Weekly Recap

20.30!!!

(Kenny Bednarek-Indian Hills CC)

The first weekend in February has come and gone. It goes without saying that we can no longer ignore this young talented man. Kenny Bednarek of Indian Hills Community College. He was an incredibly talented runner coming out of high school with a personal record of 20.43. Many thought he would end up at a division one school. For what the reason he is at his local community college in Wisconsin. It is clear they may know a thing or two about coaching. Bednarek began to catch national attention in early December when he ran 45.93 in the 400 to open the season. It was a new personal record that he set in December and that is an impressive time so early in the season.

This past weekend he proved his early season performances were no fluke. At the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational on the campus of Nebraska Bednarek blazed the track to a time of 20.30. That is not a typo. The talented freshman has the top time in all of college and made a big statement defeating several division one athletes. I for one would love to see him compete at the highest level in college however he may be a professional athlete before that happens.

The men’s 400 has been developing slowly this season. There were as of last week only three collegiate athletes under 46 seconds. Well this past weekend another joined the group. Junior Quincy Hall of South Carolina won the Carolina on his home track with a blazing 45.84. His time ties Wil London of Baylor whose time was converted down due the altitude he competed at. Hall is already a bit of household name after dominating the junior college ranks in both the 400 and 400 hurdles. Training under legendary hurdle coach Curtis Frye will certainly produce more of what we saw this past weekend.

True freshman Mondo Duplantis of LSU is living up to his well-earned hype. He debuted a week ago tied for number one. This past weekend he improved his mark further cementing he is the true number one. On his home track at Maddox Field House of the campus of LSU he leaped to a winning mark of 19 feet 3 inches. His mark also ranks him number one in the world. This young talented man will continue to put eye-popping marks throughout his time as a collegiate athlete.

Shelby McEwen of Alabama was another outstanding jumper this weekend. Prior to his performance this past weekend there was a tie at the top of the ranks in the High Jump. McEwen decided to break that tie and reach an impressive height of 7-7. McEwen is the defending SEC Indoor Champion and has created more distance between himself and the rest of the field. This season he is making a case to that he can win the National Indoor title as well.

WOMEN

The Camel City Invitational was competed on a flat track in Winston Salem, North Carolina. The meet produced two new number one marks. The times were converted up because of the flat surface. Martha Bissah of Norfolk State claimed the number one mark in the 800 with a time of 2:02.58 after finishing tops among collegians in the race. Elly Hines of North Carolina State had her time converted to 9:01.72 in the 3,000 meter run to garner the top time in her event as well. Both lost their races to impressive professional marks but were tops among the collegians in the field.

Loretta Blaut of Cincinnati tied the number one mark in the high jump. The senior leaped to a winning mark of 6-1½ to match the mark of Andrea Stapleton-Johnson of BYU. Johnson has held the top mark in the NCAA for two weeks. With this event producing fewer jumpers over 6 feet the top group of jumpers has remained small.

Bonnie Draxler is not from Arkansas but is the new number one in the women’s pole vault. The senior from San Diego State won the New Mexico Classic with a mark of 14-10. Draxler had her first major competition since last year’s indoor championship. Her performance is a huge personal best and positive sign to start the season.

The weight throw was only supposed to be between Sade Olatoye of Ohio State and Stamatia Scarvelis of Tennessee. They were the preseason favorites. However, a new name is jumping in to the ring, literally, to challenge for the title. Laulauga Tausaga of Iowa had a throw of 76-3 ¾ at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational. We are closer to the post season and a mark of that quality shows that Tausaga is a legitimate threat.

No relay of the week in this post as there was no truly impressive relay performance. This weekend will more than likely bring that out. The Tyson Invitational is this weekend along with the Iowa State Classic and the Husky Classic. Those three meets have historically been the biggest meets of the second weekend in February. There are still several quality meets such as the Music City Challenge at Vanderbilt, Texas Tech Shootout, Spire Division 1 Invitational in Ohio, Don Kirby Collegiate Elite at New Mexico University, Grand Valley State Big Meet and the Tiger Paw Invitational at Clemson. Expect for some impressive performances and the championship picture to become clearer.