While much of the country took off for either spring break or Easter weekend, a few meets around the country really took advantage of the great weather that marked much of the country. In our Monday News & Notes section we talk about Hannah Carson (AZ) launching a U.S. top five javelin throw, the TCU Invitational and a few other tidbits.
Monday News & Notes Highlights - Summary of Willie Williams Classic (AZ) - Sprints & vault results at TCU Horned Frog Invitational (TX) - Weekend highlights from Texas - The Week AheadMonday News and Notes (3/24)
Willie Williams Classic (AZ)
Willie Williams Classic Meet Page
Willie Williams Classic Results: High School Results / Women's Javelin
It's rare in most states that high school athletes can compete in the javelin. It's even more rare that a high school athlete competing in the javelin can beat 99% of college athletes. However, this is the case for Hannah Carson (Fr., Mesa Dobson, AZ), who is the top prep javelin thrower and can compete with nearly every collegiate and professional javelin thrower in the country. This past weekend at the Willie Williams Classic, Carson competed in the javelin for the first time this spring, competing in the College/Open division. Carson threw an amazing 165-09, which puts her in the U.S. top five all-time in the event at the high school level. All of this and Carson is only a freshman!
This meet also produced some amazing results in the high school portion of the meet, especially in the sprints and hurdles. Perhaps the second best performance of the day came from Evonne Britton (El Paso Chapin, NM) in the girls hurdle events. Britton blew away the field in both contests, taking home the win the 100m hurdles in 14.83, while earning the top mark in the 300m hurdles in 43.90. Meanwhile, Terra Evans (South Mountain, AZ) ran 11.89 to win the 100m dash, which ranks as one of the best times in the country.
On the boys side, Edgar Rivera (Sonora, CA) lept 6-11 to win the boys high jump with one of the best leaps in the nation this season. In the sprints, Stephon Bullard (Santa Rita, AZ) beat Nathan Rodriguez (Coronado, NM) 49.29 to 49.38 in the 400m dash, one of the closest finishes of the day.
TCU Horned Frog Invitational (TX)
TCU Horned Frog Invitational Meet Page
TCU Horned Frog Invitational Results
While many of the top Texas athletes competed at Nike Indoor Nationals and the NSIC meet last weekend, many of them bounced back this week to compete outdoors at the TCU Horned Frog Invitational. The strongest events occurred on the girls side, which saw some incredibly impressive marks in the sprints and jumps. Leading the way was LaKeidra Stewart (Mansfield Timberview, TX), who won the 100m dash in 12.00w, ahead of Victoria Jordan's (Fort Worth Dunbar, TX) 12.03w runner-up finish. Stewart also placed second behind Ashley Collier (Fort Worth Dunbar), with Collier winning 23.47w to 23.83w.
Another top performance came in the pole vault. Shade Weygandt (Mansfield, TX) cleared 13-05.5 to win the event by a huge margin, while showing that she will be pushing the 14 foot mark before too long. The other top performance in the field events came from Whitney Gipson's (Richland, TX) effort in the long jump. Gipson lept 19-03.5 to win her marquee event, ranking her very high up the charts so early in the season.
South Carolina Stars Talk (SC)
SCRunners.com Interviews: Luke Lovelace / Briana Nelson
Briana Nelson (J.L. Mann, SC) and Luke Lovelace (Chapin, SC) are two of the most respected and dominant athletes in the nation. Lovelace is a multi-time Foot Locker qualifier and one of the best distance runners around, while Nelson is a Nike Indoor National champion and is showing her sprint dominance this season so far. Both athletes talked with John Olson of SCRunners.com about their Nike Indoor National experience this year and their goals for the outdoor season. These are must see videos for any prep track and field fan.
Texas Track and Field Highlights (TX)
Texas Track and Field Highlights (TXRunning.com): Sprints / Distance
TXRunning.com editor Alex Aldaco summarizes the top track and field performances in Texas each week and this week his sprint and distance notebooks have some incredible performances in them. Between the Texas Southern Relays, which saw over a half dozen new U.S. #1's earned, and the TCU Horned Frog Invitational, this week in Texas really stole the show this past weekend. Make sure to check out Alex's highlights to see the dominance of the Lone Star State.
The Week Ahead
While the indoor season may be done for nearly all of the nation, a few indoor track and field meets still need to take place. One of those meets is the Illinois Prep Top Times Invitational, which is the unofficial indoor state track meet in Illinois. With some of the best athletes in Illinois taking part in the meet, such as Shakeia Pinnick (Waubonsie Valley, IL), Mat Smoody (Palatine, IL), Stephanie Brown (Tri-Valley, IL) and Ashley Verplank (Bloomington, IL) all taking part, some of the results could rank very high on the national lists.
Elsewhere in the country, the Pennsylvania Track Classic (PA) will host some of the best athletes in the state, while the All State Sugar Bowl Track and Field Classic (LA) and the Mississippi State Bulldog Classic (MS) bring together some of the best competition around the South and Southeast regions.