Weekend Review: January 31, 2011; Theisen Sets New Collegiate Pentathlon Mark

Two weekends, two collegiate records. While Duke’s Kate Van Buskirk broke the women’s 1000-meter collegiate record last weekend, Oregon junior and Bowerman watchlister Brianne Theisen took a big bite out of the women’s pentathlon all-time collegiate best. At Washington’s Dempsey Indoor Facility in Seattle, Theisen scored 4,507 points in the five-event discipline to better what would be the previous collegiate record of 4,496 set in 2008 by Arizona State’s Jacquelyn Johnson.

Of the five events, Theisen set three personal bests – clearing 6-0 (1.83m) in the high jump, throwing 41-8 (12.70m) in the shot put, and running 2:14.50 at 800 meters. Theisen needed to run 2:15 in the final event to surpass Johnson’s point total.

Although Theisen’s run in the final event – the 800-meter run – occurred on an oversized track, combined event marks occurring on tracks of over 200 meters are still acceptable for record purposes; albeit with a notation.

Here’s some snippets from what was a weekend full of highlights:

* STANFORD DMR: The Cardinal men’s DMR team of John Sullivan, Amaechi Morton (who the next morning set the world-leading time in the 400 [46.23]), Dylan Ferris, and Elliott Heath clocked a world-leading 9:29.22 in their win at the Razorback Invitational where they topped the host, Arkansas, by just over a second (9:30.85). The time is significant because it is the fastest any collegiate team has run in the month of January. Oregon ran 9:29.82 in this same weekend in 2010 as the only other to run sub-9:30 in January. The collegiate record (and the recognized all-time world best) is 9:25.97 set by Texas in 2008.

* HIGH JUMP SHOWDOWN: There was a heavyweight battle in the men’s high jump at Texas A&M’s Conference Challenge this weekend. In one corner was Kansas State sophomore Erik Kynard who had already cleared bars of over 7-3¾ (2.23m) twice this season. In the other corner was defending national runner-up Ricky Robertson of Ole Miss who, as a sophomore, came into the competition with the collegiate leader of 7-5¾ (2.28m) set the week earlier.

In this meeting, Kynard cleared four heights and was clean through 7-3¼ (2.22m). Robertson cleared 7-3¼ (2.22m), but had misses at that height and the earlier, 7-1¾ (2.18m). Advantage – Kynard.

At 7-5 (2.26m) it was a miss for both on the first try, but Robertson cleared on his second try. Kynard did not and faced the decision to pass. Not passing, Kynard cleared his third attempt at 7-5, but advantage was now in Robertson’s court.

On to 7-6 (2.29m), where it was back-and-forth misses for both in the first two tries. Robertson missed on his third, but still had the advantage in the competition. That was until Kynard cleared on his third to set the collegiate standard this season and tie the K-State school record. Kynard went on to attempt 7-7 (2.31m), but was unsuccessful.

* SUTEJ GOES FOR COLLEGIATE RECORD: Also at the Razorback Invitational, Arkansas junior Tina Sutej did her best to put a huge exclamation point to the end of the weekend. She easily cleared four heights on only one attempt, including the collegiate-leading bar at 14-6 (4.42m). With victory over Stanford’s Katerina Stefanidi, who had two tries at 14-6, Sutej went for 14-10¾ (4.54m) but came up short.

* FOUR SUB-FOURS: The sub-four in the men’s mile is still a thrill for many to witness and four this weekend came in the collegiate ranks at two separate meets. At the Indiana Relays, Hoosier sophomore Andrew Bayer clocked 3:57.75 to take victory by over two seconds from New Mexico sophomore Ross Millington who also eclipsed the epic mark with a 3:59.86 run. At the Penn State National, Ohio State junior Cory Leslie went 3:57.97 to beat out PSU’s Ryan Foster who clocked 3:58.49. Throw in Indiana’s Ben Hubers, who ran 4:00.47 also this weekend, and you have four from the Big Ten who are poised to make it a fun postseason.

* YOU GET A WORLD LEADER, AND YOU GET A WORLD LEADER: Oprah puns aside; it was a weekend in which several world- and American-leading marks were set by collegians. The aforementioned Morton of Stanford clocked 46.23 in the men’s 400 at Arkansas, Penn State’s Casimir Loxsom went 1:47.36 at his home meet in the men’s 800, Bayer’s 3:57.75 is a world leader in the mile, Liberty’s Sam Chelanga ran the men’s 5000 in 13:41.35 at his home meet, Texas A&M’s men’s 4×400 ran a track-legal world-leading 3:05.99, Stanford men’s DMR – world leader, Clemson’s Miller Moss scored 5,903 in the heptathlon for a WL, Corey Conner from Maine in the women’s 5000 set a early-season WL with a 16:06.18 run, and Theisen in the pentathlon – yep, world leader.

* BITS AND BITES: Sophomore Marquise Goodwin reset Texas’ school record with a collegiate-leading long jump of 26-8½ (8.14m) … Oklahoma’s Mookie Salaam broke school records and gained two NCAA auto marks in the 60 (6.55) and 200 (20.76). The 60-meter time is the American -leading mark for the year and bettered the mark of 6.56 set by the collegiate ranks’ best of 2010 – Jeff Demps of Florida … Quietly, Villanova’s Sheila Reid is now an all-time top 10 collegian in the women’s 3000 after clocking an 8:56.92 at Saturday Night at the Armory. Reid topped what was an impressive collegiate-leading time of 9:01.91 set by Jackie Areson (Tennessee) earlier in the day. … Washington’s Scott Roth won his seventh-straight indoor pole vault completion with a collegiate-leading height clearance of 18-1 (5.51m) on Saturday. …  As far as streaks go, Indiana’s Derek Drouin still is sitting on ten straight collegiate high jump competitions won. The last two weeks, Drouin has been working on his multi-talented game, going heptathlon two weeks ago and hurdlin’, runnin’, and long jumpin’ this past weekend. Indiana is slated to be at this weekend’s Meyo Invitational at Notre Dame. … Monmouth junior Vincent Elardo has now won seven straight in the men’s shot put. His latest conquest came at BU’s Terrier Classic. Ashland’s Kurt Roberts is at six-straight wins after taking the Indiana Relays in the event.

Week’s Top Marks

(week ending January 30, 2011)

MEN
55m	(two tied)			6.43
60m	Mookie Salaam	JR	Oklahoma	6.55		AmL, CL
200m	Brandon Bynum	SR	Florida State	20.73
300m	(not available)
400m	Amaechi Morton	JR	Stanford	46.23		WL, CL
500m	Julius Mutekanga	SR	Long Island	1:02.00
600yd	Ben Love	SR	Kansas State	1:11.64
600m	John Kline	JR	Arizona State	1:17.59	A	CL
800m	Casimir Loxsom		Penn State	1:47.36		WL, CL
1000m	Julian Matthews	JR	Providence	2:25.41
Mile	Andrew Bayer		Indiana	3:57.75		WL, CL
3000m	Leonard Korir	JR	Iona	7:51.40
5000m	Sam Chelanga	SR	Liberty	13:41.35		WL, CL
55mH	Ronnie McGirt	SR	Albany	7.42
60mH	Devon Hill	JR	Miami (Fla.)	7.77
4x400m	Texas A&M			3:05.99		WL, CL
	Bryan Miller, Tran Howell, Tabarie Henry, Michael Preble
4x800m	Notre Dame			7:32.81		CL
	Zac Suriano, Kevin Labus, Spencer Carter, Ryan Gamboa
DMR	Stanford			9:29.22		WL, CL
	John Sullivan, Amaechi Morton, Dylan Ferris, Elliott Heath
HJ	Erik Kynard	SO	Kansas State	2.29m	7-6	AmL, CL
PV	Scott Roth	SR	Washington	5.51m	18-1	CL
LJ	Marquise Goodwin	SO	Texas	8.14m	26-8½	AmL, CL
TJ	Will Claye	JR	Florida	16.86m	55-3¾	AmL, CL
SP	Matt DeChant	JR	Ohio State	19.82m	65-½
WT	Mike Zajac	SR	South Carolina	21.22m	69-7½
PENT	Jordan Goffena	JR	Miami (Ohio)	3,846
HEPT	Miller Moss	SR	Clemson	5,903		WL, CL
WOMEN
55m	Tia Rolle	SO	Alabama State	7.12
60m	Lakya Brookins	SR	South Carolina	7.24
200m	Semoy Hackett	JR	LSU	23.14^
300m	(not available)
400m	Shelise Williams	SR	Arkansas	52.59		CL
500m	Nijgia Snapp	FR	Tennessee	1:10.92		CL
600yd	Andrea Sutherland	SR	Texas A&M	1:21.46		CL
600m	Brittney Harper	SO	Wisconsin	1:31.51
800m	Lea Wallace	SR	Sacramento State	2:05.42		CL
1000m	Rachel Schneider	SO	Georgetown	2:45.51
Mile	Zoe Buckman	SR	Oregon	4:37.84		CL-ov
3000m	Sheila Reid	SR	Villanova	8:56.92		AmL, CL
5000m	Corey Conner	JR	Maine	16:06.18		WL, CL
55mH	Kierre Beckles	SO	South Carolina	7.97
60mH	Racquel Vassell	SR	Hampton	8.16
4×400	Arkansas			3:32.48		CL
	Gwendolyn Flowers, Shelise Williams, Regina George, Whitney Jones
4×800	Michigan			8:51.37
	Megan Weschler, Taylor Pogue, Alaexandra Leptich, Danielle Tauro
DMR	Oregon			11:02.15		CL
	Jordan Hasay, Chizoba Okodogbe, Laura Roesler, Alex Kosinski
HJ	Brigetta Barrett	SO	Arizona	1.91m	6-3¼	AmL, CL
PV	Tina Sutej	JR	Arkansas	4.42m	14-6	CL
LJ	Chantel Malone	SR	Texas	6.65m	21-10	CL
TJ	Chantel Malone	SR	Texas	13.18m	43-3
SP	Simone du Toit	JR	SMU	17.49m	57-4¾
WT	Gwen Berry	SR	Southern Illinois	22.05m^	72-4¼
PENT	Brianne Theisen		Oregon	4,507	ov	CR, WL

^ Athlete/relay has a better mark this season

* NCAA Division II Institution

** NCAA Division III Institution

# Junior College

A – Performance occurred at altitude

(ov) – Performance occurred on an oversized track; not-eligible for WLs

CL – Collegiate-leading mark

WL – World-leading mark

Active Collegiate Winning Streaks

(known winning streaks)

Report streaks to [email protected]

ALL ROUNDS

8: Kind Butler, Indiana (5, 60m; 3, 200m)

ALL ROUNDS + RELAYS

9: Kind Butler, Indiana

ALL ROUNDS

5: Kind Butler, Indiana

5: Mookie Salaam, Oklahoma

INDOOR FINALS

6: Torrin Lawrence, Georgia (last loss: 5/17/09, SEC Indoor Championships [DNF])

INDOOR RACES

8: Torrin Lawrence, Georgia (last loss: 5/17/09, SEC Indoor Championships [DNF])

Win streak in races finished: (11) does not include DNF at 2009 SEC Indoor (has yet not lost a collegiate race in which he finished)

INDOOR FINALS

3: Robby Andrews, Virginia

INDOOR RACES

5: Robby Andrews, Virginia

FINALS

3: Adams Abdulrazaaq, Virginia

RACES

6: Adams Abdulrazaaq, Virginia

OVERALL

6: Texas A&M (last loss: 2010 Penn Relays)

OVERALL RACES (all rounds)

8: Texas A&M

INDOOR FINALS

6: Texas A&M (last loss: 2/13/10, 2nd to Texas Tech)

OVERALL

10: Derek Drouin, Indiana (last loss: 2/13/10, Tyson Invitational, 6th place)

All competitions: (12) includes wins in summer 2010 (including Canadian national championships)

INDOOR

7: Scott Roth, Washington

(last collegiate loss: 3/14/08, NCAA Indoor Championships [10th place])

All competitions: (8) won two meets in 2009 while redshirting (last loss: 1/31/09, UW Invitational)

OVERALL

5: Christian Taylor, Florida (last collegiate loss: 6/13/09, NCAA Championships [3rd place])

Taylor was second at the USATF Championships in 2010

4: Chrys Jones, Centre (last loss: 3/20/10 Rhodes Open)

Jones has won 12 of the last 13 competitions, beginning with the 2009 indoor season

INDOOR

5: Christian Taylor, Florida (lass loss: 2/14/09, Tyson Invitational [5th place])

5: Chrys Jones, Centre (last loss: 2008 NCAA Indoor Championships)

OUTDOOR

4: Chrys Jones, Centre (last loss: 3/20/10 Rhodes Open)

2: Christian Taylor, Florida

INDOOR

7: Vincent Elardo, Monmouth (last loss: 3/6/10, IC4A Indoor)

6: Kurt Roberts, Ashland  (last loss: 2/13/10, Akron Invitational)

6: Walter Henning, LSU (last loss: 3/14/09, NCAA Indoor Championships [4th place])

INDOOR RACES

4: Sheniqua Ferguson, Auburn (last loss: 2/13/10, Tyson Invite [3rd place in heat/7th overall])

OVERALL

9: Neely Spence, Shippensburg (has not lost as a collegian)

INDOOR

5: Neely Spence, Shippensburg (has not lost as a collegian)

OUTDOOR

4: Neely Spence, Shippensburg (has not lost as a collegian)

FINALS

6: Indira Spence, Adams State

ALL ROUNDS

11: Indira Spence, Adams State

ALL FINALS

5: Priscilla Frederick, St. John’s (N.Y.)

4: Amber Kaufman, Hawaii

OUTDOOR

4: Amber Kaufman, Hawaii (last loss: 2009 NCAA Championships)

All performances: (5) includes NACAC Championship (7/10/10)

INDOOR

6: Kim Williams, Florida State

(last loss: 2008 NCAA Indoor Championships, 2nd place to Erica McLain)

3: Brianne Theisen, Oregon (last loss: 3/13/09, NCAA Indoor Championships, 3rd place)