News & Notes: Big Throws in Oklahoma, Arizona Sprinters Shine

On each of the coasts this past weekend big meets took place that grabbed much of the attention, while throughout the Heartland and Midwest meets were cancelled due to inclement weather. However, a duo of meets stood out through their results, as the Sun Angel Invitational (AZ) and John Jacobs (OK) Invitational posted some national level results. Leading the way at the John Jacobs Inv. was the intense throws battle between Cameron Tabor (OK) and Hayden Baillio (OK) that created some national level results.

News & Notes Highlights
- AZ's Giorgio Giurdanella runs big 200m at Sun Angel (AZ)
- Terra Evans (AZ) comes up big at Sun Angel (AZ)
- Cameron Tabor (OK) throws 176-05 discus, 62-04 shot put
- Hayden Baillio (OK) throws 63-03 shot put, 175-03 discus
- Injury Report: Fout, Jarrett, Fernandez, Evans
- The Week Ahead: University meets and Chris Derrick's double

News & Notes

Sun Angel Invitational (AZ)

Sun Angel Invitational: Meet Page / Boys Results / Girls Results

The Sun Angel Invitational kicked-off the weekend at Arizona State Friday evening with some top collegiate action taking place, while carrying over Saturday into the high school portion of the meet. While many of the state's top athletes drove westward to compete in the Arcadia Invitational, a few stars stayed in-state and competed at this meet.

The top performances of the day came in the boys and girls 200m dash events, which saw the winning athletes take down the meet records. Leading the charge was Terra Evans (South Mountain, AZ) on the girls side as she won the event in an impressive 23.72. Evans then tried to come back in the 100m dash, only to lose to Serene Williams (Peoria, AZ) in a close fought battle that saw Williams win in 11.72 and Evans fall to the track in pain as she injured herself (see Injury Report below).

Giorgio Giurdanella (Mountain Ridge, AZ) (pictured right by AZTrackXC.com's Margot Kelly) took home the boys 200m dash win in 21.56. In similar fashion to Evans, Giudanella lost the 100m dash later in the day, as Ryan Milus (Hamilton, AZ) pulled off a narrow victory of .03 to win in a speedy 10.65. Meanwhile, Jerrell Peterson (Centennial, AZ) was lighting up the track in the boys hurdle events. Peterson easily won each event, capturing the crown in the 110m hurdles in 14.76 and the 300m hurdles in 38.85.

One team shined as well in Chandler High School. The squad defeated all comers in the 4x400m relay, running a great time fo 3:55.81. Their star hurdler, Larrisa Matthews, won the girls 100m hurdles in 14.17w, while numerous other athletes placed very respectively in their certain events.

Despite many of the best Arizona athletes leaving the desert to California and with much of the focus on the collegiate athletes in action, this year's edition of the Sun Angel Invitational held its own against the rest of the nation.

John Jacobs Invitational (OK)

John Jacobs Invitational: Meet Page / Results

It's annually one of the top invitationals in Oklahoma, but this year's edition of the John Jacobs Invitational (OK) certainly did impress onlookers. Leading the way in this year's competition was the shot put and discus clash of Cameron Tabor (Norman, OK) and Hayden Baillio (Whitesboro, OK). Both athletes are competing at the top of their game currently and they put on a show in both events. Baillio captured the win in the shot put with his mark of 63-03, while placing second behind Tabor in the discus with his toss of 175-03. Tabor turned the tables by winning the discus in 176-05, while playing runner-up in the shot put with a heave of 62-04. Both marks for both athletes are some of the best in the country currently.

In other action, Carissa Levingston (Midwest City, OK) helped her strong sprint crew by winning the 100m dash in 11.76 and the 200m dash in 24.10. Midwest City also placed well in the sprint relays with their third place finish in the 4x100m, second place in the 4x200m and their victory of 4:01.07 for the 4x400m relay, which helped lead the team to the team title. In the girls distances, Sara Vaught (Tulsa Union, OK) won both the 800m dash and 1600m run, doubling with times of 2:17.62 and 5:10.71.

Another great field event mark came in the boys pole vault. Jack Whitt (Norman North, OK) has been consistently clearing 16-00 this season and did so again here with his winning mark being 16-00. In the boys sprints, Rakieem Salaam (Edmond North) dominated both the 100m dash and 200m dash, winning the shorter sprint in 10.83 and the longer in 21.39. The top performance in the hurdles came from Derrick Krautlarger (Moore, OK), who won the 110m hurdles in 14.65 and then came back to win the 300m hurdles in 38.18.

Injury Report

While many of the top stars ran hard this past weekend, a handful of athletes have had to sit out the past few weeks to recover from injury. Two athletes in particular have competed seldomly outdoors and people are probably wondering what they've been up to. Both Foot Locker champions, Mike Fout (LaPorte, IN) and Ashley Brasovan (Wellington, FL), are coming off of injury and just starting to get back into racing shape. Brasovan was scheduled to take part in the historic 3200m run at Arcadia this past weekend, but did not feel fit enough yet to compete at such a level. Meanwhile, Fout should be back competing before too long according to the South Bend Tribune.

At Arcadia, Brandon Jarrett (St. Benedict's, NJ) started the 5k, only to pull up in throbbing pain right before the mile. Jarrett, whos ankle had been taped up before the race, seemed to injury that area again (achilles perhaps), as he collapsed to the ground and had to be helped off the track. German Fernandez (Riverbank, CA) seems to have a similar injury, as he withdrew from the Arcadia 3200m. However, his withdrawl seemed to be more of a preventitive measure rather than actually being hurt, which might not be such a bad idea at this point in the season.

One of the worst injuries of the weekend came at the Sun Angel Invitational. Terra Evans (South Mountain, AZ) (pictured above left by ArizonaTrackXC.com's Margot Kelly) won the girls 200m dash in a record time of 23.72 and seemed on her way to winning the 100m dash as well. However, in the last 30 meters of her 100m dash race, Evans clenched her leg and couldn't finish, grabbing her hamstring area, which had been a problem area before.

The Week Ahead

MileSplit National Calendar

With the Taco Bell Invitational and Arcadia Invitational have such deep and talented fields last weekend, many of the top athletes will be resting this weekend. However, big meets still dot the schedule, especially in the middle of the United States. Topping this week's calendar are a few university-led events. The Kansas Relays (KS), John McDonnell Invitational (AR) and Volunteer Track Classic (TN) all host top collegiate and prep competitors.

One other meet that will stand out on an individual basis will be the Downers Grove South Invitational (IL), which takes place Friday night in the suburbs of Chicago. Headlining the event is Chris Derrick (Neuqua Valley, IL). Derrick has stated that he will be doing a trial run of the state meet double (3200/1600), and while he didn't indicate any specific goals you can bet he'll be shooting for something fast. It will be interesting to see how he bounces back from the hard 5k race and travel that he took part in this past weekend.

Perhaps the biggest show of them all takes place in Colorado with the Nike Littleton Invitational. This meet annually hosts many of the top Colorado stars, and while the start lists have yet to be released, it is fairly certain to say that with all of the extreme talent in Colorado this season, the meet is going to be the top prize of the weekend. Stay tuned for more of the week ahead as more information comes out in the next few days on all the top meets around the country.