65!
Harrison also ran the 200 in 22.85 (2.5).
Akeem Bloomfield ran 200 in 20.29 (2.8).
Nadine Visser--mostly a Heptathlete!--sped the 100H in 12.57 in her final, wind of 5.8!!
But she'd run her heat in a wind-legal 12.87 (1.8)!!
Andrew Pozzi ran the 110H in 13.17 (heat--wind of 2.2) and 13.13 (final--wind of 5.8!!).
Tori Bowie used a 3.3 wind to nail the 100 in 10.80!
Zhengyi Xie took the Men's 100 heat in 9.91 (4.1) over Noah Lyles's 9.95!!
Clayton Vaughn's 10.04 heat had a just-legal wind of 2.0!
Newly married (to Decathlete Maicel Uibo) Shaunae Miller won the Clermont 200 in 21.90 (3.1).
Danny Talbot won the Men's race in 19.86, wind of 2.9!
I'll close the sprints section with some biggies!
Elaine Thompson ran the 100 in 10.75, with a slim excessive wind of 2.2!!
She actually slammed the brakes with 10 meters to go!!
And Sydney McLaughlin reportedly ran her team's 4X400 Relay with a leg of 51.17!!
Distances
Back to the Roads for a minute--
Ben True broke his own American Record for the Road 5000 at the BAA race, his 13:20 winning over Stephen Sambu's 13:22.
Buze Diriba and Molly Huddle dueled in a speedy Women's race, with Diriba outlasting Huddle, 14:54 to 14:56!!
On the track, we saw---
Emily Richards, from Ohio Northern, took an 800 in 2:02.34, an A-T Division III record!!
Cooper Teare---who's on a real TEAR (LOL) this year--- ran a HS-only Mile in 4:00.16, one of the fastest ever in a HS Only race!!
It makes him 10th A-T HS!
Lauren Gregory ran a 3200 in 10:08.31.
Amanda Eccleston, a Pro, beat Katie Rainsberger, a UO Frosh (Those Duck Women again!!), in the Mt SAC 1500, 4:12.86 to 4:13.25!
For Rainsberger, this gets her the Frosh Class record--although I'm not 100% certain the mark I had actually WAS the Frosh Class best! It seems weird that a 4:14+ was the Collegiate Frosh best, when a TENTH GRADER (Mary Cain!) had run faster--Cain's 4:11.01 in 2012!!
Six women went sub-4:14 here!!
At the Bryan Clay meet, Carsyn Koch of Cedarville (She's a Junior there!) won the 1500 in the Collegiate-leading time of 4:12.19.
She beat Nikki Hiltz's 4:12.71.
Tori Gerlach took the TX Invite's 3000SC in 9:50.60!
Even quicker was Elinor Purrier's 9:43.65!
She moves from 22nd A-T Collegiate to 16th!
If it wasn't for Raevyn Rogers's CR (See above!), Jazmine Fray would be leading the Collegiate list with her 2:01.43 win in the UCLA 800!
She missed the Collegiate DDD by just 0.06 seconds!!
Finally (in the distances, that is!!) comes Kayla Montgomery!
Not seeing her name in any results since her MS relapse in 2015, I was curious--Why was she still listed on the Lipscomb team roster, if she wasn't competing?
So I went to TFRSS, to discover she has times in the 1500 and 3000 from this year--although just the 1500 was from OUTdoors!
This endearing personality of our sport--and awe inspiring!!--ran a 5:06.31 at the Austin Peay meet!!
I don't know how I missed it, as I've scanned ALL Lipscomb Women's results for Kayla's name!
Guess I AM really going blind!
But I'm so so happy to know this MS Woman is nailing her MS "victimhood" to the proverbial wall!!
The HJ, LJ & TJ
Vernon Turner missed his trio of shots at the HSR, trying thrice at 7-7.25.
But he DID make 7-6, moving him from 5th A-T HS, tied with 2 others, to 2nd, tied with 1 other!!
At Bryan Clay, Shara Proctor TJ'ed 45-4.25, her OUTdoor PR!
But she misses the US list by one inch!!
Christian Taylor opened with 56-7.50!!
I should mention here that Taylor's once-key nemisis PPPP (Pablo Pedro Etc Pichardo) has left Cuba!!
He is in exile right now, waiting to join another nation--unknown at this time, except that it's reportedly NOT Spain, where ex-Cubans Javier Sotomayor and Orlando Ortega reside!!
Jarvis Gotch LJ'ed 26-8.25 at Mt SAC.
Vashti Cunningham and Liz Patterson both cleared 6-4.25, with the latter's mark making her 23rd All-Time US, tied with 2 others!
Donald Scott took the Mt SAC Triple Jump with his 55-9.75!
Canada's Mike Mason won the HJ with 7-6.50.
But Mutaz Barshim provided the best HJ news---He's BACKKK!!
Hitting 7-8.50 (2.35), it's his best since his halcyon days in the 2.40 range!!
For the United States, however, the HUGE High Jump news was the UN-retirement of Brigetta Barrett!!
(See previous post!)
Well, she's upped her "return" PR from 6-0.75 to 6-3.25--a very significant leap (sic!).
This was at the UCLA meet!!
Throws
Some of America's best Women HT'ers were at Mt SAC!
Gwen Berry, the AR holder at 250-4, tossed it out to 244-10.
Amanda Bingson threw 236-5 for 2nd, with Amber Campbell reaching 235-10.
Stipe Zunic got the National Record of Croatia with his SP mark of 70-4.50!!
Also "back" is HSR holder in the Javelin--Madison Wiltrout!!
She reached 163-2 in what might be her 1st comp since surgery last spring!!
Kara Winger had her best mark in awhile--212-7 in the JT.
Shadae Lawrence had a DT mark of 195-7, leaving her less than 2 feet removed from the Collegiate list!
Michelle Carter won the Texas Invite with her 60-10 in the SP!
Emmonniece (sp?) Henderson's 59-0 makes her 24th A-T Collegiate in the SP
Mostafa Hassan's 69-11 makes him 16th A-T Collegiate!
It also gives him the National Record of Egypt!!
Andrew Evans threw the Discus 214-6.
And Valerie Allman's PR of 205-6 moves her from 23rd A-T US to 20th!!
Jeneva Stevens took the Mt SAC SP with 59-8.25, a non-PR.
Multis & PV
Luca Wieland's 8201 Decathlon score won the Mt SAC event!!
This makes him 18th A-T Collegiate!!
Canada's Nicole Oodengaarden (Correct spelling!!) took the Women's comp with her 5927 points!
She's 23 years old!
All the rest is from the PV---
Mondo is maybe human after all!
With tremendous anticipation for what he'd do for an encore after his HSR of 19-4.25 (See previous post!)--and maybe even a bit of pressure--Mondo reached "just" 18-3--with 3 misses at 18-9--one VERY close, according to sources!
Jenn Suhr showed 35 isn't too old to be dominant in the PV!
At the TX Invite, she got over 15-10, then tried once at 16-0.75, with her final 2 tries at the WORLD Record height of 16-7.25!
No rocking chair & knitting needles for THIS lady!!
Olivia Gruver was 2nd with 14-8.25.
She's a Kentucky Soph, and is now 17th A-T Collegiate, tied with 1 other!
Helen Falda--who cleared 14 feet for the 1st time this year--is now up to 14-4.50, as this UT-Arlington Frosh was 3rd!
Rachel Baxter missed her 3 tries at 14-4, but did make 14-0--not a PR.
Morgann LeLeux and Mary Saxer got over 14-9, with LeLeux the winner!
At UCLA, Kortney Ross and Kristen Brown reached 14-7.25, with Ross winning in a jump-off!
Chris Nilsen got over 18-8.25, while Devin King got over 18-4.50.
Speaking of the PV, a book called "18 Months Raising the Bar"---all about the Collegiate battles between Demi Payne and Sandi Morris in 2015--will be released April 28th, according to TTFCA, or TX MileSplit!
Have no idea of the price, but I'll be sending them whatever it costs ON April 28th!
I hear it has LOTS of great photos, and stories of all their historic competitions as Collegiates!
(BTW, Payne's return after last year's surgery was reportedly to be at the Texas Relays--but no word yet as to the actual date or venue!!)
I'm going to end this LONGGGG post with a VERY cute item!!
Have you seen the brief video (VIRAL on Twitter & elsewhere!!!) of a HS girl doing a BACK-FLIP into her starting blocks??
Really!!
First looking over her shoulder to see if the coast was clear, she then executed a perfect TEN, doing a perfect flip right INTO her blocks--not an inch to spare!!
(I tweeted that if she were a LJ'er, she'd hit the board PERFECTLY every time!!
You MUST check this out!!
(It'll put that Michelle Jenneke "dance" routine to shame!!)
See you soon!
From the 60's, with Dyrol Burleson my fave Miler, to the 70's being All Pre All the Time, then all those meets I attended in the next 20+ years, to the fantastic DVD of "We Grew Wings" (History of Duck Women from 1985 & 2011 teams!), to today's Record-Smashing squad, I might be seen as favoring "my" Ducks!!
Nope!
While I often say I'm a UO fan, it's what they DO on the tracks, fields, and roads that most impress!!
And this weekend continues the record onslaught of 2017 coming from TrackTown Women--past and present!!
The Boston Marathon!
Galen Rupp (2nd) and Jordan Hasay (3rd) made the podium in Boston today!
The Men ran as a 10-pack for over half the race, hitting 13.1 in 1:04:35, a bit faster than I thought, as the NBC announcers kept talking of those 5 minutes miles being run.
For their information, 5:00 mile pace would've come through a full minute SLOWER!
They need to remediate their arithmetic skills!
Anyway, as it came down to a pair (Rupp and Geoff Kirui), all the talk was of how Galen's 26:44 10K was the fastest of all entrants.
True, but as we've learned, to the fastest (track runners) does NOT always go the spoils!!
When Kirui hammered a 4:24 mile, Rupp fell back 60 meters, and never recovered!
Kirui's 2:09:37 prevailed over Rupp's 7 second PR of 2:09:58.
But while Kirui's time gets lost in the mob of Kenyan 26.2 Men, Rupp moves from 18th A-T US to 16th, tied with 1 other!
For the Women, Des Linden said she was out to WIN this race!
With the lead pack--and even leading for awhile--Linden looked solid at halfway!
But looking even better---and with much smoother body rhythm--was debut Marathoner Hasay!
So when it came down to a pack of 4, Hasay was right there.
That is, until 37 year old Kenyan cop (That's right, she's a police-woman!!), and mother of 5 (2 her own, 3 adopted after the deaths of their mothers!) Edna Kiplagat put down the hammer!
The 10 second gap grew to 20, then 30 and more, as this popular crowd pleaser skipped home to a win in 2:21:52---just 23 seconds off the Age 37 record!
But how she did it!!
The Half was reached in 1:12:33.
This was actually faster than expected after the first 10K had them at 2:29 pace!!
But when you add a second Half in 1:09:19, that pretty much ends any "race"!!
Hasay, however, hung tight, and came home in 2:23:00, her 2nd half split being 1:10:27!!
As I include Boston times on my A-T lists, Hasay now ranks 5th A-T US!!
And she SMASHED the US Women's "debut" record by 2:53 over that of Kara Goucher!!
Other Boston news---
NOP did great--with Rupp, Hasay, and Suguru Osako (in HIS 1st Marathon!!) on the podium--as Osako took 3rd for the Men in 2:10:28!
Meb Keflezighi ran his final Boston race--in fact, his last Marathon--still the most loved guy out there!
After finishing, he went over & kissed the hand of the dad of the boy killed in the Boston bombing!
Rose Chelimo took 2nd in the Women's race in 2:22:51.
Des Linden took 4th in 2:25:06, her 13.1 times being exactly the same (1:12:33's)!!
Tatyana McFadden--just 2 weeks post-blood clot surgery!!!--took 4th in the Wheelchair race, but PR'ed (for Boston) in 1:36:05!
On the Track, the Duck Women were even better!
TWO MORE Collegiate Records!!!
In a searing race with LSU's finest that came down to the wire, The Ducks smashed their own Collegiate Record of 42.34 with an awesome 42.12, with LSU pounding their own school record of 42.50 to pieces, ending in 42.14!
For LSU, they move from 3rd A-T School to 2nd!
Their old record dated from 1989, when CR holder in the 100 & 200, Dawn Sowell, ran for them!!
Also at Mt SAC (although this year's meet was held elsewhere, while Mt. SAC's stadium is renovated!), Raevyn Rogers beat a class Professional field to nip Suzy (Favor) Hamilton's old CR of 1:59.11 by the merest of margins, her 1:59.10 being the CR, the Junior Class record, and the Meet Record!
She moves from 4th A-T Collegiate to the top!
But she misses the A-T US list by 0.30 seconds!
SFH's CR had lasted 27 years!!
The Duck Women didn't stop there!
Laura Roesler--coming back super strong after a year's sabbatical--was 2nd in 1:59.54!
Next came Chanelle Price (also making a comeback of sorts!) in 2:00.38, then Chrishuna Williams in 2:00.41, with Kendra Chambers at 2:01.10 in 5th!
In the 100, Deajah Stevens sped to the win in 11.00 (0.7), making her 9th A-T Collegiate, tied with 1 other!
Arianna Washington followed in 11.06, becoming 22nd A-T Collegiate, tied with 1 other!
Kortnei Johnson was 3rd in 11.09, a PR, with Mikiah Briscoe 4th in 11.14!
Back in 8th was former Duck Jenna Prandini, time of 11.18, with yet another former Duck, Jasmine Todd, back in 12th (separate heat--wind of 0.8).
Stevens had a 200 in a non-PR of 22.31 to add to her W column!
Deanna Hill was 2nd in 22.59!
UO also took the 4X400 Relay in 3:27.98, with LSU far back in 3:31.61.
In a roundabout manner, the winner of the Bryan Clay Men's 1500 had a UO connection---of sorts!!
Scot Josh Kerr beat Ed Cheserek in the NCAA INdoor Mile in March!
Well, here he didn't have Ches to contend with, but his winning time of 3:35.99 did beat Ches's INdoor CR time of 3:37.01!!
Tenuous connection at best, but still there!
Kerr's time is the Soph Class record, and makes him 6th A-T Collegiate!!
He beat a good field--with Craig Engels missing the Collegiate DDD by 0.48 seconds with his 3:37.75, Ryan Hill next in 3:37.95, and Joshua Thompson next in 3:38.21, missing the Collegiate list by 0.94 seconds!
Removed FROM the Collegiate list were 2 HUGE names--
Steve Scott's and Matt Centrowitz's 3:37.29's--Scott's from 1977, and Centro's Dad's from 1976!!
Also at Bryan Clay, Dafne Schippers had "rust-busting" times of 10.95 (0.8) and 22.29 (1.4) to take both!
She beat Tianna Bartoletta's 11.08 in the 100, and Brit Desiree Henry's 22.69 in the longer race!
Clayton Murphy got Mt SAC's Men's 800 Meet Record with his 1:43.60--the fastest American April time ever!!
Eliud Rutto was 2nd in 1:45.70, missing the Collegiate list by 0.41 seconds!
Erik Sowinski was 3rd in 1:45.95.
To avoid a second post, I'm going to do all the rest of my news by event group!
Sorry if this makes it more difficult to process, but I try to avoid "double posts" when I can!
The Sprints
Adam Gemili took the Bryan Clay 100 in 10.08 (1.8).
Sani Brown was 2nd in 10.18, and won the 200 in 20.41.
LSU's Men took the Mt SAC 4X100 Relay in 38.57, with Houston right behind in 38.59!
Shae Anderson--She finished 2nd to Syd McLaughlin in the HSR 300H race (See previous post!)!--ran the flat 400 in 51.99, making her 16th A-T HS!
Is she the next to go sub-55 in the 400H as a HS'er??
Ronnie Baker ran the Mt SAC 100 in 9.99 (0.1).
Quincy Hall took the 400 in 45.12 over Duck Marcus Chambers's 45.29!
The Gamecock Invite saw some quick sprint times!
Ncinciliti Titi (Yes, the spelling is correct!!) ran the fastest 200 of the Collegiate season, 20.14 (1.7).
Kendell Williams was 2nd in 20.32!
Cejhai Greene took the 100 in 10.10 (1.6).
Brittney Brown of Iowa won the Mt SAC 200 in 22.69, beating (among others) English Gardner (22.97 in 4th) and Natasha Hastings (23.04 in 5th)!!
Fred Kerley took the UCLA 200 in 20.45.
Jaide Stepter took the UCLA 400 in 51.62.
Aries Merritt won the Mt SAC 110H in 13.51--INTO a wind of 1.7!!
Aleec Harris took 2nd in 13.61.
Christina Manning won the Gamecock 100H in 12.79 (1.2).
In the wind-aided category--mostly from the Clermont meet---
Kendra Harrison ran 100H in 12.54 (2.3) at the Texas Invite, beating Rochelle Burton's 12.65!
Harrison also ran the 200 in 22.85 (2.5).
Akeem Bloomfield ran 200 in 20.29 (2.8).
Nadine Visser--mostly a Heptathlete!--sped the 100H in 12.57 in her final, wind of 5.8!!
But she'd run her heat in a wind-legal 12.87 (1.8)!!
Andrew Pozzi ran the 110H in 13.17 (heat--wind of 2.2) and 13.13 (final--wind of 5.8!!).
Tori Bowie used a 3.3 wind to nail the 100 in 10.80!
Zhengyi Xie took the Men's 100 heat in 9.91 (4.1) over Noah Lyles's 9.95!!
Clayton Vaughn's 10.04 heat had a just-legal wind of 2.0!
Newly married (to Decathlete Maicel Uibo) Shaunae Miller won the Clermont 200 in 21.90 (3.1).
Danny Talbot won the Men's race in 19.86, wind of 2.9!
I'll close the sprints section with some biggies!
Elaine Thompson ran the 100 in 10.75, with a slim excessive wind of 2.2!!
She actually slammed the brakes with 10 meters to go!!
And Sydney McLaughlin reportedly ran her team's 4X400 Relay with a leg of 51.17!!
Distances
Back to the Roads for a minute--
Ben True broke his own American Record for the Road 5000 at the BAA race, his 13:20 winning over Stephen Sambu's 13:22.
Buze Diriba and Molly Huddle dueled in a speedy Women's race, with Diriba outlasting Huddle, 14:54 to 14:56!!
On the track, we saw---
Emily Richards, from Ohio Northern, took an 800 in 2:02.34, an A-T Division III record!!
Cooper Teare---who's on a real TEAR (LOL) this year--- ran a HS-only Mile in 4:00.16, one of the fastest ever in a HS Only race!!
It makes him 10th A-T HS!
Lauren Gregory ran a 3200 in 10:08.31.
Amanda Eccleston, a Pro, beat Katie Rainsberger, a UO Frosh (Those Duck Women again!!), in the Mt SAC 1500, 4:12.86 to 4:13.25!
For Rainsberger, this gets her the Frosh Class record--although I'm not 100% certain the mark I had actually WAS the Frosh Class best! It seems weird that a 4:14+ was the Collegiate Frosh best, when a TENTH GRADER (Mary Cain!) had run faster--Cain's 4:11.01 in 2012!!
Six women went sub-4:14 here!!
At the Bryan Clay meet, Carsyn Koch of Cedarville (She's a Junior there!) won the 1500 in the Collegiate-leading time of 4:12.19.
She beat Nikki Hiltz's 4:12.71.
Tori Gerlach took the TX Invite's 3000SC in 9:50.60!
Even quicker was Elinor Purrier's 9:43.65!
She moves from 22nd A-T Collegiate to 16th!
If it wasn't for Raevyn Rogers's CR (See above!), Jazmine Fray would be leading the Collegiate list with her 2:01.43 win in the UCLA 800!
She missed the Collegiate DDD by just 0.06 seconds!!
Finally (in the distances, that is!!) comes Kayla Montgomery!
Not seeing her name in any results since her MS relapse in 2015, I was curious--Why was she still listed on the Lipscomb team roster, if she wasn't competing?
So I went to TFRSS, to discover she has times in the 1500 and 3000 from this year--although just the 1500 was from OUTdoors!
This endearing personality of our sport--and awe inspiring!!--ran a 5:06.31 at the Austin Peay meet!!
I don't know how I missed it, as I've scanned ALL Lipscomb Women's results for Kayla's name!
Guess I AM really going blind!
But I'm so so happy to know this MS Woman is nailing her MS "victimhood" to the proverbial wall!!
The HJ, LJ & TJ
Vernon Turner missed his trio of shots at the HSR, trying thrice at 7-7.25.
But he DID make 7-6, moving him from 5th A-T HS, tied with 2 others, to 2nd, tied with 1 other!!
At Bryan Clay, Shara Proctor TJ'ed 45-4.25, her OUTdoor PR!
But she misses the US list by one inch!!
Christian Taylor opened with 56-7.50!!
I should mention here that Taylor's once-key nemisis PPPP (Pablo Pedro Etc Pichardo) has left Cuba!!
He is in exile right now, waiting to join another nation--unknown at this time, except that it's reportedly NOT Spain, where ex-Cubans Javier Sotomayor and Orlando Ortega reside!!
Jarvis Gotch LJ'ed 26-8.25 at Mt SAC.
Vashti Cunningham and Liz Patterson both cleared 6-4.25, with the latter's mark making her 23rd All-Time US, tied with 2 others!
Donald Scott took the Mt SAC Triple Jump with his 55-9.75!
Canada's Mike Mason won the HJ with 7-6.50.
But Mutaz Barshim provided the best HJ news---He's BACKKK!!
Hitting 7-8.50 (2.35), it's his best since his halcyon days in the 2.40 range!!
For the United States, however, the HUGE High Jump news was the UN-retirement of Brigetta Barrett!!
(See previous post!)
Well, she's upped her "return" PR from 6-0.75 to 6-3.25--a very significant leap (sic!).
This was at the UCLA meet!!
Throws
Some of America's best Women HT'ers were at Mt SAC!
Gwen Berry, the AR holder at 250-4, tossed it out to 244-10.
Amanda Bingson threw 236-5 for 2nd, with Amber Campbell reaching 235-10.
Stipe Zunic got the National Record of Croatia with his SP mark of 70-4.50!!
Also "back" is HSR holder in the Javelin--Madison Wiltrout!!
She reached 163-2 in what might be her 1st comp since surgery last spring!!
Kara Winger had her best mark in awhile--212-7 in the JT.
Shadae Lawrence had a DT mark of 195-7, leaving her less than 2 feet removed from the Collegiate list!
Michelle Carter won the Texas Invite with her 60-10 in the SP!
Emmonniece (sp?) Henderson's 59-0 makes her 24th A-T Collegiate in the SP
Mostafa Hassan's 69-11 makes him 16th A-T Collegiate!
It also gives him the National Record of Egypt!!
Andrew Evans threw the Discus 214-6.
And Valerie Allman's PR of 205-6 moves her from 23rd A-T US to 20th!!
Jeneva Stevens took the Mt SAC SP with 59-8.25, a non-PR.
Multis & PV
Luca Wieland's 8201 Decathlon score won the Mt SAC event!!
This makes him 18th A-T Collegiate!!
Canada's Nicole Oodengaarden (Correct spelling!!) took the Women's comp with her 5927 points!
She's 23 years old!
All the rest is from the PV---
Mondo is maybe human after all!
With tremendous anticipation for what he'd do for an encore after his HSR of 19-4.25 (See previous post!)--and maybe even a bit of pressure--Mondo reached "just" 18-3--with 3 misses at 18-9--one VERY close, according to sources!
Jenn Suhr showed 35 isn't too old to be dominant in the PV!
At the TX Invite, she got over 15-10, then tried once at 16-0.75, with her final 2 tries at the WORLD Record height of 16-7.25!
No rocking chair & knitting needles for THIS lady!!
Olivia Gruver was 2nd with 14-8.25.
She's a Kentucky Soph, and is now 17th A-T Collegiate, tied with 1 other!
Helen Falda--who cleared 14 feet for the 1st time this year--is now up to 14-4.50, as this UT-Arlington Frosh was 3rd!
Rachel Baxter missed her 3 tries at 14-4, but did make 14-0--not a PR.
Morgann LeLeux and Mary Saxer got over 14-9, with LeLeux the winner!
At UCLA, Kortney Ross and Kristen Brown reached 14-7.25, with Ross winning in a jump-off!
Chris Nilsen got over 18-8.25, while Devin King got over 18-4.50.
Speaking of the PV, a book called "18 Months Raising the Bar"---all about the Collegiate battles between Demi Payne and Sandi Morris in 2015--will be released April 28th, according to TTFCA, or TX MileSplit!
Have no idea of the price, but I'll be sending them whatever it costs ON April 28th!
I hear it has LOTS of great photos, and stories of all their historic competitions as Collegiates!
(BTW, Payne's return after last year's surgery was reportedly to be at the Texas Relays--but no word yet as to the actual date or venue!!)
I'm going to end this LONGGGG post with a VERY cute item!!
Have you seen the brief video (VIRAL on Twitter & elsewhere!!!) of a HS girl doing a BACK-FLIP into her starting blocks??
Really!!
First looking over her shoulder to see if the coast was clear, she then executed a perfect TEN, doing a perfect flip right INTO her blocks--not an inch to spare!!
(I tweeted that if she were a LJ'er, she'd hit the board PERFECTLY every time!!
You MUST check this out!!
(It'll put that Michelle Jenneke "dance" routine to shame!!)
See you soon!
Monday, April 10, 2017
Arcadia stunners lead week
Not to brag, but minutes before the race began, I thought to myself she can run 38.80!
But then--at the very last minute!--I changed it to 39.10!
Dang!
You know what race--and WHOM!--I speak of!
Sydney McLaughlin came to Arcadia with one goal in mind--break Lashinda Demus's HSR in the 300H!
It had stood for 16 years--since 2001--while Demus went on to break the WR & AR for the 400H--the latter of which still stands!!
Rarely have I seen someone DESTROY a HSR (or ANY major record!!) with such precision, such perfect form, and after finishing, look as if she could run it again--faster!--right then!!
McLaughlin took a full 1.08 seconds off the mark--her 38.90 the HSR, the Senior Class record, and the Meet Record!
In 2nd came Shae Anderson, whose own 40.41 wasn't exactly crawling!!
This was maybe one of the better Arcadia editions!
Another HSR to get CRUSHED here was the Men's 4X1600 Relay!
Great Oak had broken the record last year, running a great 16:52.88!
That's 4 guys from one school each running a 4:13+ for the "short Mile"!
Well, the Men from American Fork HS in Utah---ummm---put a FORK in G-O's record!!
(No apologies here, folks--deal with it!! LOL)
After a 4:25 opening leg, the record seemed to be a stretch!
Then came a couple of 4:07's, leaving it to Casey Clinger to bring it home!
He not only "brought it home", he smashed down the door, ramming through in 4:02, for a final time of 16:41.30, taking more than 11 seconds off G-O's record!!
(Too bad it wasn't a 4XMile!! Maybe they'll take a stab at THAT record too!!)
Distance runners always produce at Arcadia, and this year's edition was no exception!
In the Men's 3200 (UGH!!), 25 runners ended under 8:58, with 19 going sub-8:55, and 9 of those running times under 8:49!
Cooper Teare was the winner, in 8:41.46.
Austin Hindman was 2nd in 8:43.40, with Clinger 3rd in 8:44.70.
NONE of those times are eligible for my Top 24 A-T Two MILE list!!
In the Women's 3200, Brie Oakley was expected to dominate, remembering her 9:56 Deuce and 15:55 in the 5000 at the NBIN!!
Tell that to Claudia Lane, whose Soph Class status didn't scare her from tagging alongside Senior Superstar Oakley!!
Actually, it was Oakley who "tagged along" with Lane, as she ran almost the entire race in lane TWO, while Lane hugged the curb!
When Oakley tried a move, Lane sprinted harder, took the lead, and in a fantastic RACE, edged out Oakley by 0.07 seconds, 9:57.52 to 9:57.59!!
Allie Schadler was 3rd in a solid 10:05.70!
Again, NO list-makers!!
Not the case with Tara Davis!
Thinking her time was 13.30 at the end of her 100H race, she was stunned to look at the clock, and see 13.01 as her official time!
She'd shattered her PR by about 3-tenths of a second--something you rarely see in sprint races!!
It's the Arcadia Meet Record, and makes her 5th A-T HS!!
Caitlyn Little was 2nd in 13.29, which makes her 24th A-T HS, tied with 1 other!
But Davis was rather busy in the meet!
She won two other events, the LJ and TJ, with respective marks of 20-4.50 & 41-7.75!
In an interview, she said a BIG TJ---maybe over 43 feet!--had NOT been measured, even though it was a LEGAL jump!!
Apparently, the official raked the sand BEFORE it could be measured!!
HUH??
Other good Arcadia marks included---
The Great Oak Girls 4X1600 Relay team won in 20:05.31. (They actually had 3 or 4 teams running this event!!)
Tierra Cockrell won the Heptathlon with 5077 points!
Brian Herron took the Men's 400 in 46.47.
He added a 200 win in 21.39!
Sammy Watson best stick to the 800 for awhile, as she lost the Mile to Madison Mooney's 4:47.32, running 4:47.72.
In the Men's DT, Turner Washington PR'ed again, his best effort measuring 217-5.
This moves him from 9th A-T HS to 6th!
Second was Elijah Mason's 212-11, making him 21st A-T HS, tied with 1 other!
The Spec Towns Multis was a grand day (or 2 days, to be exact!) for the Williams family!
Kendell Williams ended day 1 with her best NCAA score ever!
But she fell a bit short of her PR of 6402, which doesn't count for the Collegiate list, since it happened AFTER the NCAA meet last year!!
Sp her 6354 points total is her best official Collegiate mark--moving her from 6th to 5th A-T!!
Brother Devon also PR'ed, his 8345 Decathlon score making him 6th A-T Collegiate!!
AND--he's now 16th A-T US!!
Brit Tim Duckworth was on pace for a score of over 8100 points, but jogged the 1500, giving him 2nd with 7973, with Cody Walton also getting a PR with his 7937 score!
I should mention here that Kansas State Freshman (by way of Canada!) Nina Schultz scored 6021 Heptathlon points at the Jim Click meet!
This 18 year old took the Frosh Class record away from Kendell Williams, while also making her 21st A-T Collegiate!!
Two "MIA" women returned to the fray!
Laura Roesler--after stepping away from the sport for a year or more--opened her 2017 campaign with an 800 of 2:00.69!!
Guess you could say she's BAACKKK!!!
The now-retired, then UNretired, retired, and now (Maybe!!) UNretired AGAIN Brigetta Barrett HJ'ed 6-0.75, taking 2nd to Levern Spencer's 6-2 in the Grenada Invitational!!
Hoping she's back for good this time!!
That Grenada meet had some other good stuff!
Ashley Spencer's 54.78 took the 400H race from Leah Nugent's 54.88.
Sharika Nelvis sped the 100H in 12.68, beating Queen Harrison's 12.81.
(Wind was 0.4.)
Felicia Brown's 22.60 won the 200 over VCB's 22.93, while Kaylin Whitney opened up with 23.86 back in 7th--wind of 1.0.
LaShawn Merritt took his 200 in 20.42, despite a negative wind of 1.0!!
Brandon Rodney's 20.45 was 2nd, with Wallace Spearmon's 20.60 in 3rd!
Last but NOT least was Steven Gardiner's 44.26 in the 400, a PR by 0.01 seconds!!
He broke his own National Record of the Bahamas!
He's still 0.10 shy of the World list!
As I've done before---to save space--I'll list the other good marks I have by event group!
I'll lead with the Sprints!
Christian Coleman took a 100 in 10.03, with a wind of -0.8!!
Look for him to challenge the Collegiate Record!!
Aleia Hobbs took over the Collegiate lead with her 11.07 Century mark!
She had the max 2.0 wind, but the time makes her 22nd A-T Collegiate, tied with 2 others!
Kendell Ellis's 50.98 for 1 lap misses my Collegiate DDD by 0.12 seconds!
Amelie Iuel battled with Freshman Anna Cockrell over 400H, winning in 55.38 to Cockrell's 55.51.
Freddie Crittenden sped the 110H in 13.42 in Miami, wind of 0.7!
Jaide Stepter's 51.12 took the UCLA 400.
Much faster was Quanera Hayes's 400 of 50.04!!
Shakima Wimbley took a 200 in 22.67, the wind being 0.7.
Daina Harper took Baylor's 400 in 51.85.
LSU sped a 4X100 Relay in a quick 42.66, but it wasn't a PR for the School!
Arkansas's Men took a 4X100 Relay in a non-PR 38.78.
Candace Hill ran a pair of good times at the MJ/JJK meet!
She took the 200 in 22.68.
In the 100, she had some interesting competition!
Brittney Reese--LJ'er extraordinaire!--ran 11.40, but it wasn't enough to top Hill's 11.29!
At the Sun Angel meet, Aries Merritt showed he's ready for all comers, winning the 110H in 13.41.
Quincy Hall--who ran 45.32 over 400 meters last week--added 10 hurdles to the mix, taking the 400H in 49.39!
Much room for improvement there!!
Chijinja Ujah (sp ?) won the 200 in 20,39.
Bralon Taplin won the 400 in 45.08, with Phyllis Francis taking the Women's race in 51.63.
At the Bojangles HS meet, Elijah Godwin's 46.34 won the 400 over Chantz Sawyers's 46.43!
Finally (in the Sprints) comes word of a 9.87 in the 100 by a 19 year old Zambian, wind of 0.2, but altitude of over 1300 meters!
A bit of doubt has been tossed his way, as he apparently cut 0.31 off his previous PR of 10.18!
Assuming it's legit, he broke the National Record of Zambia!!
The Throws claimed several marks--
Janeah Stewart's SP of 58-7.25 misses my Collegiate DDD by 2 inches!
But Kent State Senior Danniell Thomas's 59-5.75 does make that list, in 18th place, tied with 1 other.
She also threw the Discus 190-5!
Julia Ratcliffe had a non-PR in the HT--223.3.
At the MJ/JJK meet, Darrell Hill blasted out a SP measuring 71-10.50, moving him from 24th A-T US, tied with 1 other, to 15th!
He misses the World list by 3.75 inches!
Jon Jones and Joe Kovacs were 2nd and 3rd, both in the 67's!
(What's up---or DOWN!!--with 74-footer Kovacs??)
Axed FROM the US list was George Woods, whose 70-11.75 dated from 1976!!
Pawel Fajdek had his best-ever opener in the Hammer Throw--his 267-0 beating Marcel Lomnicky's 255-8!
Summer Pierson had a DT of 198-7.
Liz Gleadle got the Sun Angel Meet Record with her JT of 197-6!
Josh Freeman's SP measured 67-11.75.
Jordan Geist improved his OUTdoor SP best to 74-10.25, but he remains 7th A-T HS.
Gleb Dudorev took a HT with 238-6, giving him the Collegiate lead!
And Erin Farmer won a SP with 58-9.75, making her 24th A-T Collegiate.
She's a Senior at Arkansas State!
In other field events---
Rougui Sow LJ'ed 22-0.75, making her 24th A-T Collegiate, tied with 1 other.
Kate Hall took 2nd with a decent 21-6.
Logan Boss missed the Collegiate list by one-half inch with her HJ of 6-2.25!
Emilyn Dearman of Pittsburg State took a Heptathlon with 5924 points, 89 points shy of the Collegiate list!
She led all 7 events!!
Tegura Claitt won a HJ with 7-5.75.
He's a Soph at Eastern Kentucky!
As usual, the PV offered a pile of good marks!
Emily Grove's 14-7.25 wasn't a PR.
The Weeks twins also didn't PR, but their 14-8.25's took the first two places at the Baylor meet, with Arkansas teammate Desiree Freier having her best mark since HS in 3rd--14-5.25!
Tori and Lexi both tried 15-0.25, but missed all their tries!
Audie Wyatt got the Sun Angel Meet Record with his 18-8.25!
Morgann LeLeux's 15-1.75 PR moves her from 15th A-T US, tied with 2 others, to 15th, but without ties!!
Alysha Newman got a big PR of 15-5.50, breaking her own National Record of Canada!!
But she misses the World list by 0.75 inches!!
I'll close this opus with my round-up of Distance news--that not yet reported!!
Angel Piccirillo took an 800 in 2:04.22.
Donavan Brazier won the Sun Angel 800 in a Meet Record time of 1:44.63!
He won by about 2 seconds!
Not bad for a race run in early April!!
Karissa Schweizer took a 1500 in 4:15.77.
Sun Angel had another Meet Record broken--this time in the Women's 800, with Shea Collinsworth's 2:01.51 doing the honors!
She misses the Collegiate list by just 0.14 seconds!
But she beat super-veteran Chanelle Price's 2:02.24!!
In Marathon news, the Paris races were won by a husband & wife team--Paul Lonyangata's 2:06:10 taking the Men's race, while his wife Purity Rionoripo's 2:20:55 was the fast Women's winner!!
She misses the World DDD by 25 seconds!!
The Rotterdam Marathon races went to Marius Kimutai's 2:06:04, and Meskerem Assefa's 2:24:18.
Ending on a downer note--
Rio Women's Marathon Gold medalist Jemima Sumgong tested positive for EPO in an out-of-competition test!!
No word yet on her B sample, nor what punishment might be forthcoming!!
But you know what---whatever she gets (assuming her guilt!), she deserves!!
Next week (In fact, beginning Thursday!), is Mt SAC!!
I've seen a preliminary entry list (of accepted entries, NOT the final heat sheets!), and WHOAAA, it's gonna be a good one!
Although I didn't see any top names in the Women's 5000 or 10000---at least none that would get me excited about mass revisions of my Record Book in those events!
But other events are LOADED!!!
See you then!
But then--at the very last minute!--I changed it to 39.10!
Dang!
You know what race--and WHOM!--I speak of!
Sydney McLaughlin came to Arcadia with one goal in mind--break Lashinda Demus's HSR in the 300H!
It had stood for 16 years--since 2001--while Demus went on to break the WR & AR for the 400H--the latter of which still stands!!
Rarely have I seen someone DESTROY a HSR (or ANY major record!!) with such precision, such perfect form, and after finishing, look as if she could run it again--faster!--right then!!
McLaughlin took a full 1.08 seconds off the mark--her 38.90 the HSR, the Senior Class record, and the Meet Record!
In 2nd came Shae Anderson, whose own 40.41 wasn't exactly crawling!!
This was maybe one of the better Arcadia editions!
Another HSR to get CRUSHED here was the Men's 4X1600 Relay!
Great Oak had broken the record last year, running a great 16:52.88!
That's 4 guys from one school each running a 4:13+ for the "short Mile"!
Well, the Men from American Fork HS in Utah---ummm---put a FORK in G-O's record!!
(No apologies here, folks--deal with it!! LOL)
After a 4:25 opening leg, the record seemed to be a stretch!
Then came a couple of 4:07's, leaving it to Casey Clinger to bring it home!
He not only "brought it home", he smashed down the door, ramming through in 4:02, for a final time of 16:41.30, taking more than 11 seconds off G-O's record!!
(Too bad it wasn't a 4XMile!! Maybe they'll take a stab at THAT record too!!)
Distance runners always produce at Arcadia, and this year's edition was no exception!
In the Men's 3200 (UGH!!), 25 runners ended under 8:58, with 19 going sub-8:55, and 9 of those running times under 8:49!
Cooper Teare was the winner, in 8:41.46.
Austin Hindman was 2nd in 8:43.40, with Clinger 3rd in 8:44.70.
NONE of those times are eligible for my Top 24 A-T Two MILE list!!
In the Women's 3200, Brie Oakley was expected to dominate, remembering her 9:56 Deuce and 15:55 in the 5000 at the NBIN!!
Tell that to Claudia Lane, whose Soph Class status didn't scare her from tagging alongside Senior Superstar Oakley!!
Actually, it was Oakley who "tagged along" with Lane, as she ran almost the entire race in lane TWO, while Lane hugged the curb!
When Oakley tried a move, Lane sprinted harder, took the lead, and in a fantastic RACE, edged out Oakley by 0.07 seconds, 9:57.52 to 9:57.59!!
Allie Schadler was 3rd in a solid 10:05.70!
Again, NO list-makers!!
Not the case with Tara Davis!
Thinking her time was 13.30 at the end of her 100H race, she was stunned to look at the clock, and see 13.01 as her official time!
She'd shattered her PR by about 3-tenths of a second--something you rarely see in sprint races!!
It's the Arcadia Meet Record, and makes her 5th A-T HS!!
Caitlyn Little was 2nd in 13.29, which makes her 24th A-T HS, tied with 1 other!
But Davis was rather busy in the meet!
She won two other events, the LJ and TJ, with respective marks of 20-4.50 & 41-7.75!
In an interview, she said a BIG TJ---maybe over 43 feet!--had NOT been measured, even though it was a LEGAL jump!!
Apparently, the official raked the sand BEFORE it could be measured!!
HUH??
Other good Arcadia marks included---
The Great Oak Girls 4X1600 Relay team won in 20:05.31. (They actually had 3 or 4 teams running this event!!)
Tierra Cockrell won the Heptathlon with 5077 points!
Brian Herron took the Men's 400 in 46.47.
He added a 200 win in 21.39!
Sammy Watson best stick to the 800 for awhile, as she lost the Mile to Madison Mooney's 4:47.32, running 4:47.72.
In the Men's DT, Turner Washington PR'ed again, his best effort measuring 217-5.
This moves him from 9th A-T HS to 6th!
Second was Elijah Mason's 212-11, making him 21st A-T HS, tied with 1 other!
The Spec Towns Multis was a grand day (or 2 days, to be exact!) for the Williams family!
Kendell Williams ended day 1 with her best NCAA score ever!
But she fell a bit short of her PR of 6402, which doesn't count for the Collegiate list, since it happened AFTER the NCAA meet last year!!
Sp her 6354 points total is her best official Collegiate mark--moving her from 6th to 5th A-T!!
Brother Devon also PR'ed, his 8345 Decathlon score making him 6th A-T Collegiate!!
AND--he's now 16th A-T US!!
Brit Tim Duckworth was on pace for a score of over 8100 points, but jogged the 1500, giving him 2nd with 7973, with Cody Walton also getting a PR with his 7937 score!
I should mention here that Kansas State Freshman (by way of Canada!) Nina Schultz scored 6021 Heptathlon points at the Jim Click meet!
This 18 year old took the Frosh Class record away from Kendell Williams, while also making her 21st A-T Collegiate!!
Two "MIA" women returned to the fray!
Laura Roesler--after stepping away from the sport for a year or more--opened her 2017 campaign with an 800 of 2:00.69!!
Guess you could say she's BAACKKK!!!
The now-retired, then UNretired, retired, and now (Maybe!!) UNretired AGAIN Brigetta Barrett HJ'ed 6-0.75, taking 2nd to Levern Spencer's 6-2 in the Grenada Invitational!!
Hoping she's back for good this time!!
That Grenada meet had some other good stuff!
Ashley Spencer's 54.78 took the 400H race from Leah Nugent's 54.88.
Sharika Nelvis sped the 100H in 12.68, beating Queen Harrison's 12.81.
(Wind was 0.4.)
Felicia Brown's 22.60 won the 200 over VCB's 22.93, while Kaylin Whitney opened up with 23.86 back in 7th--wind of 1.0.
LaShawn Merritt took his 200 in 20.42, despite a negative wind of 1.0!!
Brandon Rodney's 20.45 was 2nd, with Wallace Spearmon's 20.60 in 3rd!
Last but NOT least was Steven Gardiner's 44.26 in the 400, a PR by 0.01 seconds!!
He broke his own National Record of the Bahamas!
He's still 0.10 shy of the World list!
As I've done before---to save space--I'll list the other good marks I have by event group!
I'll lead with the Sprints!
Christian Coleman took a 100 in 10.03, with a wind of -0.8!!
Look for him to challenge the Collegiate Record!!
Aleia Hobbs took over the Collegiate lead with her 11.07 Century mark!
She had the max 2.0 wind, but the time makes her 22nd A-T Collegiate, tied with 2 others!
Kendell Ellis's 50.98 for 1 lap misses my Collegiate DDD by 0.12 seconds!
Amelie Iuel battled with Freshman Anna Cockrell over 400H, winning in 55.38 to Cockrell's 55.51.
Freddie Crittenden sped the 110H in 13.42 in Miami, wind of 0.7!
Jaide Stepter's 51.12 took the UCLA 400.
Much faster was Quanera Hayes's 400 of 50.04!!
Shakima Wimbley took a 200 in 22.67, the wind being 0.7.
Daina Harper took Baylor's 400 in 51.85.
LSU sped a 4X100 Relay in a quick 42.66, but it wasn't a PR for the School!
Arkansas's Men took a 4X100 Relay in a non-PR 38.78.
Candace Hill ran a pair of good times at the MJ/JJK meet!
She took the 200 in 22.68.
In the 100, she had some interesting competition!
Brittney Reese--LJ'er extraordinaire!--ran 11.40, but it wasn't enough to top Hill's 11.29!
At the Sun Angel meet, Aries Merritt showed he's ready for all comers, winning the 110H in 13.41.
Quincy Hall--who ran 45.32 over 400 meters last week--added 10 hurdles to the mix, taking the 400H in 49.39!
Much room for improvement there!!
Chijinja Ujah (sp ?) won the 200 in 20,39.
Bralon Taplin won the 400 in 45.08, with Phyllis Francis taking the Women's race in 51.63.
At the Bojangles HS meet, Elijah Godwin's 46.34 won the 400 over Chantz Sawyers's 46.43!
Finally (in the Sprints) comes word of a 9.87 in the 100 by a 19 year old Zambian, wind of 0.2, but altitude of over 1300 meters!
A bit of doubt has been tossed his way, as he apparently cut 0.31 off his previous PR of 10.18!
Assuming it's legit, he broke the National Record of Zambia!!
The Throws claimed several marks--
Janeah Stewart's SP of 58-7.25 misses my Collegiate DDD by 2 inches!
But Kent State Senior Danniell Thomas's 59-5.75 does make that list, in 18th place, tied with 1 other.
She also threw the Discus 190-5!
Julia Ratcliffe had a non-PR in the HT--223.3.
At the MJ/JJK meet, Darrell Hill blasted out a SP measuring 71-10.50, moving him from 24th A-T US, tied with 1 other, to 15th!
He misses the World list by 3.75 inches!
Jon Jones and Joe Kovacs were 2nd and 3rd, both in the 67's!
(What's up---or DOWN!!--with 74-footer Kovacs??)
Axed FROM the US list was George Woods, whose 70-11.75 dated from 1976!!
Pawel Fajdek had his best-ever opener in the Hammer Throw--his 267-0 beating Marcel Lomnicky's 255-8!
Summer Pierson had a DT of 198-7.
Liz Gleadle got the Sun Angel Meet Record with her JT of 197-6!
Josh Freeman's SP measured 67-11.75.
Jordan Geist improved his OUTdoor SP best to 74-10.25, but he remains 7th A-T HS.
Gleb Dudorev took a HT with 238-6, giving him the Collegiate lead!
And Erin Farmer won a SP with 58-9.75, making her 24th A-T Collegiate.
She's a Senior at Arkansas State!
In other field events---
Rougui Sow LJ'ed 22-0.75, making her 24th A-T Collegiate, tied with 1 other.
Kate Hall took 2nd with a decent 21-6.
Logan Boss missed the Collegiate list by one-half inch with her HJ of 6-2.25!
Emilyn Dearman of Pittsburg State took a Heptathlon with 5924 points, 89 points shy of the Collegiate list!
She led all 7 events!!
Tegura Claitt won a HJ with 7-5.75.
He's a Soph at Eastern Kentucky!
As usual, the PV offered a pile of good marks!
Emily Grove's 14-7.25 wasn't a PR.
The Weeks twins also didn't PR, but their 14-8.25's took the first two places at the Baylor meet, with Arkansas teammate Desiree Freier having her best mark since HS in 3rd--14-5.25!
Tori and Lexi both tried 15-0.25, but missed all their tries!
Audie Wyatt got the Sun Angel Meet Record with his 18-8.25!
Morgann LeLeux's 15-1.75 PR moves her from 15th A-T US, tied with 2 others, to 15th, but without ties!!
Alysha Newman got a big PR of 15-5.50, breaking her own National Record of Canada!!
But she misses the World list by 0.75 inches!!
I'll close this opus with my round-up of Distance news--that not yet reported!!
Angel Piccirillo took an 800 in 2:04.22.
Donavan Brazier won the Sun Angel 800 in a Meet Record time of 1:44.63!
He won by about 2 seconds!
Not bad for a race run in early April!!
Karissa Schweizer took a 1500 in 4:15.77.
Sun Angel had another Meet Record broken--this time in the Women's 800, with Shea Collinsworth's 2:01.51 doing the honors!
She misses the Collegiate list by just 0.14 seconds!
But she beat super-veteran Chanelle Price's 2:02.24!!
In Marathon news, the Paris races were won by a husband & wife team--Paul Lonyangata's 2:06:10 taking the Men's race, while his wife Purity Rionoripo's 2:20:55 was the fast Women's winner!!
She misses the World DDD by 25 seconds!!
The Rotterdam Marathon races went to Marius Kimutai's 2:06:04, and Meskerem Assefa's 2:24:18.
Ending on a downer note--
Rio Women's Marathon Gold medalist Jemima Sumgong tested positive for EPO in an out-of-competition test!!
No word yet on her B sample, nor what punishment might be forthcoming!!
But you know what---whatever she gets (assuming her guilt!), she deserves!!
Next week (In fact, beginning Thursday!), is Mt SAC!!
I've seen a preliminary entry list (of accepted entries, NOT the final heat sheets!), and WHOAAA, it's gonna be a good one!
Although I didn't see any top names in the Women's 5000 or 10000---at least none that would get me excited about mass revisions of my Record Book in those events!
But other events are LOADED!!!
See you then!
Thursday, April 6, 2017
Thursday Thoughts
Besides reporting Records & Top 24 Marks, this blog (& blogger!) occasionally comments on various matters affecting our sport--or just things on his (MY!) mind!!
Over the past few days & weeks, a number of these thoughts have been traipsing through my brain--for good or for evil!!
While I don't plan on having such a post for each day of the week (Like, um, panties! LOL), here's my Thursday Thoughts!
Where is Mary Cain?
When I began my blog on December 9, 2013, I took the time to review the 2013 INdoor season--even if about 9 months in the past!
Of course, that was the INdoor season when Cain broke SIX High School Records--then added 4 more OUTdoors!!
She ran some great times INdoors in 2014, and some okay races OUTdoors that year--even though not up to her 2013 standards!
I blamed it on her coach--Alberto Salazar--and still do!
That thought aside, her 2015 season (BOTH of them!!) was just short of disastrous!
And 2016 was even worse!
Last fall (September or October), she went on Facebook to say she'd divorced NOP and Salazar, and would henceforth train with John Henwood (a Salazar assistant!) in NY, where she apparently is living!
I say "apparently" because I have NO IDEA where she is, whether she's training, or whether she plans to race anytime in 2017!
She enrolled as a student at Fordham University in the Bronx (near where I lived for a year MANY years ago!), and MIGHT still be there!
(She'd be a college Junior now, I believe!)
So, Mary, wherefore art thou??
You WERE a great athlete--for several years (2011-2014)--but now approaching Age 21, you've not only declined in your speed, but have DISAPPEARED!!
I hope you are doing what you want & need to do!
I also hope you return to our favorite sport!
You were a class act--on the track and off!!
In the same arena, who is the best HS PRO--All-Time?
The field of candidates numbers SEVEN--Cain, Alexa Efraimson, Alana Hadley, Kaylin Whitney, Candace Hill, Drew Hunter, and Vashti Cunningham!
Only Hill is still active (as a HS PRO!).
Cain holds 3 HS PRO records--2:35.80, 4:06.63 & 4:24.11 for the INdoor 1000, 1500, and Mile!
As noted, her final OUTdoor HS PRO season wasn't so good!
Efraimson ran 2:01.11 and 4:03.39 for her pair of HS PRO records!
Whitney and Hill are almost a tie, as their HS PRO times in the 100 & 200 almost match!
Vashti Cunningham had a limited HS PRO career, as she didn't turn Pro until the INdoor season of her Senior year!
Drew Hunter turned Pro late in his Senior year, but given the August 31st deadline for HS Seniors, he ran 3:57.15 for the Mile in 2016!
Hadley had 2 great Marathon races since turning Pro--but has been an abject failure ever since--DNF'ing most of her races since then!
(Of course, her HS PRO years ended on August 31, 2015!)
So here's my current ranking--with INdoors & OUTdoors combined!
1. Candace Hill (Her INdoor season this year was her best!)
2. Alexa Efraimson (Her fast times her final summer of HS PRO eligibility were enough!)
3. Mary Cain (Can't ignore her fast 2014 INdoor times!)
4. Vashti Cunningham (Had a fantastic--and BRIEF--HS PRO career!)
5. Drew Hunter (Had just one big race--albeit a very fast time!)
6. Kaylin Whitney (Mostly for her Relay legs on National teams!)
7. Alana Hadley (Two good times in an event rarely contested by HS'ers!)
Will the IAAF and the IOC eliminate the 50,000 meter Walk from the Olympics!
That's what they're talking about!
A petition signed by 50 of the World's top Walkers is being delivered to IAAF, urging them to retain the event in the OG!
I totally agree!!
I've become a Walks fan these past few years!
And as an advocate of Women's Rights, I not only want the 50K Walk to be retained, I want them to ADD a 50K for Women in the Olympics & World Championships--and other major Championships!
I find it kind of weird that the IAAF only recently began ratification of Women's 50K WR's--and now they want to ban the event (for Men!) from the OG's & WC's!
If I were a Professional Walker, I would definitely sign that petition!!
The World Relays will be contested soon!
But its schedule of events has changed!
The longest Relay this year will be the 4X800's!
NO 4X1500's, DMR's, or 4XMile's!!
WHY??
While I like ALL Relays, I find distance Relays fascinating!
I hope some "domestic" Relay meets (Penn, Drake, Kansas, Mt SAC) will hold these longer distance Relays---and produce some FAST times!!
Along the same lines, the 10000 Track race is becoming like an unwanted & unloved foster child!!
The most egregious example comes from the UNlikeliest of places--the STEVE PREFONTAINE Classic!!
Pre ran some very fast 10K races--especially when compared to times run 40+ years ago!
And this legacy has been continued at the Friday night sessions at the Pre DL!
They even had a 30K track race there one year---AND a 10K!!---so 40K of track racing in one evening session!!
Not this year!
No 10K's are scheduled--the longest races being over 5000 meters!
In a criticism of DL's sometime ago, I noted that the Bislett Games in Oslo used to hold a 10K--FAST races all!!
No more!
Why?
Because of TV time constraints?
Because of MEET time constraints??
Easy solution, folks!
Hold the 10000 either PRIOR TO--or AFTER--the "main" part of the schedule!!
Especially on Friday's at Pre--when it's FREE, and is livestreamed for all distance fans to savor---and does NOT interfere with normal TV or meet schedules--and in fact (especially in distance-mad Eugene!!) is WELCOMED by all!!
Keeping with the program, let's talk about a 10K on the track for HS'ers!
Especially the Women!!
My Top 24 Performers lists (OUTdoors, of course!!) end with times of 30:30 (Men) and 36:19 (Women)!
While I think the Men HS'ers would have a difficult time getting on that list--although I think a few could have done it these past few years!--the Women HS'ers would have it easy, relatively speaking!
Here's how my "slow-down rate" sees things!
Take a 4:55 Miler--a time run by LOTS of HS girls these days!!
Slow them down 20 seconds per mile (although some could have 15 second slowdowns!!)!
You get a Two Mile of 10:30!
Have that 10:30 runner pass 2 Miles (or 3200, if you insist!!) in 10:50 enroute to her 5000!
She'd run 16:15 for 3 Miles, with her 5000 time being approximately 16:55!
Take that 16:55 girl, and slow her down by one minute per 5K in a 10K race!
Her 10000 time would be 35:50---and 20th A-T HS!!
She'd make the DDD--with room to spare!!
It CAN be done!!
It SHOULD be given the chance!!
I strongly urge meet organizers (NBN, Brooks PR??) to invite the Top 15 or 20 HS Women distance runners in the nation to race the 10000 on a track---when they're in top shape!!
I guarantee you that my list (Not just "my" list, but THE All-Time list!!!) would be drastically revised!!
If someone who runs "just" 16:55 for 5000 can make the list, think what a Brie Oakley--who ran 15:55 INdoors this year!!--could do!!
Now for maybe my most CONTROVERSIAL Thursday Thought!
I speak of the modern day tendency for Africans--mainly Kenyans and Ethiopians--to become "citizens" of another nation--so as to make it easier to become an Olympian--OR for monetary reasons!
But this "problem" isn't limited to Africans--or to such nations as Bahrain and Qatar!
Right now--on the T&FN Message Board--there's a dynamic and argumentative "discussion" about Mondo Duplantis competing for Sweden--even though he apparently can't speak or understand Swedish, and only visits the country during the summer--if then!!
His mother has Swedish blood--thus his "affiliation" with the country!
He continues to live and train in the United States!!
Too, this tendency became headline news (at least in our little world of T&F!!) recently when the top 4 male Americans in the World XC meet were US Army members--all Kenyan-born!
This began, I believe, when Sydney Maree came to America (and to UTEP) to compete!
Becoming a US citizen, he held the US Mile record at one point---and still ranks 2nd on the A-T US list in the 1500, and 4th A-T in the Mile (both OUTdoors!).
Who ranks FIRST on the 1500 list??
ANOTHER Kenyan-born runner--Bernard Lagat!
Lagat perhaps is THE prime example of what's right--AND wrong--with this nation-switching!
Lagat is a SUPER popular guy!
I personally LOVE the dude!!
But he became a citizen in 2005---having lived here since the 90's, when he attended Washington State!
So his path to citizenship was "proper".
But he came here with credentials of having run the 1500 in 3:26 and change--while still a Kenyan!
It became almost a total certainty that he would break the American Record---which he did!!
No American-born Miler has surpassed that time!!
How far should we go in accepting this situation?
Not just here, but for other nations---Bahrain, Qatar, Sweden!
(Alexi Pappas used her Greek bloodline to compete as a Greek in Rio--and now holds the National Record there in the 10K--even though she still lives and trains HERE!!
Same with David Torrence, who has Peruvian blood in him!
Or Aisha Praught, who now competes for Jamaica!!)
Here's my suggestion--at least in regards to Records & Lists!
As does T&FN with altitude-aided marks, place a letter symbol next to marks made by NON-US born athletes!
Have TWO records--when the best is held by a foreign-born athlete!
Thus, the US Men's 1500 Record listing would be---
Bernard Lagat----3:29.30.
Matt Centrowitz-3:30.40 (USB) (For US-Born!)
(Again, T&FN does this right!
They have "American Collegiate" records--when THE CR is held by a foreigner!
With the number of foreigners on US Collegiate teams--many at the very top!!--I see this separate record as acceptable!)
Same would apply in Denmark, where former Kenyan Wilson Kipketer holds the "Danish" NR in the 800.
Or in Spain, where former Cuban Orlando Ortega now holds Spain's NR in the 110H!
Or--as noted above, Mondo Duplantis now holds Sweden's NR in the PV!! (For INdoors AND OUTdoors!!)
Americans are getting better, but in the distances especially, Africans still dominate!!
So even "2nd tier" Africans can come here--become Citizens--and break OUR records!!
Not fair, IMHO!
Okay, just a few more items!!
I ADDED to my T&F Record Book!!
I now have Records & Top 24 lists for the Half-Marathon!!
I have lists for the US and the World, for both Men & Women!
I also added AGE Records for this event!!
(And will of course note National Records for the event as well!!)
I recently posted on the T&FN Message Board my list of Collegiate Class records--both genders!
I did this as part of my thread about Collegiate Class Records--which I have found to be VERY confusing!
For example, what to do when an athlete red-shirts?
What to do when an athlete attends a university for 5--or even 6--years??
In the latter case, WHEN are they a Senior?
HS Class Records are simple!
Only in the rarest of cases (being left back??) does a HS kid take more than 4 yesrs to complete his or her HS education!!
So the CR's are easy to detect & compute!
Not so with Collegiates!!
In the latest eTN (T&FN's Track Newsletter online!), Anna Rohrer is designated a Freshman!
Huh?
Didn't she graduate HS in 2015, thus becoming a Notre Dame Frosh in 2016--and thus becoming a Soph this year??
Did she redshirt last year?
Same with Allie Ostrander!!
And why was Conor McCullough allowed to be called a Senior in his SIXTH year of college??
I would LOVE to see the state of Collegiate Class Records the same as for HS'ers!
1-2-3-4 years & you're done!!
Each Class Record easily marked & recorded!!
Finally--
"Olorin"--THE expert on the Multi's on the T&FN MB--thanked me for posting the records, but pointed out a HUGE error I made!
He noted that Lindon Victor's 8446 Decathlon mark from 2016 should be the Junior Class record, NOT Ashton Eaton's 8240--which I had in my Record Book!!
HAD being the operative word--as it's now changed to Victor's mark!!
See you in a few days with this coming weekend's results!!
Over the past few days & weeks, a number of these thoughts have been traipsing through my brain--for good or for evil!!
While I don't plan on having such a post for each day of the week (Like, um, panties! LOL), here's my Thursday Thoughts!
Where is Mary Cain?
When I began my blog on December 9, 2013, I took the time to review the 2013 INdoor season--even if about 9 months in the past!
Of course, that was the INdoor season when Cain broke SIX High School Records--then added 4 more OUTdoors!!
She ran some great times INdoors in 2014, and some okay races OUTdoors that year--even though not up to her 2013 standards!
I blamed it on her coach--Alberto Salazar--and still do!
That thought aside, her 2015 season (BOTH of them!!) was just short of disastrous!
And 2016 was even worse!
Last fall (September or October), she went on Facebook to say she'd divorced NOP and Salazar, and would henceforth train with John Henwood (a Salazar assistant!) in NY, where she apparently is living!
I say "apparently" because I have NO IDEA where she is, whether she's training, or whether she plans to race anytime in 2017!
She enrolled as a student at Fordham University in the Bronx (near where I lived for a year MANY years ago!), and MIGHT still be there!
(She'd be a college Junior now, I believe!)
So, Mary, wherefore art thou??
You WERE a great athlete--for several years (2011-2014)--but now approaching Age 21, you've not only declined in your speed, but have DISAPPEARED!!
I hope you are doing what you want & need to do!
I also hope you return to our favorite sport!
You were a class act--on the track and off!!
In the same arena, who is the best HS PRO--All-Time?
The field of candidates numbers SEVEN--Cain, Alexa Efraimson, Alana Hadley, Kaylin Whitney, Candace Hill, Drew Hunter, and Vashti Cunningham!
Only Hill is still active (as a HS PRO!).
Cain holds 3 HS PRO records--2:35.80, 4:06.63 & 4:24.11 for the INdoor 1000, 1500, and Mile!
As noted, her final OUTdoor HS PRO season wasn't so good!
Efraimson ran 2:01.11 and 4:03.39 for her pair of HS PRO records!
Whitney and Hill are almost a tie, as their HS PRO times in the 100 & 200 almost match!
Vashti Cunningham had a limited HS PRO career, as she didn't turn Pro until the INdoor season of her Senior year!
Drew Hunter turned Pro late in his Senior year, but given the August 31st deadline for HS Seniors, he ran 3:57.15 for the Mile in 2016!
Hadley had 2 great Marathon races since turning Pro--but has been an abject failure ever since--DNF'ing most of her races since then!
(Of course, her HS PRO years ended on August 31, 2015!)
So here's my current ranking--with INdoors & OUTdoors combined!
1. Candace Hill (Her INdoor season this year was her best!)
2. Alexa Efraimson (Her fast times her final summer of HS PRO eligibility were enough!)
3. Mary Cain (Can't ignore her fast 2014 INdoor times!)
4. Vashti Cunningham (Had a fantastic--and BRIEF--HS PRO career!)
5. Drew Hunter (Had just one big race--albeit a very fast time!)
6. Kaylin Whitney (Mostly for her Relay legs on National teams!)
7. Alana Hadley (Two good times in an event rarely contested by HS'ers!)
Will the IAAF and the IOC eliminate the 50,000 meter Walk from the Olympics!
That's what they're talking about!
A petition signed by 50 of the World's top Walkers is being delivered to IAAF, urging them to retain the event in the OG!
I totally agree!!
I've become a Walks fan these past few years!
And as an advocate of Women's Rights, I not only want the 50K Walk to be retained, I want them to ADD a 50K for Women in the Olympics & World Championships--and other major Championships!
I find it kind of weird that the IAAF only recently began ratification of Women's 50K WR's--and now they want to ban the event (for Men!) from the OG's & WC's!
If I were a Professional Walker, I would definitely sign that petition!!
The World Relays will be contested soon!
But its schedule of events has changed!
The longest Relay this year will be the 4X800's!
NO 4X1500's, DMR's, or 4XMile's!!
WHY??
While I like ALL Relays, I find distance Relays fascinating!
I hope some "domestic" Relay meets (Penn, Drake, Kansas, Mt SAC) will hold these longer distance Relays---and produce some FAST times!!
Along the same lines, the 10000 Track race is becoming like an unwanted & unloved foster child!!
The most egregious example comes from the UNlikeliest of places--the STEVE PREFONTAINE Classic!!
Pre ran some very fast 10K races--especially when compared to times run 40+ years ago!
And this legacy has been continued at the Friday night sessions at the Pre DL!
They even had a 30K track race there one year---AND a 10K!!---so 40K of track racing in one evening session!!
Not this year!
No 10K's are scheduled--the longest races being over 5000 meters!
In a criticism of DL's sometime ago, I noted that the Bislett Games in Oslo used to hold a 10K--FAST races all!!
No more!
Why?
Because of TV time constraints?
Because of MEET time constraints??
Easy solution, folks!
Hold the 10000 either PRIOR TO--or AFTER--the "main" part of the schedule!!
Especially on Friday's at Pre--when it's FREE, and is livestreamed for all distance fans to savor---and does NOT interfere with normal TV or meet schedules--and in fact (especially in distance-mad Eugene!!) is WELCOMED by all!!
Keeping with the program, let's talk about a 10K on the track for HS'ers!
Especially the Women!!
My Top 24 Performers lists (OUTdoors, of course!!) end with times of 30:30 (Men) and 36:19 (Women)!
While I think the Men HS'ers would have a difficult time getting on that list--although I think a few could have done it these past few years!--the Women HS'ers would have it easy, relatively speaking!
Here's how my "slow-down rate" sees things!
Take a 4:55 Miler--a time run by LOTS of HS girls these days!!
Slow them down 20 seconds per mile (although some could have 15 second slowdowns!!)!
You get a Two Mile of 10:30!
Have that 10:30 runner pass 2 Miles (or 3200, if you insist!!) in 10:50 enroute to her 5000!
She'd run 16:15 for 3 Miles, with her 5000 time being approximately 16:55!
Take that 16:55 girl, and slow her down by one minute per 5K in a 10K race!
Her 10000 time would be 35:50---and 20th A-T HS!!
She'd make the DDD--with room to spare!!
It CAN be done!!
It SHOULD be given the chance!!
I strongly urge meet organizers (NBN, Brooks PR??) to invite the Top 15 or 20 HS Women distance runners in the nation to race the 10000 on a track---when they're in top shape!!
I guarantee you that my list (Not just "my" list, but THE All-Time list!!!) would be drastically revised!!
If someone who runs "just" 16:55 for 5000 can make the list, think what a Brie Oakley--who ran 15:55 INdoors this year!!--could do!!
Now for maybe my most CONTROVERSIAL Thursday Thought!
I speak of the modern day tendency for Africans--mainly Kenyans and Ethiopians--to become "citizens" of another nation--so as to make it easier to become an Olympian--OR for monetary reasons!
But this "problem" isn't limited to Africans--or to such nations as Bahrain and Qatar!
Right now--on the T&FN Message Board--there's a dynamic and argumentative "discussion" about Mondo Duplantis competing for Sweden--even though he apparently can't speak or understand Swedish, and only visits the country during the summer--if then!!
His mother has Swedish blood--thus his "affiliation" with the country!
He continues to live and train in the United States!!
Too, this tendency became headline news (at least in our little world of T&F!!) recently when the top 4 male Americans in the World XC meet were US Army members--all Kenyan-born!
This began, I believe, when Sydney Maree came to America (and to UTEP) to compete!
Becoming a US citizen, he held the US Mile record at one point---and still ranks 2nd on the A-T US list in the 1500, and 4th A-T in the Mile (both OUTdoors!).
Who ranks FIRST on the 1500 list??
ANOTHER Kenyan-born runner--Bernard Lagat!
Lagat perhaps is THE prime example of what's right--AND wrong--with this nation-switching!
Lagat is a SUPER popular guy!
I personally LOVE the dude!!
But he became a citizen in 2005---having lived here since the 90's, when he attended Washington State!
So his path to citizenship was "proper".
But he came here with credentials of having run the 1500 in 3:26 and change--while still a Kenyan!
It became almost a total certainty that he would break the American Record---which he did!!
No American-born Miler has surpassed that time!!
How far should we go in accepting this situation?
Not just here, but for other nations---Bahrain, Qatar, Sweden!
(Alexi Pappas used her Greek bloodline to compete as a Greek in Rio--and now holds the National Record there in the 10K--even though she still lives and trains HERE!!
Same with David Torrence, who has Peruvian blood in him!
Or Aisha Praught, who now competes for Jamaica!!)
Here's my suggestion--at least in regards to Records & Lists!
As does T&FN with altitude-aided marks, place a letter symbol next to marks made by NON-US born athletes!
Have TWO records--when the best is held by a foreign-born athlete!
Thus, the US Men's 1500 Record listing would be---
Bernard Lagat----3:29.30.
Matt Centrowitz-3:30.40 (USB) (For US-Born!)
(Again, T&FN does this right!
They have "American Collegiate" records--when THE CR is held by a foreigner!
With the number of foreigners on US Collegiate teams--many at the very top!!--I see this separate record as acceptable!)
Same would apply in Denmark, where former Kenyan Wilson Kipketer holds the "Danish" NR in the 800.
Or in Spain, where former Cuban Orlando Ortega now holds Spain's NR in the 110H!
Or--as noted above, Mondo Duplantis now holds Sweden's NR in the PV!! (For INdoors AND OUTdoors!!)
Americans are getting better, but in the distances especially, Africans still dominate!!
So even "2nd tier" Africans can come here--become Citizens--and break OUR records!!
Not fair, IMHO!
Okay, just a few more items!!
I ADDED to my T&F Record Book!!
I now have Records & Top 24 lists for the Half-Marathon!!
I have lists for the US and the World, for both Men & Women!
I also added AGE Records for this event!!
(And will of course note National Records for the event as well!!)
I recently posted on the T&FN Message Board my list of Collegiate Class records--both genders!
I did this as part of my thread about Collegiate Class Records--which I have found to be VERY confusing!
For example, what to do when an athlete red-shirts?
What to do when an athlete attends a university for 5--or even 6--years??
In the latter case, WHEN are they a Senior?
HS Class Records are simple!
Only in the rarest of cases (being left back??) does a HS kid take more than 4 yesrs to complete his or her HS education!!
So the CR's are easy to detect & compute!
Not so with Collegiates!!
In the latest eTN (T&FN's Track Newsletter online!), Anna Rohrer is designated a Freshman!
Huh?
Didn't she graduate HS in 2015, thus becoming a Notre Dame Frosh in 2016--and thus becoming a Soph this year??
Did she redshirt last year?
Same with Allie Ostrander!!
And why was Conor McCullough allowed to be called a Senior in his SIXTH year of college??
I would LOVE to see the state of Collegiate Class Records the same as for HS'ers!
1-2-3-4 years & you're done!!
Each Class Record easily marked & recorded!!
Finally--
"Olorin"--THE expert on the Multi's on the T&FN MB--thanked me for posting the records, but pointed out a HUGE error I made!
He noted that Lindon Victor's 8446 Decathlon mark from 2016 should be the Junior Class record, NOT Ashton Eaton's 8240--which I had in my Record Book!!
HAD being the operative word--as it's now changed to Victor's mark!!
See you in a few days with this coming weekend's results!!
Sunday, April 2, 2017
Kenyan gets 4 WR's in Prague
While the "useful" Tim Hutchings questioned the veracity of handing out FOUR World Records in a single race, that's what 23 year old Kenyan Joyciline Jepkosgei accomplished in her WR-smashing Half-Marathon in Prague earlier today!
Firing on all cylinders from the gun, Jepkosgei sped through 5000 meters in 14:53.
While she inevitably slowed, her 2nd 5K of 15:12 gave her WR Number One--a Road 10000 in 30:05!!
Slowing again to 15:32, she still passed the 15K checkpoint in 45:37, her 2nd WR of the race!
Her next 5K was in 15:48, but her 20000 split of 61:25 was WR Number 3!!
At the finish, Jepkosgei became the first Woman to run a Half faster than 65 minutes!
Her 64:52 thrilled the Prague crowd lining the finishing straight!
And it left Violah Jepchumba's fast 65:22 seeming like a Sunday jog!
In 3rd came Fancy Chemutai's 65:50!
Jepkosgei thus ran 10K's of 30:05 and 31:20!!
Jordan Hasay came into this race with a Half PR of 68:40!
In just her 2nd Half, she ran 67:55, taking 45 seconds off her time!
She's building up for the Boston Marathon in just a couple of weeks!
Galen Rupp was being talked about as a sub-60 man, as he entered this race with the fastest Track 10K credentials!
But he felt a cramp early on, fell behind early, and finished 11th, 2:22 behind winner Tamirat Tola, who won in 59:37.
Also earlier today, the Carlsbad 5000 didn't have Bernard Lagat, but it DID have his sister, Violah Lagat!
The Women's race became a pack of 8 or 9 through the first half, compacting into a group of 5 doing battle to the end.
Aisha Praught led for some of the way, but Dominique Scott and Shannon Rowbury were on her shoulders!
A step behind were Brenda Martinez and Lagat!
It wasn't until the final straight that Lagat sprinted ahead to stay, ending with a time of 15:35!
But Rowbury and Praught (Or is it now Praught-Leer??) ended 1 second back with 15:36's, with Scott 4th in 15:40, followed by Martinez's 15:44.
Neely Gracey took 6th in 15:49.
The Men's race was completely different!
Paul Chelimo sped things up after the first Mile, but Carlsbad veteran Dejen Gebremeskel stayed fairly close.
Then Gebremeskel took the reins, and increased the pace even more, opening a winning gap!
His 13:27 was a solo run to the tape, with Chelimo 2nd in 13:47!
Sam McAtee was 3rd in 13:51, with Andy Vernon 4th in 13:53.
This was Gebremeskel's 5th Carlsbad title!!
The Cherry Blossom 10 Mile--in DC--was won by Stan Kebenai's 46:36, and Hiwot Gebrehedan's 53:37.
Christo Landry was 8th in 46:48, with Luke Puskedra running 47:57 in 13th.
Buze Diriba took 2nd in the Women's race with 53:52, with Tara Welling first American, ending 7th in 55:34.
The winners of Chicago's Shamrock Shuffle 8K race were Stephen Sambu's 22:47, and Kim Conley's 25:43.
Diego Estrada was 2nd in 23:06, while Meg Peyton was a minute behind Conley, time of 26:43!
In the Pan Am Cup Walk Trials, some interesting results, especially in the Junior 10K races!
Cameron Haught won it in 48:36.
But 29 seconds back--in 49:05--came 15 year old Juan Moscoso!!
(Haught is 17!)
Even better, in the Women's race, 17 year old ace Miler Lauren Harris LOST to 15 year old HS Freshman Taylor Ewert---by ONE second, 49:54 to 49:55!!
Maybe Maria Michta-Coffey will have a worthy successor soon!
Same for super-veteran John Nunn, who took the leading American honors in the 20K race with his 1:27:17, beating Nick Christie's 1:27:46.
It was even closer for MMC, as MM (aka Miranda Melville) stayed close most of the way, losing to MMC's 1:32:46. MM timed in 1:33:04.
That's the Roads report!
But this weekend was all about the Texas & Florida Relays meets, and the ever-distance-dominant Stanford Invitational!
And no race was more exciting than Stanford's Women's 10000!
Anna Rohrer out-dueled Stephanie Bruce, 31:58.99 to 31:59.88!!
For Rohrer. a Notre Dame Junior, it was her first-ever Track 10K!!
It makes her 7th A-T Collegiate!
For Bruce, now 33 and a Mom twice over, her time was a PR by about 15 seconds!
Also running her 1st Track 10000 was Eilish McColgan, daughter of the renowned Liz.
She was somewhat disappointed with her time of 32:10.59.
Another UK resident--Charlotte Taylor--ran 32:11.80, making her 12th A-T Collegiate!!
While Ed Cheserek took his 10K section in 28:46.48, due mostly to a final 400 of 61.8, the "B" race went to Abbabiya Simbassa's 28:03.83!
He beat Alfred Chelanga's 28:04.95, and Kemoy Campbell's National Record of Jamaica--28:06.40!
Stephanie's husband, Ben Bruce, was 5th in 28:09.29!
The Women's B race was taken by Rohrer's Senior teammate, Molly Seidel, who came close to her PR with her 33:19.60!!
At the San Francisco State Distance Carnival, 13 year old wunderkind Grace Ping ran 5000 meters in 16:26.83!
She WON---defeating a bunch of Pro's & Collegians!!
While she's still an 8th Grader, I'm including her time on my HS list, where she's 18th A-T!!
Her time is faster than the official HS Frosh Class record, and comes within 2 seconds of Wesley Frazier's Soph Class record!!
Then the next day, she added a Mile of 4:55.74!!
Karissa Schweizer--fairly dominant all year & in XC last fall--LOST to Washington's Amy Eloise-Neale in the Stanford 5000 race!
Neale ran 15:39.30, edging past Schweizer's 15:39.75--outkicking the kicker!!
David Elliott took the Men's race in 13:36.68, with Parker Stinson 3rd a second or so behind!
HS'er Sam Worley shocked the Texas crowd by outsprinting Leo Manzano---and everyone else!!--in a 4:00.61 Mile!!
His final 440 was 56.3!!
He's now 11th A-T HS!!
A Texas Soph, Alex Rogers, took 2nd, with Manzano 3rd in 4:02.02!
In 4th came ANOTHER High Schooler, Reed Brown, who missed my HS DDD by 0.58 with his 4:03.23!!
One sad note about this race was that no 1500 enroute splits were taken--or at least haven't been reported yet!
They would certainly make my A-T HS list!!
This happens too often---at all levels!!
Bumped OFF my HS list was the iconic Matt Centrowitz!!
Yep, Matthew's father!!
His 4:02.7 dates from 1973!!
Also OFF the list, with the same time, is Andy Powell, his time dating from 1999!
Another notable debut was that of Allie Ostrander in the Stanford 3000SC!!
MIA since the Olympic Trials, Ostrander took the lead early, showed almost-flawless hurdle technique (despite her size--or lack thereof!), and outsprinted Oiselle's Alexina Wilson, her winning time a good 9:55.61.
Wilson finished in 9:56.55, her initial dip under 10 minutes also!
Does this mean Ostrander's now a Steepler?
She says she doesn't know, but will probably run a couple more this year!!
Another 8th Grader to impress was Jinah Michas (Sp?) in the Florida HS 800!
Her 2:08.05 took 2nd!!
John Rivera's 1:50.38 took the HS Men's race!
Other Middle Distance marks were---
UTEP Frosh Michael Saruni beat Donavan Brazier in the Florida Relays 800, 1:45.82 to 1:46.11.
Chrishuna Williams won the Women's race in 2:02.25, beating Kendra Chambers's 2:02.43!
In another Florida 800, Marilyn Okoro's 2:02.50 outran Cory McGee's 2:02.55!
In another FL Men's race, Isaiah Harris won in 1:45.64, with Joseph White ending in 1:46.07, with Andres Arroyo 3rd in 1:46.42!
Elinor Purrier ran the 1500 in 4:14.48 at the Colonial Relays!
But races in Florida and Stanford were a bit faster!
Rhianwedd Price took the FL race in 4:13.84.
Following in 2nd was Angel Piccirillo's 4:14.11, and Danae Rivers's 3rd place time of 4:16.33.
The Stanford race was won by Fresno State's Annemarie Schwanz's 4:13.82, with Millie Palladino taking 2nd in 4:14.76!
A famous NAME won Stanford's Men's 3000SC, but NOT (yet!) a famous ATHLETE!!
His name is Michael Jordan---NO relation!!--and his time was 8:33.31.
Faster--and with an equally interesting name!--was Zak Seddon, whose 8:30.17 winner at Florida led the weekend!
And since these posts (See my earlier post!) have been mostly about a couple of Relay meets, let's finish off this HUGE report (in 2 parts!) with a bit of Relay results!
At Florida, Penn State's Women took the 4X800 with a time of 8:38.17!
Danae Rivers ran the 2nd leg!
The Florida Men's race was won by Florida (sic!!) in 7:18.11.
Andres Arroyo anchored!
Penn State, with Isaiah Harris anchoring, ran 7:18.70 in 2nd!
Do you all agree that my first post's title summed up this weekend's action quite well??
WOW indeed!!
Firing on all cylinders from the gun, Jepkosgei sped through 5000 meters in 14:53.
While she inevitably slowed, her 2nd 5K of 15:12 gave her WR Number One--a Road 10000 in 30:05!!
Slowing again to 15:32, she still passed the 15K checkpoint in 45:37, her 2nd WR of the race!
Her next 5K was in 15:48, but her 20000 split of 61:25 was WR Number 3!!
At the finish, Jepkosgei became the first Woman to run a Half faster than 65 minutes!
Her 64:52 thrilled the Prague crowd lining the finishing straight!
And it left Violah Jepchumba's fast 65:22 seeming like a Sunday jog!
In 3rd came Fancy Chemutai's 65:50!
Jepkosgei thus ran 10K's of 30:05 and 31:20!!
Jordan Hasay came into this race with a Half PR of 68:40!
In just her 2nd Half, she ran 67:55, taking 45 seconds off her time!
She's building up for the Boston Marathon in just a couple of weeks!
Galen Rupp was being talked about as a sub-60 man, as he entered this race with the fastest Track 10K credentials!
But he felt a cramp early on, fell behind early, and finished 11th, 2:22 behind winner Tamirat Tola, who won in 59:37.
Also earlier today, the Carlsbad 5000 didn't have Bernard Lagat, but it DID have his sister, Violah Lagat!
The Women's race became a pack of 8 or 9 through the first half, compacting into a group of 5 doing battle to the end.
Aisha Praught led for some of the way, but Dominique Scott and Shannon Rowbury were on her shoulders!
A step behind were Brenda Martinez and Lagat!
It wasn't until the final straight that Lagat sprinted ahead to stay, ending with a time of 15:35!
But Rowbury and Praught (Or is it now Praught-Leer??) ended 1 second back with 15:36's, with Scott 4th in 15:40, followed by Martinez's 15:44.
Neely Gracey took 6th in 15:49.
The Men's race was completely different!
Paul Chelimo sped things up after the first Mile, but Carlsbad veteran Dejen Gebremeskel stayed fairly close.
Then Gebremeskel took the reins, and increased the pace even more, opening a winning gap!
His 13:27 was a solo run to the tape, with Chelimo 2nd in 13:47!
Sam McAtee was 3rd in 13:51, with Andy Vernon 4th in 13:53.
This was Gebremeskel's 5th Carlsbad title!!
The Cherry Blossom 10 Mile--in DC--was won by Stan Kebenai's 46:36, and Hiwot Gebrehedan's 53:37.
Christo Landry was 8th in 46:48, with Luke Puskedra running 47:57 in 13th.
Buze Diriba took 2nd in the Women's race with 53:52, with Tara Welling first American, ending 7th in 55:34.
The winners of Chicago's Shamrock Shuffle 8K race were Stephen Sambu's 22:47, and Kim Conley's 25:43.
Diego Estrada was 2nd in 23:06, while Meg Peyton was a minute behind Conley, time of 26:43!
In the Pan Am Cup Walk Trials, some interesting results, especially in the Junior 10K races!
Cameron Haught won it in 48:36.
But 29 seconds back--in 49:05--came 15 year old Juan Moscoso!!
(Haught is 17!)
Even better, in the Women's race, 17 year old ace Miler Lauren Harris LOST to 15 year old HS Freshman Taylor Ewert---by ONE second, 49:54 to 49:55!!
Maybe Maria Michta-Coffey will have a worthy successor soon!
Same for super-veteran John Nunn, who took the leading American honors in the 20K race with his 1:27:17, beating Nick Christie's 1:27:46.
It was even closer for MMC, as MM (aka Miranda Melville) stayed close most of the way, losing to MMC's 1:32:46. MM timed in 1:33:04.
That's the Roads report!
But this weekend was all about the Texas & Florida Relays meets, and the ever-distance-dominant Stanford Invitational!
And no race was more exciting than Stanford's Women's 10000!
Anna Rohrer out-dueled Stephanie Bruce, 31:58.99 to 31:59.88!!
For Rohrer. a Notre Dame Junior, it was her first-ever Track 10K!!
It makes her 7th A-T Collegiate!
For Bruce, now 33 and a Mom twice over, her time was a PR by about 15 seconds!
Also running her 1st Track 10000 was Eilish McColgan, daughter of the renowned Liz.
She was somewhat disappointed with her time of 32:10.59.
Another UK resident--Charlotte Taylor--ran 32:11.80, making her 12th A-T Collegiate!!
While Ed Cheserek took his 10K section in 28:46.48, due mostly to a final 400 of 61.8, the "B" race went to Abbabiya Simbassa's 28:03.83!
He beat Alfred Chelanga's 28:04.95, and Kemoy Campbell's National Record of Jamaica--28:06.40!
Stephanie's husband, Ben Bruce, was 5th in 28:09.29!
The Women's B race was taken by Rohrer's Senior teammate, Molly Seidel, who came close to her PR with her 33:19.60!!
At the San Francisco State Distance Carnival, 13 year old wunderkind Grace Ping ran 5000 meters in 16:26.83!
She WON---defeating a bunch of Pro's & Collegians!!
While she's still an 8th Grader, I'm including her time on my HS list, where she's 18th A-T!!
Her time is faster than the official HS Frosh Class record, and comes within 2 seconds of Wesley Frazier's Soph Class record!!
Then the next day, she added a Mile of 4:55.74!!
Karissa Schweizer--fairly dominant all year & in XC last fall--LOST to Washington's Amy Eloise-Neale in the Stanford 5000 race!
Neale ran 15:39.30, edging past Schweizer's 15:39.75--outkicking the kicker!!
David Elliott took the Men's race in 13:36.68, with Parker Stinson 3rd a second or so behind!
HS'er Sam Worley shocked the Texas crowd by outsprinting Leo Manzano---and everyone else!!--in a 4:00.61 Mile!!
His final 440 was 56.3!!
He's now 11th A-T HS!!
A Texas Soph, Alex Rogers, took 2nd, with Manzano 3rd in 4:02.02!
In 4th came ANOTHER High Schooler, Reed Brown, who missed my HS DDD by 0.58 with his 4:03.23!!
One sad note about this race was that no 1500 enroute splits were taken--or at least haven't been reported yet!
They would certainly make my A-T HS list!!
This happens too often---at all levels!!
Bumped OFF my HS list was the iconic Matt Centrowitz!!
Yep, Matthew's father!!
His 4:02.7 dates from 1973!!
Also OFF the list, with the same time, is Andy Powell, his time dating from 1999!
Another notable debut was that of Allie Ostrander in the Stanford 3000SC!!
MIA since the Olympic Trials, Ostrander took the lead early, showed almost-flawless hurdle technique (despite her size--or lack thereof!), and outsprinted Oiselle's Alexina Wilson, her winning time a good 9:55.61.
Wilson finished in 9:56.55, her initial dip under 10 minutes also!
Does this mean Ostrander's now a Steepler?
She says she doesn't know, but will probably run a couple more this year!!
Another 8th Grader to impress was Jinah Michas (Sp?) in the Florida HS 800!
Her 2:08.05 took 2nd!!
John Rivera's 1:50.38 took the HS Men's race!
Other Middle Distance marks were---
UTEP Frosh Michael Saruni beat Donavan Brazier in the Florida Relays 800, 1:45.82 to 1:46.11.
Chrishuna Williams won the Women's race in 2:02.25, beating Kendra Chambers's 2:02.43!
In another Florida 800, Marilyn Okoro's 2:02.50 outran Cory McGee's 2:02.55!
In another FL Men's race, Isaiah Harris won in 1:45.64, with Joseph White ending in 1:46.07, with Andres Arroyo 3rd in 1:46.42!
Elinor Purrier ran the 1500 in 4:14.48 at the Colonial Relays!
But races in Florida and Stanford were a bit faster!
Rhianwedd Price took the FL race in 4:13.84.
Following in 2nd was Angel Piccirillo's 4:14.11, and Danae Rivers's 3rd place time of 4:16.33.
The Stanford race was won by Fresno State's Annemarie Schwanz's 4:13.82, with Millie Palladino taking 2nd in 4:14.76!
A famous NAME won Stanford's Men's 3000SC, but NOT (yet!) a famous ATHLETE!!
His name is Michael Jordan---NO relation!!--and his time was 8:33.31.
Faster--and with an equally interesting name!--was Zak Seddon, whose 8:30.17 winner at Florida led the weekend!
And since these posts (See my earlier post!) have been mostly about a couple of Relay meets, let's finish off this HUGE report (in 2 parts!) with a bit of Relay results!
At Florida, Penn State's Women took the 4X800 with a time of 8:38.17!
Danae Rivers ran the 2nd leg!
The Florida Men's race was won by Florida (sic!!) in 7:18.11.
Andres Arroyo anchored!
Penn State, with Isaiah Harris anchoring, ran 7:18.70 in 2nd!
Do you all agree that my first post's title summed up this weekend's action quite well??
WOW indeed!!
W-O-W!
I expected the usual fireworks from the Texas Relays, with some good back-up from Stanford's Invite and Florida's Relays!
But what took place in those 3 venues this weekend FAR surpassed my wildest hopes, dreams, or expectations!!
I mean, this is April 2nd!
You don't expect this kind of stuff until later---MUCH later!!
I have MEGA-TONS of material for you, so have a seat, relax, and be AWED!!
To the VICTOR goes the spoils, the saying goes!
But in our case, the Collegiate Record in the Decathlon went to Lindon Victor!!
He passed Tom Pappas, Ashton Eaton, and Trey Hardee--legends all--to claim the CR in this prestigious event!
With marks of 10.63, 7.37, 16.52, 2.09, and 48.24, he ended Day 1 with 4516 points, a Collegiate record total!
After a 110H in 14.94, and a strong Discus of 53.00, he suffered his one weak event, getting over just 4.30 in the PV!
He came back with a 3rd round JT of 66.69, then needing to run the 1500 in 4:50.02 to get the CR (by 1 point), he ran 4:48.89, breaking the record by 7 points!
His 8472 score claimed the CR, the Senior Class record, the Texas Relays Meet Record, and his own National Record of Grenada!!
He moved from 4th A-T Collegiate to 1st!
But he's still 195 points from making my World DDD!!
BTW, he's 24 years old--a year older than most College Seniors!!
(Before the PV, he was on course for a possible score of 8700 points!!)
Scott Filip took 2nd with 7915, with Wolf Mahler 3rd with 7897.
BTW, Hardee started the Dec, but due to unknown reasons---probably NOT injury-related!!--he DNF'ed, doing maybe 2 or 3 other events of the competition!
Erica Bougard took the TX Relays Heptathlon with a non-PR score of 6246.
She too was on course early for a PR score, but fell off pace!
She did get the Meet Record, however!
Taliyah Brooks took 2nd with her 6075 score, making her 15th A-T Collegiate!
Alex Gochenour and Payton Stumbaugh were 3rd and 4th, with respective scores of 5922 and 5880!
Besides my title word---WOW!---there's just 1 word to describe Armand Duplantis!
MONDO!!!
This HS Junior competed in the Open PV--against Shawn Barber and a couple of others!
Barber still hasn't found his 6 meter form, and finished well off with 18-0.50!!
Mondo OPENED at 17-6.50!
(Not many HS'ers EVER reach that height--let alone START there!!)
He had 1st try clearances there, at 18-0.50, and at 18-6.50, where he FIRST nabbed the HSR and the Junior Class records!
Bypassing 18-10.25, he jumped (literally!) to a 2nd try topper of 19-0.25!
Then passing 19-2.25---what confidence!!!--he took all 3 attempts to get over his ultimate height of 19-4.25, or 5.92 meters!!
He has the HSR (by almost a full foot over Chris Nilsen's previous best!!), the Junior Class record, the World Age 17 record, and THE National Record of Sweden!!
He moved from 7th A-T HS to the top!!
He misses the World DDD by just 2 inches!!
What's next for this BOY???
The Oregon Duck Women went up against teams that included seasoned Professionals the likes of Tianna Bartoletta and Dafne Schippers!!
First facing their Tumbleweed TC in the Florida Relays 4X100, they won fairly easily!!
Makenzie Dunmore opened, handing off to Deajah Stevens, then Hannah Cunliffe, before Ariana Washington took the anchor!
Bartoletta and Schippers took their team's 1st two legs, with Desiree Henry closing!
UO's 42.34 nipped the Collegiate Record by 0.02 seconds!!
It's the FL Relays Meet Record, as they moved from 3rd A-T School to 1st!
Tumbleweed ran 42.57, with Florida 3rd in 42.97, and Kentucky 4th in 43.13!!
A day later, the Duck Women returned, as did the Tumbleweeds, but with a changed running order, for the 4X200!!
Instead of the 1st two legs, Bartoletta & Schippers ran the last pair!
Oregon had a good lead at the 3rd hand-off, but Dafne Schippers IS Dafne Schippers!!
Starting maybe 15-20 meters back, she blasted the home-straight, JUST nipping Oregon at the line!
Their 1:28.77 took the W, but Oregon's 1:28.78 took the Collegiate Record!!
And they beat 2 other All-Star teams of Pro's by substantial margins!!
Pure Athletics--which had Shaunae Miller (2nd), Kelly-Ann Baptiste (3rd), and Tori Bowie (anchor)--was 3rd in 1:29.71.
Empire Athletics, with Fran McCorory on 2nd, and Felicia Brown anchoring, was 4th in 1:29.86!
A stupendous meet for the Duck sprinters!!!
Athletics Canada--with Andre De Grasse!--won the Men's 4X200 at Florida, time of 1:19.91.
The Justin Gatlin-led Star Athletics team was 2nd in 1:20.80!
Third went to the Tumbleweeds--male version!!--who had Adam Gemili, Christian Taylor, and Churandy Martina!!
Pure Athletics (4th place) had Noah Lyles and Keston Bledmon!!
They also won the 4X100, time of 38.15!
The Texas Relays had a couple of good races!
Track Wired Elite--with Jarrion Lawson, Wallace Spearmon, and Omar McLeod among their group--took the 4X100 in 38.17, and the 4X200 in 1:20.87!
The Arizona Speedsters, with Jeremy Wariner (!!) anchoring, took 2nd in the longer race, time of 1:22.60!
Wariner had tweeted earlier that this would be his LAST Texas Relays!!
Retiring??
HS Junior Anthony Schwartz had quite a meet in Florida!!
After a 100 heat of 10.32 (1.8 wind), he came back to win the final in 10.15--max wind of 2.0!
He is 6th A-T HS, tied with 1 other!
The time is just 0.01 removed from Noah Lyles's Junior Class record!!
He was born September 5th, 2000, so he'll be 16 all season!!
He'd run a 200 in 20.69 earlier in the season!
Later in the meet, he anchored his American Heritage 4X100 team to a blazing 40.17!!
Other Relay and Sprint marks were---
Veronica Campbell Brown won the FL Relays 200 in 22.60, wind of 1.6.
A "typical" solid early season rust-buster for her!!
Aaron Brown won the Men's 200 in 20.53 (1.8), with Gavin Smellie 2nd in 20.58!
Kortnei Johnson ran the fastest Collegiate 100 of 2017 so far, her time being 11.13 (1.9).
This was in the TX heats!
In FL, Murielle Ahoure blazed the 100 in a windy (2.6) 10.96.
Gabrielle Thomas, the Harvard flash, won the 100 and 200 in 11.24 (1.3) and 22.60 (-0.4)!!
HS'er Symone Mason won her 100 race in a non-PR 11.30 (2.0).
The TX Relays had a pair of quick 100's!
Kendell Williams used a slight wind of 2.1 to get under 10 seconds--at 9.99!!
Just-N Thymes was 2nd in 10.08!
Williams had run a legal wind (1.4) heat of 10.06!!
Morolake Akinosun took her race in 11.10, wind of 0.6!
At UCLA, former HS whiz Rai Benjamin sped a 200 in 20.64, wind of 1.7!
Joseph Sheffield, a HS kid, ran the 100 in 10.26, but it was spoiled by a slight wind of 2.1!!
The St Thomas Aquinas Girls 4X200 team--Their school holds the HSR of 1:33.43 from 2014!--finished third in their event in FL, time of 1:38.20!
Why am I reporting this?
Their squad consisted of ALL 9th Graders!!
Texas A&M's Women's SMR team got the TX Relays Meet Record with their time of 3:42.10!!
Kadicia Baird ran her 400 in 52.7, while Jazmine Fray did the 800 in 2:02.9!
LSU's Men took the TX 4X200 race in 1:20.82!
Nathaneel Mitchell-Blake ran 2nd leg, while Michael Cherry anchored!
The A&M Women won their race in 1:29.89!
Also at Texas, LSU won the Men's 4X100 in 38.97, while A&M's Women beat LSU, 42.82 to 42.86!!
The Texas Relays Women's 4X400 race was won by USC's 3:26.27!
This moves them from 9th A-T School to 6th!
TX A&M was 2nd in 3:29.18.
Shamier Little blasted her anchor leg in a reported 49.9!!
This bodes VERY well for her 400H prospects!!
Texas A&M's Men won their race in 3:01.74.
But the UO Women Ducks--already having smashed TWO Collegiate Records in shorter Relay races (See above!)--ran the 2nd fastest time in UO history, 3:26.07!
They HAD to run fast, as Florida finished 2nd in 3:27.33, Miami 3rd in 3:27.87, with Ohio State timed in 3:29.04, and Kentucky in 3:30.24!!
Run on April Fool's Day, these gals weren't fooling around!!
LOL
Florida's Men won their race in 3:03.08, beating Tennessee's 3:03.65, and Iowa's 3:03.78!
Grant Holloway--a Freshman!--sped his anchor in a reported 44.1--although at least 1 source said it was 43.9!!
Various 400's went to---
Claudia Francis ran 52.00 in FL to beat Robin Reynolds's 52.41, and Natoya Goule's 52.65!
Najee Glass won the Men's race in 45.84, beating Kerron Clement's 46.01.
Shakima Wimbley took another Florida race in 52.05, followed by Sharrika Barnett (52.25) and Kyra Jefferson (52.88)
Steven Gayle won a Men's race in 45.40.
At the Stanford Invite, Sequoia's Frosh Quincy Hall ran a 45.32 time!!
In "off-track" news, the veteran speedster Muna Lee said this will be her final season, as she's turning to coaching!!
Besides Mondo's World Class demonstration, the PV saw other good marks and competitions!
Waiting to open until 15-1, Jenn Suhr then showed why she's America's best!
Emily Grove and Tori Weeks both cleared 14-9's, each getting 11th A-T Collegiate, tied with 5 others, including each other!!
They both attempted 15-1, but got 3 X's each!
Lexi Weeks, Kristin Brown, Kally Long, and Morgann LeLeux all cleared 14-5.25, but no higher!
Then it was left to Megan Clark to duel with Suhr!!
Clark got over 15-1, as did Suhr, but XXX'ed out at 15-3!
Suhr had passed that height, and having won the meet when Clark failed, she then got over the TX Relays Meet Record height of 15-6.25!
She had 3 misses at 15-9.25!
The Texas Men's PV--the Collegiate section--was taken by Torben Laidig's 18-8.25!
He is 18th A-T Collegiate, tied with 7 others!!
Getting over 18-4.50 were Chris Nilsen, Devin King, Jake Albright, and Matthew Ludwig!
Bonnie Draxler, now a Junior at San Diego State, reached 14-0, maybe her 1st 14 footer for awhile!!
(This was at the UCLA meet!)
In the Texas HS Women's PV, Rachel Baxter and Carson Dingler both attempted 14-0, but didn't make it, with Baxter getting the win with her 13-9.
Dingler had made 13-6, before passing to 14-0!
Finally--in the PV--Alysha Newman has signed with Nike!!
The Hurdles--mainly the shorter distances--gave up some excellent times and races!!
First and foremost, let me say that Sally Pearson is BACKKKK!!!
In the Australia National Championships (similar to our USATF meet!), Pearson ran her heat in 12.74, wind of 1.6.
Michelle Jenneke took 2nd in 13.09.
But then in the final, while Jenneke's 13.12 was beaten out by another Aussie, Pearson sped a 12.54!!
Even though the wind was 2.3, she showed such power and great form that you have to believe this veteran SUPER-star is ALL the way BACK!!
If she can remain injury-free, put her on London's Podium--NOW!!
(In the post-race interview---all of them excellently done by an Aussie woman (Name??)--Pearson took a minute to cry and try to compose herself, so emotionally spent was this athlete by her win, and of overcoming such obstacles as a severely broken wrist and assorted other problems!!)
In the Florida Men's 400H race, Kyron McMaster won in 48.71, with Bershawn Jackson in 3rd, time of 49.25!
McMaster claimed the British Virgin Islands National Record!!
Florida's 100H race saw a great battle between UO Soph Alaysha Johnson and Kentucky's Jasmin Camacho-Quinn!
FL being UO's meet of meets (See above!), it's not too surprising that Johnson beat JCQ---even if by the barest of margins, both being timed in 12.69!!
JCQ tied her PR, but Johnson's time makes her 13th A-T Collegiate, tied with---JCQ!!
BTW, this moves Johnson ahead of the INdoor Collegiate 60H leader, Sasha Wallace, also a Duck!!
Wallace took 3rd here in 12.94!
The wind was the legal max of 2.0!
In other Hurdles news---
Chad Zallow ran a windy (2.6) 13.37 in the 110H at Florida.
Chanel Brissett's 13.27 took a windy (2.7) Women's race!
She'd run her heat in 13.34.
Tobi Amusan ran the 100H at Texas in 12.72 (-0.3), getting the Meet Record!!
It wasn't a PR, but it was enough to beat Rushelle Burton's 12.80, and Mikiah Brisco's 12.85!
Damion Thomas took the 110's in 13.43, wind of 1.1.
Lastly--in the Hurdles Dept--Trey Cunningham got a PR by 0.02 seconds in the 110H, his 13.35 moving him from 9th A-T HS, tied with 1 other, to 7th, where he's also tied with 1 other!
The race was at the Mobile Meet of Champions!
I'm going to make this a TWO-post report, as this is already too lengthy for me to even BEGIN telling you all that happened in the Distances--both on Tracks and Roads!!
That report should be posted in a few hours!!
But first, let me finish THIS post off with assorted Field event marks---other than the PV stuff seen above!
In older news---from a week or so ago--Turner Washington threw the Discus 215-8, making him 9th A-T HS!!
Brooke Andersen took the Women's HT event at the Texas Relays with a throw of 220-10, not a PR!
Ariana Ince took the TX Javelin Throw with her 193.8, not a PR!
But Rebekah Wales's 188-0 in 2nd makes her 18th A-T Collegiate--AND 18th A-T United States!!
Chantel Malone's winning LJ at FL of 21-6.75 is believed to be the National Record of the British Virgin Islands, getting her own mark dating from--2010!!
Matthew O'Neal had a windy (3.0!) TJ of 56-8.50 to win the Texas meet!
Iana Amsterdam's 44-10.75 took the Women's event!
At Stanford---where other events besides the Distances take place!--Matti Mortimore threw the Javelin 254-2 for the win!
At TX, Kibwe Johnson finished 2nd with a HT toss of 241.9.
Stanford's Women's HJ was won by Liz Patterson's 6-2.75!
Texas's Women's HS HJ saw Falyn Reaugh reach 6-0 for the win!
She missed 3 times at 6-1.
In 2016, her best mark was just 5-8.75!!
At Stanford, Kynnedy--Yes, the spelling is correct!--Flannel--And YES, the full name is also correct!! LOL--LJ'ed 20-8.75.
While the wind is unknown, IF it was legal, then she falls just 1.75 inches shy of my HS DDD!
Nick Miller took the Stanford HT with 247-11.
Jordan Geist had a SP mark of 74-2.50, while Tripp Piperi reached 71-11--both non-PR's.
Trey Culver took the Men's TX HJ with his 7-4.25!
Charles Brown---Please, stop your giggling!!--LJ'ed 26-8.50 (1.6) at Texas!
Finally--for THIS post!!---
Ioannis Kyriazis, a Greek, threw the Javelin a whopping 88.01 meters, or 288-9!!
This was in the 1st round at Texas!
He passed all his next 5 rounds--as 2nd place was about 50 feet behind!!
It's the Texas Relays Meet Record!
And it moves him from 8th A-T Collegiate, tied with 1 other, to 2nd!
Patrick Boden, the CR holder at 292-4, was also a Junior when he got the record in 1990.
Boden's mark was also at College Station, but in a different meet!!
Kyriazis's mark leads the World!!
See you in a few hours with ALL the distance news--and I promise you there's a BUNCH of GREAT stuff!!
WOW is not the word for this weekend's activity!!
But what took place in those 3 venues this weekend FAR surpassed my wildest hopes, dreams, or expectations!!
I mean, this is April 2nd!
You don't expect this kind of stuff until later---MUCH later!!
I have MEGA-TONS of material for you, so have a seat, relax, and be AWED!!
To the VICTOR goes the spoils, the saying goes!
But in our case, the Collegiate Record in the Decathlon went to Lindon Victor!!
He passed Tom Pappas, Ashton Eaton, and Trey Hardee--legends all--to claim the CR in this prestigious event!
With marks of 10.63, 7.37, 16.52, 2.09, and 48.24, he ended Day 1 with 4516 points, a Collegiate record total!
After a 110H in 14.94, and a strong Discus of 53.00, he suffered his one weak event, getting over just 4.30 in the PV!
He came back with a 3rd round JT of 66.69, then needing to run the 1500 in 4:50.02 to get the CR (by 1 point), he ran 4:48.89, breaking the record by 7 points!
His 8472 score claimed the CR, the Senior Class record, the Texas Relays Meet Record, and his own National Record of Grenada!!
He moved from 4th A-T Collegiate to 1st!
But he's still 195 points from making my World DDD!!
BTW, he's 24 years old--a year older than most College Seniors!!
(Before the PV, he was on course for a possible score of 8700 points!!)
Scott Filip took 2nd with 7915, with Wolf Mahler 3rd with 7897.
BTW, Hardee started the Dec, but due to unknown reasons---probably NOT injury-related!!--he DNF'ed, doing maybe 2 or 3 other events of the competition!
Erica Bougard took the TX Relays Heptathlon with a non-PR score of 6246.
She too was on course early for a PR score, but fell off pace!
She did get the Meet Record, however!
Taliyah Brooks took 2nd with her 6075 score, making her 15th A-T Collegiate!
Alex Gochenour and Payton Stumbaugh were 3rd and 4th, with respective scores of 5922 and 5880!
Besides my title word---WOW!---there's just 1 word to describe Armand Duplantis!
MONDO!!!
This HS Junior competed in the Open PV--against Shawn Barber and a couple of others!
Barber still hasn't found his 6 meter form, and finished well off with 18-0.50!!
Mondo OPENED at 17-6.50!
(Not many HS'ers EVER reach that height--let alone START there!!)
He had 1st try clearances there, at 18-0.50, and at 18-6.50, where he FIRST nabbed the HSR and the Junior Class records!
Bypassing 18-10.25, he jumped (literally!) to a 2nd try topper of 19-0.25!
Then passing 19-2.25---what confidence!!!--he took all 3 attempts to get over his ultimate height of 19-4.25, or 5.92 meters!!
He has the HSR (by almost a full foot over Chris Nilsen's previous best!!), the Junior Class record, the World Age 17 record, and THE National Record of Sweden!!
He moved from 7th A-T HS to the top!!
He misses the World DDD by just 2 inches!!
What's next for this BOY???
The Oregon Duck Women went up against teams that included seasoned Professionals the likes of Tianna Bartoletta and Dafne Schippers!!
First facing their Tumbleweed TC in the Florida Relays 4X100, they won fairly easily!!
Makenzie Dunmore opened, handing off to Deajah Stevens, then Hannah Cunliffe, before Ariana Washington took the anchor!
Bartoletta and Schippers took their team's 1st two legs, with Desiree Henry closing!
UO's 42.34 nipped the Collegiate Record by 0.02 seconds!!
It's the FL Relays Meet Record, as they moved from 3rd A-T School to 1st!
Tumbleweed ran 42.57, with Florida 3rd in 42.97, and Kentucky 4th in 43.13!!
A day later, the Duck Women returned, as did the Tumbleweeds, but with a changed running order, for the 4X200!!
Instead of the 1st two legs, Bartoletta & Schippers ran the last pair!
Oregon had a good lead at the 3rd hand-off, but Dafne Schippers IS Dafne Schippers!!
Starting maybe 15-20 meters back, she blasted the home-straight, JUST nipping Oregon at the line!
Their 1:28.77 took the W, but Oregon's 1:28.78 took the Collegiate Record!!
And they beat 2 other All-Star teams of Pro's by substantial margins!!
Pure Athletics--which had Shaunae Miller (2nd), Kelly-Ann Baptiste (3rd), and Tori Bowie (anchor)--was 3rd in 1:29.71.
Empire Athletics, with Fran McCorory on 2nd, and Felicia Brown anchoring, was 4th in 1:29.86!
A stupendous meet for the Duck sprinters!!!
Athletics Canada--with Andre De Grasse!--won the Men's 4X200 at Florida, time of 1:19.91.
The Justin Gatlin-led Star Athletics team was 2nd in 1:20.80!
Third went to the Tumbleweeds--male version!!--who had Adam Gemili, Christian Taylor, and Churandy Martina!!
Pure Athletics (4th place) had Noah Lyles and Keston Bledmon!!
They also won the 4X100, time of 38.15!
The Texas Relays had a couple of good races!
Track Wired Elite--with Jarrion Lawson, Wallace Spearmon, and Omar McLeod among their group--took the 4X100 in 38.17, and the 4X200 in 1:20.87!
The Arizona Speedsters, with Jeremy Wariner (!!) anchoring, took 2nd in the longer race, time of 1:22.60!
Wariner had tweeted earlier that this would be his LAST Texas Relays!!
Retiring??
HS Junior Anthony Schwartz had quite a meet in Florida!!
After a 100 heat of 10.32 (1.8 wind), he came back to win the final in 10.15--max wind of 2.0!
He is 6th A-T HS, tied with 1 other!
The time is just 0.01 removed from Noah Lyles's Junior Class record!!
He was born September 5th, 2000, so he'll be 16 all season!!
He'd run a 200 in 20.69 earlier in the season!
Later in the meet, he anchored his American Heritage 4X100 team to a blazing 40.17!!
Other Relay and Sprint marks were---
Veronica Campbell Brown won the FL Relays 200 in 22.60, wind of 1.6.
A "typical" solid early season rust-buster for her!!
Aaron Brown won the Men's 200 in 20.53 (1.8), with Gavin Smellie 2nd in 20.58!
Kortnei Johnson ran the fastest Collegiate 100 of 2017 so far, her time being 11.13 (1.9).
This was in the TX heats!
In FL, Murielle Ahoure blazed the 100 in a windy (2.6) 10.96.
Gabrielle Thomas, the Harvard flash, won the 100 and 200 in 11.24 (1.3) and 22.60 (-0.4)!!
HS'er Symone Mason won her 100 race in a non-PR 11.30 (2.0).
The TX Relays had a pair of quick 100's!
Kendell Williams used a slight wind of 2.1 to get under 10 seconds--at 9.99!!
Just-N Thymes was 2nd in 10.08!
Williams had run a legal wind (1.4) heat of 10.06!!
Morolake Akinosun took her race in 11.10, wind of 0.6!
At UCLA, former HS whiz Rai Benjamin sped a 200 in 20.64, wind of 1.7!
Joseph Sheffield, a HS kid, ran the 100 in 10.26, but it was spoiled by a slight wind of 2.1!!
The St Thomas Aquinas Girls 4X200 team--Their school holds the HSR of 1:33.43 from 2014!--finished third in their event in FL, time of 1:38.20!
Why am I reporting this?
Their squad consisted of ALL 9th Graders!!
Texas A&M's Women's SMR team got the TX Relays Meet Record with their time of 3:42.10!!
Kadicia Baird ran her 400 in 52.7, while Jazmine Fray did the 800 in 2:02.9!
LSU's Men took the TX 4X200 race in 1:20.82!
Nathaneel Mitchell-Blake ran 2nd leg, while Michael Cherry anchored!
The A&M Women won their race in 1:29.89!
Also at Texas, LSU won the Men's 4X100 in 38.97, while A&M's Women beat LSU, 42.82 to 42.86!!
The Texas Relays Women's 4X400 race was won by USC's 3:26.27!
This moves them from 9th A-T School to 6th!
TX A&M was 2nd in 3:29.18.
Shamier Little blasted her anchor leg in a reported 49.9!!
This bodes VERY well for her 400H prospects!!
Texas A&M's Men won their race in 3:01.74.
But the UO Women Ducks--already having smashed TWO Collegiate Records in shorter Relay races (See above!)--ran the 2nd fastest time in UO history, 3:26.07!
They HAD to run fast, as Florida finished 2nd in 3:27.33, Miami 3rd in 3:27.87, with Ohio State timed in 3:29.04, and Kentucky in 3:30.24!!
Run on April Fool's Day, these gals weren't fooling around!!
LOL
Florida's Men won their race in 3:03.08, beating Tennessee's 3:03.65, and Iowa's 3:03.78!
Grant Holloway--a Freshman!--sped his anchor in a reported 44.1--although at least 1 source said it was 43.9!!
Various 400's went to---
Claudia Francis ran 52.00 in FL to beat Robin Reynolds's 52.41, and Natoya Goule's 52.65!
Najee Glass won the Men's race in 45.84, beating Kerron Clement's 46.01.
Shakima Wimbley took another Florida race in 52.05, followed by Sharrika Barnett (52.25) and Kyra Jefferson (52.88)
Steven Gayle won a Men's race in 45.40.
At the Stanford Invite, Sequoia's Frosh Quincy Hall ran a 45.32 time!!
In "off-track" news, the veteran speedster Muna Lee said this will be her final season, as she's turning to coaching!!
Besides Mondo's World Class demonstration, the PV saw other good marks and competitions!
Waiting to open until 15-1, Jenn Suhr then showed why she's America's best!
Emily Grove and Tori Weeks both cleared 14-9's, each getting 11th A-T Collegiate, tied with 5 others, including each other!!
They both attempted 15-1, but got 3 X's each!
Lexi Weeks, Kristin Brown, Kally Long, and Morgann LeLeux all cleared 14-5.25, but no higher!
Then it was left to Megan Clark to duel with Suhr!!
Clark got over 15-1, as did Suhr, but XXX'ed out at 15-3!
Suhr had passed that height, and having won the meet when Clark failed, she then got over the TX Relays Meet Record height of 15-6.25!
She had 3 misses at 15-9.25!
The Texas Men's PV--the Collegiate section--was taken by Torben Laidig's 18-8.25!
He is 18th A-T Collegiate, tied with 7 others!!
Getting over 18-4.50 were Chris Nilsen, Devin King, Jake Albright, and Matthew Ludwig!
Bonnie Draxler, now a Junior at San Diego State, reached 14-0, maybe her 1st 14 footer for awhile!!
(This was at the UCLA meet!)
In the Texas HS Women's PV, Rachel Baxter and Carson Dingler both attempted 14-0, but didn't make it, with Baxter getting the win with her 13-9.
Dingler had made 13-6, before passing to 14-0!
Finally--in the PV--Alysha Newman has signed with Nike!!
The Hurdles--mainly the shorter distances--gave up some excellent times and races!!
First and foremost, let me say that Sally Pearson is BACKKKK!!!
In the Australia National Championships (similar to our USATF meet!), Pearson ran her heat in 12.74, wind of 1.6.
Michelle Jenneke took 2nd in 13.09.
But then in the final, while Jenneke's 13.12 was beaten out by another Aussie, Pearson sped a 12.54!!
Even though the wind was 2.3, she showed such power and great form that you have to believe this veteran SUPER-star is ALL the way BACK!!
If she can remain injury-free, put her on London's Podium--NOW!!
(In the post-race interview---all of them excellently done by an Aussie woman (Name??)--Pearson took a minute to cry and try to compose herself, so emotionally spent was this athlete by her win, and of overcoming such obstacles as a severely broken wrist and assorted other problems!!)
In the Florida Men's 400H race, Kyron McMaster won in 48.71, with Bershawn Jackson in 3rd, time of 49.25!
McMaster claimed the British Virgin Islands National Record!!
Florida's 100H race saw a great battle between UO Soph Alaysha Johnson and Kentucky's Jasmin Camacho-Quinn!
FL being UO's meet of meets (See above!), it's not too surprising that Johnson beat JCQ---even if by the barest of margins, both being timed in 12.69!!
JCQ tied her PR, but Johnson's time makes her 13th A-T Collegiate, tied with---JCQ!!
BTW, this moves Johnson ahead of the INdoor Collegiate 60H leader, Sasha Wallace, also a Duck!!
Wallace took 3rd here in 12.94!
The wind was the legal max of 2.0!
In other Hurdles news---
Chad Zallow ran a windy (2.6) 13.37 in the 110H at Florida.
Chanel Brissett's 13.27 took a windy (2.7) Women's race!
She'd run her heat in 13.34.
Tobi Amusan ran the 100H at Texas in 12.72 (-0.3), getting the Meet Record!!
It wasn't a PR, but it was enough to beat Rushelle Burton's 12.80, and Mikiah Brisco's 12.85!
Damion Thomas took the 110's in 13.43, wind of 1.1.
Lastly--in the Hurdles Dept--Trey Cunningham got a PR by 0.02 seconds in the 110H, his 13.35 moving him from 9th A-T HS, tied with 1 other, to 7th, where he's also tied with 1 other!
The race was at the Mobile Meet of Champions!
I'm going to make this a TWO-post report, as this is already too lengthy for me to even BEGIN telling you all that happened in the Distances--both on Tracks and Roads!!
That report should be posted in a few hours!!
But first, let me finish THIS post off with assorted Field event marks---other than the PV stuff seen above!
In older news---from a week or so ago--Turner Washington threw the Discus 215-8, making him 9th A-T HS!!
Brooke Andersen took the Women's HT event at the Texas Relays with a throw of 220-10, not a PR!
Ariana Ince took the TX Javelin Throw with her 193.8, not a PR!
But Rebekah Wales's 188-0 in 2nd makes her 18th A-T Collegiate--AND 18th A-T United States!!
Chantel Malone's winning LJ at FL of 21-6.75 is believed to be the National Record of the British Virgin Islands, getting her own mark dating from--2010!!
Matthew O'Neal had a windy (3.0!) TJ of 56-8.50 to win the Texas meet!
Iana Amsterdam's 44-10.75 took the Women's event!
At Stanford---where other events besides the Distances take place!--Matti Mortimore threw the Javelin 254-2 for the win!
At TX, Kibwe Johnson finished 2nd with a HT toss of 241.9.
Stanford's Women's HJ was won by Liz Patterson's 6-2.75!
Texas's Women's HS HJ saw Falyn Reaugh reach 6-0 for the win!
She missed 3 times at 6-1.
In 2016, her best mark was just 5-8.75!!
At Stanford, Kynnedy--Yes, the spelling is correct!--Flannel--And YES, the full name is also correct!! LOL--LJ'ed 20-8.75.
While the wind is unknown, IF it was legal, then she falls just 1.75 inches shy of my HS DDD!
Nick Miller took the Stanford HT with 247-11.
Jordan Geist had a SP mark of 74-2.50, while Tripp Piperi reached 71-11--both non-PR's.
Trey Culver took the Men's TX HJ with his 7-4.25!
Charles Brown---Please, stop your giggling!!--LJ'ed 26-8.50 (1.6) at Texas!
Finally--for THIS post!!---
Ioannis Kyriazis, a Greek, threw the Javelin a whopping 88.01 meters, or 288-9!!
This was in the 1st round at Texas!
He passed all his next 5 rounds--as 2nd place was about 50 feet behind!!
It's the Texas Relays Meet Record!
And it moves him from 8th A-T Collegiate, tied with 1 other, to 2nd!
Patrick Boden, the CR holder at 292-4, was also a Junior when he got the record in 1990.
Boden's mark was also at College Station, but in a different meet!!
Kyriazis's mark leads the World!!
See you in a few hours with ALL the distance news--and I promise you there's a BUNCH of GREAT stuff!!
WOW is not the word for this weekend's activity!!
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