Bromell, Dendy & Harrison Headline Collegiate Entries at Herculis Diamond League Meeting

Having proved themselves this year as among the best collegiate track & field athletes the NCAA system has to offer this year, a group of seven national champions in six events are off to Monaco to take on the world at the Herculis Diamond League meeting on Friday, July 17.

Trayvon Bromell of Baylor, Marquis Dendy of Florida, Kendra Harrison of Kentucky, Erika Kinsey of Central Missouri, Jeannelle Scheper of South Carolina, Michael Stigler of Kansas, and Leah O’Connor of Michigan State will all test themselves against the planet’s best as many prepare for the Pan American Games next week and/or the IAAF World Championships next month.

The meet will be broadcast on beIN Sports from 2-4pm ET (Don’t have beIN sports? Check here). Results and the meet schedule can be found here.

Bromell, a two-time NCAA champion in the short sprints, has established himself as America’s next great sprinter after running 9.84 at the USATF Outdoor Championships last month, moving him into a tie as the 10th-fastest man in the history of the world.

He may be the future of the event, but the proverbial torch will not be passed on to him without resistance. Justin Gatlin and Tyson Gay are both ahead of him on the all-time world list, and both are in the midst of renaissance seasons. Gatlin moved to No. 5 on the all-time world list with a 2015-best 9.74 earlier this season, while Gay, the second-fastest man in the history of the world, took down Bromell for the USATF title.

He’ll also have to contend with Keston Bledman of Trinidad & Tobago, who’s run 9.86 this season.

Dendy enters this weekend as a three-time NCAA triple jump champ, but will have perhaps an even steeper uphill climb than Bromell. For the first time in quite some time, Dendy will play the underdog role, facing the No. 3 and No. 4 jumpers in the history of the world in Pedro Pablo Pichardo of Cuba and former Gator Christian Taylor of the United States – both of whom are members of the 18-meter club, a club that includes just five men.

Dendy has come close to that plateau in windy conditions after jumping a windy 58-1¼ (17.71m, +2.4m/s) at the NCAA Championships. As a jumper who has risen to the occasion at every championship meet this 2015 season (he won four NCAA titles, a USATF crown and four SEC titles), look for Dendy to put on a show in Monaco.

No event for either gender in any country in the world has such a stranglehold on the top of the world leaderboard as the American 100-meter hurdlers. Each of the 14 fastest and 30 of the top 32 wind-legal times in the world have been run by Americans, six of which have come courtesy of NCAA champ Harrison.

In a runner-up 12.56 effort in the USATF final, the Wildcat came within .01 of taking the national title from Dawn Harper-Nelson, but also just .09 from finishing fifth. In finishing second, she took down world No. 1 Sharika Nelvis, No. 2 Jasmin Stowers, No. 7 Queen Harrison and No. 10 Lolo Jones. Reigning world champion Brianna Rollins did not start in the final, but is ranked No. 9 in the world.

She’ll have another shot at Harper-Nelson, but will once again have to contend with Nelvis, Stowers and Rollins, as well as world No. 5 Tiffany Porter of Great Britain. Porter’s sister, Cindy Ofili of Michigan, was runner-up to Harrison at the NCAA Championships.

The lone event in Monaco that will pit two collegians against one another, the women’s high jump is a showdown between NCAA DI outdoor champ Scheper and NCAA DII indoor/outdoor winner Kinsey. The two are very evenly matched, as the Swede Kinsey enters with a share of the No. 4 spot on the 2015 world performers list at 6-5½ (1.97m) while Scheper of St. Lucia is tied at No. 8 at 6-5 (1.96m).

Outdoor men’s 400-meter hurdles champ Stigler took fourth at the USATF Championships, and will once again face two of the men who topped him in Eugene in American champ Bershawn Jackson and Johnny Dutch. Also in the field is world No. 3 Michael Tinsley, the reigning Diamond League champion in this event. Stigler is No. 4 in the world.

Rounding out the collegians is O’Connor in the women’s steeplechase. After a dream indoor season capped by winning the NCAA mile title with the second-fastest time in college history, her final two steeplechase races were far from fairytale finishes. She was unable to defend her NCAA steeplechase title after being overtaken on the final lap, and a trip-up on the final water barrier at the USATF Championships cost her an opportunity to battle Colleen Quigley for the final World Championships roster spot.

She’ll look to get a career-best in this race, as the field includes 13 women whose PRs are superior to her 9:31.03 run earlier this year, including the all-time fastest American in Emma Coburn.