Week in Review: Rogers makes big hammer throws – consistently
Former NCAA champ launches professional career with poise plus more highlights five weeks into the outdoor season
After a banner college career that included three NCAA titles and five collegiate records in the women’s hammer throw, Camryn Rogers is off to a rip-roaring start as a professional.
The latest evidence came in the Mt. San Antonio College Relays in Walnut, California, last Saturday when the former UC Berkeley standout set a Canadian record of 77.84 meters (255 feet 4 inches) on her first throw of the competition to move to seventh on the all-time world performer list.
That came a week after the 23-year-old Canuck opened the season in the Brutus Hamilton Invitational at Cal with what were then the second- (77.30/253-7), third- (77.00 (252-7), and fifth- (76.04/249-6) longest throws in Canadian history.
“It’s significant and so exciting,” Rogers said by phone on Wednesday. “To be starting off where I left off last year, in fact better than last year, is really exciting. You always want to start strong, but to be able to open up and be so consistent and feel like my coach and I are in a really good place heading into the rest of the season is significant, especially when this is my first professional season when things can be different and scary and stressful.”
The ability to produce several high-quality throws in one meet — rather than one or two big tosses combined with a bunch of mediocre efforts or fouls — has been a hallmark of Rogers’ career. And it was evident again in Saturday’s meet at Mt. SAC.
After unleashing her 77.84-meter bomb on her first attempt, Rogers threw 75.61 (248-0) on her second and 76.77 (251-11) on her third. She then hit 76.03 (249-5) in the fourth round, 75.37 (247-3) in the fifth, and 77.14 (253-1) in the sixth.
All told, her six throws averaged 76.46 meters (250-10) per toss, which would have been nearly a meter further than her personal best at the end of the 2021 season.
“For me, consistency is as important as getting those really big throws,” she said. “So starting off the competition with a personal best, and the [Canadian] record, was really awesome. But then you have to remember the competition isn’t over until you’re done with your last throw. And with that kind of understanding going into it, you know that there’s more you’re trying to achieve.
“There’s still more competition left and building consistency, especially after big throws, is part of the process. When you get to those big championship-level meets, you can’t rely on hitting a big throw and being done. It’s the consistency that’s going to provide the most support to you in major championships.”
Rogers, who continues to train with Cal throws coach Mohamad Saatara, was raised in Richmond, British Columbia, just south of Vancouver.
She had not competed in any sports before joining a local track and field club in 2012 at the age of 12. She did so at the urging of a club member who regularly got his hair cut by Rogers’ mom, Shari, who is a stylist.
Rogers still recalls her first practice and how the hammer just called to her more than any other event.
“It was unlike anything I had ever seen before,” she said. “But when I started doing it, as a 12-year-old girl, it made me feel powerful in a way that I hadn’t really felt before. It made me want to see how far I could go with it. I had that love for it almost immediately and have continued to love it more and more every day since.”
Rogers’ improvement has been steady. Although I could not find bests for her for the 2012 and ’13 seasons, when she was primarily throwing the 3-kilogram (6.6-pound) implement, she broke 50 meters with the 4-kilogram (8.8-pounds) hammer in 2014.
The 4-kilogram implement is the one that is used internationally in competitions such as the Olympic Games and World Athletics Championships.
Rogers topped 56 meters in the event in 2015 before exceeding 59 meters in ’16, and 63 meters in ’17.
She then improved to 65.61 (215-3) in 2018, the year she won the World U20 (under 20) Championships in Tampere, Finland.
She added almost six meters to her best in 2019, but did not compete during a short, compacted 2020 season in which meets were contested before very limited-size crowds due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2021 season saw Rogers improve her personal best to 75.52 (247-9), win her second NCAA title for Cal, and surprise many — including herself — by placing fifth in the Olympic Games in Tokyo that were held before a world-wide television audience, but in a stadium without any spectators due to safety precautions related to COVID-19.
While the lack of a crowd had never occurred in the Olympics before, Rogers said it might have helped her because it decreased the stress of competing in the Games for the first time.
“I felt like it gave me the chance to really, truly focus on myself without being like, Oh my God. It’s my first Olympic Games,” she said. “I’m surrounded by people I’ve watched for so many years of my life, and I’m like, I look up to you, but I’m competing against you.”
Rogers raised her personal best — and the Canadian record — to 77.67 (254-10) last year while winning her third NCAA title with her fifth collegiate record. But it was her silver-medal winning effort in the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon in July that raised her stature to another level on the global stage.
Her first two meets of this year have continued that upward trajectory. But she does not focus on specific competitors — such as three-time Olympic champion Anita Wlodarczyk of Poland or defending World champion Brooke Andersen of the U.S. — when she thinks about the World Championships that will be held in Budapest, Hungary, from August 19-27.
“One thing I’ve learned from Coach Mo is that everyone is dangerous,” she said. “Everyone is capable of putting on the best performance of their life at any time. Anyone can do anything. But at the same time, we’ve been training for the biggest meets, so [the World Championships] could be the day when I do something big. And that’s exciting. Knowing that you’re walking into such a high level of competition makes you push even harder. It makes you dig deeper to pursue the best sort of outcome that you can.”
Check out my coverage from the Mt. San Antonio College Relays in Walnut, California from April 12-15: Day One, Day Two, Day Three, Day Four.
Comeback performance: Statistically speaking, Rai Benjamin had the best men’s performance of the meet in the Mt. San Antonio College Relays when he won the 400-meter intermediate hurdles in 47.74 seconds on Saturday. But the men’s effort I was most intrigued by came from fellow American Harrison Williams during the first two days of the four-day meet when he totaled 8,492 points to win the decathlon.
Like Benjamin, Williams’ performance was the best in the world this year. But unlike Benjamin, Williams was competing in his specialty for the first time since the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2021.
The 27-year-old Williams had finished fourth in that meet after completely tearing the plantar fascia in his left foot during the pole vault portion of that competition and then undergoing extensive labrum surgery on his left hip in November of that year.
The rehabilitation from the surgery took nine to 10 months, and Williams didn’t start training again for the decathlon until October of last year. He had competed in some individual events in meets leading up to Mt. SAC, but it was impressive to see him top his previous personal best of 8,439 points in his first decathlon in nearly two years.
Williams was in second place after the first day of competition as his 4,471-point total left him 36 points behind the 4,507 points that collegiate record-holder Kyle Garland of the University of Georgia had compiled.
Williams lost 10 points to Garland in the 110-meter high hurdles — the first event on the second day — when he ran 14.12 seconds to his Garland’s 14.04. But he trimmed his deficit to four points after throwing the discus 45.85 (150-5) to Garland’s 43.79 (143-8) while competing in the rain.
He then cleared 5.00 (16-8¾) in the pole vault and found himself with a large lead after Garland failed to clear a height in that event. A javelin best of 52.91 (173-7) and a 1,500-meter time of 4 minutes 31.38 seconds left him with a point total that moved him to 12th on the all-time U.S. performer list and exceeded the qualifying standard of 8,460 points for the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary from August 19-27.
“I’m happy,” Williams said. “It’s early in the season and to have your first decathlon after that big a recovery period and get a [personal record] and the standard, it means a lot. It’s been a long road so I’m happy to get through it healthy. Everything feels good, or at least as good as things can feel at the end of a decathlon.”
Strong finisher: Juliette Whittaker of Stanford University displayed a potent kick while winning the elite division titles in the women’s 800 and 1,500 meters in the Mt. SAC Relays at Hilmer Lodge Stadium last weekend.
The Cardinal freshman, who was the women’s prep athlete of 2022 by Track & Field News, won the 1,500 on Friday evening before placing first in the 800 on Saturday afternoon.
Whittaker won the 1,500 in 4:12.49 after speeding past first-place Olivia Howell of Illinois with 80 meters left in the race. But she appeared to have little chance at winning the 800 with 80 meters left in that race as she was in fourth place and freshman teammate Roisin Willis and fellow American Sammy Watson had just opened a gap on her entering the home straightaway.
However, Whittaker began to reel them in with 50 meters left in the race and she edged past the duo with just a couple of strides remaining in the contest to finish in 2:01.79, followed by Willis in 2:01.97 and Watson in 2:01.98.
Superb double: Britton Wilson of the University of Arkansas continued her tremendous junior year by turning in a pair of terrific efforts in winning the women’s university division 400-meter hurdles and 400, respectively, in the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational in Gainesville, Florida, last weekend.
The fifth-place finisher in the 400 hurdles in the World Championships last year, Wilson clocked a yearly world-leading time of 53.23 seconds in that event on Friday to turn back a field that included runner-up Anna Hall (54.48) and third-place Masai Russell (55.39) of the University of Kentucky.
Although Wilson is typically known for running within herself for the first 200 meters of the 400 hurdles before starting to make her move midway through the second turn, she took the lead very early in the race at the University of Florida’s Percy Beard Track and was never seriously challenged after that as she ran the second-fastest time of her career and moved to third on the all-time collegiate performer list.
Wilson ran a personal best of 53.08 to place second in the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships last June, but that mark was not eligible for inclusion on the all-time collegiate list because it came after the conclusion of the college season which officially ends with the NCAA Championships in early June.
The one-lap dynamo turned in an even better performance on Saturday when she ran 49.51 in the 400 to turn back Rhasidat Adeleke of Texas, who placed second in 49.90, and Arkansas teammate Rosey Effiong, who finished third in 50.93.
Kennedy Simon of Texas led the race for the first 150 meters, but Wilson drew even with her by the 200-meter mark. She had made up the stagger on the taller Adeleke midway through the second curve, and although Adeleke nibbled away at her lead in the final 20 meters of the race, she still won by a solid three meters.
Wilson’s time lowered the collegiate record of 49.57 that Athing Mu had set in winning the NCAA title for Texas A&M in 2021 and moved her to seventh on the all-time U.S. outdoor performer list. She had run an American indoor record of 49.48 in winning the NCAA indoor title on March 11.
Adeleke crushed her former Irish record of 50.53 while becoming the 40th European woman to dip under 50 seconds in the 400.
Superb double II: After lowering the collegiate records in the women’s 60- and 200-meter dashes indoors, University of Texas senior Julien Alfred has shown no signs of slowing down outdoors.
After running on Longhorn squads that set collegiate records in the 400, 800, and sprint medley relays in the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays on the weekend of March 31 and April 1, the standout from St. Lucia won the women’s university division 200 in a national record of 21.91 seconds and the 100 in a wind-aided 10.72 in the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational last weekend.
Her performance in the 200 last Friday marked the first time she had broken 22 seconds in the event and moved her to second on the all-time collegiate list behind the 21.80 clocking that Kentucky’s Abby Steiner ran in winning the NCAA title last year. It also gave Alfred a large margin of victory over McKenzie Long of Mississippi, who placed second in a personal best of 22.31, and Texas teammate Rhasidat Adeleke, who finished third in 22.34.
Her wind-aided time in the 100 on Saturday, which was run with an aiding breeze of 2.4 meters-per-second, gave her a healthy margin of victory over second-place Rosemary Chukwuma of Texas Tech (10.85) and third-place Long (10.92).
Alfred currently ranks third on the all-time collegiate list in the 100 with her best of 10.81 from last year, but it would appear that she is very capable of breaking the collegiate record of 10.75 set by then-LSU freshman Sha’Carri Richardson in winning the 2019 NCAA title.
Solid double: Noah Lyles opened his outdoor season with victories in the men’s olympic development 100 and 200 meters in the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational last weekend.
The two-time defending World champion in the 200 won that event in 20.16 seconds on Friday before taking the 100 in 9.95 on Saturday.
The 25-year-old Lyles defeated second-place Eric Harrison of Trinidad and Tobago by nearly sixth tenths of a second in the 200 before finishing three hundredths of a second in front of second-place Joseph Fahnbulleh of Liberia in the 100.
Fahnbulleh, who tied the Liberian record with his personal best of 9.98, finished five hundredths of a second ahead of third-place Kendal Williams of the U.S. (10.03). Andre De Grasse of Canada, bronze medalist in the Olympic Games in 2021, placed fifth in 10.21.
Quick opener: Grant Holloway, the two-time defending World champion in the men’s 110-meter high hurdles, posted a pair of noteworthy times in that event in the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational on Saturday.
The Olympic silver medalist ran a yearly world-leading time of 13.03 seconds in placing first in his olympic development qualifying heat in 13.03 before running 13.05 in the final. Fellow American Robert Dunning ran a personal best of 13.23 to place second, followed by Brazilian Rafael Pereira in third in 13.34.
For what it’s worth, Holloway’s 13.03 clocking is the fastest he has ever run in April, or even May, for that matter. The question now is will he run faster than he ever has later this season?
Rising sprinter: Terrence Jones of Texas Tech University and the Bahamas continued his hot sprinting in the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational on Saturday when he won the men’s university division 100 meters in 9.91 seconds.
The time was the fastest in the world this year, tied the Bahamian record first set by Derrick Atkins in 2007, and slashed Jones’ previous best of 10.03 from last year.
It also gave him a comfortable margin of victory over teammate Courtney Lindsey (personal best of 10.04) and PJ Austin of Florida (personal best of 10.09).
Jones won the 60 in the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 11 after tying the collegiate record of 6.45 in the event last year.
Clash of champions: A World champion past defeated a World champion present in the women’s olympic development 100-meter hurdles in the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational on Saturday.
Nia Ali of the U.S., the 2019 World champion, clocked 12.53 seconds to turn back defending World champion and world record-holder Tobi Amusan of Nigeria, who timed 12.59 in her first hurdle race of the season. Devynn Charlton of of the Bahamas finished third in 12.64.
It was the second victory of the outdoor season for Ali, who ran 12.86 in the Miami Alumni Invitational the previous week.
One for two: Double NCAA indoor champion Jasmine Moore of the University of Florida opened up her outdoor season with a win and a runner-up finish in the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational last weekend.
Jones won the women’s university division long jump with a wind-aided leap of 6.98 (22-10¾) last Friday before finishing second in the triple jump on Saturday with a best of 13.91 (45-7¾). Thea Lafond of Dominica — not to be confused with the Dominican Republic — won the triple jump at 14.13 (46-4¼), the farthest outdoor mark in the world this year.
Moore had produced the meet of her life in the NCAA Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico when she won the long jump on March 10 with a collegiate record of 7.03 (23-0¾) before finishing first in the triple jump on the following day with a collegiate and American record of 15.12 (49-7¼). The 15.12 effort was the third collegiate and American record that Moore set during that competition.
Eye-opening mark: His time was aided by a breeze of 2.9 meters-per-second, but Tarsis Orogot’s wind-aided 19.60-second clocking in the 200 in a university division race of the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational last Friday was still shocking.
Orogot is a fine young sprinter from Uganda who was the runner-up in the 200 in the NCAA Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico. But you would not expect someone who ran a personal best of 20.17 indoors on March 10 to run 19.60 — even wind-aided — five weeks later.
Strong opener: Cooper Teare of the U.S. had good reason to be happy with his first race of the season on Saturday as he produced a yearly world-leading outdoor time in the men’s 1,500 meters in the Bryan Clay Invitational at Azusa Pacific University in California.
The winner of last year’s USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships, Teare overtook Fouad Messaoudi of Oklahoma State and Morocco in the final 50 meters of the race to run 3:34.96, the second fastest time of his career.
Messaoudi ran 3:35.16, followed by defending NCAA champion Joe Waskom of the University of Washington, who clocked 3:35.86.
“I was happy to compete and be able to close that last 150 the way I know I’m capable of,” he said in an interview posted on the FloTrack site. He later added that “I feel like there’s a lot more there, especially if it had been a little bit faster race [at the start].”
All in the family: Twins Leo and Lex Young of Newbury Park High School in California have produced some outstanding performances at the Azusa Pacific track during their prep careers. So it seemed apropos that the Stanford University-bound duo would move to fifth on the all-time U.S. high school performer lists in the boys’ 1,500 and 5,000 meters, respectively, in the Bryan Clay Invitational last weekend.
Lex Young got the ball rolling on Friday night when he ran 13:44.83 in the 5,000 to finish 10th in the second invitational heat of the men’s 5,000. Nico Young, his older brother and a junior at Northern Arizona University, won the race in 13:30.36.
Leo Young followed on Saturday night with a 3:39.39 clocking in the 1,500 that came in a heat in which finished second to Elias Schreml of the University of Arkansas and Germany, who ran 3:39.05.
New world leader: Alex Rose of Samoa became the 29th member of the 70-meter club in the men’s discus when he threw a yearly world-leading best of 70.39 (230-11) in a meet in Ramona, Oklahoma on Sunday.
The 31-year-old Rose, who placed eighth in the World Championships last July, posted the mark in a competition called the Oklahoma Throws Series Meet 3.
According to the yearly list on the World Athletics site, Rose also threw 69.41 (227-8) in a meet at the same site on Saturday.
Both of those marks exceeded the Oceania record of 68.20 (223-9) set by Benn Harradine of Australia in 2013.
Prior to last weekend, Rose had a personal best of 67.48 (221-5), which he had set in a meet at the University of Arizona in 2021.
New world leader II: Bashir Abdi of Belgium ran the second-fastest time of his career— and the fastest in the world this year — when he ran 2 hours 3 minutes 47 seconds to win the Rotterdam Marathon in the Netherlands on Sunday.
The 34-year-old Abdi had a 28-second margin of victory when he set a European record of 2:03:36 in the Rotterdam Marathon in 2021, but he was pushed all the way to finish line on Sunday as Kenyan Timothy Kiplagat placed second in 2:03:50.
Abdi and Kiplagat were part of a lead pack that went through 10 kilometers in 29:29 and the halfway mark in 1:02:15. That group was down to five runners at the 30-kilometer mark after the previous 5,000 meters were run in 14:38.
Abdi and Kiplagat then broke away from the remaining three runners before Olympic and World Championship bronze medalist Abdi was able to open a small gap over Kiplagat in the final stages of the race. Defending champion Abdi Nageeye of the Netherlands placed third in 2:05:32.
“I’m very glad I won again in Rotterdam,” Abdi was quoted as saying in a post on the World Athletics site. “The weather conditions were not ideal and the pace changed quite a bit, but I ran my second fastest time ever.”
Eunice Chumba of Bahrain won the women’s race in 2:20:31, more than a minute ahead of Dolshi Tesfu of Eritrea.
Chumba and Tolshi were part of a four-runner pack that passed 10 kilometers in 32:33. Those two and Meseret Gebre of Ethiopia then led the field through the halfway point in 1:08:43, a split that projected to a final time of 2:17:26.
Although the pace slowed some after that, Gebre had fallen behind Chumba and Tolshi when they went through 35 kilometers in 1:55:50.
Chumba then pulled away from Tolshi during the final kilometers, Rose Chelimo of Bahrain finished third in 2:26:21.
Two liners: Emmanuel Bynum of the University of Tennessee posted a yearly collegiate-leading time of 44.67 seconds in winning the first heat of the men’s university division 400 meters in the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational in Jacksonville, Florida on Saturday. Bynum had run 45.30 to place fourth in the NCAA Indoor Championships. . . . Devon Brooks of the University of Tennessee ran a yearly collegiate-leading time of 13.26 to win the men’s university division 110-meter high hurdles in the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational on Saturday. He had run a then-personal best of 13.38 to finish first in his qualifying heat earlier in the day. . . . Caleb Dean of Texas Tech clocked a yearly collegiate-leading time of 48.47 in winning the men’s university division 400 intermediate hurdles in the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational on Saturday. The time crushed his previous best of 49.74 which he set in the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays on April 1. . . . Brian Fay of the University of Washington and Ireland ran a yearly world-leading time of 13:21.99 in the men’s 5,000 in the Brian Clay Invitational at Azusa Pacific University in California on Saturday. Fay finished eighth in the mile in the NCAA Indoor Championships. . . . Cass Elliott of the University of Washington turned in an interesting double last weekend when he ran 1:47.95 to place third in his heat of the men’s 800 in the Bryan Clay Invitational at Azusa Pacific University on Friday and 49.65 to finish second in the invitational race of the 400 intermediate hurdles in the Mt. San Antonio College Relays on Saturday. The Azusa Pacific and Mt. SAC campuses are about eight miles apart. . . . Kenyans Alfred Barkach and Shyline Toroitich won the men’s and women’s races of the Enschede Marathon in the Netherlands on Sunday. Barkach ran 2:08:50 in his marathon debut and Toroitich clocked 2:22:43.
Crouser mark not ratified: Ryan Crouser’s winning mark of 23.38 (76-8½) in the men’s shot put in the Simplot Games in Pocatello, Idaho on Feb. 18, will not be ratified as a world indoor record because the ring and landing area surrounding it did not meet strict specifications as required by World Athletics.
The two-time Olympic champion appeared to have crushed his previous indoor world record of 22.82 (74-10½) on his first put of the competition in the Simplot Games. But World Athletics said that a post competition survey report by USA Track & Field found that the ring itself was larger than allowed and the landing area sloped away at too great an inclination from the ring at every point that was measured from 10 meters to 25 meters from the front of the ring.
The 30-year-old Crouser had previously contended — in very detailed text — in a social media post that the shot put ring and landing area in Pocatello were in compliance with the specifications required by World Athletics. However, the world governing body for track and field did not agree with him.