Long Jumper McKinney emerges as rains depart - Mt. SAC Relays report

Walnut, California, USAIt was the 48th running of the Mt SAC Relays (13-15 April), and it was also one of the wettest, coming during a spring which has seen the greatest number of rainy days since recordkeeping started in 1849. 

Fortunately, the clouds parted early in the afternoon of the competition’s final day, giving three athletes with local roots an opportunity to make headlines and spare Edition 48 from an ignominious ending.

McKinney emerges with 6.83 leap

Even before the jumping runways had become completely dry, Akiba McKinney leaped 6.69 on her first attempt in the women’s Long Jump to set the tone in that event.  Opening her outdoor season with a PB of 6.59, the native of nearby San Bernardino continued on a tear with a total of five jumps which surpassed her previous best.  Her final trip down the runway produced an incredible 6.83, only six centimetres under the winning mark last year in Helsinki. 

McKinney didn’t let her leadoff jump go to her head.  “I knew I could do better than that,” thinking that 6.70 was a reasonable goal.  “I made the mistake of looking down on the next jump and only came up with 6.61.”  With the competition already won, she simply relaxed for her final attempt and proceeded to add 24 centimetres to her previous best. 

The 27-year-old McKinney credits new coach Al Joyner, the Los Angeles Games triple jump champion, with her sudden ascent.  But it comes at quite a price, she admits. 

“He really runs us into the dirt,” she laughs, describing the high demands Joyner places on his jumpers.  “The others and I sometimes hide in the bathroom until he calls us to come out.”  But with all joking aside, she admits that her match-up with Joyner has been ideal.

“He’s taught me consistency, and he’s taken my focus off the board.  Now, I rarely have a foul jump,” she reports, as was clearly evidenced by her six quality legal attempts today. 

Joyner agrees that McKinney has been a most receptive student, that “she doesn’t have any idea of how good she can be.  I’m training her to be a future Olympic champion, not just a world-class jumper.”

Howard again over 2 metres

The two high jump competitions were also standouts, thanks to Los Angeles-based athletes.  Helsinki silver medallist Chaunte Howard from nearby Riverside dismissed the cool (15-16 C) temperatures and sailed over 2.00 to win the women’s High Jump.  The effort bettered her own world-leading mark for the season and equaled her personal best. 

She then took three unsuccessful attempts at a would-be American record 2.04.

“That’s the first time I’ve ever jumped at that height,” she told the crowd.  “I kept feeling myself coming close.  The first time, I hit it with my shoulder, and the second time with my back.  The third time, I thought I was over.” 

Finishing behind Howard with 1.95 was Amy Acuff, the fourth-place finisher in Athens. 

After slipping and sliding to a sub-par 2.20 in the men’s High Jump last weekend at the Texas Relays, Jesse Williams was determined to put that experience out of his mind.  The sandy-haired student at USC in Los Angeles did just that with a 2.30 clearance as he too matched his PB with a splendid early-season performance. 

“I had a great workout on Tuesday,” the 22-year-old said afterwards.  “I ‘scissored’ 2.10 and I jumped 2.24.  That gave me lots of confidence coming into today.”

“It’s great to do this only 50 kilometres from home,” he added, perhaps an oblique reference to his previous 2.30 jump, coming in rainy Stockholm at the end of a grueling European quest for a World Championships qualifier last summer.

Lost in the commotion over Williams’ performance was the outstanding early-season 2.27 by Jamie Nieto in second place. 

World-leading 1:44.98 for Robinson

With the history of the Mt SAC Relays as a frame of reference, one could legitimately say that Khadevis Robinson’s win in the 800 metres was one “for the ages”.  Acting as his own pacemaker, the 29-year-old US champion broke a 24-year-old meeting record (1:45.26 by Sammy Koskei) with a world-leading 1:44.98 as he hit the 400 in 51.3 and passed 600 in 1:18.0. 

The Women’s 800 was an exciting race won by Canada’s Rebecca Johnstone as she sprinted past Frances Santin over the final twenty metres.  Johnstone’s winning time of 2:01.80 was a PB by more than three seconds, as Santin clocked 2:01.86. 

Johnstone’s teammate at Simon Fraser University, Julia Howard, also saw a similar PB drop of nearly three seconds as she won the Women’s 1500 metres in 4:14.53 over China’s Yuan Jin (4:15.11). 

The men’s Pole Vault was won by Athens silver medallist Toby Stevenson at 5.63, as Mexico’s Giovanni Lenaro -who finished fourth at the World Indoors last month—took second at 5.53.  Another vaulter competing internationally for Mexico, Robbie Pratt, tied with Daichi Sawano of Japan for third at 5.53. 

The women’s Pole Vault saw the outdoor season debut of America’s new star in that event, Jenn Stuczynski, who won with an outdoor PB of 4.47 (although she has cleared 4.68 indoors).  Stephanie McCann of Canada was second at 4.37. 

Both of the 400 Hurdles races were held on Friday under rainy conditions.  Kenji Narisako of Japan battled against the climate to register a 49.81 win over Paris silver medallist Joey Woody (50.69). 

Shauna Smith easily won the women’s race with 56.27.

Merritt takes speedy 200

The cool conditions kept the usual high level of sprinting at a lower level than in past seasons.  But there were still some notable performances.

Ginnie Powell outleaned Angela Whyte of Canada to win a speedy Women’s 100 metres Hurdles, 12.68 to 12.70, aided by a wind of 2.2.  Ryan Wilson won the men’s race with 13.55.

LaShawn Merritt emerged from the pack just before the finish of the Men’s 200 metres to win in a world-leading 20.23, just clipping Chris Berrian (20.31) but carving a much bigger margin over World Indoor 60 metres champion Leonard Scott (20.53).  The women’s contest went to Torrie Edwards in a tight battle against Commonwealth Games silver medallist Geraldine Pillay, 22.98 to 23.00. 

Brian Johnson opened his outdoor season in the men’s Long Jump with a 8.08 win over Bashir Ramzy (7.85), as Aarik Wilson (17.10) and France’s Julien Kapek (17.04w) were more than one metre ahead of the rest of the field in the men’s Triple Jump. 

An Olympian in the discus, Jarred Rome found success in another event by winning the men’s Shot Put with a PB 20.35 ahead of the 20.20 of Steve Manz.  Jillian Camarena easily won the women’s competition with 18.58, also a career best. 

The men’s Discus saw Jason Tunks of Canada throw 63.00 to win over Casey Malone’s 62.23. 

A.G. Kruger scored an upset in the men’s Hammer over World and Olympic finalist Libor Charfreitag.  The American’s 78.52 best was more than two metres more than the 76.46 by the Slovak.  Erin Gilreath had a similar margin of victory in the women’s contest with a season-best 69.69 to defeat Britney Henry at 67.54. 

Arkansas quartet defeats Sprint Capitol in 4x100

One additional world-leading mark came from the Men’s 4x100 Relay performance of the Arkansas Track Club.  The quartet of Trell Kimmons, Wallace Spearmon, Tyson Gay, and Aaron Armstrong toured the stadium in 38.19.  Right behind was the Sprint Capitol team of Josh Norman, Rodney Martin, Shawn Crawford, and Justin Gatlin, who ran 38.39. 

Muna Lee, Monique Henderson, Michelle Perry and Allyson Felix clocked 42.93 in a winning effort for their USA “Red” team in the women’s relay. 
 
Full results may be found at http://www.mtsacrelays.com/archives/2006/results/index.htm

Ed Gordon for the IAAF