I Know Indoors Values Explosiveness...

And the award for Most Ridiculous Overuse Of A Word To The Point Where It Loses All Meaning goes to..... Athletics Weekly!

Recapping NCAA Indoors, the writer, Steven Mills, clearly seems to have the movie Die Hard on the brain. Or something...

THE star of the championships was undoubtedly the 19-year-old Bianca Knight, who set two world indoor junior records in the 200m. The former world youth champion blasted to a 22.48 clocking in the heats, to shave 0.01 from Sanya Richard’s record but Knight improved on that mark further in the final, blasting to a 22.40 clocking to move to eighth on the all-time lists. This was also a world-leading mark as well as an championships record for the junior.

Returning the very next day, Knight looked very sharp in the 60m heats, blasting to a PB of 7.16, but a hectic schedule looked to have caught up with the youngster, as Knight had to settle for third in the final (7.21), behind Kelly-Ann Baptiste and Alexandria Anderson (7.17).

This was by no means the only impressive performance of the two-day meet. In the men’s shot put, Ryan Whiting blasted to a 21.73m PB, [and] Trinidad and Tobago’s Richard Thompson equalled the world-leading 60m mark of 6.51.

Um, excuse me... don't you mean he BLASTED to tie the world-leading 60m mark of 6.51? I'm not joking you: nothing was redacted from that passage. It's a shame there is no race walk at NCAAs, because you know someone would have been described as "blasting home in a blast-tastic final lap of 41 blast-seconds."

Until next time, I'll blast you guys later.

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What They Didn't Tell You: March 10th

Gate River Run down in J-Ville. IAAF Indoor Worlds in "V-Ville" (at least, that's what I understand the Spanish call Valencia over there). In other words, a big weekend with lots of results, lots of stories, and lots of information to fall through the cracks. What They Didn't Tell You about this past weekend, after the jump...

With an 8:48 clocking in her prelim at Worlds, former WVU runner Megan Metcalfe broke the Canadian national record by 2 seconds for the indoor 3000m. But another Canadian record fell this weekend, and also in a prelim, of sorts: Reid Coolsaet covered 15k faster than any Canadian previous, while scouting the Gate River Run course. Albeit on his skateboard.

Tariku Bekele turned in a dominating performance to win the 3k at Worlds, with a strong push from around 800m out in which he clipped off a bunch of laps in the neighborhood of 29 seconds. But sadly, after the race, Tariku's mother reassured the press that she still loves Kenenisa more.

Christian Cantwell and Reese Hoffa went 1-2 in the Shot Put at Worlds. But also, ben's Fearless Prediction for their Spanish escapades played out exactly to form.

In the women's 60H, the US also made a clean sweep. And, after the race, my Fearless Prediction for LoLo Jones' Spanish escapades -- which ben had wisely censored via omission, asking "Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" -- also played out exactly to form. In my head.

Soybeaneva won Indoor Worlds in a WR time (3:57.71) for one-and-one-half kilometers. In the men's 1.5k, Ethiopia's Mekonnen met the tape, was DQ'd (with the title temporarily passing to Dan Komen), then won an appeal and was reinstated as the winner. [ Lame joke about hanging chads ommitted ]

Abubaker Kaki, an 18-yr-old Sudanese up-and-comer, won the 800 in Valencia, the hardest way possible: wire-to-wire. While running backwards. And wearing a blindfold.

Andrew Carlson beat Deena Kastor in the Gate River Run equalizer race, passing the female star even after she was spotted a five minute headstart. Once again, male gender superiority was officially affirmed.

And finally, in the destined-to-be apocraphyl story from the weekend, Brian Sell was hit by a tree and suffered many scrapes, but solidered on, never one to let bodily harm affect his performance. However, what they didn't tell you was that, in the story, "tree" was merely used as synecdoche for a 2x4 which jammed and kicked back in the power saw at Home Depot while Sell was assisting a customer. Gots ta pay those billz.

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Indoor Worlds Results Update 2

Drama in the 1500; Americans in the Women's 60H and Shot

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Indoor Worlds Results Update

Noteable results, as of 10am Saturday Morning ('Merican time), after the jump:


-- Fasuba (NGR), Kim Collins, Dwain Chambers medal in the 60. Fasuba's time is a WL of 6.51, while Collins and Chambers are clocked in the same 6.54. Michael Rodgers was 4th. Also Greg Nixon failed to advance in the 400, with David Neville moving through the primary round in 47.43.

-- That, on the heels of Angela Williams putting the rest of the world in its place with a WL win in the women's 60.

--No Americans advanced in the 1500:
H2 4. Rob Myers 3:41.73 (one spot behind qualifying)
H1 7. Russell Brown 3:47.19
Kipchirchir Komen led H2 wire to wire, with Ramzi and Youssef Baba among the other notable finalists.

--Americans are well positioned for 800 semis:
H4 1. Nick Symmonds 1:49.30
H5 2. Khadevis Robinson 1:49:33
Each has the 2nd fastest SB and PB in his heat, though, obviously, only by a matter of tenths. Also, Milkevics advanced, but Moise Joseph did not.

--And, the final big story, Robles did not advance in the 60H.

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Track Is a Simple Sport...

An article in The Times (UK) reveals that Jenny Meadows, British 800m "star" phoned her countrywoman Kelly Holmes to learn how one goes about beating 800m star (no cynical quotes) Maria Mutola, as Meadows prepares for Indoor Worlds in Valencia.

The article however, never reveals the contents of that conversation, leaving me to assume, naturally, that Holmes' answer was, "Beat her to the tape, bitch."

Duh.

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What They Didn't Tell You: March 3rd

When you're reporting on MAC track, you know it's a slow week. You know it's an even slower week than you thought when your co-editor doesn't even rise to your baiting about his former conference. What they didn't tell you about the light-on-news Indoor Conference Championships, after the jump...

Tyson David won the 5k at SEC's in 13:52 over a trio of Razorbacks not named Ken Cormier. But though his name could be backwards in the results and you would never know, you DO know that since Tyson David or David Tyson or Ty Davidson runs distance at Alabama, whatever his name, he's a Kenyan.

Colorado went 1-2-3-4 in the 5k at Big 12's. After the impressive display, Coach Mark Wetmore turned to reporters and said, "Vegas, baby. Vegas." While stroking his ponytail.

51 competitors in the 3000 at Big 12's. One heat.* Very messy.

Big Ten mile won in 4:22. By a girl.*

That Cornell did something good (won Heps) and that they are coached by LetsRun's Rojo. Just kidding: LetsRun always tells you those two things when given the chance.

In non-conference action, the US Men tooled those Special-Bacon-Eating Canadiens at the NACAC cross country championships in Orlando, taking the top 2 spots and the team title. But in a display of international camaraderie, members from each team paired off with their rivals to ride Space Mountain, then slurped down some fried ham on It's a Small World at Epcot.

Alabama's aforementioned David Tyson is the nephew of poultry magnate Lewis Tyson III, and is the one who has been providing Adam Nelson with all that chicken.

*May or may not be totally made up.

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