Millrose--Sensational & Dramatic

Let's begin with the dramatic.
Very sad to note the story of Kemoy Campbell.
While rabbiting the Men's 3000 in The Armory-coming off the curve near the 1K mark, the Jamaican suddenly collapsed, fell into the infield, and was immediately surrounded by EMT's.
While it's not certain, he suffered a possible heart attack, but was revived, taken to Columbia Medical Center (where I had surgery in 1957!), and has been put into a 48 hour medically induced coma!
While the medics worked on him, the Shot Putters (The SP circle was right where he fell!) took a break, gathered together in prayer (in a very poignant moment), but resumed competition later!
All our hopes & prayers should be pointed toward this great athlete!

But the Millrose Games was dominated by a series of sensational marks--mostly from the middle distances--but including the Men's SP!

That's where Ryan Crouser pushed the ball out 73-3.25 to totally wipe out his competition, which included Joe Kovacs!
It's the Millrose Meet Record.
He moves from 10th A-T US to 3rd.
And from 20th A-T World all the way to 4th!!

Talking about sensational AND dramatic, nothing topped Yomif Kejelcha's chase of the World Record in the Mile!!
In fact, he sped ahead of the rabbit BEFORE the rabbit left the track!
Then he pushed through the next few laps, knowing he was on target!!
With no one with him, he nonetheless kicked hard--only to fall 0.01 (!!!) shy of Hicham El Guerrouj's 3:48.45 WR!!
Once he saw the time (3:48.46!), he sat on the track shaking his head!!
Two icons of INdoor Miling--Eamann Coghlan and Bernard Lagat were there to watch the race, and were equally shattered by the result---both at how truly GREAT was Kejelcha's run, but also by how CLOSE he came!!
For his trouble, he nabbed the Millrose Meet Record, broke his own Age 21 Record, and the Ethiopia National Record!!
He moves from 12th A-T World to 2nd!
He was timed at 3:33.07 at 1500 enroute,which makes him 6th A-T World, tied with 1 other!!
Far back came Ed Cheserek, timed in 3:53.29!
Just behind the former King came Clay Murphy, his 3:53.30 moving him from 20th A-T US to 13th.
His enroute 1500 time of 3:37.46 makes him 7th A-T US!!

Following were Brit Josh Kerr (3:53.65), Craig Engels (3:54.18), and the venerable Nick Willis, whose 3:54.80 gave him the Age 35 Record!
All 10 finishers broke 4 minutes!!

The Women's Mile was exciting too!
And close!
That is, until "KoKo" (aka Konstanze Klosterhalfen) whipped her model's legs into a mad frenzy, easily moving away from the crowd to win in 4:19.98.
That time, plus her 4:02.70 enroute time at 1500, gave her Germany National Records!!
Two for the price of one, as they say!!

She also got the Age 21 Record, but missed the MR by a mere 0.09 seconds!!
Her Mile time makes her 5th A-T World, while her 1500 makes her 23rd A-T World!!

In 2nd, Colleen Quigley (also a model!!) ran 4:22.86, making her 9th A-T World.
And she moves from 8th A-T US, tied with 1 other, up to 4th!
Her 4:06.15 split at 1500 moves her from 22nd A-T US to 8th!!

Kate Grace ran 4:24.27 in 3rd, followed by Shannon Osika's 4:25.71.
 which moves her from 20th A-T US to 11th!
Her 1500 split of 4:07.64 makes her 12th A-T US!!
Katie Mackey;s 4:26.39 makes her 15th A-T US!
Cory McGee's 4:26.79 moves her from 22nd A-T US to 16th!
McGee's 4:08.36 split moves her from 20th A-T US to 15th!
And Mackey;s split of 4:08.59 makes her 20th A-T US!!

Collegiate runner Danae Rivers ran 4:29.47, making her 10th A-T Collegiate!
Her 4:11.24 at 1500 makes her 6th A-T Collegiate!

He'd tried several times to break Johnny Gray's INdoor American Record, in 2019 celebrating its 27th birthday!
Oops!
I guess it stopped at 26 years, as Donavan Brazier finally got it, his 1:44.41 finishing 2nd to Michael Saruni's equally tremendous 1:43.98!

For Saruni, he gets the Kenya National Record and the Age 23 Record!
Not to mention the Millrose Meet Record!!
He moves from 20th A-T World to 2nd!

Brazier moves from 2nd A-T US to the Top!
And he moves from 14th A-T World to 5th!!
He split 49.89 at 400!!

NOTE: As my loyal readers know, I've accepted a few marks that the IAAF or USATF did not---i.e. Emma Coburn's 9:11.42, Gwen Berry's 251-4, and Ajee Wilson's INdoor 1:58.27 American Record!
But with Wilson breaking the "official" AR of 1:58.71---AGAIN!!--I've decided to rescind my acceptance of her "tainted meat" mark, and to accept the time she ran this year as the AR!!

And that's why Wilson's 1:58.60 is now the American Record, as recognized by the official agencies (I assume!!), and by this blog!!
She is now 18th A-T World!!

Natoya Goule's 1:59.13 came 2nd.
Ce'Aira Brown's 1:59.74 in 3rd moves her from 21st A-T US to 10th!!

The 3000's--Men and Women--were fast and deep!!
Despite the collapse of Kemoy Campbell, the race continued as the medics tended to Campbell right beside the track!!

Grant Fisher outkicked Morgan McDonald--7:42.62 to 7:42.76!!
For the Cardinal, he becomes 3rd A-T Collegiate, and 21st A-T US!!
For McDonald, he becomes 4th A-T Collegiate!!
In quite a race for the College crowd, 3rd placer Aman Kemboi's 7:44.77 makes him 7th A-T Collegiate!!

The Women's race was equally productive!!
Alicia Monson, the Wisconsin Collegiate, shocked the Pro's by winning the 3K in 8:45.97!!
She becomes 3rd A-T Collegiate, and 15th A-T US!!

Rachel Schneider's 8:46.44 makes her 16th A-T US!

Jessica O'Connell's 8:46.50 in 3rd got her the National Record of Canada!!
Aisha Praught-Leer's 4th place time of 8:46.60 made for a strong front four!!

So what happened to the favored Emma Coburn and Elinor Purrier?/
They were clipped, causing both to take a tumble.
They got up and finished, but couldn't close the gap!
Coburn ended 5th in 8:52.27, while Purrier finished further back.
Between them came Weini Kelati, whose 8:53.98 gave her the National Record of Eritrea, and makes her 10th A-T Collegiate!!

In other Millrose action---
Vashti Cunningham HJ'ed 6-4.75 for an easy win!
Equally impressive was returning-from-injury English Gardner!
In her 1st race since 2017 (!!), she sped 7.10 in the 60 to come close to Ewa Swoboda's World Leader!!
She becomes 20th A-T US, tied with 2 others!

All my other Millrose marks came from High Schoolers!
This post is already quite long, and there's lots more to report (including those Millrose marks!), so I've decided to split this report into TWO posts!!

Be back in a few hours with all the rest!!
(I promise you the wait will be worth it!!)

See you soon!