¶NCAA w4x4—Oregon 3:24.54 (CL, MR)

[gh]

the leading team contenders should all show up here in the climactic event.

T&FN formchart

1. LSU
2. Oregon
3. Kansas
4. Illinois
5. Texas
6. Arkansas
7. Arizona
8. Texas A&M
9. Florida
10. Clemson

[ATK]

Phyllis Francis with a 50.16 split and Ashley Spencer with a 50.18 split.

[trackdug]

Phyllis Francis with a 50.16 split and Ashley Spencer with a 50.18 split.

Holy cow! Dem girls were blazing.

[gh]

9th and 10th fastest splits in meet history; 2nd and 3rd fastest in a prelim.

[j-a-m]

Phyllis Francis with a 50.16 split and Ashley Spencer with a 50.18 split.

Yeah, the last lap in that heat was incredible, with those two and Regina George, who's also a finalist in the individual 400, but got passed by Francis and just held on to her lead over Spencer.

[gh]

I just hope Francis doesn't pay the price for a balls-to-the-wall effort to win a race that wasn't remotely essential to win. She could have run a second slower with no problem (and had to have had at least an inkling of that).

[gh]

left in the form chart (only perfect form of the meet?):

1. LSU
2. Oregon
3. Kansas
4. Illinois
5. Texas
6. Arkansas
7. Arizona
8. Texas A&M

[26mi235]

I just hope Francis doesn't pay the price for a balls-to-the-wall effort to win a race that wasn't remotely essential to win. She could have run a second slower with no problem (and had to have had at least an inkling of that).

Spencer needed to run fast to qualify her team, while Francis did not but put in the effort anyway. Diamond Dixon ran an 'easy' 51.57 and could have matched the other two but did not need to.

[ATK]

I just hope Francis doesn't pay the price for a balls-to-the-wall effort to win a race that wasn't remotely essential to win. She could have run a second slower with no problem (and had to have had at least an inkling of that).

Spencer needed to run fast to qualify her team, while Francis did not but put in the effort anyway. Diamond Dixon ran an 'easy' 51.57 and could have matched the other two but did not need to.

I think she did the same thing in the 400m trials with her 51.2 as well.

[ATK]

left in the form chart (only perfect form of the meet?):

1. LSU
2. Oregon
3. Kansas
4. Illinois
5. Texas
6. Arkansas
7. Arizona
8. Texas A&M

Apparently Illinois has been disqualified and bumps Florida into the final.

[guru]

Looks like Oregon's nailbiter 4x4 win over LSU is under protest

[mdzleosnoba]

what happened?

[clw04]

Kansas was DQ'd after the protest.

[LopenUupunut]

That was a blazing first leg from English Gardner... when will they move her to the 800?

[gh]

Gardner 51.1, Okodogbe 51.4, Roesler 51.86, Francis 50.15

yearly leader, meet record, No. 2 collegiate time ever.

[26mi235]

And here I thought that Gardner did not have the speed endurance for the 200. That was faster in absolute terms than LR's leg and she ran the first leg!

[guru]

Would have been fun to see how things might have gone with Duncan anchoring for LSU(yes, I'm well aware the 200 was an hour before)

[gh]

or better, leading off against Gardner!

[guru]

or better, leading off against Gardner!

Agree!

Had the meet been on the line I think Duncan is out there in one of those two slots.

[j-a-m]

The Oregon website lists an even faster time for Gardner, 50.81. Either way, outstanding performance.

[gh]

There is no "either way"; there's only the right way.

The "50.81" is somebody's bad hand time (with anticipation built in), and look what happens if you add 0.24 to it: 51.05=51.1. Amazing!

(we do this shit for a living)

[j-a-m]

There is no "either way"; there's only the right way.

The "50.81" is somebody's bad hand time (with anticipation built in), and look what happens if you add 0.24 to it: 51.05=51.1. Amazing!

(we do this shit for a living)

Never doubted you, thanks.

There's been plenty of debate elsewhere in this forum about who's the better all-around sprinter, SRR or Felix; if English Gardner keeps running and improving like this, it may just be a question of time until she's in that discussion.

[26mi235]

Well, the freshman Ashley Spencer might also start edging into the picture. She was a 400h runner until this year and ran 51.02/22.99 while running six races and four Finals in a little over 24 hours, then comes here and wins (now how do those announcers think that the person with the best time coming in, who ran it is a championship meet would be a 'complete surprise' here [and T&FN had her second].

At the beginning of June last year she was a 44.25/14.28 (NWI) hurdler, now she has run 22 and 50 in events she had hardly run (only times were 26.46i and 57.51i (#64 US HS).

[ATK]

Well, the freshman Ashley Spencer might also start edging into the picture. She was a 400h runner until this year and ran 51.02/22.99 while running six races and four Finals in a little over 24 hours, then comes here and wins (now how do those announcers think that the person with the best time coming in, who ran it is a championship meet would be a 'complete surprise' here [and T&FN had her second].

At the beginning of June last year she was a 44.25/14.28 (NWI) hurdler, now she has run 22 and 50 in events she had hardly run (only times were 26.46i and 57.51i (#64 US HS).

Unfortunately(for us at least) she will not be at US trials.

[j-a-m]

Unfortunately(for us at least) she will not be at US trials.

So Spencer is gonna focus on World Juniors then?

[ATK]

Unfortunately(for us at least) she will not be at US trials.

So Spencer is gonna focus on World Juniors then?

Correct. In her interview with flotrack she apparently begged her coach to go to trials, but her coach decided juniors was the best thing for her this year.

[jazzcyclist]

The stadium announcers said that Rebecca Alexander split 49.5!

[gktrack]

Unfortunately(for us at least) she will not be at US trials.

So Spencer is gonna focus on World Juniors then?

Correct. In her interview with flotrack she apparently begged her coach to go to trials, but her coach decided juniors was the best thing for her this year.

What? With a great run it's not unthinkable she couldn't grab that 3rd 400 spot if Felix opts out... and she has a very respectable chance to be considered one of the top 6 and be an alternate on what could be a USA gold 4 x 4. To pass up this opportunity, on a coach's decision, just doesn't sound right.

[j-a-m]

The stadium announcers said that Rebecca Alexander split 49.5!

Thanks, didn't get what the announcer said and was wondering what her split was. LSU seemed way behind Oregon after Gardner's opening leg, and was ahead after the 2nd leg, even though Okodogbe did okay. Outstanding performance by Alexander.

[guru]

Unfortunately(for us at least) she will not be at US trials.

So Spencer is gonna focus on World Juniors then?

Correct. In her interview with flotrack she apparently begged her coach to go to trials, but her coach decided juniors was the best thing for her this year.

What? With a great run it's not unthinkable she couldn't grab that 3rd 400 spot if Felix opts out... and she has a very respectable chance to be considered one of the top 6 and be an alternate on what could be a USA gold 4 x 4. To pass up this opportunity, on a coach's decision, just doesn't sound right.

Sounds to me like a coach that wants to quash anything that might encourage pro aspirations for young Ms Spencer

[Dutra5]

Unfortunately(for us at least) she will not be at US trials.

So Spencer is gonna focus on World Juniors then?

Correct. In her interview with flotrack she apparently begged her coach to go to trials, but her coach decided juniors was the best thing for her this year.

If that's the coach's decision then the coach is a moron.

[jazzcyclist]

I don't know if anyone has compiled these stats, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that LSU set a collegiate record through the first 1200 meters. If someone had told me that they would run the first three laps in 2:32:90. I would have bet a lot of money that they would break the collegiate record. Jonique Day is capable of splitting sub-51, but that headwind killed her, and anyone who's ever seen her up close can understand why, since she could easily pass for an Ethiopian 10K/marathon runner. She actually makes Muna Lee look muscular, and as we all know, headwinds are like kryptonite for light-framed sprinters. Looking at the replay, Francis didn't reaally start to eat into the lead until they got on the home stretch and into the headwind.

[gh]

splits

4 x 400
FINAL (June 9)
1. Oregon 3:24.54
(CL) (2 C, #2 school)
(**English Gardner 51.1, **Chizoba Okodogbe' 51.4,
**Laura Roesler 51.86, **Phyllis Francis 50.15 [=10 NCAA split]);
2. LSU 3:24.59
(3 C, #3 school)
(*Latoya McDermott' 52.5,
Rebecca Alexander 49.5 [2 NCAA split],
Cassandra Tate 50.90, Jonique Day' 51.67);
3. Texas A&M 3:28.58
(**Ibukun Mayungbe' 51.5, *Kanika Beckles' 52.0,
***Kamaria Brown 52.93, ***Olivia Ekponé 52.19);
4. Arkansas 3:29.96
(Whitney Jones 52.9, *Gwendolyn Flowers 52.3,
***Chrishuna Williams 54.41, *Regina George 50.42);
5. Texas 3:30.31
(Angele Cooper 53.1, **Danielle Dowie' 52.0,
**Briana Nelson 53.41, *Kendra Chambers 51.82);
6. Arizona 3:31.55
(**Shapri Romero 52.7, Echos Blevins 52.4,
**Tamara Pridgett 54.80, *Georganne Moline 51.71);
7. Florida 3:32.36
(**Ebony Eutsey 53.5, *Amani Bryant 54.8,
**Lanie Whittaker 51.37, *Ugonna Ndu 52.68);
… dq—Kansas [3:27.89].
(*Denesha Morris' 52.9, *Paris Daniels 51.7,
*Taylor Washington 52.12, **Diamond Dixon 51.21).
(best-ever mark-for-NCAA-place: 1–2)

4x4 Handoffs

Leg 1
1.Oregon 51.1; 2.Texas A&M 51.5; 3. LSU 52.5; 4. Arizona 52.7; 5. tie, Kansas &. Arkansas 52.9; 7. Texas 53.1; 8. Florida 53.5

Leg 2
1. LSU 1:42.02; 2. Oregon 1:42.53; 3. Texas A&M 1:43.46; 4. Kansas1:44.56; 5. Texas 1:45.08; 6. Arizona 1:45.04; 7. Arkansas 1:45.13; 8. Florida 1:48.31

Leg 3
1. LSU 2:32.92; 2. Oregon 3:34.39; 3. Texas A&M 2;36.39; 4. Kansas 2:36.68; 5. Texas 2:38.49; 6. Arkansas 2:39.54; 7. Florida 2:39.68; 8. Arizona 2:39.84

[preston]

Unfortunately(for us at least) she will not be at US trials.

So Spencer is gonna focus on World Juniors then?

Correct. In her interview with flotrack she apparently begged her coach to go to trials, but her coach decided juniors was the best thing for her this year.

If that's the coach's decision then the coach is a moron.

Moron? How can the coach be a moron when very few people even knew who Spencer was last year? I would say the coach (who is fairly accomplished herself; once 2nd faster ever) knows what to expect from Ms. Spencer; she's guided her to recognition. Yes, Spencer won NCAA's with a 50.95 and that's wonderful and I'm excited for her prospects, but I don't really see her beating Richards-Ross, McCrory, Trotter, Hastings, etc. after rounds. She might make the relay, but she has a chance of winning World Juniors (defending WJr champ, Shaunae Miller- BAH, will probably opt for Olympics, she's already run 11.41 and 22.70...and that was almost 3 months ago). If she was as good as SRR or Monique Henderson as freshmen I would agree but I think coach may be making the right choice.

**I just checked and Spencer is as fast/faster than SRR and Henderson, however, I still think Wjr's may be the better choice. Too many pros chomping at the bit.

[gh]

Your analysis is spot-on, except for the last sentence. The choice shouldn't be the coach's to make. It's the athlete's summer and she should damn well do what she pleases, even if she's dead wrong.