Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Historic Friday Performances Kick Off Collegiate Track & Field Weekend

#DidYouSeeThat RECAP: Historic Friday Performances Kick Off Collegiate Track & Field Weekend

By Kyle Terwillegar, USTFCCCA
February 14, 2015   
 
We’re just one day into the collegiate track & field weekend and there’s already been a full weekend’s worth of highlights and headlines.
From all-time great distance running at Boston U to all-time great sprinting at Arkansas, and great action all over the country from Boston westward through Iowa State and New Mexico to Washington, this has already lived up to its billing as the top regular-season weekend on the collegiate schedule.
RESULTS: Arkansas | Iowa State | Washington | Boston | New Mexico
Check out the highlights below, and also click the boxes below to see what to look for the rest of today. Or, check out the USTFCCCA’s Meets This Weekend page and/or TFRRS for everything that’s going on this weekend.

SATURDAY PREVIEWS


Arkansas Tyson Invitational
Washington Husky Classic
Millrose, Iowa State, SPIRE, New Mexico

Villanova Men’s DMR Moves to No. 3 All-Time

It didn’t take long for action at Boston U’s Valentine Invitational get white-hot. In the very first event and the only men’s event of the day. After finishing a disappointing third at Penn State two weekends ago where Georgetown and Penn State both posted top-10 all-time performances, it was Villanova’s day on Friday. The Wildcats blazed to a 9:27.04, well ahead of second-place Florida State in 9:39.50, which moved them up to No. 3 in collegiate history.
Running alone for much of the race after Jordy Williamsz opened with a 2:52.3 over 1200 meters, followed by a 47.84 400 leg by Donald Urschel, a 1:49.4 800 leg by Dusty Solis and a 3:57.8 anchor 1600 by Rob Denault.
Williamsz and Solis were members of Nova’s crew that ran 9:28.06 on this track last March two weekends before NCAAs.

Quigley Runs Fifth-Fastest Mile in Collegiate History

Cross country season didn’t quite go Colleen Quigley‘s way. The Florida State star was just 23rd at NCAAs and missed out on finishing her ACC career with an conference title. Early in the track season, it appeared she may not have shaken it with 4:44 and 4:39 miles in her first two outings. She turned that around in a big way on Friday, running an historic 4:29.67 to win at Boston for the No. 5 time in collegiate history and the No. 5 spot on the all-time collegiate performers list.
The sixth-place finisher at NCAAs in this event a year ago, she battled Rachel Schneider from start to finish, as the duo came through 800 meters in 2:13.4 and 1200 meters in 3:22.6. It took all the way until the final turn for Quigley to shake Schneider as part of a 67-second split over the final 400 meters.
The women ahead of Quigley on the list? Bowerman Trophy winner Jenny Barringer of Colorado, Sally Kipyego of Texas Tech, Abbey D’Agostino of Dartmouth and Vicki Huber of Villanova. Those three women have won a combined 23 indoor and outdoor individual NCAA track & field titles.
Notably, Quigley is also the No. 5 performer on the all-time collegiate outdoor 3000-meter steeplechase performers list (No. 8 performance).
How will defending outdoor 1500 meters champ Shelby Houlihan of Arizona State respond at the Millrose Games tonight?
(Note: As of publication on Saturday, she had already run a 4:32 split on her 1600-meter leg of Florida State’s distance medley relay)

Teeters Pulls Ahead of Bromell on Men’s 60-meters list; Neither Races in Final

Looks like we’ll have to wait until Big 12s in a couple weekends to finally see Oklahoma State’s John Teetersand Baylor’s defending NCAA outdoor 100-meter champion Trayvon Bromell – the two men who entered this weekend as the collegiate 60-meter leaders – go head-to-head.
After Bromell posted a 6.62 to win his prelim heat on Friday at the Tyson Invitational, Teeters followed just a moment later with a scorching 6.52 to move up into a share of the No. 9 position on the all-time collegiate performers list with the likes of former NCAA champions Dentarius Locke of Florida State and Jeff Demps of Florida.
In the semifinals just two hours later, Bromell took the first heat with an impressive 6.55 (edging out Florida State frosh Kendal Williams‘ 6.57), but two sections later it was again Teeters who would steal the show with a 6.54 in the third heat.
Disappointingly, however, neither of the two (nor Williams, for that matter) contested the Friday-finale 60-meters final. Cameron Burrell of Houston took the win in 6.60.
Teeters does not have an individual Saturday event; Bromell and Williams will race at 200 meters.

Burchell Dominates the Women’s 60 at Tyson

Alabama’s Remona Burchell was under-the-radar leading up to her NCAA Indoor 60-meter title last season. She is certainly on everyone’s radar now after winning the outdoor 100 title over the summer and dominating Friday’s women’s 60 at Tyson.
She blew away the field with a collegiate-leading 7.14 in the final, just .01 shy of her second entry on the all-time collegiate top-10 performances list. Texas’ Morolake Akinosun, who earlier this season bested the former collegiate leader Jasmine Todd of Oregon, was no match on this day, finishing runner-up at 7.21.
She became just the fourth woman in collegiate history with multiple times of 7.14 or faster (she ran 7.11 at altitude to win NCAAs last season). She joins collegiate record-holders Lakya Brookins of South Carolina andAngela Williams of Southern California, as well as UCF’s Aurieyall Scott.
She also ran 7.17 in the semis and 7.25 in the prelims.

What a Day for Akela Jones

The Kansas State junior did a little bit of everything on Friday at Tyson. She took the collegiate lead in the long jump with a huge 21-9½ (6.64m) leap in the third round before passing on each of her final three attempts. That mark surpassed Georgia’s Kendell Williams‘ former leader by 10 centimeters.
Why did she pass on her final three jumps? Because she was busy tying her career-best in the 60-meter hurdles. The Oklahoma Baptist transfer, who won last season’s NAIA titles in the 60- and 100-meter hurdles, ran 8.17 in the semifinals to tie her PR from early this season. She did not contest the final.
She’s also scheduled Saturday in the invitational section of the high jump, an event in which she is also the reigning NAIA champion. In fact, she won NAIA indoor titles last year in the 60H, the long jump, the high jump, and the pentathlon, to go along with a runner-up 60-meters effort. Not a bad day’s work.
With PRs comparable across the board to current NCAA combined events queen Kendell Williams of Georgia, could she make an attempt to supplant the Bulldog atop the NCAA? She’s already posted a 4402 in the pentathlon earlier this season, third on the collegiate list behind defending champion Williams and 2013 champion Erica Bougard of Mississippi State.

Blistering Hurdles Action at Tyson

Already the defending national champion in the men’s 60-meter hurdles, Arkansas’ Omar McLeod made it clear, on no uncertain terms, that he’s still the man to beat in 2015. Though he didn’t contest the final (sensing a theme, here?) the sophomore sensation overcame the hurdles in just 7.60 to post the semifinals’ fastest time by two-tenths of a second. This came after running 7.65 in the prelims to post the fastest time by .12 of a second.
While McLeod made it clear he’s the singular favorite in the NCAA this year, the women’s race made it clear that we could be in for another finish as tight as last year’s by The Bowerman Finalist Sharika Nelvis of Arkansas State. With preseason No. 1 Kentucky’s Kendra Harrison out, her former teammate Bridgette Owens of Florida took the win in 8.02, followed closely by Texas’ Morgan Snow in 8.07 and Texas Tech’sLe’Tristan Pledger in 8.12.
This came after Snow posted the fastest semifinal time of 8.12, followed by Pldedger at 8.13, K-State’s Jones at 8.17 and Owens at 8.18.

Bowerman Men’s Winner Lendore and Women’s Finalist Okolo Impress in Quarter-Mile at Tyson

Defending indoor/outdoor 400-meter champ Deon Lendore of Texas A&M and outdoor champ/collegiate record-holder Courtney Okolo of Texas won their signature events at Tyson, but both by very narrow margins.
After watching teammate Bralon Taplin (who has split a sub-45 leg in the 4×400 relay this year) go 45.39 in the third section of the men’s 400, Lendore literally did him one better, going 45.38 for the event win. The two are now just narrowly behind collegiate leader Najee Glass of Florida (45.34), who will run at 200 meters on Saturday, at Nos. 2 and 3 on the 2015 list.
Texas’ Zack Bilderback also went sub-46 for third place in 45.98.
His female teammate Okolo had to fend off her strongest competition head-to-head as she ran 51.65 in the fourth section to edge out Taylor Ellis-Watson of Arkansas in 51.72. Reigning outdoor 40-meter hurdles champion Shamier Little of Texas A&M was third in 51.92. Notable in fifth-place at 52.46 was Texas’ Ashley Spencer. The two-time outdoor 400 champ while at Illinois was third in her section.

Lawson Wins Battle Between Past Two Indoor Long Jump Champs & Collegiate-Leading Gotch

Collegiate-leading Jarvis Gotch‘s Louisiana Tech program is ineligible for the NCAA Championships this season, so Friday was the one chance to see an indoor battle between him, defending indoor championJarrion Lawson of Arkansas and defending outdoor/2013 indoor champ Marquis Dendy of Florida.
Well, it wasn’t as exciting as was hoped. The three combined for three legal jumps. Lawson took the win with a leap of 26-4¼ (8.03m), Gotch was second with an opening jump of 25-9½ (7.86m) followed by four fouls and a pass, and Dendy had an off day with three fouls.
Look for more battles to come during the outdoor season, where LaTech is eligible for NCAA competition.

Great 5k Action at Washington and Iowa State

Five of this season’s eight fastest times (unofficially until TFRRS is fully updated) were ran on Friday either at Iowa State or Washington.
First up was Iowa State, where Virginia Tech’s Thomas Curtin shocked the field – including pros Reed Connorand Maverick Darling and cross country studs John Mascari of Indiana State and Marc Scott of Tulsa – with a win on the oversized track in 13:38.56. In edging Connor (last year’s winner of this race) by just over a second, Curtin set a 20-second career best and moved to No. 2 on the 2015 descending order list. In third was Florida’s Mark Parrish in 13:41.87 putting him eighth on the collegiate list based on the action at Washington hours later.
That UW race was just as fast, with Colorado’s Pierce Murphy making a big move with 600 meters to go to take the lead past defending indoor mile/two-time defending steeplechase champ Anthony Rotich of UTEP and distance stud Craig Lutz of Texas, and teammates Morgan Pierson and Ammar Mousa. He held on to take the win in 13:39.29 for a nine-second PR and the No. 4 time in 2015, just ahead of Rotich in 13:30.14 and Lutz in 13:40.30 at Nos. 5 and 6.
The women’s race at Washington featured six women uner 16 minutes, including four who finished within four seconds of one another. Jessica Tonn pulled away for the win in 15:47.65, followed by a photo finish at the line between Tennessee’s Chelsea Blaase (15:50.40), Texas’ Sandie Raines (15:50.49) and Arkansas’s Dianoe Robison (15:50.88).

Prandini Takes Collegiate 200-Meter Lead at New Mexico

Just a week after Texas Tech’s Cierra White posted a collegiate-leading women’s 200-meter time of 22.98 on this very track a week ago, Jenna Prandini of Oregon put up a 2015-best of her own. The outdoor 200-meter national runner-up went 22.87 to win by three-tenths of a second over USC’s Tynia Gaither of USC.
White of Texas Tech will have a chance to respond at the Tyson Invitational on Saturday.
USC had a good day of its own, though, as Andre DeGrasse took the men’s 200 in 20.67, good for third on the 2015 collegiate list.
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