2018 Outdoor Weekend Recap 1

(Maggie Ewen-Arizona State)

The first weekend is in the books. We had plenty of hot times and performances by our top performers from the indoor season. Although the season started last week, this was the first weekend where a few big names competed and next weekend even more will show.

In the sprints Michael Norman of USC continues to impress this season by opening in the 200 clocking in a national leading time of 20.37 at the Trailblazer Invitational. After setting a indoor world record in the 400 meters a lot of eyes will be on him to see if he can break the collegiate record outdoors.

Jada Baylark of Arkansas proved that Arkansas can still produce sprinters on the women’s side too. The talented sophomore clocked a blazing NCAA leading time of 11.10 in the 100-meter dash. Her time ties the school record held by Jamaican Olympic Champion Veronica Campbell. Her time immediately makes her a NCAA Outdoor title contender.

Ka’Tia Seymour of Florida State a true freshman has lived up to the hype this season. It has been a while since Florida State had such a strong core of sprinters. Seymour who earned All-American honors indoors began the outdoor season with a bang. Seymour won the 200-meter dash at the FSU Relays with a time of 22.75. Expect to see more from this talented freshman.

Clayton Brown of Florida is beginning the outdoor season with a serious bang. Brown leaped to the number one performance in the nation in the triple jump with a leap of 53 feet 9 ¾ inches. His strong early season mark shows Brown is picking up where he left off from the Indoor season.

Senior Taliyah Brooks of Arkansas was another athlete who broke a school record this past weekend for Arkansas. The NCAA Champion in the Pentathlon showed her impressive long jump skills with a mark of 22 feet 3 inches. Her mark moved her to the top of the NCAA rankings. It remains to be seen if she will compete in both the heptathlon and long jump outdoors because indoors she did compete in the pentathlon in the long jump and did not have a great outing in the long jump. Hopefully this time around she will have better results.

The throws this weekend show that they too are on a record breaking quest this season. Anderson Peters of Mississippi State joined the all-time top 10 list in collegiate history in the javelin. His winning throw this weekend from the Mississippi State Bulldog relays of 268 feet 10 inches currently ranks him 8^th all-time. This is solid start for Peters who is from Grenada and a proven international competitor.

Senior Maggie Ewen of Arizona State is picking up where she left off. The talented senior joined the all-time list in the Hammer Throw this weekend at the Big Ten/Pac 12 Challenge. Her throw of 237 feet 1-inch places her 9^th all-time. Ewen had a remarkable indoor season where she walked away with a NCAA title in the shot put. She has continued that success outdoors in the hammer throw. It remains to be seen if she will compete in both the shot put and hammer throw. Last season Ewen won the title outdoors in the hammer throw but came up short in the shot put and discus, this season she could potentially win all three.

Johnny Leverenz of Butler had the lone standout distance performance. The junior blitzed a strong field at the Vanderbilt Black and Gold meet. Leverenz won the 1,500 in a national leading time of 3:43.61. At the same meet he claimed the 800-meter run in 1:49.11 the number two time in the nation. Both performances were personal best for Leverenz and indication that he is back and ready for a season of personal best.

Blazing 4x100 Relays was another highlight of the weekend. On the men’s side three teams went sub 39 and leading the way was LSU. LSU competed at the Big Ten/Pac 12 Invite even though they are not in either conference. The men’s 4x100 relay clocked in at 38.84. The defending champions Houston clocked in at 38.95 and USC clocked in at 38.88 with shaky hand-offs might I add. Just like the women last season the men could be in for a record breaking season. TCU’s 4x100 relay record of 38.04 set in 1998 could be in jeopardy. On the women’s side it is LSU who leads the way with a time of 42.99 and USC is a close second with a time of 43.18. LSU already set the NCAA leading mark last weekend with a time of 42.65 so expect more fireworks this coming weekend at the Texas Relays.

We have made it through the first weekend of the outdoor season. We have our first major weekend coming up with meets at Texas and Florida. The Texas and Florida Relays are headlines for the outdoor season and will feature many of the top teams and athletes in the nation. The top list will likely change coming Monday but that is to be expected. The early season rankings caused some interesting discussion, perhaps most notable are the defending champions Florida ranked 4^th. The Gators have a strong core but clearly not enough to impress the voters. Expect for the rankings to also shift after this weekend as well.