What a weekend it was! So many performances, so little time to talk about each one. In this week's Monday News and Notes section we discuss four field event performances that really stood out, big California performances earned at the Mt. SAC Relays, Logan Top 8 Inv. and Orange County Championships, discuss the week ahead and much more!
Monday News & Notes (4/21)
Big Field Event Performances!
Gunnison Inv. Results / Ardmore Inv. Results / Cabot Inv. Results / Kearney Inv. Results
While track highlights tend to get the most attention, this past weekend three throwing results and a pole vault mark were perhaps the best performances. The most impressive performance of the entire weekend came from Anna Jelmini (Jr., Shafter, CA). Jelmini entered the '08 track and field season as the U.S. #5 returnee in the girls discus. On Saturday Jelmini earned a U.S. #1 ranking in the event by tossing the discus 183-11 at the Bill Kearney Invitational (CA). Not only was Jelmini's throw U.S. #1 this season, but it leaves her tied for U.S. #4 all-time in the event!
Meanwhile, two male throwers put up huge numbers on Friday and Saturday. Friday night at the Ardmore Invitational (OK), Stanford-bound Geoffrey Tabor (Sr., Ardmore, OK) launched the discus 201-00, while doubling back with a fine 62-00 shot put throw. Tabor has consistently ranked in the U.S. top five for the discus each of the past two years, so his 201-00 performance should not come as a surprise. On Saturday in Colorado, Mason Finley (Jr., Salida, CO) threw one of the best shot put marks of the season at the Gunnison Invitational (CO). Finley's winning toss of 64-07 leaves him just short of the 66-03.25 Colorado state record set back in 1982 by Jim Banich. Finley also won the discus throw with an impressive distance of 193-00, one of the top junior class throws of the season.
Last but not least was Stephanie Foreman's (Sr., Lake Hamilton, AR) 13-05.25 pole vault performance at the Cabot Wal-Mart Invitational (AR). Foreman has shown consistent improvement all season long and topping this barrier is one that could really catipult her forward toward the magical 14-00 barrier. While there is plenty of vault competition in her home state, the Arkansas State University-bound senior continues to show why she is the best.
Mt. SAC Relays (CA)
Mt. SAC Relays: Results / Meet Page
The Mt. SAC Relays are known for their heart-pumping college events, especially the distance races. However, this year's high school edition was completely off the hook with incredible performances put up in the relays and sprints. Leading the way as usual was perennial sprint powerhouse Long Beach Poly (CA), who won three fantastic relays and looked good in a variety of other events.
In the boys 4x400m relay, Long Beach Poly beat a deep field of teams with their winning mark of 3:18.94. Following up that performance came a narrow victory over Dominguez (CA) in the boys 4x100m relay, with LBP beating the Compton squad 41.36-41.47. However, Dominguez earned a big-time win in the boys 4x200m relay in 1:26.95. Meanwhile, the Long Beach Poly girls beat their rival Long Beach Wilson (CA) 1:40.08-1:40.75 in the 4x200m relay.
In other relay action, Deer Valley (CA) ran 3:50.49 in the girls 4x400m relay, outleaning Rancho Cucamonga (CA) who finished second in 3:50.50. The Distance Medley Relays were impressive as well with Saugus (CA) bouncing back from their huge 4xone-mile relay last weekend at Arcadia, this time winning the DMR in 11:51.58. The Loyola (CA) boys also bounced back from their 4x800m relay last weekend at Arcadia, this time winning the boys DMR in 10:16.46.
In the individual track events Long Beach Poly looked nearly as explosive. Freshman superstar Akawkaw Ndipagbor (Long Beach Poly, CA) won the 200m dash in 24.11w, edging out the strong challenge from Jessica Davis (Highland, CA), who finished runner-up in 24.18w. In the boys race, Rodney Storrs (Santiago, CA) continued his strong season with a win over Long Beach Poly's Joey Hughes 21.38-21.40. Meanwhile, hurdles showed some great results, as Jacinta Doyle (Meridian, CA) won the girls 300m hurdles in 42.27 and Bill Burgess (Notre Dame, CA) won the boys 300m hurldes in 37.98. Both athletes scored U.S. top ten marks. In the 100m and 110m hurdles, Ashtyn Baltimore (Marlborough, CA) won a competitive girls 100m hurldes in 14.16, while Devron Walker (Dominguez, CA) won the boys 110m hurdles in 13.88.
In the field events, New York's Steve Crouse (Colonie, NY) won the triple jump with a mark of 48-00. Crouse and his Colonie H.S. teammates have stayed out in California for the past week it seems after competing at the Arcadia Invitational the prior weekend. In the girls long jump, Karyn Dunn (Diamond Ranch, CA) won the event with her wind-aided mark of 20-4.25.
James Logan Top 8 Invitational (CA)
James Logan Top 8 Invitational: Meet Page / Results: Friday - Saturday
The James Logan Top 8 Invitational (CA) brought together many of the most talented female sprinters in the state of California Saturday and produced some surprising results. The headliner of the day was the showdown between Julian Purvis (Sr., St. Elizabeth, CA) and Vashti Thomas (Sr., Mt. Pleasant, CA). These two have battled for years against one another and the thoughts were this would match-up would create another classic performance by both athletes. However, the slight injury to Thomas that took her out of last weekend's Arcadia Invitational (CA) stopped the race from being incredibly close.
Purvis cruised to a decisive win, but was quoted in a local paper saying that the win didn't mean as much because Thomas was not in her best shape. Purvis' 13.88-14.13 win still impressed the crowd, but these two will see each other a few more times before it's all said and done. Meanwhile, Julian Purvis' sister Ashton Purvis (So., St. Elizabeth, CA) beat a talented and deep field in the girls 100m dash with a finishing mark of 11.78. Another impressive performance came in the girls triple jump, which saw Alitta Boyd (Jr., Moreau, CA) best Logan's freshman (CA) Ciarra Brewer by only seven inches. Boyd lept one of the top triple jump marks of the season in 40-00.75w, while Brewer placed second in 39-05.75w.
Orange County Championships (CA)
Orange County Championships: Meet Page / Results
After a stellar performance at the Arcadia Invitational (CA) a week and a half ago, Christine Babcock (Sr., Woodbridge, CA) (pictured left) had more to show the track and field world. At Arcadia, Babcock and in-state rival Jordan Hasay (Jr., Mission Prep, CA) staged a classic battle in the girls 3200m run, which saw both athletes run U.S. top ten all-time performances, with Hasay winning 10:03.07-10:04.03. Babcock responded back this weekend with a distance double of her own that captured national headlines at the Orange County Championships (CA).
In the 1600m run, Babcock ran the fastest time of the weekend and one of the fastest times by any athlete this season by winning the event in 4:45.96. Babcock set a torrid early pace, which helped guide five other girls to breaking five minutes, with runner-up Shelby Buckley (Sr. Conona Del Mar, CA) running an impressive mark of 4:52.28. Babcock also impressed in the 3200m run by charging to a big time of 10:19.98. The University of Washington-bound senior beat San Clemente (CA) junior Alex Dunne, who placed second in 10:28.66.
Neely Spence (PA) Shippensburg Videos
Shippensburg Invitational: Meet Page / Race Videos (PennTrackXC.com)
This past weekend Foot Locker finalist Neely Spence (Sr., Shippensburg, PA) ran one heck of a distance double Saturday at the Shippenburg Invitational. Spence really opened up her competitive outdoor season by running 4:48.51 for 1600m, while also blazing a 2:15.38 800m, easily winning both races. Spence's goals are pretty big this season and this is a big first step for the Shippensburg University-bound senior. Check out Spence's race videos (link above) from this past weekend courtesy of PennTrackXC.com.
MileSplit Week Ahead
From here on out every weekend is going to have bigger and better meets and the state meet series for most states starts to approach. The big invitational on tap this week are the Penn Relays (PA). Every year this historic event brings together many of the top athletes along the east coast and a few international high school stars from Jamaica and Canada. The talent at this year's edition includes such notable athletes as Karen Shump (PA), Nick Vena (NJ), Chelsey Sveinsson (TX), Charles White (CO), Ryann Krais (PA), Kyle Merber (NY) and Abby Schaffer (PA). Not only that, but nearly every top-tier relay team in the northeast will be going head-to-head. MileSplit will be on-site bringing you the best prep coverage of the Penn Relays around.
Out west the Oregon Relays (OR) will assemble some major talent. Many of the top athletes in the state and surrounding states will get a chance to compete at the track and field Mecca that is Eugene, Oregon's Hayward Field. Back on the east coast, the Dogwood Track Classic (VA) brings together most of Virginia's top talent and athletes from a few other states will be in the field as well. Traveling to the Midwest, the Prospect Invitational (IL) and Palatine Relays (IL) host two great distance fields Firday and Saturday evening. On Friday night at Prospect, Foot Locker finalists Kevin Havel (IL), Bobby Nicolls (CO) and Griff Graves (VA) compete in an always impressive 3200m. On Saturday afternoon Nicolls and Graves head to Palatine to challenge Mat Smoody (IL) over 1600m.
Along with all of these meets, it's safe to say that the competition in California and Texas will continue to rise, while the first state meet takes place in Florida, where the 1A/2A Florida State Championships takes place. One other meet to keep an eye on is the Hamline Elite Meet (MN). This meet tends to bring together much of the top talent in Minnesota, as their season really starts to roll. Another great weekend nationally and MileSplit will be there to bring you the play-by-play all week long.