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!!