We're just a few short hours before the World Junior Championships begins in Eugene, Oregon.
To help you enjoy the meet just a bit more, I'm offering my opinion as to which MEET Records might be broken.
I'll give a name or two of those who are most likely to break the record.
But I'll also tell you if the US HSR might go as well, even if that athlete doesn't get the Meet Record!
I'm dividing this into 2 posts, this one for the Men, the next for the Women.
I've broken the events down into 3 groupings, based on the odds of the MR going down.
The groupings are as follows:
A---These MR's are most likely to fall, the chances between 75 and 100%.
B---These MR's COULD go, but the odds fall anywhere between 25 and 74%!! Because the numbers are so divergent, I'll mention where about they stand on this scale.
C---These MR's are LEAST likely to fall, with the odds between 0 and 24%.
A
100 (10.05)
Trayvon Bromell could take this down in his semi! Then AGAIN in the final!!
Only the wind could save this record!
Kendell Williams could produce a solid HS time, but won't get the HSR!
200 (20.28)
Unless there's excessive wind, or Trentavis Friday is injured, this record is GONE!!
And he might even challenge the HSR of 20.13, as he had a windy 20.03 at USATF Jr's!
110H (13.18)
Three guys could challenge this record.
Wilhelm Belocian of France, David Omarizie of GB, and Tyler Mason of Jamaica.
TJ (55-11)
With 16 year old (!!) Cuban Lazaro Martinez in Eugene, this MR could be broken by a full foot or more!!
NOTE: I hesitate to even mention the Men's weight events, except for the Javelin Throw. Why? Because they use the so called "Junior" weights. My Record Book has United States HSR's listed for just two weights: 12 & 16 pounds in the SP, the International weights for the DT and HT, plus the US HS weights, which are NOT the "Junior" weights used in this meet!! Thus, I'm not really interested in these records!! I've chosen to give just cursory attention to these events. Note also that these exceptions do NOT apply to the WOMEN's weight events, which are the SAME from HS to the Professional level!! (See my blog from December 2013 about the Boys SP!!)
HT (265-1)
Ashref Elsify should smash this "record", though I'm not even sure what weight he used in his PR.
Decathlon (8059)
This is another event where "Junior" weight implements are used. I also do NOT keep "Junior" weight Decathlon records!
However, Jiri Sykora of the Czech Republic seems capable of getting this "record".
10000 Walk (39:35.01)
I don't keep Walk records, but Dalsuke Matsunaga of Japan has a PR that could challenge this one.
4X100 and 4X400 Relays (38.66 and 3:01.09)
With guys like Bromell and Friday on the 4X100, this record is almost certain to go down.
The 4X400 is a bit less likely to go, but I'd still put it on the lower part of the "A" category for the US.
B
1500 (3:35.53)
Saying middle distance and long distance records can be broken is a roll of the dice.
So many Championship races (1500 to 10000) are jog & kick affairs.
There may be qualified athletes to break the records, but they seldom choose to aggressively attack a record in these situations.
That said, you NEVER underestimate the Africans where fast times are concerned.
Hillary Ngetich and Jonathon Sawe of Kenya have sub-3:40 times, with Ngetich's PR being VERY close to the MR.
And this IS Hayward Field!!
5000 (13:08.57)
We have Moses Letoye of Kenya, Phillip Kipyego of Uganda, and Tsegay Tuemay of Eritrea to battle it out.
They'd need to chop close to 10 seconds from their PR's to get it!
10000 (27:30.85)
Joshua Cheptegai of Uganda and Tsegaye Mekannen of Ethiopia will lead this one.
Will they just go for the win, or the win AND the MR??
Cheptegai is just 17!!
LJ (26-11)
Jianan Wang of China and Travon White of the US have a chance at this MR.
But just a slim chance (closer to that 25% level!).
SP (72-10)
See Note above! This mark is held by Jacko Gill.
DT (220-10)
Less than 50% chance.
C
400 (44.66)
This is a toughie, as it's been rare for an Under-20 to go sub-45:00.
Michal Cedeno of Trinidad and Michael Cherry will give it a shot, but at best, will go just 44.9.
800 (1:43.79)
No one in the field is even close. The best PR is a 1:45+.
3000SC (8:06.10)
There doesn't appear to be any Kipruto's or Kemboi's in this, so this record should be safe.
Watch to see if Bailey Roth can FINALLY take down Jeff Hess's 1979 HSR of 8:50.1.
I don't care if he finishes LAST, as long as he gets that HSR!!
400H (48.51)
This record won't go down, but the fastest PR belongs to a 17 year old, Jaheel Hyde.
Ken Selmon is a US HS'er, but he probably won't go faster than 49.5 or so, if that! (He's also 17!)
HJ (7-9.25)
I think those 7-10 or higher Professionals can breathe easy for awhile.
This group won't get anywhere near this MR!!
PV (18-8.75)
Axel Chapelle of France has the best PR.
Watch Devin King, who recently vaulted 18-0 in a Street Vault!
The HSR might be in his sights!!
JT (272-5)
Safe.
Stay tuned for the Women!!
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Friday, July 18, 2014
Monaco DL: Ohhh Myyyy!
When it takes me about one full hour to revise my T&F Record Book in just ONE event, and it takes over 3 full pages to notate all the Record Book-worthy marks, and when you realize there were just 17 events in the entire meet, AND that several events were just average (on a DL scale), you KNOW you have an "Ohhh Myyyy!" meet on your hands!
So let's not waste any more time, and get to the report.
The Men's 1500 was a MONSTER!!
Surely one of the best-ever 1500's anywhere, anytime.
The advertised World Record attempt by Asbel Kiprop fell a tad short.
As in he didn't even win the race, or set a PR!
Silas Kiplagat did win, his time of 3:27.64 missing Hicham El Guerrouj's 2002 Meet Record by 0.30 seconds!
It's the Age 24 record, and this time he GOT El G's 1999 mark....by a gigantic 0.01 seconds!!
He moves from 12th All-Time World all the way to 4th!
And he moves onto my Combined 800-1500 list!
His 1:44.8 and 3:27.64 add to 5:12.44, making him 5th best on that list!
This was a DEEP race, with Best Place marks set in 4th through 10th places!
Ayanleh Souleman's 3:29.58 took over the Best 4th Place spot.
Best 5th Place is now Abdelaati Iguider's 3:29.83.
Sixth Place is still Aman Wote's.
He broke his own record with his 3:29.91.
Also given a 3:29.91 (with no indication in the results that it was a tie!) was Nick Willis in 7th, for another Best Place record.
Leo Manzano's 3:30.98 PR gave him the Best 8th Place mark ever.
And Matthew Centrowitz is now the Best 9th Place ever with his PR of 3:31.09.
In 10th came Henrik Ingebrigtsen, his 3:31.46 the Best 10th Place ever!!
National Records were broken by Souleiman, Wote, Willis, and Ingebrigtsen.
Souleiman got his own Djibouti National Record.
Wote broke his own Ethiopia National Record.
Willis is the new National Record holder for New Zealand.
And Ingebrigtsen continues setting new Norway NR's, as he also got his own mark.
Souleiman is now 21st A-T World
Manzano moves from 11th A-T US up to 5th.
And Centrowitz moves from 9th A-T US up to 7th!
Last but certainly not least (especially with the World Junior meet coming up in just 4 days!) is a new Age 18 record.
Ronald Kwemboi ran a phenomenal 3:28.81 for the Age record (assuming his given birthdate of September 1995 is correct!).
It also places him in rather elite company on the World list.
He now shares 7th A-T World with none other than....Mo Farah!!
BTW, I don't know if he's entered in the World Junior meet (I'll have a preview of the meet in a few days!), but if he is, I think you can just hand him the Gold right now!!
Molly Huddle continues her outstanding season.
She broke her own US National Record in the 5000, with a solid time of 14:42.64.
Following not too far back was Shannon Rowbury, finally getting her wished-for sub-15:00.
And she did so by a substantial margin, her time of 14:48.68 moving her from 15th A-T US all the way into 4th!
Genzebe Dibaba finally showed some of her Indoor season shape, as her winning 14:28.88 makes her 9th A-T World.
It's also the new Monaco DL Meet Record, as this event has never been run here before!
And it places her solidly on my Combined Events list for the 1500-5000 Combo!
Her 3:57.54 (OUTdoor time!!) and the 14:28.88 add up to 18:26.42, making her 5th best ever.
Caterine Ibarguen ripped a gigantic Triple Jump of 50-3!
It's a new Meet Record!
It's the new Age 30 record.
And it's the Colombia National Record!
It also moves her way up on the A-T World list, from 22nd (tied with 1 other) up into 5th!
The Men's 800 was another deep race.
David Rudisha, despite running his 2014 best time of 1:42.98, finished just 5th!
It missed the Best 5th Place mark by just 0.03!
Another missing a Place mark by a miniscule margin was Ferguson Cheruiyot, his 1:42.84 in 4th missing that Best Place mark by just 0.02 seconds!
Nijel Amos won the race in 1:42.45.
That's the new Meet Record.
Pierre Ambroise-Bosse nabbed the National Record of France with his 1:42.53.
It also moves him into 11th A-T World, tied with 1 other!
Cheruiyot's mark becomes 24th A-T World.
And Alexander Rowe tied Australia's National Record with his 1:44.40.
(I need to double-check this "record", as I believe Ralph Doubell's hand-timed 1:44.3 from 1968 was/is the record! I'll revise this if necessary!)
France had a great day in Monaco!
Besides Bosse's 800 National Record, Pascal Martinot-Lagarde also broke a French National Record.
His 110H win in 12.95 took care of the NR.
But it missed Aries Merritt's 2012 Meet Record by just 0.02 seconds!
M-L moves from 24th A-T World (tied with 2 others) up to 12th, tied with 1 other.
Orlando Ortega's 13.01 in second makes him 20th A-T World, tied with 1 other.
Knocked OFF that list were two 1990's-era vets.
Gone are the 13.05's from Tony Dees (1991) and Florian Schwarthoff (1995)!
Tori Bowie continues her break-out season!
Her 10.80 100 beat a class field by 0.16 seconds!
Among her "victims" were Veronica Campbell-Brown, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, and Allyson Felix!!
Bowie is now 16th All-Time World!
And she moves from 22nd A-T US (tied with 1 other) up into 8th!
Myriam Soumare's 11.03 missed Muriel Ahoure's 2012 Best 7th Place record by just 0.03!!
And while I know the Men's 100 included some "controversial" figures, I'm taking the results at face value.
I believe in "innocent till proven guilty"
PAST guilt is just what it is....PAST guilt!!
Thus, I must honor Justin Gatlin's fantastic 200 mark of 19.68.
This was AGAINST a wind of minus-0.5!!
It's the Age 32 record.
It beats the most venerable Michael Johnson's Age 32 record (19.71 from 2000)!
And ironically enough, it beats another controversial person's Meet Record!
Tyson Gay (who finished well back here!) had the old MR, set in 2010.
Gatlin moves from 23rd A-T World (tied with 3 others) up to 8th, where he's tied with 1 other.
He also moves from 12th A-T US (tied with 2 others), into 6th.
Finally, he improves his placing on my Combined 100-200 Events list.
His 9.79 and 19.68 add up to 29.47, making him 6th on that list
In the absence (Not counting her quite PREGNANT appearance at the USATF meet, where she ran 2:32.13!!) of Alysia Montano, 20 year old Ajee Wilson is becoming America's best 800 runner.
(Moscow Bronze medal winner Brenda Martinez isn't quite up to her 2013 shape!)
Wilson BEAT the favored Eunice Sum with her PR of 1:57.67!
She moves 10 spots up the A-T US list, from 16th into 6th!!
Winnie Nanyondo set a Uganda National Record with her 1:58.63.
Jenn Suhr was beaten by Fabiana Murer, but her 15-5.50 PV gave her the Age 32 record!
Katarina Stefanidi, another having a great season, vaulted 15-5.50 also, tying the Greece National Record.
It also makes her 19th A-T World, tied with 2 others!
One of THE featured events, the Men's High Jump, suffered from ES (Expectations Syndrome), as it will whenever most of history's 2.40-plus jumpers show up at the same venue on the same day!
But Bogdan Bondarenko tried his best, clearing 7-10.50 for the Meet Record, then missing 3 tries at 7-11.25!
The crowd loved it, though!!
I have 3 "old" marks to report.
One of the "2 others" Stefanidi is tied with at 15-5.50 in the PV is Lisa Ryzih.
She's also 19th A-T World, tied with....Stefanidi!
Kris Pars threw the Hammer 270-7, making him 24th A-T World.
Finally, Tigist Getret's 9:28.36 Steeplechase is the new Age 17 record!
(Not sure if SHE will be at the World Junior meet either. Will let you know!)
As noted, I will PREVIEW the WJC, most likely late on the 21st, or very early on July 22nd!
I'll be reviewing which Meet Records might be broken, as well as doing some general commentary.
Watch for it!
So let's not waste any more time, and get to the report.
The Men's 1500 was a MONSTER!!
Surely one of the best-ever 1500's anywhere, anytime.
The advertised World Record attempt by Asbel Kiprop fell a tad short.
As in he didn't even win the race, or set a PR!
Silas Kiplagat did win, his time of 3:27.64 missing Hicham El Guerrouj's 2002 Meet Record by 0.30 seconds!
It's the Age 24 record, and this time he GOT El G's 1999 mark....by a gigantic 0.01 seconds!!
He moves from 12th All-Time World all the way to 4th!
And he moves onto my Combined 800-1500 list!
His 1:44.8 and 3:27.64 add to 5:12.44, making him 5th best on that list!
This was a DEEP race, with Best Place marks set in 4th through 10th places!
Ayanleh Souleman's 3:29.58 took over the Best 4th Place spot.
Best 5th Place is now Abdelaati Iguider's 3:29.83.
Sixth Place is still Aman Wote's.
He broke his own record with his 3:29.91.
Also given a 3:29.91 (with no indication in the results that it was a tie!) was Nick Willis in 7th, for another Best Place record.
Leo Manzano's 3:30.98 PR gave him the Best 8th Place mark ever.
And Matthew Centrowitz is now the Best 9th Place ever with his PR of 3:31.09.
In 10th came Henrik Ingebrigtsen, his 3:31.46 the Best 10th Place ever!!
National Records were broken by Souleiman, Wote, Willis, and Ingebrigtsen.
Souleiman got his own Djibouti National Record.
Wote broke his own Ethiopia National Record.
Willis is the new National Record holder for New Zealand.
And Ingebrigtsen continues setting new Norway NR's, as he also got his own mark.
Souleiman is now 21st A-T World
Manzano moves from 11th A-T US up to 5th.
And Centrowitz moves from 9th A-T US up to 7th!
Last but certainly not least (especially with the World Junior meet coming up in just 4 days!) is a new Age 18 record.
Ronald Kwemboi ran a phenomenal 3:28.81 for the Age record (assuming his given birthdate of September 1995 is correct!).
It also places him in rather elite company on the World list.
He now shares 7th A-T World with none other than....Mo Farah!!
BTW, I don't know if he's entered in the World Junior meet (I'll have a preview of the meet in a few days!), but if he is, I think you can just hand him the Gold right now!!
Molly Huddle continues her outstanding season.
She broke her own US National Record in the 5000, with a solid time of 14:42.64.
Following not too far back was Shannon Rowbury, finally getting her wished-for sub-15:00.
And she did so by a substantial margin, her time of 14:48.68 moving her from 15th A-T US all the way into 4th!
Genzebe Dibaba finally showed some of her Indoor season shape, as her winning 14:28.88 makes her 9th A-T World.
It's also the new Monaco DL Meet Record, as this event has never been run here before!
And it places her solidly on my Combined Events list for the 1500-5000 Combo!
Her 3:57.54 (OUTdoor time!!) and the 14:28.88 add up to 18:26.42, making her 5th best ever.
Caterine Ibarguen ripped a gigantic Triple Jump of 50-3!
It's a new Meet Record!
It's the new Age 30 record.
And it's the Colombia National Record!
It also moves her way up on the A-T World list, from 22nd (tied with 1 other) up into 5th!
The Men's 800 was another deep race.
David Rudisha, despite running his 2014 best time of 1:42.98, finished just 5th!
It missed the Best 5th Place mark by just 0.03!
Another missing a Place mark by a miniscule margin was Ferguson Cheruiyot, his 1:42.84 in 4th missing that Best Place mark by just 0.02 seconds!
Nijel Amos won the race in 1:42.45.
That's the new Meet Record.
Pierre Ambroise-Bosse nabbed the National Record of France with his 1:42.53.
It also moves him into 11th A-T World, tied with 1 other!
Cheruiyot's mark becomes 24th A-T World.
And Alexander Rowe tied Australia's National Record with his 1:44.40.
(I need to double-check this "record", as I believe Ralph Doubell's hand-timed 1:44.3 from 1968 was/is the record! I'll revise this if necessary!)
France had a great day in Monaco!
Besides Bosse's 800 National Record, Pascal Martinot-Lagarde also broke a French National Record.
His 110H win in 12.95 took care of the NR.
But it missed Aries Merritt's 2012 Meet Record by just 0.02 seconds!
M-L moves from 24th A-T World (tied with 2 others) up to 12th, tied with 1 other.
Orlando Ortega's 13.01 in second makes him 20th A-T World, tied with 1 other.
Knocked OFF that list were two 1990's-era vets.
Gone are the 13.05's from Tony Dees (1991) and Florian Schwarthoff (1995)!
Tori Bowie continues her break-out season!
Her 10.80 100 beat a class field by 0.16 seconds!
Among her "victims" were Veronica Campbell-Brown, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, and Allyson Felix!!
Bowie is now 16th All-Time World!
And she moves from 22nd A-T US (tied with 1 other) up into 8th!
Myriam Soumare's 11.03 missed Muriel Ahoure's 2012 Best 7th Place record by just 0.03!!
And while I know the Men's 100 included some "controversial" figures, I'm taking the results at face value.
I believe in "innocent till proven guilty"
PAST guilt is just what it is....PAST guilt!!
Thus, I must honor Justin Gatlin's fantastic 200 mark of 19.68.
This was AGAINST a wind of minus-0.5!!
It's the Age 32 record.
It beats the most venerable Michael Johnson's Age 32 record (19.71 from 2000)!
And ironically enough, it beats another controversial person's Meet Record!
Tyson Gay (who finished well back here!) had the old MR, set in 2010.
Gatlin moves from 23rd A-T World (tied with 3 others) up to 8th, where he's tied with 1 other.
He also moves from 12th A-T US (tied with 2 others), into 6th.
Finally, he improves his placing on my Combined 100-200 Events list.
His 9.79 and 19.68 add up to 29.47, making him 6th on that list
In the absence (Not counting her quite PREGNANT appearance at the USATF meet, where she ran 2:32.13!!) of Alysia Montano, 20 year old Ajee Wilson is becoming America's best 800 runner.
(Moscow Bronze medal winner Brenda Martinez isn't quite up to her 2013 shape!)
Wilson BEAT the favored Eunice Sum with her PR of 1:57.67!
She moves 10 spots up the A-T US list, from 16th into 6th!!
Winnie Nanyondo set a Uganda National Record with her 1:58.63.
Jenn Suhr was beaten by Fabiana Murer, but her 15-5.50 PV gave her the Age 32 record!
Katarina Stefanidi, another having a great season, vaulted 15-5.50 also, tying the Greece National Record.
It also makes her 19th A-T World, tied with 2 others!
One of THE featured events, the Men's High Jump, suffered from ES (Expectations Syndrome), as it will whenever most of history's 2.40-plus jumpers show up at the same venue on the same day!
But Bogdan Bondarenko tried his best, clearing 7-10.50 for the Meet Record, then missing 3 tries at 7-11.25!
The crowd loved it, though!!
I have 3 "old" marks to report.
One of the "2 others" Stefanidi is tied with at 15-5.50 in the PV is Lisa Ryzih.
She's also 19th A-T World, tied with....Stefanidi!
Kris Pars threw the Hammer 270-7, making him 24th A-T World.
Finally, Tigist Getret's 9:28.36 Steeplechase is the new Age 17 record!
(Not sure if SHE will be at the World Junior meet either. Will let you know!)
As noted, I will PREVIEW the WJC, most likely late on the 21st, or very early on July 22nd!
I'll be reviewing which Meet Records might be broken, as well as doing some general commentary.
Watch for it!
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Emma clears final barrier to AR (& Fast US Miles)
When does finishing 2nd become your greatest race?
Simple.
When your time breaks your National Record!
Emma Coburn is now America's fastest 3000 meter Steeplechaser!
She couldn't quite beat Hiwot Ayalew's winning time of 9:10.64 (the Glasgow--London--DL Meet Record), but her time of 9:11.42 beat Jenny Simpson's mark by 1.08 seconds!
And it moved her from 17th A-T World up to 11th!
I checked what her 3000 flat time is, and all I could find were times SLOWER than she's run over 28 hurdles and 7 water pits!
With a 4:06+ 1500 time, she's clearly capable of a HUGE PR there.
And in the 5000!
And anything else she chooses to run!
Besides Coburn's AR, there were 2 other National Records broken in this race.
With European Championship significance!
Charlotta Fougberg's 9:23.96 is the new National Record of Sweden.
And the new NR for Finland is Sandra Eriksson's 9:24.70.
These ladies broke their NR's by 11 and 10 seconds, respectively!!
A much smaller PR was run by Stephanie Garcia.
Her 9:24.28 beat her previous best by 0.07 seconds, and she remains 4th A-T US.
A huge upset occurred in the Women's DT in Glasgow.
Gia Lewis-Smallwood beat Sandra Perkovic!!
Her mark of 221-9 moves her from 5th A-T US up to 3rd!
But the biggest star of the Glasgow DL might have been Dafne Schippers!
She won both the 100 "B" race and the 200, setting new Netherlands National Records in BOTH!!
Her time of 11.03 beat LJ winner Tianna Bartoletta's 11.07, and she was just 0.02 slower than the winning time in the "A" 100 race!
And in the 200, she just nipped Allyson Felix, 22.34 to 22.35, outkicking her in the final meters!
Tom Walsh of New Zealand didn't win the SP, but his 69-7.75 is the NZ National Record!
Bernard Lagat finished well back in a sluggish 5000, but he finally (after 2 earlier attempts) got the Age 39 record with his 13:27.08.
Room for lots more!!
Two other Age Records fell.
Helen Clitheroe ran the 3000 in 9:03.95 at Age 40, beating Joyce Smith's venerable 9:11.2 from 1978!!
And Kim Collins continues to roll in the 100, his 10.07 again getting (his own) Age 38 record.
The One Mile distance is getting a lot of attention this year, it being the 60th Anniversary of Roger Bannister's cracking of the 4:00 barrier!
But in the past 24 hours, in two separate locations 1000's of miles apart, the US Women's All-Time Mile list was radically changed, at least in the lower half of my DDD list!
And one US man crashed the party!
Sarah Brown started things off at Vancouver's Harry Jerome meet.
Her winning time of 4:26.67 made her 15th fastest American ever!
Then in the Morton Games in Ireland, 3 more American women made the list.
Molly Huddle won the race in 4:26.84.
This is the Age 29 record.
And it makes her 16th A-T US!!
Aisha Praught's SC year has brought her 2 or 3 PR's.
But here she ran the Mile in 4:27.61, for 20th A-T US.
And Lauren Penney ran 4:28.02 to latch onto 24th place A-T US.
Cut OFF the list was a biggie!
Jan Merrill was one of America's greatest runners in the 70's, but her 4:28.23 from 1979 is no longer in my Top 24!
Not to be outdone by these women, Will Leer broke the Morton Games Meet Record with his PR of 3:51.82.
This puts Leer in 19th place on the A-T US list!!
I love that these women (Leer too, but I'm speaking now of the women!!) ran these times, and made my list.
But, with all due respect to their athletic ability, they are NOT considered the best milers in the United States.
Looking at my list, there's just 1 woman who can truly be considered a "deluxe model" American miler.
She's Shannon Rowbury, whose 4:20.34 from 2008 ranks her second on the list.
Kim Conley's also on the list, her 4:27.23 from 2012 ranking her 18th A-T US.
But Conley is best known as a 5000 meter runner.
Only this Indoor season, with her 4:24.54, did she become a top-rated miler.
Missing from the Outdoor Top 24 are such MILE (or 1500!) icons as Jenny Simpson, Mary Cain, Morgan Uceny, Brenda Martinez, Gabe Grunewald, Heather Kampf, Treniere Moser, and Katie Mackey.
And you could probably add a few others with list-making potential, such as Emma Coburn (See earlier comments!), Abbey D'Agostino, Cory McGee, and maybe even Jordan Hasay, who PR'ed with 4:07.70 in the Glasgow 1500, despite finishing LAST (13th place)!!
It's my "bucket list" dream to see the One Mile (AND the TWO Mile!!) list radically revised.
There's far too many times on there from the 70's (Francie Larrieu's 4:27.52 from 1979), the 80's (FIVE women, including the AR holder, Mary Slaney!!), and the 90's (TEN women!!).
Let's have someone open their meet schedule to a LOADED Women's Mile race!
If we're going to honor Bannister, this would be a great way to do it!!
Sorry for the digression!
I do have 3 more marks to report, which I missed from earlier blogs.
Amber Campbell got a PR in the HT (in Edmonton).
Her 241-6 won the meet, but she remains in 6th place on the A-T US list.
I somehow overlooked Arianna Washington's 11.22 100 time.
This makes her 13th A-T HS, tied with 1 other.
And Brock Eager threw the Hammer 231-0, for 17th A-T HS.
Next up is the Herculis DL in Monaco, just 6 days away.
And from what I can tell, the line-ups for this one are spectacular!
(Don't make me look bad, Monaco.....PRODUCE!!!)
Also upcoming are the 6-day-long World Junior Championships (July 22-27) in Eugene.
I'm planning on a PREVIEW BLOG sometime prior to July 22nd.
Look for it!
And then there's the Commonwealth Games, the T&F portion being from July 27th through August 2nd.
Finally, we might expect some good marks from Belgium's Heusden-Zolder meet on July 19th.
If you like this blog, please pass the word around to like-minded records and marks "animals"!!
And is there anything you'd like to see in here that I'm not doing.....or not doing enough of?
Anything you'd want me to STOP doing?
See you next week!
Simple.
When your time breaks your National Record!
Emma Coburn is now America's fastest 3000 meter Steeplechaser!
She couldn't quite beat Hiwot Ayalew's winning time of 9:10.64 (the Glasgow--London--DL Meet Record), but her time of 9:11.42 beat Jenny Simpson's mark by 1.08 seconds!
And it moved her from 17th A-T World up to 11th!
I checked what her 3000 flat time is, and all I could find were times SLOWER than she's run over 28 hurdles and 7 water pits!
With a 4:06+ 1500 time, she's clearly capable of a HUGE PR there.
And in the 5000!
And anything else she chooses to run!
Besides Coburn's AR, there were 2 other National Records broken in this race.
With European Championship significance!
Charlotta Fougberg's 9:23.96 is the new National Record of Sweden.
And the new NR for Finland is Sandra Eriksson's 9:24.70.
These ladies broke their NR's by 11 and 10 seconds, respectively!!
A much smaller PR was run by Stephanie Garcia.
Her 9:24.28 beat her previous best by 0.07 seconds, and she remains 4th A-T US.
A huge upset occurred in the Women's DT in Glasgow.
Gia Lewis-Smallwood beat Sandra Perkovic!!
Her mark of 221-9 moves her from 5th A-T US up to 3rd!
But the biggest star of the Glasgow DL might have been Dafne Schippers!
She won both the 100 "B" race and the 200, setting new Netherlands National Records in BOTH!!
Her time of 11.03 beat LJ winner Tianna Bartoletta's 11.07, and she was just 0.02 slower than the winning time in the "A" 100 race!
And in the 200, she just nipped Allyson Felix, 22.34 to 22.35, outkicking her in the final meters!
Tom Walsh of New Zealand didn't win the SP, but his 69-7.75 is the NZ National Record!
Bernard Lagat finished well back in a sluggish 5000, but he finally (after 2 earlier attempts) got the Age 39 record with his 13:27.08.
Room for lots more!!
Two other Age Records fell.
Helen Clitheroe ran the 3000 in 9:03.95 at Age 40, beating Joyce Smith's venerable 9:11.2 from 1978!!
And Kim Collins continues to roll in the 100, his 10.07 again getting (his own) Age 38 record.
The One Mile distance is getting a lot of attention this year, it being the 60th Anniversary of Roger Bannister's cracking of the 4:00 barrier!
But in the past 24 hours, in two separate locations 1000's of miles apart, the US Women's All-Time Mile list was radically changed, at least in the lower half of my DDD list!
And one US man crashed the party!
Sarah Brown started things off at Vancouver's Harry Jerome meet.
Her winning time of 4:26.67 made her 15th fastest American ever!
Then in the Morton Games in Ireland, 3 more American women made the list.
Molly Huddle won the race in 4:26.84.
This is the Age 29 record.
And it makes her 16th A-T US!!
Aisha Praught's SC year has brought her 2 or 3 PR's.
But here she ran the Mile in 4:27.61, for 20th A-T US.
And Lauren Penney ran 4:28.02 to latch onto 24th place A-T US.
Cut OFF the list was a biggie!
Jan Merrill was one of America's greatest runners in the 70's, but her 4:28.23 from 1979 is no longer in my Top 24!
Not to be outdone by these women, Will Leer broke the Morton Games Meet Record with his PR of 3:51.82.
This puts Leer in 19th place on the A-T US list!!
I love that these women (Leer too, but I'm speaking now of the women!!) ran these times, and made my list.
But, with all due respect to their athletic ability, they are NOT considered the best milers in the United States.
Looking at my list, there's just 1 woman who can truly be considered a "deluxe model" American miler.
She's Shannon Rowbury, whose 4:20.34 from 2008 ranks her second on the list.
Kim Conley's also on the list, her 4:27.23 from 2012 ranking her 18th A-T US.
But Conley is best known as a 5000 meter runner.
Only this Indoor season, with her 4:24.54, did she become a top-rated miler.
Missing from the Outdoor Top 24 are such MILE (or 1500!) icons as Jenny Simpson, Mary Cain, Morgan Uceny, Brenda Martinez, Gabe Grunewald, Heather Kampf, Treniere Moser, and Katie Mackey.
And you could probably add a few others with list-making potential, such as Emma Coburn (See earlier comments!), Abbey D'Agostino, Cory McGee, and maybe even Jordan Hasay, who PR'ed with 4:07.70 in the Glasgow 1500, despite finishing LAST (13th place)!!
It's my "bucket list" dream to see the One Mile (AND the TWO Mile!!) list radically revised.
There's far too many times on there from the 70's (Francie Larrieu's 4:27.52 from 1979), the 80's (FIVE women, including the AR holder, Mary Slaney!!), and the 90's (TEN women!!).
Let's have someone open their meet schedule to a LOADED Women's Mile race!
If we're going to honor Bannister, this would be a great way to do it!!
Sorry for the digression!
I do have 3 more marks to report, which I missed from earlier blogs.
Amber Campbell got a PR in the HT (in Edmonton).
Her 241-6 won the meet, but she remains in 6th place on the A-T US list.
I somehow overlooked Arianna Washington's 11.22 100 time.
This makes her 13th A-T HS, tied with 1 other.
And Brock Eager threw the Hammer 231-0, for 17th A-T HS.
Next up is the Herculis DL in Monaco, just 6 days away.
And from what I can tell, the line-ups for this one are spectacular!
(Don't make me look bad, Monaco.....PRODUCE!!!)
Also upcoming are the 6-day-long World Junior Championships (July 22-27) in Eugene.
I'm planning on a PREVIEW BLOG sometime prior to July 22nd.
Look for it!
And then there's the Commonwealth Games, the T&F portion being from July 27th through August 2nd.
Finally, we might expect some good marks from Belgium's Heusden-Zolder meet on July 19th.
If you like this blog, please pass the word around to like-minded records and marks "animals"!!
And is there anything you'd like to see in here that I'm not doing.....or not doing enough of?
Anything you'd want me to STOP doing?
See you next week!
Sunday, July 6, 2014
High Schoolers Shine at USATF Juniors
One of the greatest gatherings of America's Under 20's put on a Hell of a show in Eugene's legendary T&F venue, Hayward Field, these past two days.
And the ones who were the supposed stars, the ones who several pundits were featuring in everything they said or wrote, actually UNDER-performed!!
But there is such a wonderful salad of material to report, so let's get on it!!
BOTH 100 meter HSR's were broken, and it happened just hours apart!!
Trentavis Friday--in his HEAT!!!---broke Jeff Demps mark of 10.01 from 2008, running 10.00!
In his HEAT!!
Besides the HSR, it's also the 12th Grade record, the Meet Record, and it moves him from 6th to 1st on the A-T HS list!!
And then he false-started in the final!
Unbelievable!
Because a Race for the Ages was set up, with 9.97 man Trayvon Bromell having run an eased up 10.08 in his heat!
But it was a clear FS, so no protest was filed.
Bromell easily won the final.
I'll return to Friday in a moment.
In the Girls 100 heats, 16 year old Sophomore Kaylin Whitney sprinted an 11.17.
This mark tied the Soph Class mark of Marion Jones (!!) from 1991.
It moved her from 17th A-T HS up to 8th, tied with 2 others.
Then in the final, Whitney finally opened up just a bit.
Her time of 11.10 broke the HSR of Angela Williams from 1998 by the same margin of 0.01 as with Friday.
It also set the Meet Record, and broke that Class Record tie with Jones!
I don't keep Age 16 records, but I've learned that's a WORLD Age 16 record!
Two other HS 100 people had good marks.
Kendell Williams (the MALE version!! LOL) ran 10.27, making him 23rd A-T HS, tied with 6 others!
And Arianna Washington ran 11.30, moving from 24th A-T HS, tied with 1 other, up to 19th, tied with 1 other.
But Friday and Whitney weren't finished!
Each returned on the 2nd day in their respective 200's.
Whitney---and remember, she's just 16 and just ended her sophomore year---became the 2nd fastest HS 200 meter runner ever, sprinting a great 22.49.
In so doing, she defeated several Collegians, including LSU's Jada Martin, who finished 0.53 behind!!
This is the new Meet Record, as well as the Soph Class record!
The old MR had been one Allyson Felix's, dating from 2004!
The old Soph Class mark belonged to....Marion Jones! That mark (of 22.76) was shattered by a solid 0.27 seconds!!
And get this!
Her time of 22.49 is FASTER than the ELEVENTH Grade record, also set by Marion Jones in 1991 with her 22.58!
And don't forget, this makes this 16 year old wunderkind # 2 on the A-T HS list!
Shoved OFF the list was Jackie Thompson.
Her 23.08 was run in...1973!
Oh, and I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Whitney's time would rank her 21st on the A-T Collegiate list as well!!
Mr Friday's 200 final?
Well, you could say there was good news and there was bad news.
(Sort of like his 1st day saga, with the HSR and the FS!!)
He didn't FS this time.
In fact, he actually ran better than he did in the 100, IMO!
His time of 20.03 (!!) would have shattered the HSR of 20.13 by a full tenth of a second.
But a slight breeze of 2.9 nullified any chance of a record!
Kendell Williams finished 0.43 seconds behind!!
Just an amazing display of young American sprint talent!!
A great match-up was created when Collegiate Frosh Heptathlete Kendell Williams (the FEMALE version!!) decided she would enter just the 100H, and forego a certain place on the US Junior Multi's squad!
She ran a great 12.98 in her heat, but it was wind-aided.
Her main rival would be HS'er Dior Hall, who ran an easy 13.17 in her heat.
No one else was close.
And they came through, even though Williams was a decisive winner.
Williams ran a great PR time of 12.87.
This is the new Meet Record.
Hall finished in 13.00 for the Senior Class record (breaking her own mark of 13.09!).
It moves her up one place on the A-T HS list, from 3rd to 2nd.
In the Boys 110H race, Theo Viltz didn't win, but his 13.42 moves him from 24th A-T HS (tied with 2 others) up to 18th.
The longer Hurdles races produced some fireworks....just over a day after the 4th of July!!
Sydney McLaughlin's achievements perhaps weren't as spectacular as young Kaylin Whitney's, but she had a halfway decent excuse.
This girl is a year younger than Whitney, and is just a Freshman!!
In fact, she's even too young to compete in the World Junior Championships in a couple of weeks!!
(Though she was allowed to compete here. Strange rules!!)
Ms McLaughlin, like Whitney in the 200, became HS's second fastest performer ever, running a spectacular time of 55.63, just 0.43 off the 1984 (!!) HSR of Leslie Maxie (which I was privileged to witness in person)!!
She lost the race to College Frosh Shamier Little, but only in the final 30 or 40 meters when Little powered past her.
But it smashes her own Frosh Class record of 56.89 by a whopping 1.26 seconds!!
What could she run in the Big Show in 2 weeks....if she were allowed to compete??
The mind boggles!
(Oh yes, this moves her to 2nd from 7th place A-T HS!)
In the Boys (Men's??) 400H, Kenny Selmon ran 50.13.
This moved him from 17th A-T HS up to 12th.
The Girls PV had the possibility of being a close shadow of the Lausanne DL Men's High Jump.
You know, that one where 4 members of the 2.40 meter Club clashed.
In this Vault competition, you had HSR holder Desiree Freier, as well as 2 very good Collegiate frosh, Lakan Taylor and Annie Rhodes, and the 9th and 10th Grade record holder, Kaitlin Merritt.
But only Freier performed up to par.
She got over the bar set at 14-1.25, setting a new Meet Record.
She missed 3 times at 14-5.25.
But making up somewhat for the other 3 was another High School girl.
Her name is Bonnie Draxlert, and her 13-11.25 took 2nd place.
It also moves her from 17th A-T HS up into 9th!
Bailey Roth, sort of the Evan Jager of HS Steepling, ran a great time of 9:03.92, making him 9th A-T HS!
Why did I connect him to the American Record holder?
Well, remember Jager had never run a Steeple prior to 2012, when, after just a handful of races, he broke the AR with his 8:06.91.
Similarly, Roth hadn't even SEEN a SC hurdle prior to HIS first race last year!
In a very brief time, he ran the fastest 2000SC in HS history.
And now, in his very first race over 3000 meters (with hurdles and a water pit!), he runs a 9:03!!
Think he has a chance to get the 35 year old HSR of 8:50.1 in the WJC's??
Myles Marshall (son of one of the best-ever American 800 men, John Marshall) ran 1:48.43 in 2nd place.
But it makes him 15th A-T HS!
Megan Glasmann won the JT with a throw of 175-0.
Not her PR, but it did garner her the Meet Record!
One other High Schooler (Audrey Belf) performed against a group of Collegians as if she WAS a Collegian.
Despite looking like she was dying (during the middle of the 5000) in the 90ish heat of Hayward, she somehow had the strength (and the talent!!) to increase her pace over the last few laps.
She beat the Collegians (including one who just ended her Frosh year at the University of....Oregon!!) with a fairly slow time of 17:01.75.
But her margin of victory was a humongous 22.14 seconds!!
Those mega-stars I mentioned earlier?
Normally, as any good Public Relations person will tell you, you'd mention THEIR performances FIRST.....no matter the quality (or lack thereof!).
But this blog is about Records and truly great marks, ones good enough to be rated on one of my Top 24 Performers lists!
And these girls---yes, they were all females!---DID run times that normally would rank them VERY high on my lists.
Only trouble was, their times didn't match either their true potential, or what they'd already achieved!!
Mary Cain----she of the multitudinous HSR's, indoors and out, and of the 1000's of stories written about her already, despite her just reaching 18 two months ago, and having just graduated from Bronxville (NY) High School----Mary Cain broke the Meet Record in the 3000 with her time of 9:15.81.
Yes, it set the MR.
And yes, it made her 8th A-T HS. (See an earlier blog wherein I explain that I'm accepting whatever she's run since turning Professional last November as eligible for my HS lists, and for HSR's!)
(BTW, moved OFF my list by Cain's entry was Erin Keogh's 9:24.6 from 1986!)
But she ran just enough to time qualify for the WJC.
She COULD have run around 8:40 if she'd wanted to.
(Hopefully, she'll be ready to run that fast in 2 weeks when she battles REAL competitors....from the Continent of Africa!!)
Her main "rival" looked to be Stephanie Jenks, like Kaylin Whitney and others, just ending her Sophomore year!
And Jenks DID stick to her like glue.
For about 6.5 laps of the 7.5 lap race!
Then Mary decided to stop doing her calculus homework, or texting her Bronxville pals, and put in a bit of effort.
She easily left the talented Jenks in her wake, winning by more than 12 seconds....most of it gained in the final 400 meters!!
The two other mega-stars were Alexa Efraimson and Elise Cranny.
They met in the 1500 final. (They'd walked through separate heats in the mid-to-high 4:30's!)
And if you like all-out final 400 sprints in distance races, then the Alexa & Elise Show rated a standing ovation!
They cruised through the early laps in about 70 and 72.
They reached the 1100 meter mark at 3:15.89, still going at the same pace as earlier.
Finally, just before coming off the penultimate curve, Alexa revved up her gears!!
But Cranny moved with her.....or a split-second later....leaving her a few feet behind.
And it pretty much remained that way over the last 300.
Efraimson won in 4:16.87 to Cranny's 4:17.40.
Third place was about 9 full seconds back of the Dynamic Duo!!
(And most of the rest of the field were collegians!!)
Efraimson's final lap---run without any apparent stress or release of sweat----was 60.98!
Cranny's was about 61.8, but that reflected her hesitancy in following Efraimson's initial move, not any lesser talent!
All in all, a good race, but nothing to write home about, when compared to their greater achievements!
I'll close this rather lengthy treatise by leaving the Junior meet behind, and moving to some small meet 1000's of miles away from Eugene.
Doesn't matter the meet's name, or where it took place. (Telling the truth, I don't know, and don't care! Although I DO know it was at about 1000 meters of altitude!)
Botswanan Isaac Makwala had his Day of Days earlier today.
He first sped a Botswana National Record in the 400, with a great time of 44.01.
His previous best was just 44.83 from earlier this year!
This makes him 11th A-T World!!
Moved OFF my DDD list was the legendary Wayne Collett, whose 44.24 from 1972 had been 24th on the list!
Then, apparently just an hour or so later, he sped a 200 in another Botswanan National Record, timing out in 19.96.
I did some research (asked someone on Twitter! LOL), and found out he had a 100 PR of 10.40.
(And a wind-aided 10.13, so he'll probably improve on that 10.40!)
Anyway, if you add his 100, 200, and 400 times together, the Combined time is 1:14.37.
He just misses my short list of Best Combined 100/200/400 Runners by 0.07 seconds.
But I added him to the list anyway!
It's led by Michael Johnson, whose 10.09, 19.32, and 43.18 add up to 1:12.59!!
Next week is the Glasgow DL, which is promising to be one of the best! (Where have you heard THAT before??!!)
And probably more.
And the ones who were the supposed stars, the ones who several pundits were featuring in everything they said or wrote, actually UNDER-performed!!
But there is such a wonderful salad of material to report, so let's get on it!!
BOTH 100 meter HSR's were broken, and it happened just hours apart!!
Trentavis Friday--in his HEAT!!!---broke Jeff Demps mark of 10.01 from 2008, running 10.00!
In his HEAT!!
Besides the HSR, it's also the 12th Grade record, the Meet Record, and it moves him from 6th to 1st on the A-T HS list!!
And then he false-started in the final!
Unbelievable!
Because a Race for the Ages was set up, with 9.97 man Trayvon Bromell having run an eased up 10.08 in his heat!
But it was a clear FS, so no protest was filed.
Bromell easily won the final.
I'll return to Friday in a moment.
In the Girls 100 heats, 16 year old Sophomore Kaylin Whitney sprinted an 11.17.
This mark tied the Soph Class mark of Marion Jones (!!) from 1991.
It moved her from 17th A-T HS up to 8th, tied with 2 others.
Then in the final, Whitney finally opened up just a bit.
Her time of 11.10 broke the HSR of Angela Williams from 1998 by the same margin of 0.01 as with Friday.
It also set the Meet Record, and broke that Class Record tie with Jones!
I don't keep Age 16 records, but I've learned that's a WORLD Age 16 record!
Two other HS 100 people had good marks.
Kendell Williams (the MALE version!! LOL) ran 10.27, making him 23rd A-T HS, tied with 6 others!
And Arianna Washington ran 11.30, moving from 24th A-T HS, tied with 1 other, up to 19th, tied with 1 other.
But Friday and Whitney weren't finished!
Each returned on the 2nd day in their respective 200's.
Whitney---and remember, she's just 16 and just ended her sophomore year---became the 2nd fastest HS 200 meter runner ever, sprinting a great 22.49.
In so doing, she defeated several Collegians, including LSU's Jada Martin, who finished 0.53 behind!!
This is the new Meet Record, as well as the Soph Class record!
The old MR had been one Allyson Felix's, dating from 2004!
The old Soph Class mark belonged to....Marion Jones! That mark (of 22.76) was shattered by a solid 0.27 seconds!!
And get this!
Her time of 22.49 is FASTER than the ELEVENTH Grade record, also set by Marion Jones in 1991 with her 22.58!
And don't forget, this makes this 16 year old wunderkind # 2 on the A-T HS list!
Shoved OFF the list was Jackie Thompson.
Her 23.08 was run in...1973!
Oh, and I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Whitney's time would rank her 21st on the A-T Collegiate list as well!!
Mr Friday's 200 final?
Well, you could say there was good news and there was bad news.
(Sort of like his 1st day saga, with the HSR and the FS!!)
He didn't FS this time.
In fact, he actually ran better than he did in the 100, IMO!
His time of 20.03 (!!) would have shattered the HSR of 20.13 by a full tenth of a second.
But a slight breeze of 2.9 nullified any chance of a record!
Kendell Williams finished 0.43 seconds behind!!
Just an amazing display of young American sprint talent!!
A great match-up was created when Collegiate Frosh Heptathlete Kendell Williams (the FEMALE version!!) decided she would enter just the 100H, and forego a certain place on the US Junior Multi's squad!
She ran a great 12.98 in her heat, but it was wind-aided.
Her main rival would be HS'er Dior Hall, who ran an easy 13.17 in her heat.
No one else was close.
And they came through, even though Williams was a decisive winner.
Williams ran a great PR time of 12.87.
This is the new Meet Record.
Hall finished in 13.00 for the Senior Class record (breaking her own mark of 13.09!).
It moves her up one place on the A-T HS list, from 3rd to 2nd.
In the Boys 110H race, Theo Viltz didn't win, but his 13.42 moves him from 24th A-T HS (tied with 2 others) up to 18th.
The longer Hurdles races produced some fireworks....just over a day after the 4th of July!!
Sydney McLaughlin's achievements perhaps weren't as spectacular as young Kaylin Whitney's, but she had a halfway decent excuse.
This girl is a year younger than Whitney, and is just a Freshman!!
In fact, she's even too young to compete in the World Junior Championships in a couple of weeks!!
(Though she was allowed to compete here. Strange rules!!)
Ms McLaughlin, like Whitney in the 200, became HS's second fastest performer ever, running a spectacular time of 55.63, just 0.43 off the 1984 (!!) HSR of Leslie Maxie (which I was privileged to witness in person)!!
She lost the race to College Frosh Shamier Little, but only in the final 30 or 40 meters when Little powered past her.
But it smashes her own Frosh Class record of 56.89 by a whopping 1.26 seconds!!
What could she run in the Big Show in 2 weeks....if she were allowed to compete??
The mind boggles!
(Oh yes, this moves her to 2nd from 7th place A-T HS!)
In the Boys (Men's??) 400H, Kenny Selmon ran 50.13.
This moved him from 17th A-T HS up to 12th.
The Girls PV had the possibility of being a close shadow of the Lausanne DL Men's High Jump.
You know, that one where 4 members of the 2.40 meter Club clashed.
In this Vault competition, you had HSR holder Desiree Freier, as well as 2 very good Collegiate frosh, Lakan Taylor and Annie Rhodes, and the 9th and 10th Grade record holder, Kaitlin Merritt.
But only Freier performed up to par.
She got over the bar set at 14-1.25, setting a new Meet Record.
She missed 3 times at 14-5.25.
But making up somewhat for the other 3 was another High School girl.
Her name is Bonnie Draxlert, and her 13-11.25 took 2nd place.
It also moves her from 17th A-T HS up into 9th!
Bailey Roth, sort of the Evan Jager of HS Steepling, ran a great time of 9:03.92, making him 9th A-T HS!
Why did I connect him to the American Record holder?
Well, remember Jager had never run a Steeple prior to 2012, when, after just a handful of races, he broke the AR with his 8:06.91.
Similarly, Roth hadn't even SEEN a SC hurdle prior to HIS first race last year!
In a very brief time, he ran the fastest 2000SC in HS history.
And now, in his very first race over 3000 meters (with hurdles and a water pit!), he runs a 9:03!!
Think he has a chance to get the 35 year old HSR of 8:50.1 in the WJC's??
Myles Marshall (son of one of the best-ever American 800 men, John Marshall) ran 1:48.43 in 2nd place.
But it makes him 15th A-T HS!
Megan Glasmann won the JT with a throw of 175-0.
Not her PR, but it did garner her the Meet Record!
One other High Schooler (Audrey Belf) performed against a group of Collegians as if she WAS a Collegian.
Despite looking like she was dying (during the middle of the 5000) in the 90ish heat of Hayward, she somehow had the strength (and the talent!!) to increase her pace over the last few laps.
She beat the Collegians (including one who just ended her Frosh year at the University of....Oregon!!) with a fairly slow time of 17:01.75.
But her margin of victory was a humongous 22.14 seconds!!
Those mega-stars I mentioned earlier?
Normally, as any good Public Relations person will tell you, you'd mention THEIR performances FIRST.....no matter the quality (or lack thereof!).
But this blog is about Records and truly great marks, ones good enough to be rated on one of my Top 24 Performers lists!
And these girls---yes, they were all females!---DID run times that normally would rank them VERY high on my lists.
Only trouble was, their times didn't match either their true potential, or what they'd already achieved!!
Mary Cain----she of the multitudinous HSR's, indoors and out, and of the 1000's of stories written about her already, despite her just reaching 18 two months ago, and having just graduated from Bronxville (NY) High School----Mary Cain broke the Meet Record in the 3000 with her time of 9:15.81.
Yes, it set the MR.
And yes, it made her 8th A-T HS. (See an earlier blog wherein I explain that I'm accepting whatever she's run since turning Professional last November as eligible for my HS lists, and for HSR's!)
(BTW, moved OFF my list by Cain's entry was Erin Keogh's 9:24.6 from 1986!)
But she ran just enough to time qualify for the WJC.
She COULD have run around 8:40 if she'd wanted to.
(Hopefully, she'll be ready to run that fast in 2 weeks when she battles REAL competitors....from the Continent of Africa!!)
Her main "rival" looked to be Stephanie Jenks, like Kaylin Whitney and others, just ending her Sophomore year!
And Jenks DID stick to her like glue.
For about 6.5 laps of the 7.5 lap race!
Then Mary decided to stop doing her calculus homework, or texting her Bronxville pals, and put in a bit of effort.
She easily left the talented Jenks in her wake, winning by more than 12 seconds....most of it gained in the final 400 meters!!
The two other mega-stars were Alexa Efraimson and Elise Cranny.
They met in the 1500 final. (They'd walked through separate heats in the mid-to-high 4:30's!)
And if you like all-out final 400 sprints in distance races, then the Alexa & Elise Show rated a standing ovation!
They cruised through the early laps in about 70 and 72.
They reached the 1100 meter mark at 3:15.89, still going at the same pace as earlier.
Finally, just before coming off the penultimate curve, Alexa revved up her gears!!
But Cranny moved with her.....or a split-second later....leaving her a few feet behind.
And it pretty much remained that way over the last 300.
Efraimson won in 4:16.87 to Cranny's 4:17.40.
Third place was about 9 full seconds back of the Dynamic Duo!!
(And most of the rest of the field were collegians!!)
Efraimson's final lap---run without any apparent stress or release of sweat----was 60.98!
Cranny's was about 61.8, but that reflected her hesitancy in following Efraimson's initial move, not any lesser talent!
All in all, a good race, but nothing to write home about, when compared to their greater achievements!
I'll close this rather lengthy treatise by leaving the Junior meet behind, and moving to some small meet 1000's of miles away from Eugene.
Doesn't matter the meet's name, or where it took place. (Telling the truth, I don't know, and don't care! Although I DO know it was at about 1000 meters of altitude!)
Botswanan Isaac Makwala had his Day of Days earlier today.
He first sped a Botswana National Record in the 400, with a great time of 44.01.
His previous best was just 44.83 from earlier this year!
This makes him 11th A-T World!!
Moved OFF my DDD list was the legendary Wayne Collett, whose 44.24 from 1972 had been 24th on the list!
Then, apparently just an hour or so later, he sped a 200 in another Botswanan National Record, timing out in 19.96.
I did some research (asked someone on Twitter! LOL), and found out he had a 100 PR of 10.40.
(And a wind-aided 10.13, so he'll probably improve on that 10.40!)
Anyway, if you add his 100, 200, and 400 times together, the Combined time is 1:14.37.
He just misses my short list of Best Combined 100/200/400 Runners by 0.07 seconds.
But I added him to the list anyway!
It's led by Michael Johnson, whose 10.09, 19.32, and 43.18 add up to 1:12.59!!
Next week is the Glasgow DL, which is promising to be one of the best! (Where have you heard THAT before??!!)
And probably more.
Saturday, July 5, 2014
Paris beats Lausanne in DL Series
Sorry you had to wait, but as my title implies, the Lausanne DL didn't produce enough material to warrant a separate post!
In fact, even with Paris added, the total of good marks is still below that of some USA domestic meets (of the non-DL variety!).
That said, let's see what DID happen of note.
Kirani James broke through, big time!
He improved his 400 best all the way to 43.74.
This is a Grenada National Record.
It's also the Age 21 record, breaking the vaunted Lee Evans's mark from 1968 (!!!) of 43.86.
Plus, he moves from 9th All-Time World up to 5th, tied with 1 other.
That "other" happens to be LaShawn Merritt, who finished 2nd with a 43.93.
And that time just misses the Best 2nd Place mark ever, set by Butch Reynolds with his 43.91 in 1996!
This race also allowed Chris Brown to again break his Age 35 mark, this time with a 44.59.
Another age record happened in the Men's 100.
The race was somewhat controversial, as the top 3 all had been busted for drugs at one time or another!
(The Twitterverse went nuts with tweets about this!!)
Anyway, the winner, Justin Gatlin sprinted 9.80, for the Age 32 record.
Tyson Gay ran a solid 9.93 in his 1st race back from his drug ban!
The Men's HJ was maybe THE most hyped event in Lausanne, as all the latest 2.40 jumpers came together.
But the WR of Javiar Sotomayor survived this multiple challenge.
Andriy Protsenko's 7-10.50 had the biggest affect on the Record Book.
It made him 7th A-T World, tied with 5 others.
But it was what happened to my DDD that excited me the most.
There had been NINE tied at 7-9.25.
With Protsenko's PR, all of them were kicked OFF my list!!
Among them were 4 guys with marks from the 1980's!
They were:
Carlos Thranhardt from 1984
Tom McCants from 1988
Valeriy Sereda from 1984
And Jerome Carter from 1988!
Also, Ivan Ukhov's jump of 7-9.75 is the best 3rd Place mark ever, but tied with 1 other.
Two National Records went down in a Women's 4X100 race.
The Netherlands ran 42.40, as they become the 13th fastest Nation.
And Switzerland ran a NR of 42.94, becoming the 21st fastest Nation.
That Netherlands mark is the new Meet Record.
Henrik Ingebrigtsen ran the 1500 in 3:33.68 for a Norway National Record.
Moving on to Paris, 3 American women ran the races of their lives, albeit all in non-winning efforts.
But this blog is not about who wins, it's about records and marks, even if that person finishes dead last!!
In a spectacular 1500, Jenny Simpson JUST missed Mary Slaney's "ancient" American Record (3:57.12 from 1982), running a great time of 3:57.22!!
Phoebe Wright paced the field through a first 400 of 61.92!
But most of the field were at about 63.
They came through 800 in 2:07, and 1200 in 3:10.9.
At that point Hassan had a meter's lead on Simpson.
And she held on to it all the way to the finish!
It appeared to me that Jenny gained on her just a bit in the final 50 meters,
This moves her from 3rd A-T US up to 2nd!
Back somewhat came Shannon Rowbury with her first-ever sub-4:00 time.
Her 3:59.49 moves her from 8th A-T US up to 5th!
(She tweeted later that she tripped twice in the early laps, thus inferring there's a much faster PR awaiting her!)
Hassan's 3:57.00 is the new Netherlands National Record!
In the Women's 3000SC, Emma Coburn keeps chopping her PR (but not her steps!!).
She ended 2nd to Hiwot Ayalew's 9:11.65 Meet Record, but her 9:14.12 cut her best by over 3 seconds, and left her just 1.62 seconds shy of tying one Jenny (Barringer) Simpson!!
Small world, eh?
BTW, this moves Emma from 22nd A-T World all the way to 17th!!
Another American, Stephanie Garcia, ran 9:24.35 to move up 1 place on the A-T US list, from 5th to 4th!
And Salima El Ouali Alami's 9:21.24 set a new Morocco National record.
Jamaica's Hansle Parchment ran the first sub-13.00 110H race of the year.
His 12.94 is the Jamaican National Record.
It's also the Age 24 record.
And it moves him from 23rd A-T World (tied with 2 others) up to 10th, tied with 1 other.
In 2nd was Pascal Martinot-Lagarde, whose 13.05 makes him 24th A-T World, tied with 2 others.
In a fierce battle, the Women's DT produced not 1, not 2, but THREE Meet Records!!
First up was American Gia Lewis-Smallwood's 215-3.
Then it was Australian Dani Samuels's turn, with her 218-4. (She later improved to 221.7.)
Finally, despite 3 early fouls (in the first 4 rounds), Sandra Perkovic moved from 4th place in the competition to the top step of the podium with her Meet Record mark of 224.8!
In the Men's 100, Kim Collins didn't win, but he did get another Age 38 record, running 10.10.
In other news, Jinzhe Li LJ'ed 27-9.50 for the National Record of China.
Fami Ogunade's 20.06 200 set the Qatar National record.
And Pavel Fajdek tossed the Hammer 270-3.
But he missed getting into the Top 24 in the world by 3 inches!!
He also missed Poland's National Record by a mere 4 inches!!
Finally, I just became aware that I have a new leader in my Combined Events list in the Men's 800-1500.
Asbel Kiprop has PR's of 1:43.15 and 3:27.72.
This adds up to 5:10.87!!
(It helps to have Peter Matthews great statistical work, the Athletics Annual 2014, for research in this area!!)
The next post will have all the great marks to come from the USATF Junior Championships, which is also the Trials for the WJC!!
Look for it either late tomorrow night or early Monday morning!
In fact, even with Paris added, the total of good marks is still below that of some USA domestic meets (of the non-DL variety!).
That said, let's see what DID happen of note.
Kirani James broke through, big time!
He improved his 400 best all the way to 43.74.
This is a Grenada National Record.
It's also the Age 21 record, breaking the vaunted Lee Evans's mark from 1968 (!!!) of 43.86.
Plus, he moves from 9th All-Time World up to 5th, tied with 1 other.
That "other" happens to be LaShawn Merritt, who finished 2nd with a 43.93.
And that time just misses the Best 2nd Place mark ever, set by Butch Reynolds with his 43.91 in 1996!
This race also allowed Chris Brown to again break his Age 35 mark, this time with a 44.59.
Another age record happened in the Men's 100.
The race was somewhat controversial, as the top 3 all had been busted for drugs at one time or another!
(The Twitterverse went nuts with tweets about this!!)
Anyway, the winner, Justin Gatlin sprinted 9.80, for the Age 32 record.
Tyson Gay ran a solid 9.93 in his 1st race back from his drug ban!
The Men's HJ was maybe THE most hyped event in Lausanne, as all the latest 2.40 jumpers came together.
But the WR of Javiar Sotomayor survived this multiple challenge.
Andriy Protsenko's 7-10.50 had the biggest affect on the Record Book.
It made him 7th A-T World, tied with 5 others.
But it was what happened to my DDD that excited me the most.
There had been NINE tied at 7-9.25.
With Protsenko's PR, all of them were kicked OFF my list!!
Among them were 4 guys with marks from the 1980's!
They were:
Carlos Thranhardt from 1984
Tom McCants from 1988
Valeriy Sereda from 1984
And Jerome Carter from 1988!
Also, Ivan Ukhov's jump of 7-9.75 is the best 3rd Place mark ever, but tied with 1 other.
Two National Records went down in a Women's 4X100 race.
The Netherlands ran 42.40, as they become the 13th fastest Nation.
And Switzerland ran a NR of 42.94, becoming the 21st fastest Nation.
That Netherlands mark is the new Meet Record.
Henrik Ingebrigtsen ran the 1500 in 3:33.68 for a Norway National Record.
Moving on to Paris, 3 American women ran the races of their lives, albeit all in non-winning efforts.
But this blog is not about who wins, it's about records and marks, even if that person finishes dead last!!
In a spectacular 1500, Jenny Simpson JUST missed Mary Slaney's "ancient" American Record (3:57.12 from 1982), running a great time of 3:57.22!!
Phoebe Wright paced the field through a first 400 of 61.92!
But most of the field were at about 63.
They came through 800 in 2:07, and 1200 in 3:10.9.
At that point Hassan had a meter's lead on Simpson.
And she held on to it all the way to the finish!
It appeared to me that Jenny gained on her just a bit in the final 50 meters,
This moves her from 3rd A-T US up to 2nd!
Back somewhat came Shannon Rowbury with her first-ever sub-4:00 time.
Her 3:59.49 moves her from 8th A-T US up to 5th!
(She tweeted later that she tripped twice in the early laps, thus inferring there's a much faster PR awaiting her!)
Hassan's 3:57.00 is the new Netherlands National Record!
In the Women's 3000SC, Emma Coburn keeps chopping her PR (but not her steps!!).
She ended 2nd to Hiwot Ayalew's 9:11.65 Meet Record, but her 9:14.12 cut her best by over 3 seconds, and left her just 1.62 seconds shy of tying one Jenny (Barringer) Simpson!!
Small world, eh?
BTW, this moves Emma from 22nd A-T World all the way to 17th!!
Another American, Stephanie Garcia, ran 9:24.35 to move up 1 place on the A-T US list, from 5th to 4th!
And Salima El Ouali Alami's 9:21.24 set a new Morocco National record.
Jamaica's Hansle Parchment ran the first sub-13.00 110H race of the year.
His 12.94 is the Jamaican National Record.
It's also the Age 24 record.
And it moves him from 23rd A-T World (tied with 2 others) up to 10th, tied with 1 other.
In 2nd was Pascal Martinot-Lagarde, whose 13.05 makes him 24th A-T World, tied with 2 others.
In a fierce battle, the Women's DT produced not 1, not 2, but THREE Meet Records!!
First up was American Gia Lewis-Smallwood's 215-3.
Then it was Australian Dani Samuels's turn, with her 218-4. (She later improved to 221.7.)
Finally, despite 3 early fouls (in the first 4 rounds), Sandra Perkovic moved from 4th place in the competition to the top step of the podium with her Meet Record mark of 224.8!
In the Men's 100, Kim Collins didn't win, but he did get another Age 38 record, running 10.10.
In other news, Jinzhe Li LJ'ed 27-9.50 for the National Record of China.
Fami Ogunade's 20.06 200 set the Qatar National record.
And Pavel Fajdek tossed the Hammer 270-3.
But he missed getting into the Top 24 in the world by 3 inches!!
He also missed Poland's National Record by a mere 4 inches!!
Finally, I just became aware that I have a new leader in my Combined Events list in the Men's 800-1500.
Asbel Kiprop has PR's of 1:43.15 and 3:27.72.
This adds up to 5:10.87!!
(It helps to have Peter Matthews great statistical work, the Athletics Annual 2014, for research in this area!!)
The next post will have all the great marks to come from the USATF Junior Championships, which is also the Trials for the WJC!!
Look for it either late tomorrow night or early Monday morning!
Sunday, June 29, 2014
USATF--Some HOT Stuff!
Another of my twisted title games!
It WAS hot in Sacramento (120 on the track today, 100 in the air), but there were also some HOT marks that came from this US Championship meet.
But as usual, I want to say something first.
What do Shalane Flanagan, LaShawn Merritt, Matt Centrowitz, Allyson Felix, Christian Cantwell, and Abbey D'Agostino (among others) have in common?
They're all superstars of the sport, all professionals (Abbey D just turning Pro), and all of them were declared and accepted for this meet.
And all, save Merritt and Felix, who ran their prelim heats, then were no shows for their semi's, didn't compete!
Why?
None had injury problems.
None got violently sick (like Kori Carter did last year before the 400H final).
None got busted for drugs or murder.
None died.
No, they just gave limp tepid excuses for not competing to become the Champion of the United States of America.
This is a disgrace!
Sure, they're adults, and can make decisions on their own, or with their coaches.
Let's take Flanagan as an example.
She's training for a fast fall marathon.
So she said she chose to start her "serious" training now.
Okay, I can understand that!
Then why did she declare for the 10000 here?
Didn't she KNOW she'd be starting serious training now?
Why not scratch BEFORE the deadline (or just not declare), thus leaving a spot open for someone else?
Finally, why couldn't she have run the race anyway, as a hard workout for her marathon?
Treat it as a tempo run or something!
And this goes for all the others.
Without a VALID excuse (medical problem, Grandma dying, etc), there is NO excuse for missing your NATIONAL Championships!!
Now on to the meet itself!
There were no World or American records, but there was one Meet Record, so let's start there.
Emma Coburn continues her break-out SC season.
She won easily in a Meet Record time of 9:19.72.
Behind her came Ashley Higginson's big PR of 9:27.59.
This moves her from 10th A-T US up to 5th!
Aisha Praught also PR'ed big-time---twice!!
First came her 9:39.77 in the heat.
Then she ran 9:34.69 in the final!
The first moved her from 23rd A-T US up to 18th.
Her second moved her from 18th up to 11th A-T US!!
Sara Vaughn and Rachel Johnson also made my DDD list.
Vaughn ran 9:41.55 (in her heat) for 23rd A-T US.
And Johnson ran 9:41.56 (!!) in the final for 24th A-T US!
In the Women's 400, Francena McCorory left Sanya Richards-Ross in her wake, as she got a PR by 0.38 to win in 49.48.
This moves her all the way from 14th A-T US up to 5th!
But she misses the World DDD by 0.15 seconds!
SRR ran 49.66 in 2nd to indicate she's back STRONG from her toe surgery!
She'd run a solid 50.03 in her semi!
Will Claye TJ'ed a great 58-3, making him 21st A-T World, tied with 2 others.
He also moves up one spot on the A-T US list, from 8th to 7th.
Jeff Henderson Long Jumped 27-8 (He also had a 27-11.50 windy jump!), putting him in 18th place on the A-T US list.
Gia Lewis-Smallwood threw the Discus 216-5, moving her from 7th A-T US up into 5th!
Ronnie Ash didn't win the final (He fell over a hurdle and DNF'ed!), but he won his semi in the fastest time of the meet.
His 12.99 makes him 11th A-T US.
More importantly, it makes him 15th on the World list!!
Inika McPherson made a solid breakthrough in the HJ.
She reached 2 meters (6-6.75), beating comebacking from pregnancy Chaunte Lowe, and Brigetta Barrett in the process!
This moves her from 13th A-T US into a 4-way tie in 5th!
The SP's, both held outside Sacto's State Capitol, produced two good PR's.
Joe Kovacs used his, a put of 72-3.50, to win the Men's event.
It makes him 11th A-T US.
It also makes him 19th best on the World list!
Significant were the two names who were pushed OFF those lists by Kovacs's entries.
He removed Kevin Akins 70-10.25 from 1983 from the US DDD.
And he removed Remigius Machura's 71-11.25 from 1987 from the World list!
Also with a solid PR was Women's 2nd placer (behind Michelle Carter) Felicia Johnson.
Her put of 62-11.25 moves her from 10th A-T US up to 7th!
And Tia Brooks TIED her outdoor PR (from 2013) of 61-9.50.
She's 11th A-T US.
The Women's JT produced a great series of marks.
At least for American women!!
Kara Patterson continues her comeback, winning in 204 and change.
But right behind her was Brittany Borman's PR of almost 2 feet, a 203-7 throw.
But she doesn't move up the list, remaining 3rd A-T US!
Elizabeth Herrs improved to 187-8, making her 16th A-T US.
And Hannah Carson continues her solid year.
She first came on the scene as an 8th grader, throwing 173-7!
But she had a ragged 4 years of HS, where she did NOT improve on her Middle School mark.
And this continued in her Freshman year of college!
But this year is different.
She's been PR'ing all spring.
Her latest came in the USATF meet (so doesn't qualify for the Collegiate list, as it's after the NCAA's!), her 185-1 making her 23rd A-T US!!
Speaking of Collegians in this meet, Sandi Morris gained 2 inches on her Pole Vault PR, going 14-11 for 2nd behind Jenn Suhr's 15-1.
(It was windy during the event, holding marks down, and causing lots of early misses!)
Morris moves from 18th A-T US (tied with 5 others!) up to 16th, where she's tied with 1 other.
Tori Bowie didn't run in the final of the 100.
But she had a valid excuse, as she sustained a slight injury earlier.
She ran a breakthrough time of 10.91, continuing her great season.
It makes her 22nd A-T US, tied with one other.
The Heptathlon was pretty deep with good marks.
Behind winner Sharon Day-Monroe came 2 solid PR's.
Barbara Nwaba's 6307 is 14th A-T US.
And Erica Bougard got 6118 points.
This WOULD have made her 24th A-T US, had it not been for Nwaba finishing ahead of her!
So Bougard can be considered as 25th A-T US!!
Kristin Smith's Hammer Throw of 224-5 makes her 24th A-T US.
The Women's 800 was interesting.
(Aside from Maggie Vessey's creative AND quite revealing racing kits!! LOL)
Brenda Martinez didn't win!
In fact, she finished 4th!
The winner was 20 year old Ajee Wilson in 1:58.70, a non-PR.
Behind her was U of O graduate (wearing her Oregon uniform!) Laura Roesler.
Roesler ran a great 1:59.04, sprinting hard at the finish after being boxed in earlier.
Her time moves her into 24th place A-T US in what can be considered her first race as a Professional!
And if it had been run at the NCAA's (or before), it would be the new Collegiate Record!!
But I agree with Track and Field News, who rule that CR's (or marks eligible for Collegiate lists!) must happen at or before the NCAA meet, not after!!
Pushed OFF the US list by Roesler's entry is Essie Washington's 1:59.07 from 1987!
Another VERY interesting facet of the Women's 800 happened in the prelim heats.
Standing there in a red uniform top AND her usual flower pinned to her hair was a 34 weeks along pregnant woman named Alysia Montano!
And she wasn't there just to take a bow, as befits a former multi-times US Champion (and Olympian!).
No, she was there to RACE!!
And she did, running what MUST be a World Record for 34 weeks pregnant women, 2:32.13.
(That's a faster pace than what Paula Radcliffe ran in her WR 2:15:25 marathon in 2003!!!)
Forget what happened in the rest of the meet.
This was THE story of the whole 5 days!!
(And, regarding what I said at the beginning of this post, this makes ANY excuse invalid and UNexcusable!! A PREGNANT woman not only showing up at her National Championship, but RACING!!! For SHAME, all you no-shows or dropouts, for SHAME!!!!)
Okay, now that my breathing is back to normal, let's continue.
The much-ballyhooed Women's 1500 race certainly met its expectations.
Well, SOME of them!
In the heats, the favorites, Jenny Simpson, Mary Cain, and the resurgent Morgan Uceny, all made it through easily, running sub-4:10's.
But Alexa Efraimson, who is becoming THE "next Mary Cain", tried to run with the leaders in her heat (She was in Simpson's and Cain's heat!!), and did so for 3 laps.
Then she faded for about 200 meters, before finishing with a good kick.
However, she finished only 7th in 4:12.89 (her 2nd best time ever!), not qualifying for the final.
(She and Cain are going to compete in the World Junior Trials next week....Cain in the 3000, Efraimson in the 1500....and should easily make the team!)
The final was won by Simpson in 4:04 and change, with Cain 2nd in 4:06 and change.
Morgan Uceny?
She fell....again!!
She got up and finished...last!
What is wrong with her that she falls all the time in MAJOR races??
Hopefully, she'll recover (emotionally!), and continue her strong "comeback" year!!
Before I finish, there were a few other marks good enough to report, some from the previous week.
The USATF Junior Championship (the one where Cain and Efraimson will compete next week!) Multi's were held in concordance with the Senior meet.
In the Heptathlon, two girls got good marks.
Ashlee Moore improved to 5418 points, moving her from 10th A-T HS up into 5th.
And Shaina Burns scored 5363 points, making her 8th A-T HS.
Other HS marks from last week include:
John Nizich had a JT of 224-1, moving him from 21st A-T HS to 18th, tied with 1 other.
Colin Minor threw the Hammer 229-6, making him 20th A-T HS.
(Removed FROM the list was a biggie!! Gone is Alvin Jackson, whose 227-8 from 1972 was then the HSR!!!)
Nyla Woods threw the Hammer 185-8.
This moves her from 22nd A-T HS to 16th.
And Lena Giger's 181-0 HT makes her 22nd A-T HS.
Tianna Daniels sprinted 100 meters in 11.31, making her 22nd A-T HS, tied with 1 other.
On the international front, there were 2 National Records.
Eliska Klucinova scored 6460 in the Heptathlon, which is the Czech National Record.
Sandra Eriksson ran the 3000 Steeplechase in 9:34.71 for the National Record of Finland.
I need to correct a HUMONGOUS error I made many many blog posts ago!
Remember reading that Floyd Heard had run a much-wind-aided 200 of 19.61 at the Texas Relays about 20 years ago?
Not true!!
It was Leroy Burrell, NOT Floyd Heard, who ran that windy 19.61 time!!
And it didn't happen at the Texas Relays!!
It happened at the SouthWest Conference meet in College Station in 1990!!
Sorry for this grievous error!! LOL
Next week are TWO Diamond League meets.
Lausanne is on the 3rd of July, and Paris is on July 5th.
Should be lots more HOT stuff!!
It WAS hot in Sacramento (120 on the track today, 100 in the air), but there were also some HOT marks that came from this US Championship meet.
But as usual, I want to say something first.
What do Shalane Flanagan, LaShawn Merritt, Matt Centrowitz, Allyson Felix, Christian Cantwell, and Abbey D'Agostino (among others) have in common?
They're all superstars of the sport, all professionals (Abbey D just turning Pro), and all of them were declared and accepted for this meet.
And all, save Merritt and Felix, who ran their prelim heats, then were no shows for their semi's, didn't compete!
Why?
None had injury problems.
None got violently sick (like Kori Carter did last year before the 400H final).
None got busted for drugs or murder.
None died.
No, they just gave limp tepid excuses for not competing to become the Champion of the United States of America.
This is a disgrace!
Sure, they're adults, and can make decisions on their own, or with their coaches.
Let's take Flanagan as an example.
She's training for a fast fall marathon.
So she said she chose to start her "serious" training now.
Okay, I can understand that!
Then why did she declare for the 10000 here?
Didn't she KNOW she'd be starting serious training now?
Why not scratch BEFORE the deadline (or just not declare), thus leaving a spot open for someone else?
Finally, why couldn't she have run the race anyway, as a hard workout for her marathon?
Treat it as a tempo run or something!
And this goes for all the others.
Without a VALID excuse (medical problem, Grandma dying, etc), there is NO excuse for missing your NATIONAL Championships!!
Now on to the meet itself!
There were no World or American records, but there was one Meet Record, so let's start there.
Emma Coburn continues her break-out SC season.
She won easily in a Meet Record time of 9:19.72.
Behind her came Ashley Higginson's big PR of 9:27.59.
This moves her from 10th A-T US up to 5th!
Aisha Praught also PR'ed big-time---twice!!
First came her 9:39.77 in the heat.
Then she ran 9:34.69 in the final!
The first moved her from 23rd A-T US up to 18th.
Her second moved her from 18th up to 11th A-T US!!
Sara Vaughn and Rachel Johnson also made my DDD list.
Vaughn ran 9:41.55 (in her heat) for 23rd A-T US.
And Johnson ran 9:41.56 (!!) in the final for 24th A-T US!
In the Women's 400, Francena McCorory left Sanya Richards-Ross in her wake, as she got a PR by 0.38 to win in 49.48.
This moves her all the way from 14th A-T US up to 5th!
But she misses the World DDD by 0.15 seconds!
SRR ran 49.66 in 2nd to indicate she's back STRONG from her toe surgery!
She'd run a solid 50.03 in her semi!
Will Claye TJ'ed a great 58-3, making him 21st A-T World, tied with 2 others.
He also moves up one spot on the A-T US list, from 8th to 7th.
Jeff Henderson Long Jumped 27-8 (He also had a 27-11.50 windy jump!), putting him in 18th place on the A-T US list.
Gia Lewis-Smallwood threw the Discus 216-5, moving her from 7th A-T US up into 5th!
Ronnie Ash didn't win the final (He fell over a hurdle and DNF'ed!), but he won his semi in the fastest time of the meet.
His 12.99 makes him 11th A-T US.
More importantly, it makes him 15th on the World list!!
Inika McPherson made a solid breakthrough in the HJ.
She reached 2 meters (6-6.75), beating comebacking from pregnancy Chaunte Lowe, and Brigetta Barrett in the process!
This moves her from 13th A-T US into a 4-way tie in 5th!
The SP's, both held outside Sacto's State Capitol, produced two good PR's.
Joe Kovacs used his, a put of 72-3.50, to win the Men's event.
It makes him 11th A-T US.
It also makes him 19th best on the World list!
Significant were the two names who were pushed OFF those lists by Kovacs's entries.
He removed Kevin Akins 70-10.25 from 1983 from the US DDD.
And he removed Remigius Machura's 71-11.25 from 1987 from the World list!
Also with a solid PR was Women's 2nd placer (behind Michelle Carter) Felicia Johnson.
Her put of 62-11.25 moves her from 10th A-T US up to 7th!
And Tia Brooks TIED her outdoor PR (from 2013) of 61-9.50.
She's 11th A-T US.
The Women's JT produced a great series of marks.
At least for American women!!
Kara Patterson continues her comeback, winning in 204 and change.
But right behind her was Brittany Borman's PR of almost 2 feet, a 203-7 throw.
But she doesn't move up the list, remaining 3rd A-T US!
Elizabeth Herrs improved to 187-8, making her 16th A-T US.
And Hannah Carson continues her solid year.
She first came on the scene as an 8th grader, throwing 173-7!
But she had a ragged 4 years of HS, where she did NOT improve on her Middle School mark.
And this continued in her Freshman year of college!
But this year is different.
She's been PR'ing all spring.
Her latest came in the USATF meet (so doesn't qualify for the Collegiate list, as it's after the NCAA's!), her 185-1 making her 23rd A-T US!!
Speaking of Collegians in this meet, Sandi Morris gained 2 inches on her Pole Vault PR, going 14-11 for 2nd behind Jenn Suhr's 15-1.
(It was windy during the event, holding marks down, and causing lots of early misses!)
Morris moves from 18th A-T US (tied with 5 others!) up to 16th, where she's tied with 1 other.
Tori Bowie didn't run in the final of the 100.
But she had a valid excuse, as she sustained a slight injury earlier.
She ran a breakthrough time of 10.91, continuing her great season.
It makes her 22nd A-T US, tied with one other.
The Heptathlon was pretty deep with good marks.
Behind winner Sharon Day-Monroe came 2 solid PR's.
Barbara Nwaba's 6307 is 14th A-T US.
And Erica Bougard got 6118 points.
This WOULD have made her 24th A-T US, had it not been for Nwaba finishing ahead of her!
So Bougard can be considered as 25th A-T US!!
Kristin Smith's Hammer Throw of 224-5 makes her 24th A-T US.
The Women's 800 was interesting.
(Aside from Maggie Vessey's creative AND quite revealing racing kits!! LOL)
Brenda Martinez didn't win!
In fact, she finished 4th!
The winner was 20 year old Ajee Wilson in 1:58.70, a non-PR.
Behind her was U of O graduate (wearing her Oregon uniform!) Laura Roesler.
Roesler ran a great 1:59.04, sprinting hard at the finish after being boxed in earlier.
Her time moves her into 24th place A-T US in what can be considered her first race as a Professional!
And if it had been run at the NCAA's (or before), it would be the new Collegiate Record!!
But I agree with Track and Field News, who rule that CR's (or marks eligible for Collegiate lists!) must happen at or before the NCAA meet, not after!!
Pushed OFF the US list by Roesler's entry is Essie Washington's 1:59.07 from 1987!
Another VERY interesting facet of the Women's 800 happened in the prelim heats.
Standing there in a red uniform top AND her usual flower pinned to her hair was a 34 weeks along pregnant woman named Alysia Montano!
And she wasn't there just to take a bow, as befits a former multi-times US Champion (and Olympian!).
No, she was there to RACE!!
And she did, running what MUST be a World Record for 34 weeks pregnant women, 2:32.13.
(That's a faster pace than what Paula Radcliffe ran in her WR 2:15:25 marathon in 2003!!!)
Forget what happened in the rest of the meet.
This was THE story of the whole 5 days!!
(And, regarding what I said at the beginning of this post, this makes ANY excuse invalid and UNexcusable!! A PREGNANT woman not only showing up at her National Championship, but RACING!!! For SHAME, all you no-shows or dropouts, for SHAME!!!!)
Okay, now that my breathing is back to normal, let's continue.
The much-ballyhooed Women's 1500 race certainly met its expectations.
Well, SOME of them!
In the heats, the favorites, Jenny Simpson, Mary Cain, and the resurgent Morgan Uceny, all made it through easily, running sub-4:10's.
But Alexa Efraimson, who is becoming THE "next Mary Cain", tried to run with the leaders in her heat (She was in Simpson's and Cain's heat!!), and did so for 3 laps.
Then she faded for about 200 meters, before finishing with a good kick.
However, she finished only 7th in 4:12.89 (her 2nd best time ever!), not qualifying for the final.
(She and Cain are going to compete in the World Junior Trials next week....Cain in the 3000, Efraimson in the 1500....and should easily make the team!)
The final was won by Simpson in 4:04 and change, with Cain 2nd in 4:06 and change.
Morgan Uceny?
She fell....again!!
She got up and finished...last!
What is wrong with her that she falls all the time in MAJOR races??
Hopefully, she'll recover (emotionally!), and continue her strong "comeback" year!!
Before I finish, there were a few other marks good enough to report, some from the previous week.
The USATF Junior Championship (the one where Cain and Efraimson will compete next week!) Multi's were held in concordance with the Senior meet.
In the Heptathlon, two girls got good marks.
Ashlee Moore improved to 5418 points, moving her from 10th A-T HS up into 5th.
And Shaina Burns scored 5363 points, making her 8th A-T HS.
Other HS marks from last week include:
John Nizich had a JT of 224-1, moving him from 21st A-T HS to 18th, tied with 1 other.
Colin Minor threw the Hammer 229-6, making him 20th A-T HS.
(Removed FROM the list was a biggie!! Gone is Alvin Jackson, whose 227-8 from 1972 was then the HSR!!!)
Nyla Woods threw the Hammer 185-8.
This moves her from 22nd A-T HS to 16th.
And Lena Giger's 181-0 HT makes her 22nd A-T HS.
Tianna Daniels sprinted 100 meters in 11.31, making her 22nd A-T HS, tied with 1 other.
On the international front, there were 2 National Records.
Eliska Klucinova scored 6460 in the Heptathlon, which is the Czech National Record.
Sandra Eriksson ran the 3000 Steeplechase in 9:34.71 for the National Record of Finland.
I need to correct a HUMONGOUS error I made many many blog posts ago!
Remember reading that Floyd Heard had run a much-wind-aided 200 of 19.61 at the Texas Relays about 20 years ago?
Not true!!
It was Leroy Burrell, NOT Floyd Heard, who ran that windy 19.61 time!!
And it didn't happen at the Texas Relays!!
It happened at the SouthWest Conference meet in College Station in 1990!!
Sorry for this grievous error!! LOL
Next week are TWO Diamond League meets.
Lausanne is on the 3rd of July, and Paris is on July 5th.
Should be lots more HOT stuff!!
Sunday, June 22, 2014
From 16 to 39, Some Re-MARK-able Stuff
Yet another "cute" title!
But it's my way of saying that the Ostrava meet in Europe and the Brooks PR meet near Seattle produced some great marks from athletes aged 16 to 39.
Let's start with the old fellows.
I speak of Bernard Lagat, of course.
In a fast 3000 in Ostrava, Lagat didn't win, but his 7:38.30 broke his own Age 39 record.
He's the oldest to go under 7:40.
Caleb Ndiku, just 21, won the race in a Meet Record time of 7:31.66.
Also ahead of Lagat was New Zealander Nick Willis, who broke John Walker's venerable National Record of 7:37.49, dating from 1982, with his 7:36.91.
Amina Betiche ran the 3000SC in 9:29.20 for an Algerian National Record.
Bogdan Bondarenko's "so-so" 7-7.75 HJ was the Ostrava Meet Record.
He missed 3 tries at 2.40 (7-10.50).
There was a fast 1000, which had been billed as a WR attempt by Mohammed Aman.
Wasn't to be.
In fact, Aman didn't even win!!
Ilham Ozbilen did.
In 2:15.08, for the MR and the Turkey National Record.
His time missed 24th place on my World DDD by just 0.08 seconds!
Following Ozbilen was Australian Jeff Riseley, whose 2:16.09 was a National Record.
Then came Aman, who ran the Ethiopian National Record time of 2:16.33.
Tomas Kazi broke the Hungarian National Record with his 2:17.38
Two other WR attempts failed in Ostrava.
Genzebe Dibaba came closest with her 5:27.50 over 2000 meters.
She hit 1600 in a fast 4:20.62, but then lost it during a 66.88 final 400!
Nonetheless, it was the Ethiopian National Record for the seldom-run distance, as well as the Age 23 record.
(Meet Record too, obviously!)
It puts her in 3rd on the A-T World list!
And Florence Kiplagat couldn't finish her attempt at the Hour Run and 20000 meter records (on a track).
She ended her run just after 11000 meters with stomach problems.
The winner was nowhere near the records!
In the 400, LaShawn Merritt continued winning in fast times.
His 44.16 is the Ostrava Meet Record.
Isaac Makwala ran 44.83 for the Botswana National Record.
In the Trinidad National Championships yesterday, Richard Thompson set a new National Record in the 100 with his 9.82.
It places him 9th on the A-T World list!
I missed something at the NBN meet.
I got Darryl Haraway's 10.20 100.
But I missed that his time is the new HS Junior Class record!!
I find it a bit odd that none of the Underclass records are faster than that 10.20, but then the Senior Class mark jumps all the way to 10.01.
I'd think there would be a less sharp drop from 11th to 12th grades!
Finally, in the Brooks PR meet, which went outdoors for the first time, the Girls 2 Mile produced an aggressive attack on my HS (and even US!!) DDD lists!!
I noted in my report on the Prefontaine Women's 2 Mile that this distance isn't run very often, so the Top 24's are fairly easy to get onto.
Well, for the 2nd time in less than a month, the Two Mile DDD's, here for HS and the US, got some generous revisions!
Bethan Knights, who clearly has become a standing member of the "Big Four" of elite HS middle and long distance runners of the past 2 years, won the race in a new High School Record!!
(The "Big 4" consists of Mary Cain, Alexa Efraimson, Elise Cranny, and Sarah Baxter. Knights is the Fifth member. In fact, to some degree, I could see her replacing Baxter, whose 2014 hasn't been as sensational as her previous 2 or 3 years!)
Anyway, Knights, a British citizen (She intends to become an American citizen!), ran 9:53.54 for the actual Two Mile (NOT 3200 Meters!!) distance.
She broke Aisling Cuffe's 9:54.22 from 2011.
And look what Ms Cuffe ran this year!! That 15:11.13 5000!!
Knights's mark is the Age 18 record (WORLD Age 18 record!!), as well as the HS Senior Class record.
It would have made her 13th on the US list, but as a British citizen, she isn't yet eligible for US lists!
While Knights led almost from the gun, as seems to be her M.O., Hannah DeBalsi gave her a scare over the final 2 laps, catching her, then dueling back and forth for a 200 or so, before Bethan rammed home her final winning sprint.
DeBalsi's 9:55.05 is the new Sophomore Class record.
It makes her 3rd A-T HS.
And puts her in 15th on the US list!
Four others ran fast enough to make one or both lists.
Stephanie Jenks ran 10:06.54 for 9th A-T HS, and 23th A-T US.
Audrey Belf ran 10:11.24 for 15th A-T HS.
Caroline Alcorta's 10:11.71 is 16th A-T HS.
And Makena Morley ran 10:15.17 for 24th A-T HS!
In the Girls One Mile (NOT 1600 meters!!), the Dream Mile winner from NY's DL, Sarah Feeny, won the race in a non-PR (but still fast) time of 4:39.40.
But Katie Rainsberger came down from Colorado's altitude to get an 8 second PR, running 4:41.07 in 2nd.
It makes her 16th A-T HS.
Remember, my One Mile and Two Mile lists are what they say they are--1 and 2 MILE lists!!
There are NO 1600 or 3200 times mixed in, nor any marks converted FROM 1600 or 3200 times!!
Thus, you don't see Kim Mortensen's 9:48.59 3200 from 1996 on my Two Mile list.
Nowhere!!
Not that mark, nor the converted time given her of 9:52.03.
I feel sorry for Ms Mortensen (and many many others!!), but I refuse to give any honor or respect to those aberrational distances!!
The same goes for Alexa Efraimson's 4:33.31 "HSR" 1600 at her state meet.
It may have been the fastest outdoor 1600 ever run by a HS girl, but that's ALL it was, and nothing more!!
3200 meters is NOT 3218.688 meters!!
(The actual measurement of a Mile is 1609.344 meters! Thus Two Miles is 3218.688 meters!)
Speaking of Ms Efraimson, that hot race between her and 2:03.32 girl Raevyn Rogers didn't quite materialize as hoped.
Rogers just didn't have it yesterday.
But Alexa did.
She ran a PR time of 2:03.26 for the easy victory.
Her previous best was 2:04.10.
It makes her 12th A-T HS.
And don't forget, she'll be running the 1500 at both the Adult and Junior versions of the USATF meet, then assuredly going on to the World Junior Championships.
Assuming she and Mary Cain are the winners, the United States will have a formidable team in that event in Eugene in late July!!
(Bethan Knights said she's NOT going to try for the WJC!!)
And can't forget the SO close attempt on the Boys 4 X 1 Mile Relay record!
That record is held by South Eugene HS, and dates from 1976, back when Bernard Lagat was just about 1.5 years old!!
Northport TC, from New York, ran their hearts out, but ended just 0.32 from the record, running 17:06.92.
Gig Harbor (WA) was featured as the probable record-setters.
That is, until Northport entered the meet at the 11th hour!
They flew west, then flew around the track, but alas, came up JUST short of the targeted mark of 17:06.6.
Next week is going to be busy.
For one thing, I turn 70 on June 24th!!
(Born the exact same date, June 24, 1944, as former Yardbirds guitarist Jeff Beck!!)
But other than that personal milestone (I'm like the Rolling Stones Keith Richards, shocked I made it past my 30th birthday!!!), there's lots of T&F activity upcoming.
There's the USATF meet in Sacramento from June 25-29.
(Only the SP's--men's and women's--and the 1st day of the Junior Multi's will be on the 25th. The bulk of the meet begins on the 26th.)
There's also the Golden West Invitational, a GP meet in Dakar, Senegal on June 28th, the Znamenskiy Memorial on June 27th, the meet in Sollentuna on the 28th, one in Turku on the 25th, plus some major National championships (besides the US!!), all between the 26th and 29th of June.
And whatever happens of note will assuredly find its way into my next report(s)!!
That is, if I make it PAST my 70th birthday!!
Me and Keith!!
LOL
But it's my way of saying that the Ostrava meet in Europe and the Brooks PR meet near Seattle produced some great marks from athletes aged 16 to 39.
Let's start with the old fellows.
I speak of Bernard Lagat, of course.
In a fast 3000 in Ostrava, Lagat didn't win, but his 7:38.30 broke his own Age 39 record.
He's the oldest to go under 7:40.
Caleb Ndiku, just 21, won the race in a Meet Record time of 7:31.66.
Also ahead of Lagat was New Zealander Nick Willis, who broke John Walker's venerable National Record of 7:37.49, dating from 1982, with his 7:36.91.
Amina Betiche ran the 3000SC in 9:29.20 for an Algerian National Record.
Bogdan Bondarenko's "so-so" 7-7.75 HJ was the Ostrava Meet Record.
He missed 3 tries at 2.40 (7-10.50).
There was a fast 1000, which had been billed as a WR attempt by Mohammed Aman.
Wasn't to be.
In fact, Aman didn't even win!!
Ilham Ozbilen did.
In 2:15.08, for the MR and the Turkey National Record.
His time missed 24th place on my World DDD by just 0.08 seconds!
Following Ozbilen was Australian Jeff Riseley, whose 2:16.09 was a National Record.
Then came Aman, who ran the Ethiopian National Record time of 2:16.33.
Tomas Kazi broke the Hungarian National Record with his 2:17.38
Two other WR attempts failed in Ostrava.
Genzebe Dibaba came closest with her 5:27.50 over 2000 meters.
She hit 1600 in a fast 4:20.62, but then lost it during a 66.88 final 400!
Nonetheless, it was the Ethiopian National Record for the seldom-run distance, as well as the Age 23 record.
(Meet Record too, obviously!)
It puts her in 3rd on the A-T World list!
And Florence Kiplagat couldn't finish her attempt at the Hour Run and 20000 meter records (on a track).
She ended her run just after 11000 meters with stomach problems.
The winner was nowhere near the records!
In the 400, LaShawn Merritt continued winning in fast times.
His 44.16 is the Ostrava Meet Record.
Isaac Makwala ran 44.83 for the Botswana National Record.
In the Trinidad National Championships yesterday, Richard Thompson set a new National Record in the 100 with his 9.82.
It places him 9th on the A-T World list!
I missed something at the NBN meet.
I got Darryl Haraway's 10.20 100.
But I missed that his time is the new HS Junior Class record!!
I find it a bit odd that none of the Underclass records are faster than that 10.20, but then the Senior Class mark jumps all the way to 10.01.
I'd think there would be a less sharp drop from 11th to 12th grades!
Finally, in the Brooks PR meet, which went outdoors for the first time, the Girls 2 Mile produced an aggressive attack on my HS (and even US!!) DDD lists!!
I noted in my report on the Prefontaine Women's 2 Mile that this distance isn't run very often, so the Top 24's are fairly easy to get onto.
Well, for the 2nd time in less than a month, the Two Mile DDD's, here for HS and the US, got some generous revisions!
Bethan Knights, who clearly has become a standing member of the "Big Four" of elite HS middle and long distance runners of the past 2 years, won the race in a new High School Record!!
(The "Big 4" consists of Mary Cain, Alexa Efraimson, Elise Cranny, and Sarah Baxter. Knights is the Fifth member. In fact, to some degree, I could see her replacing Baxter, whose 2014 hasn't been as sensational as her previous 2 or 3 years!)
Anyway, Knights, a British citizen (She intends to become an American citizen!), ran 9:53.54 for the actual Two Mile (NOT 3200 Meters!!) distance.
She broke Aisling Cuffe's 9:54.22 from 2011.
And look what Ms Cuffe ran this year!! That 15:11.13 5000!!
Knights's mark is the Age 18 record (WORLD Age 18 record!!), as well as the HS Senior Class record.
It would have made her 13th on the US list, but as a British citizen, she isn't yet eligible for US lists!
While Knights led almost from the gun, as seems to be her M.O., Hannah DeBalsi gave her a scare over the final 2 laps, catching her, then dueling back and forth for a 200 or so, before Bethan rammed home her final winning sprint.
DeBalsi's 9:55.05 is the new Sophomore Class record.
It makes her 3rd A-T HS.
And puts her in 15th on the US list!
Four others ran fast enough to make one or both lists.
Stephanie Jenks ran 10:06.54 for 9th A-T HS, and 23th A-T US.
Audrey Belf ran 10:11.24 for 15th A-T HS.
Caroline Alcorta's 10:11.71 is 16th A-T HS.
And Makena Morley ran 10:15.17 for 24th A-T HS!
In the Girls One Mile (NOT 1600 meters!!), the Dream Mile winner from NY's DL, Sarah Feeny, won the race in a non-PR (but still fast) time of 4:39.40.
But Katie Rainsberger came down from Colorado's altitude to get an 8 second PR, running 4:41.07 in 2nd.
It makes her 16th A-T HS.
Remember, my One Mile and Two Mile lists are what they say they are--1 and 2 MILE lists!!
There are NO 1600 or 3200 times mixed in, nor any marks converted FROM 1600 or 3200 times!!
Thus, you don't see Kim Mortensen's 9:48.59 3200 from 1996 on my Two Mile list.
Nowhere!!
Not that mark, nor the converted time given her of 9:52.03.
I feel sorry for Ms Mortensen (and many many others!!), but I refuse to give any honor or respect to those aberrational distances!!
The same goes for Alexa Efraimson's 4:33.31 "HSR" 1600 at her state meet.
It may have been the fastest outdoor 1600 ever run by a HS girl, but that's ALL it was, and nothing more!!
3200 meters is NOT 3218.688 meters!!
(The actual measurement of a Mile is 1609.344 meters! Thus Two Miles is 3218.688 meters!)
Speaking of Ms Efraimson, that hot race between her and 2:03.32 girl Raevyn Rogers didn't quite materialize as hoped.
Rogers just didn't have it yesterday.
But Alexa did.
She ran a PR time of 2:03.26 for the easy victory.
Her previous best was 2:04.10.
It makes her 12th A-T HS.
And don't forget, she'll be running the 1500 at both the Adult and Junior versions of the USATF meet, then assuredly going on to the World Junior Championships.
Assuming she and Mary Cain are the winners, the United States will have a formidable team in that event in Eugene in late July!!
(Bethan Knights said she's NOT going to try for the WJC!!)
And can't forget the SO close attempt on the Boys 4 X 1 Mile Relay record!
That record is held by South Eugene HS, and dates from 1976, back when Bernard Lagat was just about 1.5 years old!!
Northport TC, from New York, ran their hearts out, but ended just 0.32 from the record, running 17:06.92.
Gig Harbor (WA) was featured as the probable record-setters.
That is, until Northport entered the meet at the 11th hour!
They flew west, then flew around the track, but alas, came up JUST short of the targeted mark of 17:06.6.
Next week is going to be busy.
For one thing, I turn 70 on June 24th!!
(Born the exact same date, June 24, 1944, as former Yardbirds guitarist Jeff Beck!!)
But other than that personal milestone (I'm like the Rolling Stones Keith Richards, shocked I made it past my 30th birthday!!!), there's lots of T&F activity upcoming.
There's the USATF meet in Sacramento from June 25-29.
(Only the SP's--men's and women's--and the 1st day of the Junior Multi's will be on the 25th. The bulk of the meet begins on the 26th.)
There's also the Golden West Invitational, a GP meet in Dakar, Senegal on June 28th, the Znamenskiy Memorial on June 27th, the meet in Sollentuna on the 28th, one in Turku on the 25th, plus some major National championships (besides the US!!), all between the 26th and 29th of June.
And whatever happens of note will assuredly find its way into my next report(s)!!
That is, if I make it PAST my 70th birthday!!
Me and Keith!!
LOL
Monday, June 16, 2014
Teens impress in NY... and NC (the NBN)
In this 3rd post of the weekend, it's the teenager's turn to shine.
And shine they did!!
If you read my post on the NY DL, you already know what happened there.
Alexa Efraimson ran just 2.43 seconds slower than Mary Cain ever has, her 4:07.05 taking 10th in the loaded 1500 Pro race.
There is strong indication (from Alexa herself!) that she'll follow Cain's path, turning Pro prior to her senior year of High School!
(More on these teenage phenoms in a future post!)
Also, Sarah Feeny broke 4:40 in the Dream Mile, running 4:39.23.
Kaylin Whitney ran 11.27 in the Dream 100.
And Grant Fisher won the Dream Mile in 4:02.02.
But you already knew that, right?
So let's move down south a bit, to Greensboro, North Carolina, for all the great marks made at the New Balance Nationals!!
Leading the charge was, again, Raven Saunders in the SP.
She threw the iron ball 56-7.50 for the NBN Meet Record!
It wasn't a PR, however, as she threw 56-8.25 for the Outdoor HSR earlier this spring.
There were two HSR's, albeit in "odd" events.
Bailey Roth ran the 2000 SC in a HSR time of 5:41.67.
The old mark was Steve Guerrini's 5:43.9, dating from 1991.
It's of course the NBN Meet Record.
And the HS Senior Class record.
Roth also holds the Class record for 11th graders.
I'm waiting for him to make an attempt at the HSR for 3000SC.
That 8:50.1 mark by Jeff Hess in 1979, is Roth's for the taking.
But he has just this summer to do it!
The Columbia TC (NJ) girl's team broke the Sprint Medley Relay HSR.
Their time of 3:50.82 is also the Meet Record.
Freshman Sydney McLaughlin has continued her record-breaking ways.
She broke her own Frosh Class record in the 400H, running 56.89 to get the mark by just 0.02 seconds.
She also did some damage in the 100H.
Her PR of 13.34 is now 22nd A-T HS, tied with one other.
And remember, she's just a 9th grader!!
That 100H race produced another good mark.
The winner, Alexis Duncan, ran 13.33 for the MR.
But she's also the new Soph Class record holder!!
(BTW, McLaughlin's mark is NOT a Frosh Class record, as Dior Hall ran 13.18 in her Frosh year in 2011.)
Duncan is now 18th A-T HS, tied with 3 others.
The Boys 110H winner, Isaiah Moore, ran 13.40 for 12th A-T HS, tied with 4 others!
Kenny Selmon blew away the 400H field, his 50.48 ranking him 17th A-T HS.
Trentavis Friday ran the 200 in 20.41 for the Meet Record.
Darryl Haraway got 2 PR's in the 100.
His 10.27 in the heats got him into 22nd place A-T HS, tied with 6 others.
Then he ran 10.20 in the final, moving him up 12 spots to 10th A-T HS, tied with 1 other!
The 5000's and the Girls 2 Mile were pretty good, though not as impressive as last year's Wesley Frazier Show.
(And I'm still wondering why she's not racing this year! Even if she's redshirting, she could race unattached!!)
Hannah Dibalsi's 2 Mile time of 10:09.08 moves her from 20th A-T HS all the way up to 8th!!
(Remember, I do NOT include any 3200 meter times on my lists, nor times converted from 3200 times! My Two Mile lists are PURE Two Mile lists!!)
And because of that "rule", my US 2 Mile lists are fairly weak, and thus relatively easy to get on.
So it shouldn't be too surprising to learn that Dibalsi's time ranks her 23rd A-T US!!!
Anna Rohrer basically soloed the 5000, her 16:16.97 being the only mark to gain access to my DDD, as 10th A-T HS.
Alex Ostberg ran his 5000 in 14:16.61.
But he misses the Top 24 by 0.41 seconds!!
Keturah Orji won both horizontal jumps, with her LJ mark of 20-11.75 being the new Meet Record.
It matched her PR, set in 2013.
Devin King failed at 3 attempts at 18-0.50, which would have been a PR and a Meet Record.
He made 17-7, then passed at 17-9.50, before going for the higher height.
Gabby Figueroa threw the Hammer 180-1, for 23rd A-T HS.
And Donovan Brazier ran the 800 in 1:48.61, for 24th A-T HS.
There's still more HS action to report, but not from the NBN.
And some of it is a week or so old.
Two marks from the Girl's Heptathlon.
Ashlee Moore scored 5311 points to move into 10th place A-T HS.
Moved OFF the list by Moore's mark was an oldie, Camille Harding's 5170, dating from 1983!!
Also entering the Top 24 was Tiana Bonds, her 5258 making her 16th A-T HS.
Haley Showalter improved in the HT to 193-4, moving her from 15th A-T HS up to 8th!
(She threw 180-7 at the NBN, finishing just 3rd!!)
Tyler Ranke ran the 3000SC in 9:11.24, becoming 21st A-T HS.
Misana Viltz ran the 110H in 13.47, moving into 23rd A-T HS, tied with 2 others.
And while I don't have State HSR's in my T&F Record Book (I used to, in its original conception!!), Ella Donaghu's 4:21.35 1500 (winning the "B" race at last night's Portland Track Festival) broke the Oregon state record (Erin Forbe's 4:24) by about 3 seconds!
It missed my DDD by only 0.25 seconds!!
It surprised me to learn about this mark.
I'd thought Oregon state records would be ALL in the Top TEN All-Time, at least in the middle and long distance events!!
Speaking of the PTF, there were some Meet Records broken last night.
And some interesting results, even if not record breakers!
Bridget Franek is back!
She surprised the crowd, and herself, with her MR 3000SC time of 9:41.21.
Kate Grace barely squeaked out the victory in the 800, her MR time of 2:02.00 winning by 0.01.
And the race produced a mass photo-finish, as the first 6 were just 0.49 apart!!
The other MR was set by comebacking Andy Wheating in the 1500.
He ran 3:38.53 with a great kick on the last straightaway!
Another fair-to-middling kicker last night was Mr Mobot himself, Mo Farah!!
He sped his final 400 in 53.1 (with a 25.5 200 mixed in there!!), winning the 5000 in a non-MR time of 13:23.42.
And Jordan Hasay won TWO races!
And they came just MINUTES apart!!!
Her first win was in the 1500, where she outkicked Angela Bizzari in 4:11.23.
Then, in place of Alberto Salazar's post race-workout, Hasay ran the 5000 also.
She beat close friend, and former Duckmate, Alexi Pappas (who PR'ed in 15:34) in a PR time of 15:28.56.
And she closed with a fast 63 final lap!!
Not bad....for a workout!!
In other Professional action, Nicole Bush ran a 3000SC in a PR of 9:34.76.
This moves her from 15th A-T US up to 11th.
Linda Stahl threw the Javelin 220-10 (in the NY DL).
This moves her from 13th A-T World, tied with 1 other, up to 10th!
Finally, Jenn Suhr's 15-5 2nd place in the NY Pole Vault (behind Fabiana Murer's 15-9) is the new Age 32 record!
It breaks her own mark, set earlier this year.
The Ostrava meet is tomorrow, and might be a good one, as far as records and marks go.
The IAAF article on the meet says that THREE World Record attempts will be made there!
Mohammed Aman is going for Noah Ngeny's 2:11.96 record in the 1000.
Genzebe Dibaba will chase down Sonia O'Sullivan's 5:25.36 WR in the 2000.
And Florence Kiplagat will actually be going after TWO World Records!!
She wants the One Hour Run record of 18,517 meters, and the 20000 meters record of 1:05:26.
Considering she ran a WR in the road Half-Marathon in 1:05:12, I would expect the 20K mark, about 0.7 miles short of the Half, would be easy pickings for her.
There will be several other super elites in this meet, and if results warrant, I'll have a separate post about it.
If not, the next post won't be for 6 or 7 days!
Also, as I stated above, I'm thinking about a post on the "Teen Phenom" Renaissance of the past few years, especially with the girls in the middle and long distances, but also including such stars as Kiturah Orji, Raven Saunders, Courtney Corrin, and Desiree Freier, among MANY others!!
What have they done to the record books?
And what's in the future, for them as individuals, and for the High School (and Collegiate) sections of the sport in general?
Anyway, watch for that, although I don't have a specific date for that post.
And shine they did!!
If you read my post on the NY DL, you already know what happened there.
Alexa Efraimson ran just 2.43 seconds slower than Mary Cain ever has, her 4:07.05 taking 10th in the loaded 1500 Pro race.
There is strong indication (from Alexa herself!) that she'll follow Cain's path, turning Pro prior to her senior year of High School!
(More on these teenage phenoms in a future post!)
Also, Sarah Feeny broke 4:40 in the Dream Mile, running 4:39.23.
Kaylin Whitney ran 11.27 in the Dream 100.
And Grant Fisher won the Dream Mile in 4:02.02.
But you already knew that, right?
So let's move down south a bit, to Greensboro, North Carolina, for all the great marks made at the New Balance Nationals!!
Leading the charge was, again, Raven Saunders in the SP.
She threw the iron ball 56-7.50 for the NBN Meet Record!
It wasn't a PR, however, as she threw 56-8.25 for the Outdoor HSR earlier this spring.
There were two HSR's, albeit in "odd" events.
Bailey Roth ran the 2000 SC in a HSR time of 5:41.67.
The old mark was Steve Guerrini's 5:43.9, dating from 1991.
It's of course the NBN Meet Record.
And the HS Senior Class record.
Roth also holds the Class record for 11th graders.
I'm waiting for him to make an attempt at the HSR for 3000SC.
That 8:50.1 mark by Jeff Hess in 1979, is Roth's for the taking.
But he has just this summer to do it!
The Columbia TC (NJ) girl's team broke the Sprint Medley Relay HSR.
Their time of 3:50.82 is also the Meet Record.
Freshman Sydney McLaughlin has continued her record-breaking ways.
She broke her own Frosh Class record in the 400H, running 56.89 to get the mark by just 0.02 seconds.
She also did some damage in the 100H.
Her PR of 13.34 is now 22nd A-T HS, tied with one other.
And remember, she's just a 9th grader!!
That 100H race produced another good mark.
The winner, Alexis Duncan, ran 13.33 for the MR.
But she's also the new Soph Class record holder!!
(BTW, McLaughlin's mark is NOT a Frosh Class record, as Dior Hall ran 13.18 in her Frosh year in 2011.)
Duncan is now 18th A-T HS, tied with 3 others.
The Boys 110H winner, Isaiah Moore, ran 13.40 for 12th A-T HS, tied with 4 others!
Kenny Selmon blew away the 400H field, his 50.48 ranking him 17th A-T HS.
Trentavis Friday ran the 200 in 20.41 for the Meet Record.
Darryl Haraway got 2 PR's in the 100.
His 10.27 in the heats got him into 22nd place A-T HS, tied with 6 others.
Then he ran 10.20 in the final, moving him up 12 spots to 10th A-T HS, tied with 1 other!
The 5000's and the Girls 2 Mile were pretty good, though not as impressive as last year's Wesley Frazier Show.
(And I'm still wondering why she's not racing this year! Even if she's redshirting, she could race unattached!!)
Hannah Dibalsi's 2 Mile time of 10:09.08 moves her from 20th A-T HS all the way up to 8th!!
(Remember, I do NOT include any 3200 meter times on my lists, nor times converted from 3200 times! My Two Mile lists are PURE Two Mile lists!!)
And because of that "rule", my US 2 Mile lists are fairly weak, and thus relatively easy to get on.
So it shouldn't be too surprising to learn that Dibalsi's time ranks her 23rd A-T US!!!
Anna Rohrer basically soloed the 5000, her 16:16.97 being the only mark to gain access to my DDD, as 10th A-T HS.
Alex Ostberg ran his 5000 in 14:16.61.
But he misses the Top 24 by 0.41 seconds!!
Keturah Orji won both horizontal jumps, with her LJ mark of 20-11.75 being the new Meet Record.
It matched her PR, set in 2013.
Devin King failed at 3 attempts at 18-0.50, which would have been a PR and a Meet Record.
He made 17-7, then passed at 17-9.50, before going for the higher height.
Gabby Figueroa threw the Hammer 180-1, for 23rd A-T HS.
And Donovan Brazier ran the 800 in 1:48.61, for 24th A-T HS.
There's still more HS action to report, but not from the NBN.
And some of it is a week or so old.
Two marks from the Girl's Heptathlon.
Ashlee Moore scored 5311 points to move into 10th place A-T HS.
Moved OFF the list by Moore's mark was an oldie, Camille Harding's 5170, dating from 1983!!
Also entering the Top 24 was Tiana Bonds, her 5258 making her 16th A-T HS.
Haley Showalter improved in the HT to 193-4, moving her from 15th A-T HS up to 8th!
(She threw 180-7 at the NBN, finishing just 3rd!!)
Tyler Ranke ran the 3000SC in 9:11.24, becoming 21st A-T HS.
Misana Viltz ran the 110H in 13.47, moving into 23rd A-T HS, tied with 2 others.
And while I don't have State HSR's in my T&F Record Book (I used to, in its original conception!!), Ella Donaghu's 4:21.35 1500 (winning the "B" race at last night's Portland Track Festival) broke the Oregon state record (Erin Forbe's 4:24) by about 3 seconds!
It missed my DDD by only 0.25 seconds!!
It surprised me to learn about this mark.
I'd thought Oregon state records would be ALL in the Top TEN All-Time, at least in the middle and long distance events!!
Speaking of the PTF, there were some Meet Records broken last night.
And some interesting results, even if not record breakers!
Bridget Franek is back!
She surprised the crowd, and herself, with her MR 3000SC time of 9:41.21.
Kate Grace barely squeaked out the victory in the 800, her MR time of 2:02.00 winning by 0.01.
And the race produced a mass photo-finish, as the first 6 were just 0.49 apart!!
The other MR was set by comebacking Andy Wheating in the 1500.
He ran 3:38.53 with a great kick on the last straightaway!
Another fair-to-middling kicker last night was Mr Mobot himself, Mo Farah!!
He sped his final 400 in 53.1 (with a 25.5 200 mixed in there!!), winning the 5000 in a non-MR time of 13:23.42.
And Jordan Hasay won TWO races!
And they came just MINUTES apart!!!
Her first win was in the 1500, where she outkicked Angela Bizzari in 4:11.23.
Then, in place of Alberto Salazar's post race-workout, Hasay ran the 5000 also.
She beat close friend, and former Duckmate, Alexi Pappas (who PR'ed in 15:34) in a PR time of 15:28.56.
And she closed with a fast 63 final lap!!
Not bad....for a workout!!
In other Professional action, Nicole Bush ran a 3000SC in a PR of 9:34.76.
This moves her from 15th A-T US up to 11th.
Linda Stahl threw the Javelin 220-10 (in the NY DL).
This moves her from 13th A-T World, tied with 1 other, up to 10th!
Finally, Jenn Suhr's 15-5 2nd place in the NY Pole Vault (behind Fabiana Murer's 15-9) is the new Age 32 record!
It breaks her own mark, set earlier this year.
The Ostrava meet is tomorrow, and might be a good one, as far as records and marks go.
The IAAF article on the meet says that THREE World Record attempts will be made there!
Mohammed Aman is going for Noah Ngeny's 2:11.96 record in the 1000.
Genzebe Dibaba will chase down Sonia O'Sullivan's 5:25.36 WR in the 2000.
And Florence Kiplagat will actually be going after TWO World Records!!
She wants the One Hour Run record of 18,517 meters, and the 20000 meters record of 1:05:26.
Considering she ran a WR in the road Half-Marathon in 1:05:12, I would expect the 20K mark, about 0.7 miles short of the Half, would be easy pickings for her.
There will be several other super elites in this meet, and if results warrant, I'll have a separate post about it.
If not, the next post won't be for 6 or 7 days!
Also, as I stated above, I'm thinking about a post on the "Teen Phenom" Renaissance of the past few years, especially with the girls in the middle and long distances, but also including such stars as Kiturah Orji, Raven Saunders, Courtney Corrin, and Desiree Freier, among MANY others!!
What have they done to the record books?
And what's in the future, for them as individuals, and for the High School (and Collegiate) sections of the sport in general?
Anyway, watch for that, although I don't have a specific date for that post.
Saturday, June 14, 2014
High (Jumps & Lows) of the Diamond League
Kind of an awkward title for this post, but hopefully you'll understand its meaning when you're done reading this.
This 2nd post (Did one awhile ago on the NCAA meet!) will tell all about the Professional activity this past week.
I'll mention the Bislett Games in Oslo, a NY Road Race, and the NY Diamond League meet.
Let's start with Mutaz Barshim and Bogdan Bondarenko.
In case you haven't heard, they made HJ history in New York City.
No, neither was able to get over 8-0.75 (2.46 in metrics).
But both DID make it over a bar set at 7-11.25!!
That was a first.
Barshim won, though in the hearts of the fans in the stands, both did.
His 7-11.25 is the new Qatari National Record.
It's the Age 22 record, and not shared by anyone else!
It's the new Meet Record.
It's the best-ever mark for 2nd place!
(Yes, he was 2nd, based on fewer misses!)
And he is now 2nd on the A-T World list, tied with one other.
That "one other" is Monsieur Bondarenko!!
He also made 7-11.25.
And he's the new Age 24 record holder.
It's the Ukraine National Record.
And he is also 2nd A-T World, tied with one other! (See above!! LOL)
Before I go on, let's back up a few days, to when the venerable Bislett Games took place in Oslo.
That DL meet was a farce, as DL's go.
In fact, it should have been called a BRONZE League meet.
Because the quality was THIRD-rate!! (Get it?? Bronze.....Third??)
Just 2 relatively minor Record Book-worthy marks came out of it.
And it was surprising to me, as the fields were stacked with some great athletes!!
Jairus Birech won the 3000SC in 8:02.37, and moves up one place on the A-T World list, from 17th to 16th.
(Evan Jager led this race at AR pace, but faded over the last 800, and missed the AR by just 0.16 seconds!!)
Henrik Ingabrigtsen broke the Norway National Record for the Mile for the 2nd time, running 3:50.73.
Genzebe Dibaba won a fairly good 5000 in 14:34 and change, but no marks changed anything in my T&F Record Book!!
Kim Conley ran a small PR, but missed the US list by just over a second!
But overall, a pretty dull meet, and definitely NOT of Diamond League-level quality!
But the NY meet reinvigorated the series, so let's continue recounting what happened.
Some of the best marks came from High School kids!!
The New York DL is famous for their "Dream" series of 100 meter and One Mile races.
But one great mark came from a HS girl who did NOT race in the High School Girls Dream Mile.
In the Elite Women's 1500, Alexa Efraimson blew her PR out the window with a fantastic "Cain-esque" time of 4:07.05.
Yes, she finished just 10th in the "Big Girls" race.
(Remember, Mary Cain finished 10th in the Moscow WC 1500!!)
But her time, improving her former best by almost NINE full seconds, places her second to Ms Cain on the A-T HS list!!
And just 2.43 seconds back!!
The winner of that race was, of course, Abeba Aregawi, whose 4:00.13 is the new Meet Record.
Between Aregawi and Efraimson were such women as Jenny Simpson, Treniere Moser, a reconstituted Morgan Uceny, running her fastest 1500 since 2012 (4:04.87), and Brenda Martinez, having a slight off day, running just 0.63 ahead of Alexa.
Finishing 2nd to Aregawi was 17 year old Ethiopian, Dawit Seyaum, who should be the clear favorite at the World Junior meet, if she runs there.
(Mary Cain is thinking of running the 3000 there, assuming she's going to enter!!)
Seyaum ran a super PR of 4:00.66!!
Speaking of Cain, she ran in the non-DL 800, and finished 4th in 2:01.67, a 2014 best time.
She looked much better than she did at the Pre meet!
Her next race, after attaining a NY Driver's License, and graduating from Bronxville HS, will be at USATF.
Will she do both the Senior AND Junior versions of USATF??
Wait to find out!
The Women's 3000SC was good.
Emma Coburn didn't run, but Stephanie Garcia did.
She ran a 12+ second PR, hitting 9:28.96, to move her from 21st A-T US all the way up to 5th!!
The winner, Sofia Assefa, set a Meet Record with her 9:18.58.
Returning to those HS races, the Miles were won by Grant Fisher and Sarah Feeny.
Fisher ran 4:02.02, which makes him 15th A-T HS.
Feeny ran a negative split (2:22 and 2:17) time of 4:39.23, good for 5th A-T HS!!
(Remember, I do NOT have 1600 times, or times converted from 1600's, on my Mile lists!!)
Earlier, another Mile took place!
This one was for "Youth".
And a TEN year old boy, Jonah Gorevic (of Rye, NY), ran it in 5:01.55, which they say is a WORLD Record for 10 year old boys!!
Let me say that again.
A TEN year old ran a MILE in 5:01.55.
(Jim Ryun reportedly ran his first timed mile at age 14---in 5:38!!)
The Girls 100 was won by Kaylin Whitney in 11.27.
A week or so ago, she'd run an 11.30, that making her 20th A-T HS, tied with one other.
The 11.27 moves her up to 17th place, tied with 1 other.
The Men's 400 was a class act.
LaShawn Merritt continued his winning ways, hitting the tape in 44.19, a new Meet Record.
Behind him, in 2nd, was South African Wayde Van Niekerk.
His 44.38 is a National Record.
Then came ageless Chris Brown, whose 44.61 is yet ANOTHER Age 35 record!!
(And it's the first sub-45 by someone 35 or older!!)
Jeff Henderson had a good LJ, hitting 27-4 for a Meet Record.
Kim Conley ran the 3000 in 8:44.11, finishing 5th (behind Mercy Cherono, Betsy Saina, and Sally Kipyego, among others), but missed my DDD list by 0.39 seconds!!
One other Meet Record was set by Robert Harting in the DT, his toss reaching 223-10.
In earlier DL's, in Rome and Oslo, Tianna Bartoletta got 2 PR's in the LJ.
She hit 22-9 in Rome, making her 14th A-T US.
Her Oslo jump of 23-0.25 improved her place to 7th A-T US!
Finally, in the NY Mini-10000, run through hilly Central Park, Molly Huddle beat a class field in a Women Only race American Record time of 31:37.
Second was 12 seconds back.
Forty-one year old Deena Kastor finished 6th in 33:17!
Well, there's still the New Balance National meet to report on, but that one is still ongoing, finishing up tomorrow evening!
I'll have another post dedicated to that meet, as well as whatever else pops up, from the HS scene or the Professionals, as the PTF is also finishing up tomorrow evening!
See you then!!
This 2nd post (Did one awhile ago on the NCAA meet!) will tell all about the Professional activity this past week.
I'll mention the Bislett Games in Oslo, a NY Road Race, and the NY Diamond League meet.
Let's start with Mutaz Barshim and Bogdan Bondarenko.
In case you haven't heard, they made HJ history in New York City.
No, neither was able to get over 8-0.75 (2.46 in metrics).
But both DID make it over a bar set at 7-11.25!!
That was a first.
Barshim won, though in the hearts of the fans in the stands, both did.
His 7-11.25 is the new Qatari National Record.
It's the Age 22 record, and not shared by anyone else!
It's the new Meet Record.
It's the best-ever mark for 2nd place!
(Yes, he was 2nd, based on fewer misses!)
And he is now 2nd on the A-T World list, tied with one other.
That "one other" is Monsieur Bondarenko!!
He also made 7-11.25.
And he's the new Age 24 record holder.
It's the Ukraine National Record.
And he is also 2nd A-T World, tied with one other! (See above!! LOL)
Before I go on, let's back up a few days, to when the venerable Bislett Games took place in Oslo.
That DL meet was a farce, as DL's go.
In fact, it should have been called a BRONZE League meet.
Because the quality was THIRD-rate!! (Get it?? Bronze.....Third??)
Just 2 relatively minor Record Book-worthy marks came out of it.
And it was surprising to me, as the fields were stacked with some great athletes!!
Jairus Birech won the 3000SC in 8:02.37, and moves up one place on the A-T World list, from 17th to 16th.
(Evan Jager led this race at AR pace, but faded over the last 800, and missed the AR by just 0.16 seconds!!)
Henrik Ingabrigtsen broke the Norway National Record for the Mile for the 2nd time, running 3:50.73.
Genzebe Dibaba won a fairly good 5000 in 14:34 and change, but no marks changed anything in my T&F Record Book!!
Kim Conley ran a small PR, but missed the US list by just over a second!
But overall, a pretty dull meet, and definitely NOT of Diamond League-level quality!
But the NY meet reinvigorated the series, so let's continue recounting what happened.
Some of the best marks came from High School kids!!
The New York DL is famous for their "Dream" series of 100 meter and One Mile races.
But one great mark came from a HS girl who did NOT race in the High School Girls Dream Mile.
In the Elite Women's 1500, Alexa Efraimson blew her PR out the window with a fantastic "Cain-esque" time of 4:07.05.
Yes, she finished just 10th in the "Big Girls" race.
(Remember, Mary Cain finished 10th in the Moscow WC 1500!!)
But her time, improving her former best by almost NINE full seconds, places her second to Ms Cain on the A-T HS list!!
And just 2.43 seconds back!!
The winner of that race was, of course, Abeba Aregawi, whose 4:00.13 is the new Meet Record.
Between Aregawi and Efraimson were such women as Jenny Simpson, Treniere Moser, a reconstituted Morgan Uceny, running her fastest 1500 since 2012 (4:04.87), and Brenda Martinez, having a slight off day, running just 0.63 ahead of Alexa.
Finishing 2nd to Aregawi was 17 year old Ethiopian, Dawit Seyaum, who should be the clear favorite at the World Junior meet, if she runs there.
(Mary Cain is thinking of running the 3000 there, assuming she's going to enter!!)
Seyaum ran a super PR of 4:00.66!!
Speaking of Cain, she ran in the non-DL 800, and finished 4th in 2:01.67, a 2014 best time.
She looked much better than she did at the Pre meet!
Her next race, after attaining a NY Driver's License, and graduating from Bronxville HS, will be at USATF.
Will she do both the Senior AND Junior versions of USATF??
Wait to find out!
The Women's 3000SC was good.
Emma Coburn didn't run, but Stephanie Garcia did.
She ran a 12+ second PR, hitting 9:28.96, to move her from 21st A-T US all the way up to 5th!!
The winner, Sofia Assefa, set a Meet Record with her 9:18.58.
Returning to those HS races, the Miles were won by Grant Fisher and Sarah Feeny.
Fisher ran 4:02.02, which makes him 15th A-T HS.
Feeny ran a negative split (2:22 and 2:17) time of 4:39.23, good for 5th A-T HS!!
(Remember, I do NOT have 1600 times, or times converted from 1600's, on my Mile lists!!)
Earlier, another Mile took place!
This one was for "Youth".
And a TEN year old boy, Jonah Gorevic (of Rye, NY), ran it in 5:01.55, which they say is a WORLD Record for 10 year old boys!!
Let me say that again.
A TEN year old ran a MILE in 5:01.55.
(Jim Ryun reportedly ran his first timed mile at age 14---in 5:38!!)
The Girls 100 was won by Kaylin Whitney in 11.27.
A week or so ago, she'd run an 11.30, that making her 20th A-T HS, tied with one other.
The 11.27 moves her up to 17th place, tied with 1 other.
The Men's 400 was a class act.
LaShawn Merritt continued his winning ways, hitting the tape in 44.19, a new Meet Record.
Behind him, in 2nd, was South African Wayde Van Niekerk.
His 44.38 is a National Record.
Then came ageless Chris Brown, whose 44.61 is yet ANOTHER Age 35 record!!
(And it's the first sub-45 by someone 35 or older!!)
Jeff Henderson had a good LJ, hitting 27-4 for a Meet Record.
Kim Conley ran the 3000 in 8:44.11, finishing 5th (behind Mercy Cherono, Betsy Saina, and Sally Kipyego, among others), but missed my DDD list by 0.39 seconds!!
One other Meet Record was set by Robert Harting in the DT, his toss reaching 223-10.
In earlier DL's, in Rome and Oslo, Tianna Bartoletta got 2 PR's in the LJ.
She hit 22-9 in Rome, making her 14th A-T US.
Her Oslo jump of 23-0.25 improved her place to 7th A-T US!
Finally, in the NY Mini-10000, run through hilly Central Park, Molly Huddle beat a class field in a Women Only race American Record time of 31:37.
Second was 12 seconds back.
Forty-one year old Deena Kastor finished 6th in 33:17!
Well, there's still the New Balance National meet to report on, but that one is still ongoing, finishing up tomorrow evening!
I'll have another post dedicated to that meet, as well as whatever else pops up, from the HS scene or the Professionals, as the PTF is also finishing up tomorrow evening!
See you then!!
NCAA: Upsets and New Faces
This has been, and remains, an astounding weekend in the world of Track and Field.
Today wrapped up 4 days of great Collegiate T&F at the NCAA meet in Eugene.
Today was also a day for the Professionals, with the Diamond League meet in NYC.
And it was the 2nd of 3 days of record-breaking action on the High School level, at the New Balance Outdoor Nationals.
Believe it or not, that's not all!!
Tonight is the 1st of 2 days of Portland Track Festival distance races, sort of a lower level Payton Jordan-style meet.
Thus, I'm forced to make some decisions as to how to present it all.
This post will be all about the NCAA.
A later post will cover the New York DL.
And either tomorrow night or Monday morning, I'll do one covering the NBN, plus whatever's left over!!
Upsets, at least on the individual level, were the order of the day(s) in Eugene.
The team wins went to the Texas A&M women and the Oregon men.
But read on!
Abbey D'Agostino's last Collegiate race (the 5000) was a LOSS!!
Shalaya Kipp's final Collegiate race was a loss too.
Nick Miller and Nick Ross both lost!
Indoor CR holder in the vault (with her 15-1), Kaitlin Petrillose, actually NH'ed!!
The Duck Women's 4X100R team DNF'ed, failing to complete their 1st pass!
Ashley Spencer suffered an injury, so didn't compete.
And on and on!!
But there WAS some great record action, albeit from some unexpected sources!
The Men's 5000 gave us the Meet Record, as well as a great race.
Lawi Lalang outlasted Ed Cheserek in a stirring homestretch duel.
His time of 13:18.36 was the MR, and moves him from 8th A-T Collegiate up to 3rd.
The MR he beat was by Sydney Maree, and it dated from 1979!
Cheserek's time was 13:18.71.
It's the Collegiate Frosh Class record (beating Dathan Ritzenhein's 2002 mark!).
It makes him 9th A-T Collegiate.
Oregon's frosh 110H guy, Devon Allen, became the 2nd fastest Collegian ever, behind only the legendary Renaldo Nehemiah!
His 13.16 win is the NCAA Meet Record.
It moves him from 6th A-T Collegiate (tied with 1 other) up to 2nd!!
He's now also 22nd A-T US!!
Gregg Swift ran 13.35, and became 17th A-T Collegiate, tied with 2 others.
Leah O'Connor is the one who beat Shalaya Kipp in the 3000SC.
Her 9:36.43 moves her from 13th A-T Collegiate all the way up to 3rd.
But maybe more significantly, it also gives her 12th place on my US DDD list!
Besides Kipp, who finished 6th after a last lap fade (I heard she stepped on the curb, and maybe injured her ankle!!), four others made the Top 24 list.
Marisa Howard ran 9:43.82, for 14th A-T Collegiate, and 24th A-T US!!
Rachel Johnson's 9:44.47 moves her from 21st A-T Collegiate up to 15th.
Grace Heymsfield improved to 9:49.01, giving her 22nd A-T Collegiate.
And Jessica Kamilos ran 9:49.25, for 23rd A-T Collegiate.
Trayvon Bromell blazed a legal 9.97 100 in his final.
He's now the best-ever Age 18 100 man in history!!
He's also the new Collegiate Frosh Class record holder.
And he moves from 19th A-T Collegiate (tied with 3 others) up to 8th, where he's tied with 4 others!!
Another upset (not mentioned above) was Shamier Little's 400H win over Kendra Harrison.
Her 55.07 PR rates her 23rd A-T Collegian.
The man who beat Nick Miller in the HT was Matthias Tayala.
His throw of 241-4 makes him 21st A-T Collegian.
Fawn Miller improved 8 inches in the JT, to 190-8, but there was no change of place on the Collegiate list.
But it does move her from 11th to 9th on the A-T US list!
Morolake Akinosun ran the 100 in 11.04, making her 14th A-T Collegiate, tied with 3 others.
The Women's PV was won by a relative unknown, Kelsie Ahbe, whose 14-5.25 makes her 20th A-T Collegiate, tied with 5 others!!
Phyllis Francis ran the 400 in 50.59 (behind Courtney Okolo's non-PR of 50.23).
She moves from 21st A-T Collegiate (tied with 1 other) up to 18th.
Finally, the Men's and Women's 4X400 Relays produced one mark each of note.
The Texas A&M men JUST missed the Collegiate Record, their 2:59.60 win a mere 0.01 short of the record!!
(And Florida had been favored, based on their early season 2:59.73!!)
But it does move them from number 8 Collegiate School to # 2 School!
And the Texas A&M Women didn't win their race, but their 3:25.63 is a School record, and leaves them as 3rd best A-T School.
There were no list-making times, but it was Marielle Hall beating Aisling Cuffe that pushed heavily-favored Abbey D back to 3rd!!
The Women's 10K came within 4 seconds of the MR in a negative split race won by Emma Bates.
She split 16:33 and 15:59!!
Erin Finn led only part of the way, and finished a creditable 6th as top Frosh!
Laura Roesler easily won the 800, but didn't go sub-2:00 in her final Collegiate 800.
Heptathlete Kendell Williams began her 7-eventer with a blazing 100H in 12.99, legal wind!!
But she was up and down the rest of the way, just missing 6000 points, but winning anyway.
All in all, an exciting 4 days of T&F action, with many additions and revisions made to my T&F Record Book.
Stay tuned for the Professional side of things, probably later this evening!
Today wrapped up 4 days of great Collegiate T&F at the NCAA meet in Eugene.
Today was also a day for the Professionals, with the Diamond League meet in NYC.
And it was the 2nd of 3 days of record-breaking action on the High School level, at the New Balance Outdoor Nationals.
Believe it or not, that's not all!!
Tonight is the 1st of 2 days of Portland Track Festival distance races, sort of a lower level Payton Jordan-style meet.
Thus, I'm forced to make some decisions as to how to present it all.
This post will be all about the NCAA.
A later post will cover the New York DL.
And either tomorrow night or Monday morning, I'll do one covering the NBN, plus whatever's left over!!
Upsets, at least on the individual level, were the order of the day(s) in Eugene.
The team wins went to the Texas A&M women and the Oregon men.
But read on!
Abbey D'Agostino's last Collegiate race (the 5000) was a LOSS!!
Shalaya Kipp's final Collegiate race was a loss too.
Nick Miller and Nick Ross both lost!
Indoor CR holder in the vault (with her 15-1), Kaitlin Petrillose, actually NH'ed!!
The Duck Women's 4X100R team DNF'ed, failing to complete their 1st pass!
Ashley Spencer suffered an injury, so didn't compete.
And on and on!!
But there WAS some great record action, albeit from some unexpected sources!
The Men's 5000 gave us the Meet Record, as well as a great race.
Lawi Lalang outlasted Ed Cheserek in a stirring homestretch duel.
His time of 13:18.36 was the MR, and moves him from 8th A-T Collegiate up to 3rd.
The MR he beat was by Sydney Maree, and it dated from 1979!
Cheserek's time was 13:18.71.
It's the Collegiate Frosh Class record (beating Dathan Ritzenhein's 2002 mark!).
It makes him 9th A-T Collegiate.
Oregon's frosh 110H guy, Devon Allen, became the 2nd fastest Collegian ever, behind only the legendary Renaldo Nehemiah!
His 13.16 win is the NCAA Meet Record.
It moves him from 6th A-T Collegiate (tied with 1 other) up to 2nd!!
He's now also 22nd A-T US!!
Gregg Swift ran 13.35, and became 17th A-T Collegiate, tied with 2 others.
Leah O'Connor is the one who beat Shalaya Kipp in the 3000SC.
Her 9:36.43 moves her from 13th A-T Collegiate all the way up to 3rd.
But maybe more significantly, it also gives her 12th place on my US DDD list!
Besides Kipp, who finished 6th after a last lap fade (I heard she stepped on the curb, and maybe injured her ankle!!), four others made the Top 24 list.
Marisa Howard ran 9:43.82, for 14th A-T Collegiate, and 24th A-T US!!
Rachel Johnson's 9:44.47 moves her from 21st A-T Collegiate up to 15th.
Grace Heymsfield improved to 9:49.01, giving her 22nd A-T Collegiate.
And Jessica Kamilos ran 9:49.25, for 23rd A-T Collegiate.
Trayvon Bromell blazed a legal 9.97 100 in his final.
He's now the best-ever Age 18 100 man in history!!
He's also the new Collegiate Frosh Class record holder.
And he moves from 19th A-T Collegiate (tied with 3 others) up to 8th, where he's tied with 4 others!!
Another upset (not mentioned above) was Shamier Little's 400H win over Kendra Harrison.
Her 55.07 PR rates her 23rd A-T Collegian.
The man who beat Nick Miller in the HT was Matthias Tayala.
His throw of 241-4 makes him 21st A-T Collegian.
Fawn Miller improved 8 inches in the JT, to 190-8, but there was no change of place on the Collegiate list.
But it does move her from 11th to 9th on the A-T US list!
Morolake Akinosun ran the 100 in 11.04, making her 14th A-T Collegiate, tied with 3 others.
The Women's PV was won by a relative unknown, Kelsie Ahbe, whose 14-5.25 makes her 20th A-T Collegiate, tied with 5 others!!
Phyllis Francis ran the 400 in 50.59 (behind Courtney Okolo's non-PR of 50.23).
She moves from 21st A-T Collegiate (tied with 1 other) up to 18th.
Finally, the Men's and Women's 4X400 Relays produced one mark each of note.
The Texas A&M men JUST missed the Collegiate Record, their 2:59.60 win a mere 0.01 short of the record!!
(And Florida had been favored, based on their early season 2:59.73!!)
But it does move them from number 8 Collegiate School to # 2 School!
And the Texas A&M Women didn't win their race, but their 3:25.63 is a School record, and leaves them as 3rd best A-T School.
There were no list-making times, but it was Marielle Hall beating Aisling Cuffe that pushed heavily-favored Abbey D back to 3rd!!
The Women's 10K came within 4 seconds of the MR in a negative split race won by Emma Bates.
She split 16:33 and 15:59!!
Erin Finn led only part of the way, and finished a creditable 6th as top Frosh!
Laura Roesler easily won the 800, but didn't go sub-2:00 in her final Collegiate 800.
Heptathlete Kendell Williams began her 7-eventer with a blazing 100H in 12.99, legal wind!!
But she was up and down the rest of the way, just missing 6000 points, but winning anyway.
All in all, an exciting 4 days of T&F action, with many additions and revisions made to my T&F Record Book.
Stay tuned for the Professional side of things, probably later this evening!
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