(Sydney McLaughlin-Kentucky)
As expected this past weekend was the fire that lit the
excitement to the outdoor season. More records fell and new collegiate all-time
best were added to the ever-growing list. The team title picture is still not
clear but we are now aware that some teams are clearly better than their
preseason ranking. In this recap we will try our best to review all the great
action that took place this weekend.
HOT RELAYS
This season the relays have been off to a fast start,
especially in the 4x100 relay. Houston the defending champion on the men’s side
has all the momentum and national attention since they are returning the entire
group that did NOT include sprint star Elijah Hall. At the Texas Relays this
past weekend they were against number one ranked LSU. It was senior Cameron
Burrell who would become the hero, Burrell closed and barely surpassed LSU’s
anchor Jaron Flournoy to help the Cougars win with a time of 38.91.
LSU will still retain the number one ranking on the season
but Houston has the victory head to head. With the speed that Houston has many
are expecting them to go sub 38 and become the first collegiate team to do so.
Houston will have to improve the baton exchanges for that to happen.
On the women’s side the most impressive relay this weekend
will go to Kentucky’s 4x400 relay team. Sydney McLaughlin was a special
highlight at the Florida Relays but along with her teammates they clocked in a
time of 3:26.92 to beat Purdue and Florida. McLaughlin had a 49.45 split and
the Kentucky Wildcats had a great early season performance. USC will have
something to say about their performance when they meet later in the season but
that was an impressive early season time.
For honorable mention Florida’s men 4x400 relay earned the number
one ranking in the NCAA this season with their performance on their home track
at the Florida Relays clocking in at 3:01.00. Their time is impressive early on
and is credited to the fact that they have two-sub 45 second splits. LSU women’s
4x100 relay still has the number one ranking after winning in a dominating
fashion at the Texas Relays their time of 42.66 is just .01 shy off the
national leading mark. No other team has run sub 43 this season.
Another relay of note goes to the Texas A&M women’s
4x800 relay. They broke a 30-year-old Texas Relays record that was held by
Texas. Their winning time of 8:30.58 included a 2:03 leg from Jazmine Fray. They
may perhaps compete again at the SEC Relays at Arkansas later this season and
even lower that mark.
INDIVIDUAL STARS
True freshman Sydney McLaughlin continues to be one of the
many positive highlights from this season. An Olympian as a high school athlete in
one of the toughest events, she has had a great career so far. At the Florida
Relays she perhaps left the meet as the overall MVP. She won the 200 meter dash
in 22.36 and the 400 meter dash in 50.07. Her time in the 400 is the fastest
for a U-20 athlete since Sanya Richards-Ross. Her 400 time is also the new
number one in the NCAA and she may not even contest the event this outdoor
season. She also ran a 49.45 split in the 4x400 relay that propelled her team
to number one in the nation.
Elijah Hall is Houston’s latest sprint star, never mind that
Cameron Burrell is still there. Hall who became the new Indoor world record
holder in the 200 lit the track on fire this past weekend at the Texas Relays.
In the 200-meter Invitational he beat professional sprinter Dedric Dukes to win
in a time of 20.11. His time was one of the few non-wind aided times from a
windy weekend. Hall anchored their winning 4x200 relay with a time of 1:21.20
and ran the second leg on their winning 4x100 relay for a total of three
victories.
Senior Prakel of Oregon is just one of many talented
distance runners that the Ducks have this season. Prakel competed in the 1,500
at the Stanford Invitational and led a Oregon sweep in the event. Prakel’s
national leading time of 3:39.75 is an impressive early season time. Prakel
missed the NCAA Outdoor meet last season and has been a solid performer for the
Ducks all year and finished third in the mile this past indoor season. Josh
Kerr of New Mexico is still the headliner but Prakel is a proven challenger.
Senior Karissa Schweizer of Missouri continues to be the
story all season long. The talented distance runner decided to try her hand at
the 10,000-meter run at the Stanford Invitational. In that field she was
competing against professionals such as Gwen Jorgensen. Schweizer proved she could
compete with the best in a long-distance event. She finished third behind
Jorgensen and fellow professional Carrie Demoff but she was the top collegian
in the race and her time of 32:00.55 was the eighth fastest in NCAA history. Schweizer
who has been breaking records throughout her career will likely continue to do
so as the season progresses.
At the same meet in Stanford Allie Ostrander began her
outdoor season with a bang as well. Ostrander competed in her favored event the
3,000-meter steeplechase. Ostrander is the defending NCAA Champion and a high-level
competitor in all long-distance events. Ostrander clocked in a winning time 9:38.57.
Her time is the eighth best time in collegiate history and a reminder to
everyone that she is still the athlete to beat.
UP, UP and AWAY
The jumpers this weekend decided to join the party. There
were quite a few number one performances including Lisa Gunnarson of Virginia
Tech. Gunnarson becomes the latest Pole Vault stud in the NCAA. Gunnarson won
the Pole Vault at the Texas Relays with a leap of 15 feet 1 inch. Her time
equals the seventh best time in NCAA history and was done against the top
vaulters from Arkansas in the field. Gunnarson has put everyone on notice with
that performance.
In the men’s pole vault the Texas Relays produced another
hot matchup. Chris Nielsen of South Dakota and Devin King of Southeast
Louisiana joined the all-time top 10 list. Nielsen looking to avenge himself
after finishing second at the NCAA Indoor meet won with fewer attempts over the
winning height. Their mark of 19 feet ¼ inch is the first 19-foot mark since
2016 season. Nielsen a talented sophomore can use this to further cement his
status as the favorite to win the outdoor title and earn him his second
national title overall. King has yet to produce on the NCAA stage and could use
this as motivation not only change that prove that he can win the NCAA title as
well.
THROWING HEAVY
The throwers had themselves quite a weekend as well. More
athletes joined the all-time list and became new number ones for the season.
Denzel Comenentia of Georgia continued great season with a throw of 250 feet 3
inches to win the hammer throw at the Texas Relays. Comenentia’s throw is the
seventh best mark in NCAA history and places him as the new number one over
Anders Eriksson of Florida and Rudy Winkler of Rutgers. Winkler still has the
further personal best and has Olympic Games experience making this event quite interesting.
This event is also important to Florida and their team title hopes. They have
two athletes in the top five and will be counting on Eriksson for big points.
FINAL SAY
A windy final day at the Texas Relays hurt some of the top
tier times at the meet. Aleia Hobbs of LSU clocked in at 10.86 but her
performance was well over the legal wind limit. Hobbs has already proven what
she is capable of and it will be interesting to see later this outdoor season.
This coming weekend there will be more competitive meets. You
have the Specs-Towns Invitational at the University of Georgia, Battle at the
Bayou at LSU and the Battle of Blues at Duke University. There should be more
records broken and all-time lists changed as that has been the theme the past
year and a half.
No comments:
Post a Comment