Weekend Wrap Up

A typically low key Easter weekend except for some sprinters and hurdlers that are obviously taking the season quite seriously.

Most notable was Walter Dix who opened up his season at the Seminole Invitational in Tallahassee. Last week I said there was no need to panic over US sprinting and on queue Walter opened up at 10.00 (-1.1) to take over the world lead in the 100 meters. Given that Dix has only a few sub 10's to his credit this is a very noteworthy opening and indicates that we should see great things from Dix this year. No longer in college, and without injury for the first time in several years, it looks like Dix is ready to pair with Tyson Gay to form a very formidable duo in the 100/200! Especially given that, like Tyson, he is a very tenacious competitor.

Across the country at the Jackie Joyner Invitational in Los Angeles, Carmelita Jeter showed that quietly running open 400's this spring is going to pay dividends as she opened up in the 200 with a world leading 22.59 (+0.0). Jeter lead the 60 indoors at 7.11 to show improvement in her start. Now she is showing improved speed endurance. At this rate she will be ready to step up and improve both her PR (10.97) in the 100 as well as her bronze medal from the '07 World Championships. Jeter was an emerging talent in '07. This year could be her real coming out party.

The Miami Elite meet also found a couple of vets sprinting well early as Lauryn Williams 11.11 (+0.9), and Marlon Devonish 10.11 (+0.5) had notable times. Notable because Lauryn doesn't typically run this fast this early and Devonish was only .06 off of his PR! Both seem to be looking to improve on disappointments from '08 .

Also looking good in Miami was Ronnie Ash (Bethune Cookman) who ran 13.58 (+0.1) in the 110HH's and continues to look like the best collegiate hurdler this year as well as a potential emerging talent in the event.

The most anticipated meet this weekend was the Arcadia Invitational, an elite HS Invitational. Cool weather seemed to keep things slower than usual this year, as this meet is usually blazing hot. Still there were some nice marks turned in as Reggie Wyatt (La Sierra) turned in another National Leader with his 36.01 win. Not the HSR that he was hoping for, but he's still easily the class of the event this year and has several opportunities left to try and lower the mark.

There was also a nation leading hurdle double from Kori Carter (Claremont) 13.67/41.09 and a nice 4:08.51 mile from soph Elias Gedyon (Loyola). But the mark of the meet was turned in on the field as Anna Jelmini (Shafter) became #3 all time in the discus at 185' 5".