Andra Manson improves to 2.35m at the Texas Relays (© Kirby Lee)
Austin, Texas, USAUniversity of Texas high jumpers, past and present, seem to have a home-fan advantage at the Texas Relays. Friday it was undergraduate Destinee Hooker who collected a Texas Relays wristwatch, a diamond ring and a fiance while winning the women’s High Jump.
Saturday (04), former Texas high jumper Andra Manson (24, 1.95m, 65kg), who came into the Relays with a pb of 2.33m set here 364 days ago, raised that PB to a world-leading 2.35m with an impressive series of jumps. Manson cleared 2.19m, 2.27m and 2.31m without a miss, and only needed two tries at 2.35m. Then he went right to an American-record at 2.41m. He didn’t really come close, but one can imagine that just looking at a bar that high might prove helpful later in the year. Behind Manson, 20-year-old Grant Lindsey added a first-jump clearance of 2.27m for a new PB.
But on Saturdays at the Texas Relays, field events are secondary. Speed is the order of the day, and there was plenty of it.
By far the most impressive performance was Baylor University’s 4x400 runaway victory. Even without a Jeremy Wariner or Michael Johnson, Baylor’s starless foursome ran 3:02.68, three-plus seconds faster than any other team.
Solid early season sprinting and hurdling
In the women’s invitational 100m, Laverne Jones-Ferrette (ISV) stormed to an 11.03 victory in one section, albeit with a 2.7 aiding wind; in the other section, Alexandria Anderson edged Porscha Lucas 11.10, to 11.12, both with a +1.0 wind, which puts them at the top of the current world list. In the University 100m, Gabby Mayo edged Tiffany Townsend as both ran 11.13 (+1.8), which puts them at Nos. 3 and 4 on the list – although probably not for too long.
The women’s 100m Hurdles also had in-and-out tail winds. The fastest time was Nikiesha Wilson’s 12.72, but it was helped by a 2.4 breeze. So the fastest “legal” time was run by Tiffany Ofili, with a 12.88 run and a legal wind of 1.2 m/s.
Same thing for the men’s straightaway races. The fastest 100m was turned in by Edward Alonso (PAN), who ran 10.03 (+3.4) to win the college race, but the featured invitational race was won by Monzavous (Rae) Edwards, who edged Trindon Holliday 10.10 to 10.12 (both +1.6), to move into second and equal third on the current world list.
The top time in the men’s hurdles was an impressive 13.32 (+2.0) by 20-year old Barbadian Ryan Braithwaite, who not only PB’d by 0.10, but also jumped to second on the world list. In the 400m Hurdles, 2008 NCAA champion Jeshua Anderson opened his 2009 account with an easy looking 49.48.
In the women’s 4x100, a pickup team calling themselves “USA Elite” proved to be just that, winning in 42.62 thanks to a stunning anchor 100 by Marshevet Hooker, who looks in midseason form. Behind them at 42.91, the fastest university time, was Texas A&M.
Those tailwinds were welcomed by the pole vaulters. Texans Jason Colwick and Maston Wallace, winners respectively of the most recent indoor and outdoor NCAA titles, staged a spirited battle which produced PBs for both. Colwick won with a clearance of 5.72m, while Wallace took second at 5.55m, moving them to second and fifth on the current world list. Rachel Laurent, who cleared 4.30m, won the women’s vault, with Katie Coronado second at 4.20m.
Outside of Manson’s 2.35m leap, the best field event mark was Corey White’s winning javelin throw (by more than 11m!) of 82.97m, which moves him to seventh on the U.S.all-time list for wurfing the speer.
The women’s Shot Put was won (and yet not won) by Michelle Carter with a put of 18.25m, the best U.S. outdoor mark so far this year. Although Carter’s throw was the farthest of the day, by the Relays’ rules a non-collegiate athlete cannot be the official winner of an event listed as a ‘university’ event. Michelle ‘won’ last year’s university shot, too – so the Carter family’s corrected Texas Relays record is 19 victories, 17 watches.
And finally, a note for the future: the boys’ Shot Put (12 pounds) was won by Hayden Baillio, who jumped to sixth on the all-time high school list with a put of 22.00m. That still leaves him nearly a metre short of Michael Carter’s 22.93m, set in 1979 and thus far unapproached.
James Dunaway for the IAAF
