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!