By Jack Pfeifer
photos by Kim Spir and Tim Fulton
EUGENE, Ore. – Marquise Goodwin of Rowlett, Texas, broke the 20-year-old national high school record in the long jump on Saturday, jumping 26-10 in the Seniors competition of the USATF Championships at Hayward Field.
Goodwin, competing against his older brethren, wound up in 5th place.
Goodwin began with a jump of 26-3 wind-aided, then a foul, before leaping 8.18 (26-10) on his third attempt, with a legal aiding wind of 1.3 meters per second. In the finals, he passed all three of his jumps.
The previous national record was 26-9 ¼ by Dion Bentley of Penn Hills H.S., Pittsburgh, in 1989.
“I feel great,” Goodwin said. “I’m a little fatigued, but I’ll let that all go because I just broke the national record, and I’m going to enjoy myself while I’m here.”
Goodwin admitted that he competed in the meet as an afterthought. “At first, I wasn’t going to come to this meet,” he said. “I was just going to come and watch, but somebody talked me into it.”
In Juniors competition, Mason Finley, the giant from Buena Vista, Colo., added another discus record to his resume when he threw 204-3, a national high school record for that weight implement.
Earlier this year, Finley broke the most widely recognized record, with the high school implement of 1.62kg, throwing a mammoth 236-6.
Finley, 6 foot 8 and 325 pounds, broke the Junior-weight (1.75kg) record of 202-1 set in 2002 by Michael Robertson.
The girls’ discus was won by seasonal high school leader Anna Jelmini of California in a relatively narrow victory over Erin Pendleton of Ohio, 174-10 to 169-5. Jelmini won the shot put here earlier.
“I threw decent today,” Jelmini said. “It has been a long weekend. I just did what I needed to do to get to the next meet,” a reference to the PanAm Juniors scheduled for next month in Trinidad & Tobago. The top two finishers in each event qualify for that U.S. team.
Earlier in the day, Goodwin had won the Juniors long jump, going 26-1 1/2w. Will Claye, the Oklahoma freshman who began the school year at Mountain Pointe H.S. in Phoenix, was 2nd at 25-7 1/4w. The girls’ LJ was won by Alitta Boyd (Moreau, Hayward Calif) 20-7 1/4w over fellow Bay Area resident Lauryn Newson 20-5 3/4w.
Albert Johnson, freshman at Manhattan College from Corning, N.Y., was 4th at 25-0 ½.
Goodwin passed most of his attempts because he elected to compete in the Seniors LJ later on Saturday. “I’m pretty used to events being back-to-back, because I compete in five events in high school,” he said. “It’s a blessing to be able to come back to do it all again.”
Chalonda Goodman, the senior from Newnan, Ga., continued her great sprinting, running a wind-aided 22.74 to win the 200. She won the 100 earlier. Dominique Duncan of Texas A&M was 2nd (23.18), Tasha Allen of Milwaukee 3rd (23.39). Keyth Talley of North Texas won the men’s 200 (20.86w).
“I really had to focus on getting out, because I was in Lane 3,” Goodman said. “I had to pick up the stagger in the race. That was mainly my focus at the beginning of the race. My momentum carried me off the turn, and then I was able to finish strong.”
The first day of both women’s heptathlons were held on Saturday. Ryann Krais, the UCLA freshman from Methacton, Pa., was leading the Juniors competition with 3,178 points, while fellow Pennsylvanian Hyleas Fountain was leading in the Seniors, with 4,038.
The Junior girls’ 5,000 was won by Aisling Cuffe, sophomore from Cornwall, N.Y., in 16:43.58. Only Nicole Blood, who ran 16:30.90 in 2005 for Saratoga Springs, has a faster time among New York state preps. It was also not far from the national sophomore-class record of 16:31.2 by Californian Julia Stamps in 1995.
There were qualifying rounds in numerous races on the track on Saturday, including the 400, 800, 1,500 and the 400 hurdles.
In the IH, Reggie Wyatt (La Sierra, Riverside, Calif) prepared for a possible assault on the national high school record, winning Heat I easily in 51.32, the fastest time of the day. Wyatt, who has run 49.78, broke the national record in the 300 hurdles last month at the California state meet. “Tomorrow,” Wyatt said, “I’m going to go out and leave it all on the track.”
In the girls’ hurdles, Dalilah Muhammad, USC freshman, had the day’s fastest time, 58.67. The best time turned in by a prep was 59.65 by Turquoise Thompson (Serra, Gardena, Calif.).
“Coach lets me go out fast, and then I kept my form and pumped my arms,” Muhammad said. “I felt a little sluggish today, so I just wanted to win the heat and get the automatic qualifier for the final tomorrow.”
Great fields were set up for Sunday’s 800 finals.
In the men’s, four preps join four college freshmen. The high school qualifiers were Elijah Greer (1:52.16) of Oregon, Tommy Brinn (1:52.19) of Michigan, Zach Mellon (1:49.80) of Minnesota and Alex Muntefering (1:51.97) of South Dakota. In the women’s, the heat winners were Tennessee freshman Chanelle Price (2:06.32), Georgetown frosh Emily Infeld (2:08.55) and North Dakota high school junior Laura Roesler (2:10.95). Roesler made the Olympic Trials semifinals here a year ago.
In the 1,500 qualifying, Jordan Hasay, the California phenom, advanced to the final with an easy win in Heat I in 4:28.96. Her likely rival in the final, University of Virginia freshman Morgane Gay, won Heat II in 4:31.42. Hasay finished last in a preliminary heat of the Senior women’s 1,500 on Thursday and now has returned to run the Juniors event. Gay made the NCAA final and has run 4:15.
Joan Kanarkiewicz, NYU freshman, advanced, running 4:37.48, but most New York-area runners had a rocky day.
In the men’s 800, Sean Halpin (1:54.28), Chris Carrington (1:56.65) and Tyler Stewart (1:53.67) all failed to advance. In the women’s 8, Charlene Lipsey failed to appear. In the 15, Carrington was also an nq, running 3:57.32.
In the men’s 400, Clayton Parros of Seton Hall Prep advanced to the final, running 47.09. He will face his archrival, Tavaris Tate of Mississippi, who has beaten him three times this year. Austin Hollimon of Princeton advanced, Mychael Fabio of Adelphi did not.