Four days after the veil of darkness was lifted on the steps of the Capitol with the Inauguration of our first Woman Vice President (& oh yeah, Joe Biden as our 46th President!). the question must be asked--
Did the debut meet of the American Track League open the blinds to a brighter future for Track and Field in the Age of Covid---or not?
After the first event--in fact, the first throw of the first event!--we saw erased a 32 year old INdoor Record---with authority!
Ryan Crouser, hat in place, threw his 16 pound ball 74-10.50 to remove the tarnished name of Randy Barnes from the ledger of INdoor Record holders!
He gets the World Record, the American Record, the Age 28 Record, and the Meet Record!!
(His 2nd best toss also surpassed Barnes's old mark!!)
NOTE---All events in this meet are Meet Records! So I will not be repeating myself with every result listed!
The Women ran 2 separate races in the 300--so the results were NOT similar to when separate heats are run, with the fastest times set in order from all the heats!!
Gabrielle Thomas, the former Harvard sprinter, PR'ed by 0.06 seconds to 35.92!
She is 2nd A-T US, and 6th A-T World!!
And it's still January!!
Jenna Prandini moved up in distance, ending 2nd with her 36.68!
She is now 17th A-T US!
Shakima Wimbley (36.78), and Ashley Henderson (36.95) made this heat hot (sic!)!
In the other race, High Hurdler Keni Harrison finished in 36.83, making her 22nd A-T US!
Thomas also did the 60, ending 4th in a PR of 7.21!
Winning the event was Blessing Okagbare. time of 7.17!
Christiana Williams took Silver in 7.18, with 3rd going to Kayla White's 7.20!
White had run 7.18 in the heats, with Williams (7.18) & Okagbare (7.19) following!
The Men's Dash was dominated by Trayvon Bromell!
He took the final in 6.48--just 0.01 off his best--and the heats in 6.58!
No one--not even Divine Oduduru--was close!
Fred Kerley took the two lapper in 45.03!
Consider that the best OUTdoor time in all of 2020 was 44.91--by a High Schooler!!
Quanera Hayes had it easy in her 400--especially after Shamier Little took a tumble to the track just before the finish!
Hayes's time was 51.76!
Next to Crouser, the best mark came in the 60H when Grant Holloway tied his American Record of 7.35, remaining 2nd A-T US!
But believe it or not, he failed to add the Age 23 Record to his list!!
Holloway had sped 7.38 in his heat!!
It was a singular display of raw talent!!
Tonea Marshall tied her PR of 7.86 in her 60H final!
She's 22nd A-T US, tied with 1 other!
Christina Clemons (formerly Manning!) was 2nd in 7.88, with Tiffany Porter 3rd in 7.89!
Porter had won the heats in 7.96, with Marshall 2nd in 7.98!
Other than Crouser, the other field events were relatively mild!
Megan Clark topped Katie Nageotte in a jump off in the Pole Vault, both clearing 14-9!
(See below to find out who was sort of MIA in this event!!)
Finally, Vashti Cunningham took the High Jump with 6-2.75!
I have lots more results to report, but stay with me, for I will be analyzing the ATL meet (& concept) later in full detail!!
Athing Mu!!
An unusual name for a rare specimen of Woman!!
One week after opening her 2021 season with an 800 in 2:01.07, Mu (pronounced as MO!) outdid herself!
She DESTROYED the Collegiate Record in the 600 by about two full seconds, running 1:25.80 to win the race by 2.5 seconds!!
The old (and I do mean OLD!!) record was Delisa Walton's 1:26.56, dating from 1981--40 years ago!!!
As a Freshman at Texas A&M, Mu gets the Frosh Class Record, and the Age 18 Record!
Taking 2nd, but WAY back, was Aaliyah Miller, timed in 1:28.31.
This makes her 16th A-T Collegiate!!
But Mu had her MOjo working (Heh!), as her 2nd leg carry in the 4 X 400 Relay took only 50.93 seconds!!
Okay, so she had a running start, and Relay splits are not accurate, but come on--50.93!!
IMHO, given a 6 or 7 second per 400 slow down rate, Mu is capable of an 800 between 1:53.86 and 1:55.86!
Place her in a normal Professional 800 (INdoors!), and I strongly believe that anything slower than 1:58 should be considered cruising!!
Pray she goes for the first ever sub-2:00 INdoor 800 by a Collegiate Woman!!
The Pole Vault--as usual--produced more good marks!
Chris Nilsen went over 19-4.75!
And KC Lightfoot followed his Collegiate Record (See earlier post!) with 19-4.25!
Other fast 300's included--
Syaira Richardson running 37.63, taking the caboose position on my Collegiate DDD!
Bryce Deadmon sped his in 32.73, making him 4th A-T Collegiate!
Other stuff---
Monae Nichols LJ'ed 22-1.75, becoming 11th A-T Collegiate!
Deborah Acquah's 21-10 makes her 21st A-T Collegiate, tied with 1 other!
Thea LaFond Triple Jumped 47-7.75!
This gives her the National Record of the Dominican Republic!
Gleb Dudarev threw the WT 81-5.25, making him 8th A-T World, and improving his Belarus National Record!
Brandon Miller ran the 600 in 1:17.09, making him 23rd A-T Collegiate!
Laurie Barton ran a 1000 in 2:42.51, making her 12th A-T Collegiate, tied with 1 other!
Tripp Piperi improved his best in the INdoor SP, hitting 69-3.50!
This makes him 17th A-T Collegiate!
Monique Hardy's Frosh year is going quite well!
After a solid first comp, she broke the Frosh Class Record in her 2nd competition!!
Her mark went 69-6, about two feet better than the previous week!
Christina Schwanitz opened her season in Europe, her 62-8.50 taking the World Lead in the SP!
Another World Leader came in the Pentathlon, the mark of 4665 points belonging to Noor Vidts!!
(Um, uh, who is she??)
Following is my critique of the American Track League!!
It's 4 meets--all INdoors--and all held in the University of Arkansas's home track in Fayetteville!
The next 3 are scheduled for January 31st, February 7th, and February 14th!
They're all scheduled to be televised live on ESPN in a two hour window!
BUT--the initial reaction from experienced T&F fans on the Track and Field News Message Board--as well as on Twitter--was piss poor--and that's being polite!
I'm speaking of the TV presentation, NOT the athlete's performances!!
(See above!)
I've watched numerous meets on TV over a near 60 year period--and my opinion is that this one was "par for the course"--pardon the mixed metaphor!
No better--but no worse--than most others I've seen!
Not TV's fault, but there was no track race longer than 400 meters!
Is that the plan for the next three meets?
Other MB/Twitter complaints focused on the lack of knowledge of the announcers--except for one Woman who was a guest in the booth!
Sandi Morris had been scheduled to compete, but it was revealed she and husband Tyrone Smith incurred CoronaVirus-19 in December!
Luckily, it was mild, and both are in good health now!
But Sandi lost some time training, so decided to forego this 1st meet, and wait for Week Two!
Consensus was she did great--announcing the PV--but wasn't too knowledgeable about other events!
One thing--they rarely aimed the camera at the booth, so all we heard was her voice!
And that--the audio--was another big faux pas!
It was too low!!
I missed it (except in replays!), but Crouser's WR got the reception of a practice toss from the booth crew.
A WORLD RECORD receiving plaudits a HS Soph might get for a minor PR!!
As per normal in TV broadcasts of T&F meets, post-event interviews were held immediately after the event--thus all we got from the various winners was heavy breathing and a series of gasps!!
WAIT a bit before sticking a microphone in their faces!1
Let them recover enough to talk!!
And why did we need two hours to watch 3 field events and 8 track races--none taking more than 52 seconds??
Too much EMPTY space!!
If you truly want to be revolutionary, schedule a Two Mile or 5000 for each sex--and do NOT cut away from the race!!
Let us see every single step, and save the ads for after!!
And why wasn't Paul Swangard or Tim Hutchings or Carrie Tollefson doing the announcing!
Remember, Sandi won't be able to help you these next meets--she'll be on the runway competing!!
Okay, enough ranting!!
Was there anything good about this ATL??
Of course!!
Again, see above for all the great marks produced, including that World Record!!
And the personalities were in abundance!!
Crouser is a solid (in every sense!) presence!
Blessing Okagbare!
Katie Nageotte!
Fred Kerley!
Grant Holloway, Tonea Marshall, and Trayvon Bromell!
My God, could we ask for more!
(YES--some distance runners!!!)
You have one of the World's greatest T&F venues!
You have fantastic athletes!
You had star power announcing in Sandi Morris!
All you needed was for ESPN to respect our great sport, as they do all the others they show!
Announcers, do your homework!
(Read my blog to know what's going on in the Records and Marks departments!!)
I'll be watching--and despite all the rants on the MB's and on Twitter--you can bet all the serious (and HUNGRY!) T&F fans will also be watching the next three meets!!
Thank you for providing SOME meat for the grinder in these days of 1000's of people dying from Covid!
We now have a GREAT duo of Executives in the White House!
Can we have the same next week in Fayetteville?
See you soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment