2010 USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships - Friday Recap, Saturday Preview

The USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships started Thursday and run through Sunday, June 27th, at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa. Below is Friday's recap, Saturday's preview and information on how to follow and watch the Championships.

FRIDAY RECAP:

Women's Heptathlon - Day 1:

Hyleas Fountain had a very impressive day 1, scoring over 1000 points in 3 of Day 1's 4 events in the heptathlon, for a total of 4068. In the shot put, she only scored 776 points but still won the event. Most impressive was her 12.93 in the 100m hurdles, which would be competitive in the single-event 100m hurdles. Fountain is truly an amazing all-around athlete. The competition for second place is tight between Bettie Wade, currently at 3603 points, and Sharon Day, currently at 3599.

Men's Decathlon - Day 1:

2003 World Champ and 4-time USA Champ Tom Pappas, competing unattached, competed well in the shot put and high jump to end Day 1 with an 82-point lead over Trinity Otto of Texas A&M and 92-point lead over Joe Detmer. It will be an exciting finish for these men tomorrow.

Men's Discus FINAL:

University of Colorado Assistant Coach Casey Malone defended his 2009 USA Championship in the Discus with a heave of 62.57m/205-3. The American Record holder was 5th at the World Championships last August and is a two-time Olympian. He was competing unattached. 2nd-place Jason Young beat 3rd-place Jarred Rome by just four inches.

Women's 100m Hurdles - Prelims:

Business as expected for these ladies, as 2010 Indoor World Champion Lolo Jones, 2006 and 2007 USA Champioin Ginnie (Powell) Crawford and 2008 Olympian (4th) Damu Cherry-Mitchell won their respective heats. Also of note are Danielle Carruthers and Kellie Wells, running speedy times of 12.98 and 12.99, respectively. I hope they bring back 2004 Olympic Gold Medalist Joanna Hayes to commentate the final! She did a great job commentating the webcast this evening.

Men's Hammer Throw FINAL:

A.G. Kruger's 4-year streak of national titles was broken, as he finished a disappointing 4th. One of his throws is under review but isn't thought to be far enough to give him the win even if it is allowed. Jake Freeman and Kibwe Johnson of the New York Athletic Club took first and second in a close competition in which their best throws were separated by just 8 inches (76.51m/251 for Freeman and 76.31/250-3 for Johnson).

Men's Pole Vault FINAL:

Adding to the trend of top athletes competing "unattached" were the top 3 competitiors in the men's pole vault. The field whittled down to Derek Miles, Mark Hollis and Jason Colwick at 18-4.5. All three competitors passed on 18-6 1/2, before all three missed their attempts at 18-8 1/4. Hollis won, as he'd cleared 18-4.5 on his first attempt, Miles was second and Colwick third.

Men's Triple Jump FINAL:

Kenta Bell jumped the farthest he has since 2008 (17.02m/55-10.25) to beat favorites Christian Taylor of Florida (2nd, 16.76m/55-0) and Lawrence Willis of United South Coast Track Club (3rd, 16.69/54-9.25).

Women's Javelin FINAL:

Kara Patterson shatters the American Record!!

Pre-meet favorite Kara Patterson broke the American Record by more than 8 feet with her 66.67m/218-9 throw. The previous record of 210-7 was set in 2007 by Kim Kreiner, who according to Patterson texted her after she heard the news with "Way to go — 66 meters." "Then she definitely threatened me and said she'll be back next year. That's just Kim's personality," laughed Patterson, who couldn't stop smiling after the competition.

Live it up Kara! Her sponsor Asics now owes her $25,000 big ones according to her contract. There is also a great write-up at universalsports.com about the fact that she has had a hard time getting into Diamond League meets thus far in 2010. She shouldn't have any problems now!

Women's 100m FINAL:

Allyson Felix moved down to the 100m for this meet reportedly to work on her start, which is her one weakness in her specialty - the 200m. She acted like it was her natural event, taking home a convincing victory in 11.27 over LaShaunte'a Moore's 11.34, in a 2.5 m/s headwind. It would have been exciting to see how Felix stacks up in the 100m against 2009 US Champ Carmelita Jeter, who was not entered in the meet this weekend.

Women's 5,000m FINAL

Lauren Fleshman could be heard gasping desperately for air as she bent over in agony a few meters past the finish line of the women's 5,000m. But what a sweet feeling that pain must have been. Fleshman toyed with the idea of retirement just a short year ago, after missing the 2008 Olympics by a matter of seconds and struggling with a landslide of injuries stemming from a broken navicular bone in her foot. Not many people considered Fleshman a threat tonight, with the likes ofJenny Barringer, Molly Huddle and Jen Rhines in the field, all healthy and in the middle of successful seasons. Rhines got sick of the pedestrian pace and surged to the lead for a 69-second lap with 5 laps to go and was as much as 8 seconds ahead of the pelaton before Fleshman, Huddle and Barringer started to reel her in. Fleshman and Huddle caught Rhines with 600m to go, Fleshman put the hammer down that we've seen from her many times before and finished in a 66.9-sec last lap to win in 15:28.70 over Huddle at 15:30.89. Barringer was third in 15:33.33.

We all got a good chuckle watching Fleshman's post-race interview on TV. When asked how she managed to win the race, she impulsively responded, "Balls. That was all balls." Can't blame her for being genuinely beside herself and overwhelmed with relief and joy.

Universalsports.com has a detailed recap and backstory of Fleshman's struggles over the past year or two. A must-read.

Men's 5,000m FINAL

I wish I knew more about what happened in this race, but ESPN cut to a baseball game in the middle of it, and so I don't. From the looks of the field and the results, it seems like Bernard Lagat sat on the field and kicked home for the win in 13:54.08. It looks like Tim Nelson did give the World Champ a run for his money, finishing close behind in 13:54.80. The next time we draw up a contract with a major television network, we need to make sure live webcasts of the meet are still allowed in the event that a potential no-hitter gets priority over the National Championships, so that the fans at home can switch to the webcast to watch the rest of the meet.

Men's 100m FINAL

Again, I didn't see this either. If the men's 100m isn't important to ESPN, what is?Walter Dix won in 10.04 into a 1.5m/s headwind. The link for full results is at the bottom of this post.

SATURDAY'S SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:

Women's Shot Put - 12:15pm CDT:

Who to watch:

• 2009 Runner-up and 2008 Olympian Jillian Camarena
• 2008 and 2009 Champion Michelle Carter (@ShotDiva)

Women's High Jump - 12:30pm CDT:

Chaunte Lowe is the overwhelming favorite here, as she is having a stellar season in which she set the American Record of 2.04m. NCAA Champ Amber Kaufman of the University of Hawaii and runner-up Elizabeth Patterson of Arizona will be ones to watch as well.

~ LIVE TELEVISION COVERAGE BEINGS ON NBC AT 2PM CDT ~

Women's Long Jump - 2:00pm CDT:

Women Talk Sports member Brianna Glenn (above) is coming off a big win at the Adidas Grand Prix in New York a couple of weeks ago. She will face 2009 Outdoor and 2010 Indoor World Champ Brittney Reese. Also in the mix will be Funmi Jimoh and Hyleas Fountain, if she decides to compete after the conclusion of the Heptathlon (or in between events).

Men's 400m Hurdles FINAL - 2:18pm CDT:

Bershawn "Batman" Jackson made 48.36 look easy in the semi-finals today, so look for a big performance from him in the final. NCAA friendly rivals Johnny Dutch and Jeshua Anderson will not be far behind, in a tight race for second.

Women's 1500m FINAL - 2:26pm CDT:

This will be an exciting race between three athletes that have broken four minutes in the 1500m. Shannon Rowbury might be the slight favorite with her history of smart and successful race tactics at the big meets. Anna Pierce and Christin Wurth-Thomas will ensure the race is easy for no one; the winner will have to earn it.

Women's 400m FINAL - 2:36pm CDT:

Sanya Richards-Ross started the 2010 Outdoor season by getting married to Aaron Ross of the New York Giants. Since then, she has had a few obstacles to face, both a quad injury and a flare-up of her Bechet's syndrome. This weekend is Richards-Ross's 2010 debut, a much later debut than she had planned. She seemed to struggle in today's semi-final but kept a smile on her face and said afterwards that the final will require mental toughness, as she can't do anything more about her fitness level right now.

Now, universalsports.com is reporting that Richards-Ross may pull out of the final.

"I didn't come here to scratch but my body isn't where I want to be at the moment," Richards-Ross said. "When I go really fast my leg feels like it is locking in a slow turnover. I've been feeling it for about three weeks in practice, and I was hoping that mentally, the competition would make it better."

Natasha Hastings looked very impressive in the semi's as did Debbie Dunn and Monica Hargrove.

Men's 400m FINAL - 2:44pm CDT:

Mississippi State freshman Tavaris Tate was grinning ear-to-ear after winning Heat 1 in a PR of 45.00. Kerron Clement forced a smile as he was asked to explain what was wrong, having struggled to place 5th, leaving him out of the final. Clement said he is looking forward to the 400m hurdles, his main event, for the rest of the season. In Heat 2, Jeremy Wariner was beaten by LeJerald Betters, but look for Wariner to come back strong in the final. At this point, it could be almost anyone's race.

Women's 100m Hurdles FINAL - 2:52pm CDT:

Hometown hero Lolo Jones will have high expectations on her shoulders tomorrow, and her plate is full. Damu Cherry-Mitchell and Ginnie Crawford tall orders. This should be a tight race and photo finish.

Women's Hammer Throw - 3:20pm CDT:

Women Talk Sports member and Olympian Loree Smith competes in the Hammer throw Saturday against 2010 Indoor Visa Championships Series winner Amber Campbell and Britney Henry, who just set a PR of 70.43m on May 29th. Looks like we may need to invite these throwers to our network as well. In doing research on them, I found Amber's site here and Britney's blog here.

How to Follow the Meet:

• Schedule and Results HERE
• Flotrack LIVE Webcast HERE
• RunnerSpace/Official USATF LIVE Webcast HERE
• ESPN2, June 26 12:00-1:30 pm CDT (I'm guessing this will be highlights from Friday, so maybe we'll get to see the men's 5K and 100m finally!)
  NBC, June 26 2:00-3:00 pm CDT - LIVE Coverage
  ESPN, June 27 12:00-1:30 pm CDT
  NBC, June 27 2:00-3:00 pm CDT
• Follow the Women Talk Sports Track & Field Twitter Listhere:@womentalksports/track-field
• Follow me on Twitter at @AnnGaff for color commentary and discussionWarin

View AnnGaff's Profile

• Filed Under:  
• Track & Field, Sports, SportsPLUS, Events

• Tags:
• Track and Field
• USATF
• National Championships

This post is related to an event on our Calendar:

• USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships