Week in Review: We may be witnessing an all-time great of the sport in Crouser
His world record in men's shot put highlights inaugural Los Angeles Grand Prix
Ryan Crouser is not the GOAT of the men’s shot put. Not yet.
Call me crazy, but as a track and field historian, I would still — narrowly — give the GOAT title in the shot put to American Parry O’Brien. After all, he set 10 outdoor world records in the event, won gold medals in the 1952 and ‘56 Games before finishing second in 1960 and fourth in ’64, and was the top-ranked shot putter in the world by Track & Field News seven times during an eight-year stretch from 1952-59.
However, Crouser’s scintillating performance in the inaugural Los Angeles Grand Prix at UCLA on Saturday was another reminder that we could be witnessing the story of one of the greatest track and field performers — not just shot putters — of all time.
The 30-year-old Crouser unleashed a monstrous put of 23.56 meters (77 feet 3¾ inches) in the fourth round of the meet at Drake Stadium to smash the former world record of 23.38 (76-8½) he had set in the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2021. But he also had puts of 23.31 (76-5¾) in the second round, 23.23 (76-2¾) in the first, 22.94 (75-3¼) in the third, 22.86 (75-0) in the sixth, and 22.80 (74-9¾) in the fifth.
The 23.31 and 23.23 efforts are the third- and equal fifth- best puts in history, and the 22.94 mark is tied for 18th on the all-time world performance list. Crouser’s series was so phenomenal that the average distance of his six puts was 23.11 (75-10), a distance that has only been achieved one time each by two other men in history.
“I’m just so excited about the performance today,” Crouser told Lewis Johnson of NBC Sports. “It’s early in the year… First meet with good weather I’ve had this year. So the training I think kind of showed itself and the best thing is I’m still on high volume, heavy throws in the ring and heavy weights in the weight room. Just working some speed. So I’m excited to see with… some proper training where I can get out there.”
Despite ending last year as the two-time defending Olympic and 2022 World champion, Crouser decided to revamp his technique this season in an effort to produce even farther puts. I’m speculating here, but his desire to improve may have been spurred by the Diamond League finale at the Weltklasse meet in Zurich last September. There fellow American and World Championship silver medalist Joe Kovacs raised his personal best to 23.23 (76-2¾) in turning back a field that included second-place Crouser at 22.74 (74-7¼).
While Crouser was working his way back from a bout with COVID-19 at that time, Kovacs’ mark was nonetheless the third best in history, trailing only Crouser’s then-world record of 23.37 (76-8¼) and his winning put of 23.30 (76-5½) in the Olympic Games.
The 33-year-old Kovacs, who credits his rivalry with Crouser with making him the shot putter he is today, won the 2015 World title in Beijing before Crouser first came of age as an elite competitor at the global level in 2016.
That was Crouser’s first post-collegiate season after he had won a total of four (two indoor and outdoor) NCAA titles in the shot put for the University of Texas. It was also the year for which he garnered the first of five No. 1 annual rankings from Track & Field News and won his first Olympic title with a then-personal best of 22.52 (73-10¾) that broke the previous Olympic record of 22.47 (73-8¾) set by Ulf Timmermann of East Germany in the 1988 Games in Seoul, South Korea.
Crouser was particularly dominant during that victory in Rio de Janeiro as he had the four best puts of the competition in which Kovacs placed second at 21.78 (71-5½) and Tom Walsh of New Zealand finished third at 21.36 (70-1)
While Walsh would defeat Kovacs for the 2017 World title in a meet in which Crouser placed sixth, Kovacs won the 2019 World Championships in Doha, Qatar when he moved from fourth place to first on his final put of the competition with a then-personal best of 22.91 (75-2) which left him one centimeter ahead of second-place Crouser and third-place Walsh. Those two each recorded then-personal bests of 22.90 (75-1¾) before Crouser was awarded the silver medal because his second-best put was better than that of Walsh.
Kovacs’ heroics in one of the greatest shot put competitions in history prevented Crouser from winning his first World title, but it was hard for Crouser to find fault with his silver-medal performance.
“We’ve never seen depth like that before,” he said at the time. “I was honored to be a part of it. And any time you throw a lifetime best, you can’t be upset.”
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 led to a short and condensed outdoor season that year. But Crouser managed to add a centimeter to his personal best while winning each of the eight meets in which he competed.
Then came a 2021 campaign in which he raised the indoor record to 22.82 (74-10) and the outdoor best to 23.37 (76-8¼) while going undefeated in 14 competitions.
The word “unbeatable” was being attributed to Crouser at the start of last year. However, Darlan Romani of Brazil defeated him for the World indoor title in March, and Kovacs beat him in three late-season meets after Crouser had twice come from behind to win the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon in July and lead Kovacs and Josh Awotunde to a 1-2-3 sweep by the U.S.
Crouser had gone 3-0 during the indoor season and appeared to have raised the world record to 23.38 (76-8½) in the Simplot Games in Boise, Idaho in February. But the mark was not ratified by World Athletics because the landing area for the competition was deemed to have a slope greater that what is allowed for record purposes.
He then opened the outdoor season with a meet-record victory in the Drake Relays on April 29. Though the winning distance of 22.38 (73-5¼) might have seemed below-standard, Crouser was pleased because he produced it during a heavy rain.
Then came Saturday’s L.A. Grand Prix, which the 6-foot-7, 320-pound Crouser described as the first meet this year that his new technique has fallen into place.
“So today, it kind of clicked, and I found that spread that I’ve been having in practice,” he told Johnson. “So it was really a relief in the early rounds, even before that world record to see, Okay, I’m adding instead of having the technique break down… First meet that it’s held up, so it’s a good start.”
Describing a world-record performance as just a “good start” is something that all-time greats do, not mere mortals.
Add Crouser: If you are in need of another indicator of Crouser’s greatness, consider the following: He has eight of the top 10 puts in history and 16 of the top 20.
He also has 24 of the 36 puts of 75 feet (22.86) or more. Kovacs has the second-highest number, with six.
Another national record: While Ryan Crouser’s world record in the men’s shot put was the best performance of the L.A. Grand Prix at UCLA on Saturday, Camryn Rogers of Canada was the top performer on the meet’s first day on Friday.
Competing in a women’s hammer competition that pitted her against the gold and bronze medalists from the World Championships last July, as well as the 2019 World champion, Rogers set her second national record of the season — and the fourth of her career — with a throw of 78.63 (257-11).
The World Championship silver medalist moved from third place to first in the fifth round when her throw overtook first-place Brooke Andersen of the U.S., who had taken the lead with a 76.06 (249-6) effort a round earlier.
Rogers’ winning mark topped her previous national record of 77.84 (255-4) that she had set in winning the Mt. San Antonio College Relays in Walnut, California on April 15, gave her a third victory of the season without a loss, and moved her to fifth on the all-time performer list.
She also dealt Andersen her first loss of the season. The World champion had been victorious in her first three meets while producing the top seven throws in the world this year, including a best of 80.17 (263-0) in the USA Track & Field Throws Festival at the University of Arizona six days earlier that had moved her to third on the all-time performer list.
DeAnna Price, the 2019 World champion, placed third on Friday with a season best of 75.78 (248-11). She was followed by World bronze medalist and fellow American Janee’ Kassanavoid at 73.23 (240-3).
The 23-year-old Rogers had taken the lead with a first-round throw of 75.15 (246-6), but fell to second when Price threw 75.45 (247-6) in the second round, and she dropped another spot when Andersen hit her 76.06 best in the fourth round.
“She did an amazing job,” texted Mohamad Saatara, Rogers’ coach and the throws coach at UC Berkeley. “Made great technical adjustments on the fly. Excellent execution.”
Another come-from-behind victory: Like Camryn Rogers of Canada in the women’s hammer throw, Olympic champion Wojciech Nowicki of Poland came from behind to win the men’s event in the L.A. Grand Prix at UCLA last Friday evening.
Although Nowicki and Rudy Winkler of the U.S. each had a top throw of 77.17 (253-2) after the first five rounds, Winkler was in first place on the tiebreaker because his second-best throw of 76.84 (252-1) was better than Nowicki’s No. 2 effort of 75.72 (248-5). But when Nowicki improved to 77.18 — which still converts 253-2 in feet and inches — on his final throw, he had won by the smallest margin possible.
Crushing her best: Maggie Ewen of the U.S. added nearly a meter to her best outdoor mark in the women’s shot put when she won the event with an effort of 20.45 (67-1¼) in the L.A. Grand Prix at UCLA on Saturday.
The 28-year-old Ewen hit her winning distance in the third round and also had puts of 20.12 (66-0¼) in the fifth round and 19.75 (64-9¾) in the sixth that were better than her pre-meet outdoor best of 19.47 (63-10½) from 2019.
Her mark was also the best in the world this year and handed fellow American and defending World champion Chase Ealey of the U.S. her first loss of the outdoor season after winning her first two meets.
Ealey finished second at 19.98 (65-6¾), followed by Jamaican Danniel Thomas-Dodd, who placed third with a national record of 19.77 (64-10½).
Disappointing result: There were a lot of standout performances in the L.A. Grand Prix at UCLA last Saturday that brought the crowd to its feet, but the women’s 100 meters was a huge disappointment. That’s because Sha’Carri Richardson and Aleia Hobbs of the U.S. and Marie-Josee Ta Lou of Ivory Coast did not run in the final of the event after posting the three fastest times in the qualifying heats that were run a little over an hour and a half earlier.
Shortly after Morolake Akinosun of the U.S. won the final in 10.97 seconds, Lewis Johnson of NBC Sports reported that he had been told Richardson had withdrawn after experiencing cramps in her legs while warming up.
Ta Lou’s coach, John Smith, said by phone on Wednesday that his charge had experienced the same issues. It was not known why Hobbs withdrew.
Richardson and Ta Lou entered the meet with the first- and second-fastest times in the world this year with bests of 10.76 and 10.78, and their absence from the second-to-last track event of the meet was no doubt frustrating to those in attendance and watching on TV or online.
Smith, who has coached a slew of elite sprinters over the past three-plus decades, said that the softer synthetic surface of the intramural field where athletes warmed up at UCLA can lead to cramping problems for athletes who are used to running on tracks in which the surface is harder. He added that the cramping could have been more prevalent in participants in the women’s 100 than on other events because it was the only track event in the meet in which qualifying heats were held.
Strong finish: Ackeem Blake of Jamaica capped the track portion of the L.A. Grand Prix at UCLA last Saturday by coming from behind to win the men’s 100 meters in a personal best of 9.89 seconds.
The 21-year-old Blake finished three hundredths of a second ahead of Americans Cravont Charleston and Christian Coleman, who were each credited with times of 9.91.
Coleman, who ran a wind-aided 9.78 in winning the USA Track & Field Bermuda Grand Prix in Devonshire, Bermuda six days earlier, beat everyone out of the blocks. But he did not have the separation over the field he often has after the first 40 meters of the race.
As a result, Blake was not that far behind Coleman at the midway point and he was able to pass him with about 20 meters remaining.
Blake’s time moved him to eighth on the all-time Jamaican list. Charleston, who had run a wind-aided 9.87 to win the Mt. San Antonio College Relays in April, lowered his previous best from 9.98.
Three for three: Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico remained undefeated with her third victory of the season in the women’s 100-meter hurdles in the L.A. Grand Prix at UCLA last Saturday.
Running against a heavyweight field, she clocked a yearly world-leading time of 12.31 seconds to defeat second-place Keni Harrision of the U.S. by four hundredths of a second. Fellow Americans Tia Jones and Alaysha Johnson placed third and fourth in 12.50 and 12.52, respectively.
Tobi Amusan of Nigeria, the world-record holder and defending World champion, was the last finisher in the race with an eighth-place time of 12.59.
Tonea Marshall of the U.S. got out very well, but Camacho-Quinn caught her by the fifth flight of hurdles and never gave up the lead after that. Harrison closed well over the last two flights of hurdles, but she could not catch Camacho-Quinn, whose winning time was the third-fastest of her career.
Three for three II: Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic won her third race of the season without a loss in the women’s 400 meters in the L.A. Grand Prix at UCLA last Saturday.
The Olympic and World Championship silver medalist ran a strong first 200 meters of the race and continued to widen her lead over the final half of a lap as her 48.98-second clocking was the fastest in the world this year and trimmed a hundredth of a second off her previous best of 48.99 from last year.
Salwa Eid Nasser of Bahrain finished second in 50.27 and American Lynna Irby-Jackson placed third in 50.38.
It was the second 400 of the season for 2019 World champion Nasser, who had previously served a two-year suspension by the Court of Arbitration for Sport for a whereabouts violation for missing three anti-doping tests between Jan. 1, 2019 and January 24, 2020.
Fast reminder: Timothy Cheruiyot of Kenya showed he is still a major player in the men’s 1,500 meters when he ran a yearly world-leading time of 3:31.47 to win the event in the L.A. Grand Prix at UCLA last Saturday.
The 2019 World champion and Olympic silver medalist was in third place behind countrymen Reynold Kipkorir Cheruiyot — no relation — and Vincent Keter when Reynold Cheruiyot came through 1,100 meters in 2:35.96.
Timothy Cheruiyot, 27, remained in that position down the backstretch and into the final turn. But he moved past Keter midway through the curve and then went past 18-year-old upstart Reynold Cheruiyot with about 30 meters left in the race.
Reynold-Cheruiyot had turned a lot of heads when he ran a then-world-leading time of 3:32.01 in winning the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi, Kenya two weeks earlier, and he equaled that time on Saturday. Americans Hobbs Kessler and Cooper Teare finished third and fourth in personal bests of 3:32.61 and 3:32.74, respectively, while Keter ran a career best of 3:33.16 in fifth.
The 20-year-old Kessler took nearly two seconds off his previous best of 3:34.36 that he had run in May of 2021 while crushing the national high school record of 3:38.26 that Alan Webb had set in 2001 while on his way to a prep record of 3:53.43 in the mile.
Kessler had signed a national letter of intent with Northern Arizona University at that time, but his breakthrough race led to him signing a three-year deal with Adidas.
Lower than expected: Mondo Duplantis of Sweden opened up his outdoor season with a victory in the men’s pole vault in the L.A. Grand Prix at UCLA last Saturday, but his winning height of 5.91 (19-4¾) was disappointing to many as he had raised the world record to 6.22 (20-5) in an indoor meet in Clermont-Ferrand, France in February.
No one expected the defending Olympic and World champion to be attempting any world-record heights during his first outdoor meet of the season, but he never looked comfortable on the runway located in front of the grandstands at Drake Stadium. He cleared 5.61 (18-4¾), 5.81 (19-0¾), and 5.91 (19-4¾) on his first attempts, but he did not come close to clearing 6.01 (19-8½) on his three attempts at that height.
American Sam Kendricks, the 2017 and ’19 World champion, also cleared 5.91, but he finished second in the competition because he made that height on his second attempt while Duplantis did it on his first.
Popular winner: For the second year in a row, Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocco thrilled the home crowd with a victory in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase in the Meeting International Mohammed VI d’Athletisme de Rabat Diamond League meet in Rabat, Morocco on Sunday.
The 27-year-old El Bakkali produced the best performance of the meet while running in the final event as his time of 7:56.68 moved him to eighth on the all-time performer list and was the fastest time in the world since 2012. In addition, it bettered his previous best of 7:58.15 from 2018 and strengthened his hold on second on the all-time Moroccan list.
El Bakkali had run 7:58.28 to defeat Lamecha Girma of Ethiopia (7:59.24) in last year’s meet, but he won by a decisive margin on Sunday as Getnet Wale of Ethiopia and Abraham Kibiwot of Kenya finished second and third in personal bests of 8:05.15 and 8:05.51, respectively.
After a pace setter came through the first kiolmeter in 2:37.51, El Bakkali moved into the lead and only Wale and Kibiwot were close to the defending Olympic and World champion when he came through 2,000 meters in 5:20.75.
Kibiwot began to fall off the back of the lead pack after that and El Bakkali had dropped Wale midway down the backstretch for the penultimate time. He kept widening his lead after that and after clearing the final barrier in the home straightaway, he pounded his right fist into his left palm two times in celebration before easing up during the last five meters of the race.
El Bakkali ran the final four laps of the track with an inside water jump in an unofficial 4:11.1 and his final lap in 60.5.
“I can't describe my happiness for achieving the meeting record, personal best, and world lead,” he was quoted as saying in a post on the World Athletics site. “My aim was to break the world record but I got tired on the last lap. Now I will rest to get ready for my next competitions and especially for the World Championships where my aim is to keep my title.”
Dominant victory: Fred Kerley of the U.S. won his fifth race of the season without a loss when he clocked 9.94 seconds in the men’s 100 meters in the Diamond League meet in Rabat, Morocco on Sunday.
The event had lost some of its luster two days earlier when Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs of Italy had withdrawn from the meet due to a nerve issue in his back. But Kerley was the dominant competitor in the race as his 9.94 clocking left him well clear of second-place Akani Simbine of South Africa (9.99) and third-place Ferdinand Omanyala of Kenya (10.05).
World Championship bronze medalist Trayvon Bromell of the U.S. led the field out of the blocks with one his typically fast starts. But Kerley had taken the lead by 50 meters and no one was able to match his speed over the remainder of the race.
Simbine, fifth in the World Championships last year, surged past Omanyala during the last 20 meters of the race. But Kerley won comfortably, despite looking to his left with about five meters left in the race.
Omanyala, who had run a yearly world-leading time of 9.84 in winning the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi, Kenya on May 13, briefly glanced to his right early in the race while apparently looking at Kerley. But he could not match the much-taller American’s top-end speed, despite saying in the run-up to the meet that he would not lose any 100-meter races this season.
Depth galore: Faith Kipyegon of Kenya is regarded by many as the greatest women’s 1,500-meter runner in history, but no country can currently match Ethiopia’s depth in the event.
The latest evidence came in the Diamond League meet in Rabat, Morocco on Sunday when Gudaf Tesgay ran a yearly world-leading time of 3:54.03 to lead Ethiopia to a sweep of the top four places in the 1,500. That occurred a little more than 24 hours after countrywoman Diribe Welteji had run 3:57.84, then the fastest time in the world, in winning the event in the Los Angeles Grand Prix at UCLA.
Pacesetter Charlotte Mouchet led the field through 400 meters in 60.61 in Rabat and Zoya Naumov led for most of the second lap before dropping out just before the 800. World 5,000 champion Tsegay came through that mark in 2:03.63 with 17-year-old countrywoman Birke Haylom three meters behind her.
The 25-year-old Tsegay continued to expand her lead after that as she passed through 1,200 meters in 3:06.09 before running the final 300 meters of the race in 47.94 in her first outdoor race of the season. Although she began to grimace midway through the final curve, she held her form well to the finish to miss her personal best by just two hundredths of a second.
Freweyni Hailu finished second in 3:57.65, followed by Haylom in a personal best of 3:57.66.
Strong opener: Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway was impressive in his first race of the outdoor season as he turned back a high-quality field in the men’s 1,500 meters in the Diamond League meet in Rabat, Morocco on Sunday.
The 22-year-old Olympic champion ran 3:32.59 to finish comfortably ahead of runner-up Yared Nuguse of the U.S. (3:33.02) and third-place Olli Hoare of Australia (3:33.39).
After two different pace setters had come through 400 meters in 55.56 and 800 in 1:55.13, it was a three-runner race for first when Ingebrigtsen led Hoare and Nuguse through three laps in 2:52.26.
They remained in that order down the backstretch and through the final curve before Ingebrigtsen seemed to increase his lead with a spurt of speed with about 90 meters left in the race.
Nuguse, who had run the second-fastest mile in indoor history with a 3:47.38 clocking in the Millrose Games in February, launched his final sprint with about 60 meters left in the race to pass Hoare, but he was unable to make up much ground on Ingebrigtsen.
A star is born: Anna Hall of the U.S. rocketed from 25th to fifth on the all-time performer list in the heptathlon with her 6,988-point total in the Hypo Meeting in Gotzis, Austria last weekend.
The 22-year-old Hall had scored a then-personal best of 6,755 points to win the bronze medal in the World Championships last July, but she topped her efforts from Eugene in six of the seven heptathlon events in Gotzis while posting a runaway victory. Katarina Johnson-Thompson of Great Britain, the 2019 World champion, placed second with 6,556 points. She was followed by Adrianna Sulek of Poland with 6,480 points.
Hall’s score was the 11th highest in history and the best in the world since the 2017 season when two-time Olympic and World champion Nafi Thiam of Belgium totaled her personal best of 7,013 points in Gotzis to move to third on the all-time performer list.
“I’m very happy with the score,” Hall was quoted as saying in a World Athletics post. “It’s incredible. The crowd carried me through. It’s a dream. I am just 22 and I have time for a score over 7,000 points. I am now focused on progressing. I will run the 400-meter hurdles in Florence next Friday and then I will return to the USA to get ready for the U.S. National Championships and the World Championships.”
Hall, who had won the heptathlon and finished second in the 400 hurdles in the NCAA Championships for the University of Florida last year before signing a contract with Adidas, totaled a whopping 4,172 points on the first day of the meet last Saturday.
She began the day by posting the fastest time of the competition in the 100-meter hurdles with a personal best of 12.75 seconds and never trailed throughout the two-day endeavor. She followed the hurdles by clearing 1.92 (6-3½) in the high jump, putting the shot 13.90 (45-7¼), and clocking 22.88 in the 200 while registering a total that was 181 points better than her 3,991 score after the first day of the World Championships.
She started the second day on Sunday by leaping 6.54 (21-5½) in the long jump before throwing the javelin 43.08 (141-4) and concluding her performance with a scintillating run of 2:02.97 in the 800.
Canuck streak continues: Damian Warner of Canada saw his streak of decathlon victories in Gotzis end at six when he finished second in this year’s competition. But countryman Pierce LePage gave Canada its seventh victory in a row in the event with his yearly world-leading total of 8,700 points.
Olympic champion Warner finished second with 8,619 points, followed by Sander Aae Skothiem’s Norwegian record of 8,590 in third.
Warner was in first place after the first day on Saturday with a total of 4,531 points, followed by LePage with 4,513.
Warner extended his advantage to 54 points when he ran the 110-meter high hurdles in 13.60 seconds to LePage’s 13.87 in the first event of the competition on Sunday. However, the 27-year-old LePage would take a 206-point lead over Warner during the next three events when he threw the discus 49.34 (161-10), cleared 5.00 (16-4¾) in the pole vault, and threw the javelin 63.09 (207-0).
LePage lost 125 points to Warner in the 1,500 when he ran 4:45.74 to his countryman’s 4:26.16, but his lead was large enough that he still won by 81 points while falling just a point short of the personal best he totaled in finishing second in the World Championships last year.
Long time coming: Granada Hills Charter High School, led by 400-meter champion Dijon Stanley, won the boys’ team title in the California Interscholastic Federation State Championships that concluded at Buchanan High School in Clovis last Saturday.
The Highlanders totaled 36 points to become the first team from the Los Angeles City Section to win the boys’ title in the state meet since Dorsey of Los Angeles placed first in 2005. Serra of Gardena, led by repeat 100 and 200 champion Rodrick Pleasant, placed second with 33 points, followed by Long Beach Poly with 32.
Granada Hills Charter scored all of its points in the three sprint events, and in the 400 and 1,600 relays in the meet in which the top nine finishers were awarded points on a 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1-0.5 basis.
Stanley, a senior who has signed a national letter of intent to play football at Utah, won the 400 meters in a personal best of 45.77 seconds, placed second in the 200 in 20.95, and ran legs on teams that won the 400 relay in 40.39 and placed third in the 1,600 relay in 3:15.14.
Junior teammate Jordan Coleman placed seventh in the 100 in 10.57 and also ran legs on the 400 and 1,600 relay teams.
Pleasant, who has signed a letter of intent to play football for Oregon, has been hampered by hamstring issues for much of the season. But he won the 100 in 10.20 before clocking 20.67 to win the 200 ahead of Stanley.
Wilson rolls to fourth title: Long Beach Wilson, paced by 400-meter champion Aujane Luckey and 300 low hurdle winner Kaylin Edwards, won the girls’ team title in the CIF state meet that concluded at Buchanan High School in Clovis last Saturday.
The Bruins totaled 44 points to win their fourth state title and first since 2006 when they tied James Logan of Union City for first place. Culver City placed second on Saturday with 31 points, followed by Serra of Gardena and Castaic, which tied for third with 25 points.
Luckey, a senior, won the 400 in 53.26 seconds and also finished seventh in the 200 in 24.09. Sophomore Edwards took the 300 hurdles in 41.57.
Wilson, which scored points in six events, placed second in the 1,600 relay in 3:42.48 and third in the 400 relay in 46.66.
Ventura tied for sixth place in the team standings with 23½ points, receiving 20 of its points via wins by sophomore Sadie Engelhardt in the 1,600 meters (meet record of 4:33.45) and in the 800 (2:07.22).
It was the second state title in the 1,600 for Engelhardt, who won the 800 by outkicking defending champion Mackenzie Browne of J.W. North in Riverside.
Two liners: Femke Bol of the Netherlands opened her outdoor season with a yearly world-leading time of 53.12 seconds in the women’s 400-meter hurdles in the IFAM Meeting in Oordegem, Belgium last Saturday. The World Championship silver medalist had set a world record of 49.26 in the 400 and a world best of 1:05.63 in the 500 during the indoor season. . . . Diribe Welteji of Ethiopia held the fastest time in the world this year in the women’s 1,500 meters for a little more than 24 hours over the weekend. The fourth-place finisher in the 800 in the World Championships, Welteji ran 3:57.84 to win the 1,500 in the Los Angeles Grand Prix at UCLA last Saturday. . . . Abdi Nur of the U.S. won the men’s 5,000 in a personal best of 13:05.17 in the L.A. Grand Prix at UCLA last Friday night after falling to the track during the first 200 meters of the race. The first eight finishers in the race set personal records, as did Lex Young of Newbury Park High School, whose 18th-place time of 13:34.96 was a national high school record. . . . Kristjan Ceh of Slovenia won the men’s discus with a best of 70.32 meters (230 feet 8 inches) in the Diamond L\eague meet in Rabat, Morocco on Sunday. The defending World champion also had a throw of 70.07 (229-10) as he produced his second 70-meter meet of the season and the seventh of his career. . . . Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine raised the yearly outdoor world best in the women’s high to 2.01 (6-7) in the Diamond League meet in Rabat on Sunday. The World Championship silver medalist cleared 1.91 (6-3¼) on her first attempt and 1.95 (6-4¾) on her second before getting over 2.01 on her initial try. . . . Leyanis Perez of Cuba won the women’s triple jump with a personal best and yearly outdoor world-leading mark of 14.84 (48-8¼) in the Diamond League meet in Rabat on Sunday. The fourth-place finisher in the World Championships also had a jump of 14.66 (48-1¼). . . . Rasheed Broadbell of Jamaica handed two-time defending World 110 high hurdle champion Grant Holloway of the U.S. his first loss of the season in the Diamond League meet in Rabat on Sunday. Broadbell was well back of Holloway after the first half of the race, but he began to reel him in at the sixth of 10 barriers, caught him at the final hurdle and beat him on the run-in to the finish to record a 13.08 to 13.12 victory. . . . The outdoor season did not start well for defending Olympic and World men’s 800 champion Emmanuel Korir of Kenya in the Diamond League meet in Rabat, Morocco on Sunday as he finished eighth in 1:48.42 in a race that was won by countryman Emmanuel Wanyonyi in 1:44.36. World Championship bronze medalist Marco Arop of Canada also struggled, placing fifth in 1:46.34. . . . Nelly Chepchirchir of Kenya ran a yearly world-leading time of 1:58.23 in the women’s 800 in a meet in Grosseto, Italy last Saturday. The time crushed her previous personal best of 2:01.42 that she had run to finish fourth in the World Athletics U20 (under 20) Championships in Cali, Colombia last year. . . . When Justin Robinson of Arizona State University ran 44.65 to win his quarterfinal heat of the men’s 400 meters in the NCAA West Region preliminary meet at Cal State Sacramento last Friday, it bettered his personal best of 44.84 that he had set in winning the Great Southwest Classic at the University of New Mexico in 2019 shortly after the conclusion of his junior year at Hazelwood (Missouri) West High School. The Sun Devil sophomore had run 44.98 in winning the Mt. San Antonio College Relays in Walnut, California on April 15 before placing third in 45.09 in the Pac-12 Conference Championships on May 14. . . . Udodi Onwuzurike of Stanford ran 9.92 in the 100 and 20.07 in the 200 in winning his quarterfinal heats in the NCAA West Region preliminary meet last Friday. The time in the 100 moved the sophomore from Nigeria into a tie for ninth on the all-time African performer list. . . . Britton Wilson of Arkansas has been the dominant women’s 400 sprinter and 400 hurdler in the collegiate ranks this season, but Rhasidat Adeleke of Texas turned in a notable time in the 400 in the NCAA West Region preliminary meet last Saturday. While Wilson won her quarterfinal heats of the 400 and 400 hurdles in 49.51 and 53.71, respectively, Adeleke won her heat of the 400 in an Irish record of 49.54 to move to second on the all-time collegiate performer list behind Wilson’s best of 49.13. . . . Thanks to some strong aiding winds, there were a slew of fast times in the men’s 100 and 200 meters in the NCAA East Region preliminary meet at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville last Friday. Damarcus Fleming of LSU, aided by a breeze of 5.5 meters-per-second, ran a wind-aided 9.85 in the 100 as 10 men broke 10.00, and Robert Gregory of Florida, helped by a wind of 4.8 meters-per-second, led the 200 qualifiers with a wind-aided time of 19.60. . . . Cordell Tinch led Pittsburg State (Kansas) University to its second consecutive men’s team title in the NCAA Division II Championships at Colorado State University Pueblo last week with a superb triple. Tinch won the 110 high hurdles in a wind-aided 12.87, after running a personal best of 13.21 in his qualifying heat, the high jump at 2.21 (7-3), and the long jump at 8.16 (26-9).