London & a Mixture

Om a weekend when the 125th Penn Relays--and the 110th Drake Relays--were held, it was staid olde London Town that captured the Hurrahs and Well done's of the World's Athletics fans!
Yes, that 26.2 mile trek through the English city--seen by millions either via livestream or behind fences & ropes lining the circuitous route this venerable Marathon takes won our hearts and minds--while awful weather in Iowa & a weekend with just too MANY Relay meets--left us to behold the magnificence of Eliud Kipchoge, and the fanciful leap forth by the Ladies after a sluggish first half!!

For the 10th time, Eliud Kipchoge won the race he entered, even if 2 or 3 wannabe's held to his coat's buttons through 40K, leaving us to wonder if the GOAT still had it at age 34!

Yes, he did.
Yes, he does!
Never bet against him!

It took a stroll over 2 hours 2 minutes & 37 seconds for Kipchoge to reach the finish,while Mesenet Geremew took just 18 seconds longer!
Unlike the Women, it was an evenly paced race, with the stolid jaw of Kipchoge barely working!
No sweat for the King!

He gets the Course Record, the Age 34 Record,, and the 2nd fastest time ever run--behind only his own World Record!

Geremew gets the best 2nd Place mark, the Age 27 Record, and is now 2nd A-T World!
Third placer Mule (Yes, his name is MULE!!) Wanihun ran 2:03:16 for the best 3rd Place mark, and ranks 9th A-T World!!

Mo Farah--in a race where he said he was "prepared"--faded to a 2:05:39 finish in 5th place, after passing 35K at 2:03+ pace!!

As noted, the Women's race was run entirely differently!
A large group--led surprisingly by a 42 year old Australian named Sinead Diver (!!)--ran at just under 2:23 pace for the first 13.1 miles!!

The usual African contingent, plus super Americans Molly Huddle and Emily Sisson--let the old gal have her fun in the sun--not quite!  fun in the slightly windy, cold London fog!!

Diver actually looked pretty good--easy fluid motion, relaxed face, looking like she might last awhile!
She did--through the Half or a bit past!
That's when Gladys Cherono, Mary Kitaany, Vivian Cheruiyot--and Brigid Kosgei decided to lay the hammer down!
Chugging through a couple of sub-5 miles, they soon put Diver back on the board (so to speak!), and began to race!

Keitany maybe showed a bit of her 37 years (Tell that to the Aussie, who didn't let 5 more years than Keitany bother her much!!!).
\Before long, it was down to Cheruiyot and Kosgei.
Then Kosgei made a slight break, the gap only widening as the finish approached!

Her 2:18:20 was run with a spectacular negative split of 71:38 & 66:42---the fastest 2nd Half ever un in a full marathon!!
She gets the Age 25 Record, and moves from 9th A-T World to 7th!

Cheruiyot's 2:20:14 led a few under 2:21--Roza Dereje's 2:20:51, Gladys Cherono's 2:20:52, and Keitany's 2:20:56!!
The latter gets the Age 37 Record, and is the oldest to run a sub-2:21!!

She wasn't close to the Veteran at the end, but Emily Sisson closed as the fastest American, her 2:23:08 being run with a slight negative split!
This makes her 7th A-T US, and is the 2nd fastest debut Marathon for an American Woman!!
Molly Huddle had a bad day, yet ran 2:26 and change!!
But there's hope for the 34 year old Huddle!
The 42 year old Ms Diver ended in 2:24:11--a PR by over a minute!!

A few athletes showed they're ready for whatever comes next!!

Shaunae Miller-Uibo beat Shakima Wimbley's 51.32 by 2.27 seconds, her 49.05 the fastest run prior to June!!
This was at Florida's Tom Jones meet!!

Sandi Morris returned from injury & surgery in a big way--beating Jenn Suhr at Drake with a solid rust-buster of 15-7.25!!
And Mondo Duplantis finally got his act together, as his 19-5.75 at the LSU meet gave him the Age 19 Record and the Frosh Class Record!!
This makes him 2nd A-T Collegiate!!

Drake's Men's PV was forced inside by VERY bad weather conditions!
Thus, Chris Nilsen's 19-2.25 winner moves him from 6th A-T Collegiate INdoors, tued with 3 others, to 4th!
He also moves from 17th A-T US INdoors, tied with ELEVEN others, to 9th, tied with a measly 5 others!!
Sam Kendricks cleared 19-0.25 in 2nd!

Keturah Orji came within 1.50 inches of her Rio PR, TJ'ing 48-1.75 in a Georgia meet!!

There was some solid Long Jumping this past weekend--
Jeff Henderson went 27-4.50!

Chantel Malone leapt 22-7.25 in Georgia, beating the 22-2.25 by Ailiyah Whisby, who did a pretty good Pentathlon this past INdoor season!

Kate Hall got off a jump of 21-11.75!
And Tara Davis made a good return to action with a LJ of 21-5.25!

Tori Bowie LJ'ed 22-3 in her first meet of the year!!

Earlier, there was lots of talk about HS'er Matthew Boling!
It begam because of his sprinting, then turned some heads because of a 26-3.50 LJ!!

Boling ran a 100 in 9.98--aided greatly by a  slight breeze of 4.2--which probably means he ran 10.15 or 10.20--or slower!!

However, we may have a NEW name in Men's HS Long Jumping!!
Tony Martin (Does he sing also??  LOL) landed in the sand 26-6 from the bpard!!
This makes him 6th A-T HS!!
I spoke of a possible 27 footer from Boling in a previous post!
Could we see TWO of those babies this year??

Penn and Drake had its usual assortment of speedy Relays- mostly in their "USA vs the World" set-up!
The times were in the usual range of mid-42's and sub-3:05'sm but nothing really worth reporting!

But Penn always has great sprint Relays for HS'ers!

The Edwin Allen Women's team from Jamaica ran 43.62, the fastest ever by a HS tesm from anywhere in the World!
I heard they had a 14 year old on the team, with the oldest being 17!!

But a Women's US team from Desoto in Texas (the race being run IN Texas!!) broke the American HSR with their 44.44!!

A Women's team from USC ran 42.77, the Collegiate leader!
Houston's Men ran a 4X400 in 3:02.61 at Penn!

Grant Holloway sped the 110H in 13.25!
Janeek Brown ran the 100H in 12.57, the Collegiate leader!
This ties the Soph Class Record, and makes her 5th A-T Collegiate, tied with 1 other!!

Kenny Bednarek ran 20.30 INdoors this year, the best by a Division 2 athlete!
He bettered that with his 20.29 OUTdoors this past weekend!

In possibly her 1st meet as a newbie Professional, Tia Jones sped the 100H in 12.88!!
She's still a Senior in High School!
So she set the HS PRO Record for the 100H, as well as the HS PRO Senior Class Record!!
She'll have until August 31st to improve those Records!!

Jenna Prandini had a solid double--tying the World leader with her 11.10 in the Century, adding a 200 in 22.53!!

Abderrahman Samba ran the fastest 400H with his 47.51.
And Brianna Williams had a solid double, running the 100 & 200 in respective times of 11.25 and 22.89!

Some field events saw good action, including a "new" name or two!!

Darrell Hill threw the SP 71-3.25!
The Drake weather was terrible at the time when Ryan Crouser was meeting Payton Otterdahl!
They couldn't handle the slippery ring (and wet ball!!),neither clearing the 70 foot line, but with Crouser edging the Collegiate!

Shadae Lawrence had a DT of 209-7!
That's the National Record of Jamaica!!

Arianna Ince threw the Javelin 195-2!
BTW, I believe she's now married--I'll try to get her new name!!

Janee Kassanavoid added 6 inches to her recent PR in the HT, her 239-6 moving her from 11th A-T US to 10th!!

One of those new names--at least to your friendly blogger!--is one Portius Warren!
She got off a Shot Put of 61-0.75, which makes her 9th A-T Collegiate!!
Greg Thompson got off a big DT of 215-1,  which makes him 12th A-T Collegiate!

Remember Skylar Ciccolini?/
She was a top-rated JT'er in HS last year!
Well, she's now a HS Senior, and gets that Class Record with her spear chuck of 184-2!!
She moves from 5th A-T HS to 2nd!!

We have yet another HS Woman over 14 feet in the PV!!
Layla Kieffer's 14-1 makes her the 15th Woman to clear 14-0 or higher OUTdoors!
And it makes her 7th A-T HS, tied with 1 other!
She's from Seattle!

While I'm on the PV, I need to make a correction from a previous post!!
I said that Annie Johnigan had cleared a new PR of 15-5!
Sorry, but her mark was "just" 15-3!!
This makes her 13th A-T US, tied with 2 others!

A DMR team from Penn had the fastest time at the (sic!) Penn Relays, their 10:59.44 making them 13th A-T School!!

Ajee Wilson ran an early season 1500 in Princeston!
Her 4:06.38 actually leads the World!!

Another incredible World Leader was run at Penn!
In the HIGH SCHOOL Women's Mlei race!!
Yes, Victoria Starcher's speedy 4:38.19 (with a final lap of 64!!) not only broke Mary Cain's iconic Meet Record (Remember her 4:39.28 run there as a Soph, with a 62.5 lsst 440??), but really does make the precocious Starcher the WORLD Leader in the Women's Mile!!
She said she'll be gning against Professionals in the Camel City meet later this spring!!
Marlee Starliper was 4 seconds behind in 2nd!
BTW, this makes Ms Starcher 7th A-T HS!!

The upcoming weekend will see the first of the DL's--in the WC city of Doha!!
Also this weekend will be the Distance Carnival at the Payton Jordan meet!!
But they'll have to go pretty fast to top that fantastic 10000 run by Emily Sisson and Molly Huddle at the earlier Stanford Invite!!

And remember, the Prefontaine Classic will also be at Stanford this year, but not on it's usual late May date!
It will be held on June 30th!!

My apologies for this late post--I had other things going on!!

See you soon!