Shanghai DL (& Some Things)

Was going to do my usual end-of-weekend Mile-long post, with all the fantastic results from the entire weekend--plus some old marks I'd accumulated!
Well, as they say, shit happens!
In this case, it's not MY shit!!
But I'll get to that after I do my usual verbose reportage on the happenings from China.

Choose your subject--Sprints or Distances!
Because those realms are where the best action happened in Shanghai's Diamond League meet!

Noah Lyles showed why he went Pro right after HS graduation--and all it took was 19.90 seconds!
Coming off the turn already leading the 200, he powered away to bring his PR below 20 seconds!
While not getting the Age 19 record (It's 19.81!), he nonetheless ran faster than Usain Bolt did while still a teenager!!
With fluid form, and a masterful kick, he misses the A-T World list by a mere 0.06 seconds!
But he 's 21st A-T US!!
And he has until July 17th to nab that Age 19 mark!!
BTW, he ran AGAINST a wind of 0.4!!

Elaine Thompson is 24 (Will turn 25 on June 28th!), but her 10.78 century (-0.3!!) runaway win had the spark and electricity of a teen!!
Thinking Tori Bowie et al might offer a challenge, she took care of that with 50 to go, leaving her company behind & stretching her margin all the way to the tape!!
Bowie was 2nd in 11.04!
VCB finished 6th (11.23), while Tianna Bartoletta was last---in 11.49!!

The long Women's races were good ones!
Ruth Jebet sloshed through a 3:07 first kilometer in the 3000SC before taking control.
Leaving some classy women behind, she sprinted home in 9:04.78, getting the Shanghai Meet Record!
Hyvin Kiyang was 2nd in 9:06.72, with Celliphine Chespol 3rd in 9:07.08.
Stephanie Garcia ran 9:29.79 as leading American.

Helen Obiri ran 5000 meters in a PR of 14:22.47 to easily beat Senbere Teferi's non-PR of 14:31.76, and Letesenbet Gidiy's 14:36.84!
She ran the final 3000 by herself!
She moves from 8th to 6th on the A-T World list!
On my Combined Events list of the 1500 & 5000, her added-together time of 18:19.52 (3:57.05 & 14:22.47) keeps her in 4th place!

The newly married Shaunae Miller-Uibo also displayed finishing strength, as her 49.77 now leads the world!!
Natasha Hastings was almost a full second back in 50.74!

Kipyegon Bett's 1:44.70 upset everyone's favorite, Daniel Rudisha, as the WR holder ended in 3rd with his 1:45.40!

Mutaz Barshim took the HJ with 7-7.75.
Lijiao Gong's 63-10.25 pleased the Chinese crowd in the SP.
Dani Bunch was next in 62-3.25.

Luvo Manyonga of South Africa broke the Shanghai Meet Record with his 3rd round LJ of 27-10.25.
But he then leapt 28-3 in round 6 to smash his own MR!!

Phil Milanov (213-1) and Sandra Perkovic (218-11) took workaday DT's!
Omar McLeod took down Orlando Ortega, 13.09 to 13.15, in the 110H.
"Neutral" Russian Sergey Shubenkov ran 13.35 in 5th, but finished ahead of Aries Merritt (6th) and David Oliver (8th)!!
Bingtian Su cheered the home crowd with his 100 win in 10.09.
Kim Collins improved his 2017 best to 10.30 in 6th!

Wanting a first 1000 in 2:40, Faith Kipyegon instead followed the rabbit through a few seconds slower, before sprinting the last 500, winning in 3:59.22 from Dawit Seyaum's 4:00.52.
Katie Mackey's 4:07.15 in 8th led the USA crew, which included Cory McGee's 14th placer of 4:09.94!

Bershawn Jackson's 400H time of 48.63 wasn't earth-shattering, but it did get him the Shanghai Meet Record!

Renaud Lavillenie is healthy again, but his PV of 19-1.50 wasn't enough, as Sam Kendricks cleared 19-3.50 for the win!

Some great marks coming from HS'ers, as they're into State meets, or meets leading up to State!

Jasmine Moore exploded out to 43-4.75 in the Triple Jump, giving her the Soph Class record!!
She moves from 23rd A-T HS, tied with 1 other, all the way up to 8th!!
Kynnedy Flannel (LOVE her name!!) LJ'ed 21-2.75 (1.2) to take over 9th position on the A-T HS list!

London Culbreath, just a Frosh, ran a speedy 3200 in 10:13.67!
If it had been a Two Mile instead----!!!!

Kalon Barnes's 100 time of 10.22 (0.9) gives him 19th A-T HS!!
Sha'carri Richardson's 11.28 (2.0) makes her 24th A-T HS, tied with 1 other!

Port Arthur (TX) sped a couple of 2nd best A-T HS Relays!
Both their 39.80 (Just 0.04 off the HSR!!) and their 1:23.52 (0.21 off!!) in the 4X100 and 4X200 Relays nabbed those positions!!

Tara Davis had too much wind (2.6), but her 100H time of 12.89 was spectacular nonetheless!!
Wind or no wind, that makes her the 2nd fastest HS 100H ever, with only Tia Jones's HSR of 12.84 being faster!!

Sam Worley had a great double.
First speeding an 800 in 1:48.25, he came back to beat Reed Brown's 4:02.49 in the 1600 with his 4:02.30.
The 800 time makes him 17th A-T HS!!

I apologize for being all over the map, but I want this post to include all the non-Collegiate Conference marks I have!!

Dathan Ritzenhein took the USATF 25K Championship in 1:14:27 in his 1st non-Nike athlete race!!
He beat Christo Landry's 1:14:51, speeding away over the last few miles!
Aliphine Tuliamuk's 1:24:35 took the measure of Neely Spence Gracey's 1:25:11.

The best mark coming from the rain-splattered Portland Twilight was Kate Grace's 800 win in 2:01.25!

Poland's male Throwers had a good day!
Pawel Fajdek measured 267-5 in the Hammer Throw.
Konrad Bukowiecki's 70-7 in the SP fell just 0.25 inches short of tying Randy Matson's Age 20 record!!
He has about 11 months to knock Matson from the Record Book!!

I'll have my Collegiate Conference RESULTS post for you sometime (MUCH) later today, or early Monday morning!
BUT---I have a couple of "mysteries" to talk about!!

The venerable SEC had Raven Saunders listed as an entrant in both the SP and DT.
As expected.
The PAC-12 did NOT have Elise Cranny listed as a member of Stanford's strong distance squad!

As each SP'er got their 1st round marks listed, Saunders's appearance was in the 2nd flight, near the bottom!
Then the 2nd round began for her flight---and still NO mark from the INdoor AND OUTdoor CR holder!!
Finally, a "DNS" appeared by her name!

I was too curious---and because she'd become one of my fave athletes, and we follow each other on Twitter (I donated $60 to her fund-raising effort to go to the 2014 World Juniors in Eugene!!)--I PM'ed her on Twitter, trying to find answers, but mainly saying I hoped she was okay!
Then I mentioned it in my SEC thread on T&FN's MB!.
Let's Run also started a thread---although their's descended into the muck of "doping" and other zonked-brain speculation!

Then, answering my post, someone at the T&FN MB said "she" had left school.
BUT--my comments included the fact of Cranny's no-show at the PAC-12's!
So it was a bit confusing as to whether he meant Cranny---or Saunders!
(Someone else questioned him about that too!!)

So what's going on?/
I will not reveal my source, but an elite athlete tweeted that there would be no "invitation to tea" (paraphrased!) for one who "turns Pro" in the "middle of a Championship meet" (Again paraphrased!)

This tweet led me to thinking that this person was speaking about (and maybe TO!!) Raven Saunders, whom I have good reason to believe this person knows!!

So---did Raven leave Ole Miss?
Did she turn Professional "in the middle of" the SEC meet??
After all, she WAS still listed on the entry list AFTER the meet began!!
And even after the SP (Day 1), her name remained on Day 2's DT list!!

If she DID leave Ole Miss, why did she??
Academics, as some think?
A positive drug test, as lesser beings speculated?
A sudden turn to Pro-dom, even as her Conference meet was ongoing??

And what about Elise Cranny??
All the other Cardinal "studs" are in Eugene!
Christine Aragon, Fiona O'Keefe, Grant Fisher, etc etc!
Why not Cranny?
Injury?
Again, the list becomes endless!!
Or did she, as was said on the T&FN MB--leave school??
(For Stanford track nerds, it would NOT be a super shocking revelation!!  For example, Cayla Hatton supposedly signed on to Stanford, then never appeared  in a race, and was gone from the roster---and the sport!!)

Hopefully, answers will emerge---soon!!
These are two GREAT athletes---and the sport (and their respective schools!!) will be the worse with their absence!!

My Collegiate Conference post will be out  within a day!
Also, look for an "extra" post (sometime during the next week??) looking at some "new" barriers athletes can think about---after all the chatter about Nike's sub-2 Marathon experiment!!

Finally, I saw the Alexi Pappas movie "TrackTown"!!
I bought it from Amazon Video, so it's in my "Video Library" there to view whenever--and however often--I want!!
It's an EXCELLENT movie--and I will be writing a lengthy review of it HERE---soon!
(I'll also post a review on Amazon!  I wrote a brief "overview" of it on a T&FN thread I started!!)

But I want to wait until I've received (and read!!) the TX Mile Split book about Sandi Morris and Demi Payne and their Collegiate PV battles in 2015--"18 Months Raising the Bar".
I was promised an autographed copy---but they're still waiting to receive the signed copies from the world-traveling Morris and the elusive Ms Payne!
As soon as I've read it, I'll do a DUAL critique of both the book and Pappas's movie!!

See you VERY soon!!