Week in Review: Thrills here, there, and everywhere
Yehualaw's near world record on roads tops week that included noteworthy performances in cross country and track and field
It is only a matter of time before Yalemzerf Yehaulaw’s performances on the track are comparable to her efforts on the road.
I firmly believe that about the superbly talented 23-year-old Ethiopian distance runner.
But as of Sunday, Yehaulaw’s world record of 29 minutes 14 seconds over 10,000 meters on the road remains more than a minute faster than her personal best on the track.
I don’t know if there are specific reasons for the huge difference, or if it is just coincidence. However, she was mighty impressive in rolling to a 29:19 clocking in winning the women’s division of the Valencia 10K iberCaja in Spain on Sunday morning.
The time, which is the second-fastest women’s road 10K in history behind her world record set in Castellon, Spain last February, gave her a huge margin of victory. She defeated second-place Jesca Chelangat (30:01) by 42 seconds and she had a 56-second advantage over third-place Esther Borura (30:15), even as those two Kenyans moved into a tie for ninth and a tie for 14th, respectively, on the all-time world performer lists.
Yehualaw, whose first name means “Edge of the World” in the Amharic language, is the oldest of six children. Her running prowess has been evident since she began winning age-group races at the regional level when she was 12.
She first made waves at the international level in 2019 when she won the half marathon in 1 hour 10 minutes 26 seconds in the African Games in Rabat, Morocco that summer before lowering her personal best to 1:06:01 in finishing second in the New Delhi half marathon in the fall.
Although much of the 2020 season was cancelled as the world dealt with the spread of COVID-19 across the globe, Yehaulaw ran 1:06:35 to finish sixth in a half marathon in the United Arab Emirates in February before finishing third in 1:05:19 in the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships in Gdynia, Poland in October. She was battling Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya and Melat Yisak Kejeta of Germany for first place late in that race when she nearly fell after momentarily skidding across the carpeted surface which had been laid down over the sand at the end of the contest, which finished on a beach.
Although she was thrilled with her bronze medal performance, her coach, Tessema Abshero, was frustrated because he felt her momentum-killing slip had prevented her from having a chance to defeat both Jepchirchir (1:05:16) and Kejeta (1:05:18).
Yehaulaw gave credence to Abshero’s contention when she ran 1:04:46 to defend her New Delhi half marathon title six weeks later with a performance that was the second-fastest in history at the time.
In an interview with World Athletics at the end of 2020, Abshero said many Ethiopian runners “have a natural gift, but Yalemzerf has three very good qualities: speed, endurance, and good core strength.”
He added that “Looking at her speed and body structure, I have not been surprised by her performances over the past two years.”
Although 2021 saw her run 1:03:51 in a half marathon in Valencia in October, the second-fastest women’s time ever run left her a distant second to the 1:02:52 world record of countrywoman Letesenbet Gidey.
Gidey had also lowered the world record to 29:01.03 in the 10,000 meters on the track in June of that year when she won the Ethiopian Olympic Trials race in which Yehaulaw placed fourth. Her time of 30:22.77 was a personal best by a large margin, but it left her one place shy of a spot on the national team that competed in the Games in Tokyo.
Last year was the best of Yehualaw’s career as she smashed her course record in the Great Ethiopian 10K road race in Addis Abeba with a 31:17 clocking in January, followed by her world record of 29:14 in the road 10K in Castellon in February that slashed 24 second off the previous best.
In addition, she won the first two marathons of her career, running 2:17:23 in Hamburg, Germany in April – then the fastest ever debut marathon by a woman – and crossing the finish line in 2:17:26 in the London Marathon in October.
She also ran 1:04:22 to win a half marathon in Larne, Northern Ireland in August, but she had finished a disappointing eighth – sixth amongst Ethiopians – in a 10,000-meter track race in Hengelo, the Netherlands in June that doubled as her country’s trials race for the World Athletics Championships that were held in Eugene, Oregon in July.
Coming up short in the Olympic and World Championship trials in consecutive years might lead one to conclude that Yehaulaw has trouble dealing with the pressure of trying to qualify for a national team in a country that is overflowing with outstanding distance runners. But I am of the opinion that right now she is just more at ease with a 10K road racing mindset in which she toes the starting line shooting for a world record, rather than trying to make a national team.
She certainly looked comfortable on Sunday while averaging just under 4:43 per mile or 2:56 per kilometer during a race of nearly 6¼ miles.
Yehualaw had Chelangat for company when she came through the first two kilometers in 5:56 in Valencia, but Chelangat had dropped off the pace when Yehaulaw passed through four kilometers in 11:52.
Although Yehualaw had an eight-second lead on Chelangat when she passed through the midway point in 14:47, that time was 19 seconds slower that what she had run over the first half of her world-record race.
However, she began to close the gap on her record pace over the next three kilometers as she averaged 2:54 per kilometer and passed 8,000 meters in 23:29 before clocking 26:22 (2:53) at 9,000 meters and 29:19 (2:57) at the finish line.
It was impressive to watch her race via livestream as she reeled in one man after another over the final three kilometers of the race before finishing in a time that only three women have bettered on the track.
In a post on Instagram, she wrote: Started 2023 in a great way! Really happy with my 10k win and course record of 29:19, just 5 seconds outside my world record! Thank you @10kvalencia for the great race!
Now the question is will she try once again to make the Ethiopian team in the 10,000 meters for the World Championships that will be held in Budapest, Hungary in August, or is the marathon the race in which she will focus her aspirations when it comes to the global title meet?
I look forward to see what she decides.
Down to the wire: While Yehualaw was a runaway winner in the women’s 10K race in Valencia, Weldon Langat battled Kenyan countryman Charles Kipkirui Langat – no relation – until the final meters of the men’s contest before emerging with a 26:55 to 26:57 victory.
Daniel Kosen completed a Kenyan sweep of the medals by finishing third in 27:01, followed by Rodrigue Kwizera of Burundi and Jacob Krop of Kenya, who each ran 27:04.
The top five finishers were part of an 11-runner lead pack that came through 3,000 meters in 7:57 and they remained part of a nine-man group that passed the 5,000-meter mark in 13:30.
Krop, the silver medalist in the 5,000 in last year’s World Championships, led a five-runner pack through the 20-minute mark and he was still in the lead three minutes later after Kwizwera had fallen back.
Krop led for another two minutes, but he had been dropped by the Langats by the 25:20 mark.
Charles Langat, 34, appeared to be stalking Weldon Langat at that point in the race, waiting for the perfect time to kick past his 24-year-old rival. But his chance never came as Weldon opened up a small lead in the final 100 meters and maintained it to the finish line.
Weldon Langat’s time tied his personal best while Charles Langat and Kosen took large chunks off their previous bests while moving into a tie for 11th and a tie for 15th, respectively, on the all-time performer list.
“I’m delighted with my win,” Weldon Langat said. “I pushed hard throughout, looking for a fast time, and my tactic paid off.”
Ethiopian sweep: Hiwot Gebremaryam and Leul Gebresilase employed different tactics in winning the women’s and men’s divisions of the Houston Half Marathon on Sunday.
Gebremaryam took a big lead in the first five kilometers of the women’s race and was never seriously challenged for first place as her 1:06:28 clocking gave her a 24-second margin of victory over Emily Sisson of the U.S., who slashed 19 seconds from her own American record in running 1:06:52. Jessica Warner-Judd of Great Britain finished third in 1:07:19.
In contrast to Gebremaryam’s runaway victory, Gerbresilase won the men’s race in 1:00:34, a second ahead of Wesley Kiptoo of Kenya. Mohamed El Araby of Morocco finished third in 1:00:58.
Gebremaryam, who had run 2:19:10 in placing fifth in the women’s division of the Tokyo Marathon last March, had a 17-second lead over Sisson and Warner-Judd when she came through the first five kilometers in 15:14 in Houston.
Ensuing 5K splits of 15:38 and 15:58 gave her a 30-second lead over second-place Sisson when she passed through the 15-kilometer mark in 46:50.
Although Gebremaryam’s pace slowed to 16:08 over the next five kilometers, she still had a 28-second lead over Sisson when she came through the 20K mark in 1:02:58.
Sisson, who set a U.S. record of 2:18:29 in the marathon while finishing second in Chicago in October, picked up another four seconds on Gerbremaryam during the remainder of the race while bettering her previous U.S. record of 1:07:11 she had set in May of last year.
American Jenny Simpson, who won the 1,500 in the 2011 World Championships and silver medals in the 2013 and ’17 meets, placed ninth in the women’s division in 1:10:35 while making her debut at the half marathon distance.
Tirunish Dibaba of Ethiopia, one of the most decorated distance runners in history, finished 16th in 1:11:35 while running her first race of any kind since December of 2018.
The 37-year-old mother of three has won a combined 13 gold medals in the Olympic Games, and in the World Championships in athletics and cross country. Amongst those gold medals are victorious doubles in the 5,000 and 10,000 in the 2005 World Athletics Championships in Helsinki and in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
Oh so close: Hitomi Niiya of Japan fell just short of the breaking her country’s national record in the marathon in Houston on Sunday when she ran 2:19:24 over the 26-mile 385-yard (42.195 kilometers) distance.
Muliye Dekeb Haylemariyam of Ethiopia had an 18-second lead on the 34-year-old Niiya when she passed through 10 kilometers in 32:27, but her advantage had been reduced to seven seconds when she clocked 48:58 at 15 kilometers and she was a second behind her counterpart when she came through the halfway point in 1:09:10.
Niiya’s lead remained a second when she came through 25 kilometers in 1:22:00, but she led Haylemariyam by 22 seconds when she passed 30 kilometers in 1:38:28 and she would expand that lead by nearly five minutes over the next 10 kilometers.
Niiya was on pace to run 2:18:31 at the 30-kilometer mark, but she slowed enough over the final 12-plus kilometers to fall 12 seconds short of the national record of 2:19:12 set by Mizuki Noguchi in winning the Berlin Marathon in 2005.
Haylemariyam paid deadly for her fast early pace, but hung on to finish second in 2:25:35, followed by countrywoman Sintayehu Lewetegn in 2:26:33.
The men’s race was won by Kenyan Dominic Ondoro, who ran 2:10:36 to edge Tsedat Ayana of Ethiopia by a second. Teshome Mekonen of the U.S. placed third in 2:11:05.
Ondoro, Ayana, and Mekonen were part of a seven-runner lead pack that came through 25 kilometers in 1:16:45. The pack had been reduced to six runners when it passed through 30 kilometers in 1:32:31 (15:46) and it was down to five when it came by 35 kilometers in 1:48:37 (16:06).
Only Ondoro, Ayana, and Mekonen remained as they ran the ensuing five kilometers in 15:33, but Mekonen began to fall back after that. The 35-year-old Ondoro gained a small advantage over Ayana in the final 100 meters of the race and managed to maintain it across the finish line.
More Ethiopian dominance: Hayle Lemi and Anchialem Haymanot contributed to a big weekend for Ethiopian distance runners when they won the men’s and women’s divisions of the Mumbai Marathon on Sunday.
The 28-year-old Lemi ran 2:07:32 to defeat Philemon Rono of Kenya (2:08:44) by more than a minute, with Ethiopian countryman Hailu Zewdu third in 2:10:23.
Haymanot, 21, ran 2:24:15 as Ethiopians swept the first eight places in the women’s race. Rhama Tusa placed second in 2:24:22, followed by Letebrhan Haylay Gebreslasea in 2:24:52.
Kenyan sweep in cross country: Beatrice Chebet and Gideon Rono Kipkertich won the women’s and men’s races in the Cinque Mulini in San Vittore Olona, Italy on Sunday.
Chebet the silver medalist in the women’s 5,000 meters in last year’s World Championships, ran 19:41 over the 6,000-meter course to defeat fellow Kenyan Lucy Maiwa by 15 seconds and third-place Francine Nyomokunzi of Burundi by another 28 seconds.
Maiwa had previously won four races on the World Athletics Cross Country Tour this season, but she fell behind Chebet during the second of three two-kilometer loops and could not cut into her 15-second deficit on the final lap.
The 22-year-old Chebet, who won the U20 (under 20) girls’ title in the 2019 World Cross Country Championships in Aarhus, Denmark, will attempt to win another global medal when she competes in the senior race of the World Championships in Bathurst, Australia on Feb. 18.
“I ran a good race, but it was very cold today,” she said in a post on the World Athletics site. “The race was still good preparation for the World Cross Country Championships in Bathurst where I am aiming to reach the podium.”
The 19-year-old Rono clocked 29:00 in the men’s 10,000-meter race to finish six seconds ahead of second-place Yemaneberhan Crippa of Italy. Mohamed Amin Jhinaoui of Tunesia finished a distant third with a time of 29:45.
Those three and Benson Lingokal of Kenya comprised the lead group of runners who went through four kilometers in 12:01. Jhinaoui fell off the pace during the third two-kilometer loop and Lingokal had been dropped by the end of the fourth lap, leaving Rono and Crippa to battle for the win.
“It was my first cross country race in Italy and I did not expect to win,” Rono said. “It was a tough race.”
Fast 600s by 400 hurdlers: Americans Shamier Little and Britton Wilson, the fourth- and fifth-place finishers in the women’s 400-meter hurdles in last year’s World Championships, staged a thrilling 600 in the Arkansas Invitational indoor meet at Randal Tyson Track Center on Friday night.
Little, who is a volunteer assistant coach at the University of Arkansas, ran 1:24.65 over the infrequently-run distance to turn back Razorback sophomore Wilson, whose 1:25.16 effort in second place was a collegiate record.
The 27-year-old Little moved to seventh on the all-time performer list after leading the field through 200 meters in 25.06 and past 400 in 53.04.
Wilson came through 200 meters in 25.23 and 400 in 53.06 on her way to lowering the collegiate record of 1:25.80 that Athing Mu had set during her freshman – and only – season at Texas A&M in 2021.
“I wanted to go out there and execute, just have a good season opener and shake off the rust,” said Wilson, who ran 1:30.34 in her 600-meter debut last season. “But it was really exciting to feed off the crowd’s energy and feed off Shamier, and just go out there and execute the race.”
Lance Harter, the head women’s coach at Arkansas, said that breaking a record set by Mu in the first meet of the season says a lot about Wilson, who moved to 10th on the all-time performer list.
“Athing Mu is one of the icons of women’s track and field collegiately,” he said, “and to be able to take the first meet of the year and break her record is a real tribute to the gifts and the hard work that Britton Wilson lives by.”
Fast 600 II: Christopher Bailey of Arkansas preceded Britton Wilson’s collegiate record in the women’s 600 meters in the Arkansas Invitational with a fine performance of his own in the men’s event.
The senior transfer from Tennessee ran 1:15:18 to finish more than two seconds ahead of teammate Leroy Russell (1:17:28) and move to sixth on the all-time collegiate performer list.
Bailey, whose time was not far off the collegiate record of 1:14.79 set by Kenyan Michael Saruni of Texas El Paso in 2018, has a personal best of 45.25 in the 400 from 2021, the year in which he advanced to the semifinals of the NCAA Championships.
He had a season best of 46.02 last year and did not advance to the NCAA Championships.
Quick 300 leads to national honor: While Britton Wilson was selected as the national female athlete of the week by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association for her collegiate record in the 600 meters, Matthew Boling of Georgia was the men’s recipient after winning the 300 in 32.40 seconds in the Clemson Invitational on Saturday.
The time in the infrequently-run event is the fastest in the world this year and moved Boling to third on the all-time collegiate list in the event.
Jacory Patterson of Florida lowered the collegiate record to 31.99 last year as a junior and Torrin Lawrence of Georgia ran 32.32 in 2010.
Boling, the 2021 NCAA indoor champion in the 200, posted his big mark a day after James Benson II and Lance Lang of Arkansas had run 32.46 and 32.48, respectively, while finishing 1-2 in the Arkansas Invitational.
Those performances rank them fourth and fifth on the all-time collegiate list in the event.
Can you digg it?: Sophomore Talitha Diggs of Florida, who won the women’s 400 meters in the NCAA and USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships last year, ran personal bests in winning the 60 and the 300 in the Clemson Invitational.
Diggs ran 7.14 to win the final of the 60 on Friday afternoon after running 7.19 in a heat about an hour and a half earlier.
She then opened the track portion of the meet on Saturday by winning the first heat of the 300 in 36.12, which ties her for third on the all-time collegiate list with Sydney McLaughlin, who ran that identical time in December of 2017 during her one and only year as a collegian with Kentucky.
Abby Steiner of Kentucky set the collegiate record of 35.80 in December of 2021 and that performance had broken the previous best of 35.83 set by Jamaican Merlene Ottey of Nebraska in 1981.
Racking up top marks: Jasmine Moore of Florida, who won the women’s long jump and triple jump in the NCAA indoor and outdoor meets last year, opened her season with an impressive series in the triple jump in the Clemson Invitational.
Moore , a junior, won the event with a best of 14.44 meters (47 feet 4½ inches) that she produced in the first round of the competition. But she also bounded 14.43 (47-4¼) on her third attempt, 14.32 (46-11¾) on her fifth, and 14.31 (46-11½) on her second.
The 14.44 and 14.43 efforts were the fourth- and fifth-best performances in U.S. collegiate history.
On the board: Abby Steiner, who was the recipient of the 2022 Bowerman Award for women in December after a superb junior year at Kentucky, made a victorious professional debut for Puma on Saturday in the Rod McCravy Memorial in Lexington.
Competing on the 300-meter oval at the Nutter Field House, Steiner won the women’s 400 with a 51.70-second clocking that left her well ahead of second-place Karimah Davis, who ran 53.30.
Although Steiner ran numerous 400-meter legs for Kentucky’s 1,600 relay teams during her collegiate career, the race was her first open 400 since she was in high school.
Known best for her sprinting over 200 meters, Steiner ran sub-49 third legs for a Kentucky team that set a collegiate record of 3:21.93 in the Southeastern Conference Championships last May and ran 3:22.55 to win the NCAA title in June.
Not to be overlooked: Although Abby Steiner’s professional debut was no doubt the most anticipated event in the two-day McGravy Memorial meet, seniors Isaiah Rogers of Kennesaw State and Masai Russell of Kentucky turned in noteworthy marks amongst collegians.
Rogers won the men’s 35-pound weight throw on Friday with a toss of 24.37 (79-11½) that moved him to eighth on the all-time collegiate performer list.
Russell won the final of the women’s 60-meter hurdles on Saturday with a time of 7.88 seconds to move into a tie for 10th on the all-time performer list after setting a then-personal best of 7.92 in a semifinal earlier in the day. She was the runner-up in the 60 hurdles in the NCAA Indoor Championships last year.
Around the globe: Defending world indoor champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh cleared a yearly world-leading height of 2.00 meters (6-6¾) to win the women’s high jump in the Demyanyuk Invitational in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on Saturday.
The 21-year-old Ukrainian, who was the top-ranked high jumper in the world by Track & Field News for 2022, cleared the height on her second attempt.
It was the 10th indoor meet of her career in which she had cleared 2.00 or higher.
Barrier breaker: Senior Amanda Moll of Capital High in Olympia, Washington became the first girl in U.S. history to clear 15 feet in the pole vault when she set a national high school indoor record of 4.61 (15-1½) to win the elite women’s division of the National Pole Vault Summit at the Reno Livestock and Events Center in Nevada on Friday.
Moll, who has committed to the University of Washington along with her twin sister Hanna, cleared 4.11 (13-5¾) and 4.26 (13-11¾) on her first attempts before needing three ties to get over 4.41 (14-5½). She then cleared 4.51 (14-9½) and 4.61 on her initial tries before missing three times at 4.65 (15-3).
Hanna Moll, who won the girls’ pole vault in last year’s World Athletics U-20 Championships in Cali, Colombia, finished third at 4.51 to also surpass the previous indoor record of 4.50 (14-9) set by Chloe Cunliffe of West Seattle High in 2019.
Best field ever?: You can never predict if every elite runner who commits to a marathon will toe the starting line the day of the race, as injuries often keep some of them from competing. But on paper, the women’s race of the Boston Marathon on April 17 is going to be a doozy.
That became readily apparent last week when the Boston Athletic Association announced that 16 women currently entered in the race have run under 2 hours and 21 minutes in the event, with nine of them having run under 2 hours and 20 minutes.
Amane Beriso of Ethiopia, Sharon Lokedi of Kenya, and Lorna Salpeter of Israel will be making their Boston Marathon debuts.
Beriso ran the third-fastest women’s marathon in history when she ran 2:14:58 to win the Valencia Marathon in Spain on Dec. 4.
Lokedi ran 2:23:23 in her marathon debut to defeat a stellar field over a tough New York City course on Nov. 6.
Salpeter finished seven seconds behind Lokedi in New York City after placing third in the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon in July.
It had previously been announced that Gotytum Gebreslase of Ethiopia, who ran 2:18:11 to win the World title, will be running the Boston Marathon for the first time after finishing third in New York City in 2:23:39.
“I am very excited to run the Boston Marathon this year,” Salpeter said in a press release from the B.A.A. “It has always been my dream to run these streets one day and to experience the incredible atmosphere. I am extremely grateful to the organization for inviting me to run in their city. For now, I am focused on my preparation and I look forward to seeing all the fans along the course in Boston!”
Sara Hall and Emma Bates are the leading American women entered in the race.
Hall placed fifth in the World Championships and has a best of 2:20:32.
Bates finished seventh in the World Championships in a personal best of 2:23:18.
Men’s field gaining strength: Although it had previously been announced that two-time Olympic champion and world-record-holder Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya would be making his Boston Marathon debut this year, the men’s field continues to get stronger as Gabriel Geay of Tanzania has now committed to running the race.
Geay finished fourth in Boston last year and lowered his personal best to 2:03:00 when he finished second in the Valencia Marathon.
“I am excited to be returning to the Boston Marathon this year,” he said. “I fulfilled a dream by racing in Boston last year, but my goal is to one day win the race, and I hope that 2023 will be my year. Thank you, Boston for the opportunity!”
In addition to Kipchoge, who cut 30 seconds off his world record when he ran 2:01:09 in Berlin in September, the last two winners of the men’s race are also entered in the field.
Defending champion Evans Chebet also has a best of 2:03:00 and fellow Kenyan and 2021 winner Benson Kipruto ran a personal best of 2:04:24 to win the Chicago Marathon in October.
Top of the list: Mykolas Alekna of UC Berkeley tops the list of 10 athletes who are included in the preseason watch list for the Bowerman Award for men for this year.
Alekna, a sophomore from Lithuania, set a collegiate record of 68.73 (225-6) in winning the Pacific 12 Conference Championships in May of last year. But he went on a tear following the collegiate season when he raised his personal best to 69.81 (229-0), finished second in the World Championships, and won the European title.
Perhaps not coincidentally, his superb summer of throwing followed a disappointing second-place finish in the NCAA Championships when he was upset by Claudio Romero of Virginia.
So much success as a 19-year-old led some people – including myself – to wonder if Alekna might forgo his remaining collegiate eligibility to run professional, but he decided to continue throwing for Cal.
Mohamad Saatara, the throws coach at UC Berkeley, wrote in a text that Alekna’s decision on when to turn pro “is with him and we support him in any decision he makes.”
Saatara added that Alekna’s loss in the NCAA Championships will serve as fuel for the upcoming collegiate season.
“He’s very motivated for this season and he’s a competitive thrower so that is definitely a motivation for ’23,” Saatara wrote.
In addition to Alekna, four other athletes on the preseason watch list for men advanced to the finals of the World Championships in their respective events.
Those athletes are decathlete Ayden Owens-Delerme and long jumper Wayne Pinnock of Arkansas, pole vaulter Sondre Guttormsen of Princeton, and decathlete Kyle Garland of Georgia.
Owens-Delerme finished fourth for Puerto Rico in the decathlon in the World Championships and Garland placed 11th for the U.S.
Pinnock finished ninth in the long jump for Jamaica and Guttormsen placed 10th in the pole vault for Norway.
The other five men on the preseason watch list are sprinter Matthew Boling of Georgia, intermediate hurdler Sean Burrell of LSU, distance runners Charles Hicks of Stanford and Nico Young of Northern Arizona, and shot putter and discus thrower Turner Washington of Arizona State.
Watch list II: Like the men, five of the 10 athletes listed on the Bowerman preseason watch list for women were finalists in their respective events in last year’s World Championships.
Camryn Rogers of UC Berkeley won the silver medal for Canada in the hammer throw in the global title meet, with Alia Armstrong of LSU finishing fourth in the 100-meter hurdles for the U.S., and Jordan van Klinken of Arizona State placing fourth in the discus for the Netherlands.
The other finalists were Britton Wilson of Arkansas, who finished fifth in the 400 hurdles for the U.S., and Lamarra Distin of Texas A&M, who placed ninth in the high jump for Jamaica.
Rogers and van Klinken have used up their collegiate eligibility outdoors, but they have a season remaining for indoor competition and will compete in the 20-pound weight throw and the shot put, respectively.
The other five women on the preseason watch list are sprinter Julien Alfred of Texas, shot putter Adelaide Aquilla of Ohio State, quarter-miler Talitha Diggs and long jumper and triple jumper Jasmine Moore of Florida, and sprinter Favour Ofili of LSU.
Aquilla is another athlete who only has a season of indoor eligibility remaining.
In memory: Charles White, who won the Heisman Trophy for USC in 1979, passed away on Jan. 11 in Newport Beach, California, after a battle with cancer. He was 64.
White, who played running back in the NFL for eight seasons with the Cleveland Browns and Los Angeles Rams, rushed for a school-record 6,245 yards during his four years at USC, including 2,050 yards during the 1979 season in which he led the Trojans to an 11-0-1 record and a 17-16 victory over Ohio State in the 1980 Rose Bowl.
However, my fondest athletic memories of White stem from the 1976 Los Angeles City Section track and field finals when he was a senior at San Fernando High School in the San Fernando Valley.
Held on a cinder track at East Los Angeles College, White set what was then a national high school record of 36.0 in the 330-yard low hurdles. But he also played a part in a scintillating boys’ mile relay race in which Billy Mullins of Hamilton High in Los Angeles ran a 45.8-second anchor leg to bring his team from way back to nip Banning High of Wilmington at the wire in a race in which both teams ran 3:16.0. San Fernando, anchored by White’s superb 46.7 carry, finished third in 3:17.7.
That race remains one of my fondest track and field memories and in 1995, during my time as a sportswriter with the Los Angeles Times, I wrote a column about it after watching sophomore Obea Moore of Muir High in Pasadena run a 45.5-second anchor leg to help his team nip Morningside High of Inglewood, 3:13.08 to 3:13.30, for the state title in the 1,600-meter relay.
Thanks for the memories Charles.