With Kirani James heading outdoors this last weekend I felt that there would be a new WL in the 400 before the weekend was out. I was right – except it wasn’t by James. The head turning performance of the weekend was the 44.86 by hurdler L.J. Van Zyl in Germiston South Africa.

L.J. Van Zyl (RSA) is THE hot athlete of the early season. Last month he ripped a 47.66 over hurdles. Now it’s 44.86 over the flat – another new personal best. He now leads the world in both events. The question is: can he hold this pace until August and the World Championships? Because most of his competition has yet to break a serious sweat in competition.

One thing is certain, he is going to be a major player this year. His PR’s this season make him the #10 all time combination hurdler/sprinter over 400 meters – only behind a list of impressive Olympic/World medalists! Of course several are still competing – Angelo Taylor (USA), Kerron Clement (USA), Felix Sanchez (DOM) and Bershawn Jackson (USA) so Van Zyll may have to keep up his current pace just to get to the podium. But right now he is the one leading the way and his early performances should put everyone else on notice.

Also blitzing one lap of the track was the LSU men’s 4×1 squad as they christened their new track with a 38.87 to set the early season NCAA leader. Their baton efforts also produced marks of 1:20.99 in the 4×2 and 3:03.77. Both the men and women’s squads had solid overall performances, giving strong indication that they will once again be a factor in the NCAA title chase.

Sticking with the one lap theme, sprinter Veronica Campbell Brown took a turn around the track and set a new personal best of 52.25. While not in the range of her top rival Allyson Felix (49.70) it is a significant lowering of her previous best of 52.77 and shows that we should expect a bit of added strength to Campbell Brown’s deuce this year. With her race being primarily the first 100 of the race and Felix’ being the second any little bit could help. I expect these two to do something special come Daegu.

Overall a solid weekend of action. With weather beginning to stabilize things should get even better next weekend with what should be some hot meets in Gainesville, Fayetteville, Baton Rouge and Houston.

The outdoor season should kick into gear with several relay meets being held this weekend. The list of domestic meets includes: Florida State Relays Tallahassee, FL Texas/Arkansas/UCLA Tri Austin, TX Arizona State Invitational Tempe, AZ Lopez Bayou Classic Houston, TX LSU Tiger Relays Baton Rouge, LA Raleigh Relays Raleigh, NC Stanford Invitational Stanford, CA Yellowjacket Invitational Atlanta, GA Alabama Relays Tuscaloosa, AL Baskin Relays Columbia, SC Big 10/SEC Challenge Starkville, MS Springtime Invitational El Paso, TX I’m looking forward to the results of the Texas/Arkansas/UCLA Triangular Read More...

If you’ve read this blog for any length of time then you know that I feel a high priority for the sport here in the U.S. is to host the World Championships – as well as serve as host to another Olympics. To this point one of the key obstacles that we’ve faced outside of a lack of leadership, has been the lack of a facility capable of hosting such an event! Imagine that here in the United States with sports the huge past time that it is, and this country (one of the wealthiest on the planet) lacks a creditable track and field facility when locations such as Istanbul, Daegu, and Doha can readily apply for host duty Read More...

It’s not often that I get excited about a 20.81 deuce. Typically not unless it’s run by an up and coming prep star. But perusing the results from this past weekend’s activity, I came across a 20.81 that I do find a bit exciting as Bryshon Nellum won the Brown Invitational 200 at 20.81 (0.6). That time, at this time of year, after all that Bryson has been through makes me think he may be ready to realize that potential that we all saw just a few years ago Read More...

Now that the indoor season is officially behind us, it’s time to start taking a closer look at the outdoor season. Roughly 3 months until various national championships, and then a couple more until Daegu. It’s really not that far away. The star of the last World Championships was Usain Bolt (Jam) with his double sprint win in double record breaking time Read More...

Reading through the news a couple days ago, I came across this article referencing UCLA’s return to a dual/triangular meet schedule as opposed to running primarily in “invitational” meets. I am hoping that this is successful for UCLA and it’s track program, and that the result will see other prominent programs follow Read More...

The US Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association released their choices for Collegiate Indoor Athletes of the Year. Their choices: Men Track Miles Batty Mile BYU Men Field Derek Drouin High Jump Indiana Women Track Jordan Hasay Mile/3000 Oregon Women Field Brianne Theisen Pentathlon Oregon All had outstanding Indoor seasons, but it seems to me that the voting was weighted heavily on the results of the National Championship meet – where all won titles Read More...

If indoors could be like that for 3 months then it would be a truly exciting extension of track and field. As it is it was a great way to end the indoor season. Both Florida and Oregon had their share of adversity, but in the end both showed the grit that it takes to be a champion. On the women’s side, Oregon had to do without distance ace Alex Kosinski who withdrew just prior to the meet with a back problem Read More...

Perusing the internet early this morning I came across this article which lists the writers’ ten most untouchable high school records. Prompted I’m sure by the prospect of Ryan Crouser perhaps finally having a shot at Mike Carter’s unbelievable mark – pun intended. Of course Carter’s massive 81’ 3 Read More...

The entries for this years’ NCAA Indoor Championships were released yesterday and can be found here – men, women. The Florida men, and Oregon women look well set to defend their titles from last year. Some events to keep an eye on: Men’s 60 – Oklahoma’s Rakieem Salaam leads on the clock (6 Read More...