Yes, it's still just April!

 The 2021 season is already challenging the whole 2020 season for top-end quality, and depth!
Yet, as i type this, it's still just April!
Loaded with mid season marks, this past week was exciting!

Keturah Orji has been at the top of the Triple Jump game since High School, and it culminated in her reclaiming the American Record from Tori Franklin with a World Class mark of 48-11.50!
She missed the World list by just 3 inches, but this was a World Leader!
Her Combined Events total for the LJ & TJ (OUTdoor marks only!) is 71-4 (22-4.50 & 48-11.50).
This makes her Number One on the US list!

Rudy Winkler led a fairly deep group of American Men in the Hammer Throw, coming within two feet of the American Record!
His 268-11 was a humongous PR by the 26 year old!
He misses the World list by 2 feet!
He is 2nd A-T US, behind just Lance Deal's 270-9 AR!
Denzel Comenentia was 2nd with 251-8.
In 3rd came Daniel Haugh, his 250-10 making him 13th A-T US!
Brock Eager was 4th with 248-7, which ranks him 17th A-T US!
Sean Donnelly followed in 5th with a non-PR of 248-4!
This was at the USATF Grand Prix meet in the new Hayward Field!

Also in Eugene, Shaunae Miller-Uibo ran the fastest pre-May 400 with her solo 49.08!
Lynna Irby, though well beaten, ran a solid time of 50.28!
Laura Muir ignored the rabbit and took off to a 61 second first lap of the 1500.
She slowed, but her 4:01.54 is fast for this time of year, especially considering how she ran it!
Helen Schlactenhaufen was 2nd in 4:04.36!
Cory McGee was next in 4:05.00!
Sage Hurta became top Collegiate with her 8th place time of 4:08.38!
This makes her 11th A-T Collegiate!
Jenny Simpson ran just 4:10.07, but termed it her "rust buster"!

The World Lead in the 3000SC was taken over by unknown Isaac Updike at the USATF meet!
His 8:17.74 makes him 20th A-T US!
He was closely followed by Mason Ferlic's 8:18.49!
This makes him 22nd A-T US!

The Drake Relays 5000 started off a surge of speedy 5K running by the young set of American Men!
The win went to Australian Morgan McDonald in 13:21.39!
But in 3rd came Nico Young, whose 13:24.25 is said to be the American Junior Record (which this blog pays no attention to!)!
He misses the Collegiate DDD by a mere 0.01 seconds!!

Then at the Eugene meet, that mark was smashed to pieces by Cole Hocker!
(The USATF meet was held in conjunction with the Oregon Relays, and that was the meet where this race took place!)
Already having made the cover of Track and Field News, Hocker's 13:19.98 was actually somewhat disappointing to him, as he'd wanted the Olympic Q time of 13:13!!
The Oregon Frosh is 14th A-T Collegiate!
Cooper Teare was close behind with his 13:20.24!
This is the Junior Class Record!
Edwin Kurgat was 3rd in 13:20.48, making him 17th A-T Collegiate!
Also in the mix was Wes Kiptoo's 4th place time of 13:21.02!
This ranks him 20th A-T Collegiate!!
The Drake and Eugene races took place just hours apart!!

Johannes Vetter opened back up the Javelin Throw's 300 footer club with his 300-2 throw!
This was in Germany!

The Men's Pole Vault saw some big names performing like they should!
At Drake, Sam Kendricks broke his own Meet Record with a clearance of 19-2.75!
Chris Nilsen was 2nd with 19-0.25!
But KC Lightfoot, who had just turned Pro, made a horrible Pro debut by No Heighting (along with Andrew Irwin!)!!
Then in Louisiana, Mondo Duplantis became the World Leader with his 19-4.25!

JuVaughn Harrison is proving he's the real thing!
He LJ'ed 27-8.25 in the same Louisiana meet, making him 4th A-T Collegiate!
He's also 20th A-T US, tied with 1 other!
A meet in Chula Vista CA saw Harrison Williams soar to a Decathlon score of 8439 points!
This makes him 12th A-T US!!
The Women's 23 foot Club in the LJ continues to produce!
Chantel Malone won Chula Vista with a leap of 23-1.75!
She had a wind-aided mark of 23-3.50!
Britney Reese is back!
She had a windy mark of 23-1.75, although her best legal mark was 22-1.50!

Alison Dos Santos of Brazil took over the World Lead in the 400H with his Drake Meet Record time of 48.15!
The Men's flat 400 saw some solid action in both Oregon and Louisiana!
Michael Norman met his former USC teammate Rai Benjamin in Eugene, with Norman prevailing, 44.67 to 44.98!
Then down south, we saw Noah Williams shock with his World Leading 44.30!
This makes him 12th A-T Collegiate, tied with 1 other!
He misses the US list by 0.03 seconds!!
Bryce Deadmon's 44.58 in 2nd misses the Collegiate list by the same 0.03 seconds!

A showdown of America's top Women in the Hammer Throw saw Brooke Andersen's 255-10 prevail over DeAnna Price's 249-10!
Janae Kassanavoid was far back in 3rd with her 238-10.
Erin Reese connected with a throw of 237-1 in 4th, making her 14th A-T US!

Aleia Hobbs sped a World Leading 100 of 10.91 in Louisiana!
In 2nd came Tamara Clark's 10.96!
She is now 8th A-T Collegiate, tied with 3 others!
Mikiah Brisco and Symone Mason followed in 3rd and 4th with times of 11.02!
The USATF meet saw Jasmine Camacho-Quinn win the 100H in 12.46!
Back in 4th came Sydney McLaughlin with yet another PR!
Her 12.87 improves her Combined Events total for the 100H and 400H to 65:07 (12.87 & 52.20).
She leads the World and US lists in this!

There is so much else to report from just this past week that I'm forced (for space reasons) to group them as I often do by events!
It's less sexy, but I want to report as much as I need to in this post!

The Sprints (everything up to 400 meters)
Drake's 100H saw Cindy Sember (formerly Ofili) speed a 12.57!
She needed all of it to defeat Christine Clemons, who ran 12.59!
Way back was Super Veteran Dawn Harper-Nelson, who finished in 13.28!
Gianna Woodruff ran the World Leading time of 55.02 over 400H!
This is also Panama's National Record!!

Trayvon Bromell sprinted the 100 twice in 10.01 (heat & final) in Eugene!
Jereem Richards took the 200 there in 20.26!
Blessing Okagbare ran 10.97 to win the Women's 100!
It was windy in Louisiana, but still impressive was Terrance Laird's time of 19.82 in the 200!
Wind was 2.4!
Wind was legal for Robert Dunning's surprise 110H time of 13.28!
This makes him 13th A-T Collegiate, tied with 3 others!
Sean Burrell, a Frosh at LSU, ran the 400H in 49.12!

The wind was too strong (2.6), but still impressive was Tonea Marshall's 100H time of 12.53!
Tara Davis was close in 12.61.
In Florida, unknown Raynish Jones ran the 100H in 12.73!
She misses the Collegiate list by a measly 0.03 seconds!
She competes for UCF!
I haven't seen her name in awhile--at least since 2019--but Dior Hall is back, running the 100H in 13.17 in Arizona!
Akani Simbine sped a 100 in 9.99 in Australia!
He also recently ran 9.82, but with a 2.8 wind!

In Relays, Drake saw North Carolina A&T time 3:02.14 in the 4X400!
In Louisiana, Canada's 4X100 team won over LSU, 38.49 to 38.58!
LSU won the Men's 4X400 with a solid 3:01.85, anchored by Sean Burrell's split of 44.24!
LSU won the Women's 4X100 with 42.70!
Texas A&M took the Women's 4X400 in 3:27.16, assisted to the max by Athing Mu's anchor of 49.87!
The young lady is a BEAST!!
LSU finished 2nd in a good 3:29.01.

Distances (800 to whatever!)
The Drake Road miles (which finish on the track!) went to Eric Avila's 3:59.0 and Rachel Schneider's 4:30.03!
Craig Engels took 2nd in 3:59.3, while Shannon Osika was Silver in the Women's event with 4:31.3!
A familiar name in Road miles (She was once called the Queen of the Road Mile!!) returned, Heather Kampf's 4:33.2 taking 3rd!

In the track 1500, Josette Norris PR'ed in 4:06.17 for the win!
Second went to Schneider's 4:06.51!
Leah Falland (the former Leah O'Connor) took the American 3000SC lead with her 9:32.53 win over a good field!
It's the Drake Meet Record!
Gabrielle Jennings ran 9:43.48, making the Furman runner 22nd A-T Collegiate, tied with 1 other!
G Murphy ran 9:37.25, making her 23rd A-T US!
Dan Michalski took the Men's 3000SC in 8:29.83!

The USATF Men's 1500 saw HS phenom Hobbs Kessler finish just 6th against a field of Professionals!
But his time of 3:40.46 (56 last lap!) makes him 3rd A-T HS, behind just Alan Webb and Jim Ryun (who just turned 74!!).
Winner was Ollie Hoare in 3:33.54!!
Justyn Knight was 2nd in 3:35.85!
Then came Donavan Brazier in 3:37.58!
Classy company for the young Kessler!!

Eilish McColgan continued her hot season by winning Drake's 5000 in 14:52.94!
Abby Cooper (formerly D'Agostino) showed some of her old stuff, ending 2nd in 15:13.27!
Patrick Dever took a 5000 in Arkansas in 13:28.08!
Shamier Little expanded her repertoire a bit, taking the Arkansas 800 in 2:04.39!
Her splits were rookie style 57 and 67!!
Mercy Chelangat took Arkansas's Women's 5000 in 15:17.79!
This makes her 10th A-T Collegiate!
The Arizona meet saw Sabrina Southerland return to elite racing with a solid 800 of 2:00.76!

Australia's National Championships saw Jye Edwards beat Stew McSweyn in the 1500, 3:33.99 to 3:34.55!
It was a 3200 (UGH!), but Mia Barnett impressed with her 9:52.23 HS time!
Also on the HS front, Juliette Whittaker ran a 1500 in 4:19.79!
Charlotte Bednar became the 9th HS'er to run a sub-16 5000 OUTdoors!
Her 15:52.10 rates her 5th A-T HS!!
(This might be the place to tell you I've become a FanBoy of Cait Chock on Twitter and other social media!  Who is Cait Chock?  Her 15:52.88 from 2004 still ranks 6th A-T HS!!  Back then, it was the HSR!  After a very bad accident, she can still run, but not fast!  So, she became a comedian and artist, and is becoming fairly popular in SoCal comic circles!!  She's very talented, but it's really sad she was taken away from her deep passion for running fast!  Check out her website!)

In the Distance Relay department, we have Iowa State's 4X800 at Drake!
Their 7:12.57 (very evenly paced!) rates 5th A-T School, although I don't have a list for that event in my Record Book!

Jumps (Vertical and Horizontal)
Drake saw Sandi Morris win the PV with 15-5 over Katie Nageotte's 15-1.
Jenn Suhr was listed as entered, but didn't compete!
Donald Scott won the USATF Triple Jump with 55-5!
In 3rd came Christian Taylor with a mark of 54-2.50!
He's coming along, but slowly!
Tori Franklin won the Women's TJ with her 46-3.25!

In Louisiana, Deborah Acquah LJ'ed 22-4.25!
This is Ghana's NR!!
It also makes her 12th A-T Collegiate, tied with 3 others!
Taken OFF my Collegiate DDD was one Marion Jones, whose 22-1.75 dated from her "innocent" days of 1994!!

Chris Benard took the Chula Vista TJ with his 56-3.25!
Kat Stefanidi took the Chula Vista PV with 15-1.
Nicole McDermott won the Australia Championships HJ with 2021's first 2.00 jump (6-6.75).
And she became Australia's NR holder in the process!!
Nina Kennedy took the PV Down Under with a good 15-7!

And then we come to the High School Women!!
And boy (Pardon!), have they ever been better?!
Chloe Timberg cleared 14-2.50!
This makes her 10th A-T HS!
Kenna Stimmel went over 14-0!
This makes her 14th A-T HS, tied with 6 others!
She also cleared (in a separate meet) 14-1.
This moved her to 12th A-T HS, tied with 2 others!
(BTW, it's almost to the point where you need a 14 footer just to make my HS OUTdoor list!!  The bottom mark is now 13-11.25, as 21 Women have marks of 14-0 or higher!)
Olivia Lueking tied her PR of 14-3, while Amanda Moll cleared 14-0, but it wasn't a PR!
Whew!!

Throws and Multi's
Ryan Crouser took Drake's SP with a measly 71-11.50!
Well, measly for HIM!!
Chase Ealey took the USATF Women's SP with her 62-1.25!
Monique Hardy is far from making lists, but she  PR'ed in the HT with a 214-11.
She a Frosh at LSU!
Also an LSU Frosh is Emma Robbins, who ended just 4 inches behind her teammate with 214-7!
Kylee Carter won the JT with a solid 199-1 in Louisiana.
This makes her 6th A-T Collegiate, and 8th A-T US!!

Darrell Hill took the Chula Vista SP with a good 71-4.25!
Rachel Dincoff had a Discus Throw of 203-5.
This ranks her 22nd A-T US!
(Kelsey Card was a couple of feet back!)
Riley Cooks took the Heptathlon with 6160 points!

Adelaide Aquilla won the SP in Illinois with 60-0.25!
This makes the Ohio State Junior 18th A-T Collegiate!
Gwen Berry showed she shouldn't be forgotten with a HT of 240-0 in Texas!

The Aussie Champs meet saw a good Decathlon!
Ash Moloney's 8284 topped Cedric Dubler's 8175!
Finally, Ashlyn Giles threw the Shot Put 52-11, ranking her 16th A-T HS!!

Well, more exciting action has already begun for this weekend!
That detailed report will be my next post!!
See you then!!