Superfan Daily: Weekend Roundup

Indoor Track
Professionals
USATF Championships (VISA Championship Series)
Saturday and Sunday, Convention Center, Albuquerque NM
Highlights: Ryan Whiting 21.35 SP, Jen Suhr 4.86 AR PV, Jill Camarena-Williams 19.87 AR SP
IAAF story / Results / Video

German Championships
Saturday and Sunday, Leipzig GER
Highlight: Sebastian Ernst 20.42 200m
IAAF story / Results

Colleges
ACC Championships
Thursday through Sunday, Blacksburg VA
Winners: Virginia Tech (men), Clemson (women)
Highlights: Nigondzashe Makusha (Fla St) 8.15 LJ, Kimberly Williams (Fla St) 13.96 TJ
Story / Results

Big 12 Championships
Friday and Saturday, Lincoln NE
Winners: Texas A&M (men), Nebraska (women)
Highlights: Keiron Stewart (Tex) 7.66 60H, Jessica Beard (TAMU) 51.68 400m
Story / Results

Big Ten Men's Championships
Saturday and Sunday, Champaign IL
Winner: Minnesota
Story / Results

Big Ten Women's Championships
Saturday and Sunday, West Lafayette IN
Winner: Ohio State
Highlight: Christina Manning (Oh St) 8.01 60H
Story / Results

MPSF Championships
Friday and Saturday, Seattle WA
Winners: Stanford (men), Oregon (women)
Highlights: Oregon 9:26.78 DMR, Brigetta Barrett (Ariz) 1.92 HJ
Results / Video

SEC Championships
Friday through Sunday, Fayetteville AR
Winners: Florida (men), LSU (women)
Highlights: Kirani James (Ala) 44.80 WJR 400m, Christian Taylor (Fla) 17.36 TJ, Lakya Brookins (SC) 7.14 60m, Kimberlyn Duncan (LSU) 22.78 200m, Tina Sutej (Ark) 4.54 PV
Results / Video

All the rest

Road Racing
World’s Best 10k (IAAF Gold Label)
Sunday, San Juan PR
Winners: Sammy Kitwara (KEN) 27:35, Sentayehu Ejigu (ETH) 31:50
IAAF story and results

Tokyo Marathon (IAAF Gold Label)
Sunday, Tokyo JPN
Winners: Hailu Mekonnen (ETH) 2:07:35, Tatyana Aryasova (RUS) 2:27:29
IAAF story and results

Roma Ostia Half Marathon
Sunday, Rome ITA
Winners: Tujuba Beyu (ETH) 59:58, Anna Incerti (ITA) 1:09:06
IAAF story

Cross Country
ING Eurocross (IAAF Permit)
Sunday, Diekirch LUX
Winners: Elabbassi El Hassan (MAR), Maryam Jamal (QAT)
IAAF story

Fukuoka International Cross Country (IAAF Permit)
Saturday, Fukuoka JPN
Winners: Bidan Karoki (KEN), Hitomi Niiya (JPN)
IAAF story

Track on TV
Bud Greenspan's Favorite Stories of Olympic Glory, 9:05 AM tomorrow on Showtime Family Zone

News Links
Runner's World's Racing News has all the headlines.

Valerie (Vili) Adams broke her own New Zealand all-comers shot put record over the weekend.

The Kansas Relays will have a shot put, long jump and mile race in downtown Lawrence.

Universal Sports' Block Head blog about the USATF Indoors.

Jess Ennis' slow-healing ankle injury will keep her out of the Euro Indoors.

Sunday Evening Decathlete

What did we learn this week?

I don't know what I'm talking about. Last week I speculated about the inclusion of Britain's Mo Farah in Alberto Salazar's Portland-based training group.  Originally known as the Oregon Project and dedicated to taking American distance running to a higher competitive level,  I thought that including a foreigner might be OK because that goal has been accomplished and anyway no one calls it the Oregon Project anymore.  And I thought Farah had a Nike contract.

All I have to do is open my mouth and I'm wrong.   Two days later Salazar comes out and says his group of six athletes is to be known once again as the Oregon Project and no longer is under the umbrella of the Oregon Track Club.  Farah makes seven, but he's not officially a member of the group.  Even though he (sometimes) trains with them and is coached by Salazar.  Salazar told The Oregonian's Ken Goe that "Mo Farah has no contract with Nike. I am coaching him. That's all I can say right now."

So, to be clear: If I speculate about something, assume the opposite to be true. Call it the George Costanza rule.

The real truth is that I am not a reporter.  I'm a self-appointed bigmouth with a blog.  I read a lot and analyze what I read, but I don't have the opportunity to ask questions.  So when I speculate, it's a stretch and sometimes a stretch too far.

Turning to speculation, does the Salazar-OP/Schumaker-OTC split mean anything?  Probably nothing more than a differentiation of two groups who are different.  That and message board fodder for comparisons to Hulk Hogan's nWo split from WCW back in the 90s, with Salazar's now black-jerseyed squad playing the role of the heels.  How else was Galen Rupp going get people to stop thinking of him as a babyface?

Quick Conference Championship Update

This is conference championship weekend for college track, and the action is hot and heavy.

A quick update here on the major action completed, and what may happen tomorrow.

At the ACC Championships, home team #17 Virginia Tech won the men's competition as expected, and there was a mild upset in the women's competition as #11 Clemson beat #8 Florida State by over 50 points.

At the Big XII Championships, #3 Texas A&M won the men's competition.  On the women's side things were expected to be tight, but #5 Nebraska ended up beating #4 Texas A&M and #3 Texas by a rather comfortable margin of 14.5 points.

At the MPSF Championships, the #1 Oregon women ran away with it, while #13 Stanford won the men's title, with #15 Arizona and an unranked UCLA ahead of #11 Oregon.

As far as what's still up, the most intriguing of all is probably the men's Big Ten Championships.  My numbers say that #9 Wisconsin is in the driver's seat, but #4 Indiana and #7 Minnesota are still very much in it, and my #8 Ohio State Buckeyes even have an outside shot.  Whoever wins the meet will have to come up big in the 5k, so that's the race to watch.

On the women's side of the Big Ten, #12 Ohio State is in a commanding position, so much so that it would take a meltdown of epic proportions for the Buckeyes not to win their first women's title.  Should they pull it off it will be a remarkable feat, one that I'll talk more about tomorrow.

At the SEC Championships, the #2 LSU women are in a strong position to win tomorrow.  On the men's side, it's going to be a dogfight between Arkansas and Florida.  It will almost assuredly come down to the 4x400.

Superfan Daily: What's On The Weekend

Indoor Track
Professionals

The USATF Championships, the final meet in the indoor VISA Championship Series, will be held on Saturday and Sunday at Albuquerque’s Convention Center.
Meet website / Pick N Win page
LIVE TV coverage at 4:30 PM Sunday on ESPN
LIVE webcasts at 6:00 PM Saturday and 11:30 AM Sunday at Runnerspace.com
Schedule / Entries
Previews: Men's Track / Men's Field / Women's Track / Women's Field / Race Results Weekly
Runnerspace page / Flotrack coverage

Colleges
This is Conference Championship Weekend, and there will be no shortage of action. Below are all the meets featuring multiple teams in the latest Superfan Power Rankings.

The ACC Championships began on Thursday and continue through Saturday at Virginia Tech's Rector Field House.
Ranked men's teams: #17 Virginia Tech, #20 Florida State, #24 Clemson, HM Duke
Ranked women's teams: #8 Florida State, #11 Clemson, #19 North Carolina, HM Miami (FL)
Meet website
Schedule / LIVE results
LIVE webcast begins at 3:00 PM Friday and Noon Saturday at TheACC.com
Runnerspace page

The Big 12 Championships are on Friday and Saturday at Nebraska's Bob Devaney Sports Center.
Ranked men's teams: #3 Texas A&M, #10 Oklahoma, #12 Nebraska, #19 Texas, HM Texas Tech
Ranked women's teams: #3 Texas, #4 Texas A&M, #5 Nebraska, #9 Oklahoma, #10 Texas Tech, #25 Iowa State
Meet website / LIVE results
Meet preview / Runnerspace page

The Big Ten Men's Championships are on Saturday and Sunday at Illinois' Armory. TV coverage will be tape-delayed at 2:00 PM on March 12 on the Big Ten Network.
Ranked teams: #4 Indiana, #7 Minnesota, #8 Ohio State, #9 Wisconsin, #14 Penn State, #15 Illinois, #18 Iowa, #25 Michigan State
Meet website / LIVE results
Schedule / Runnerspace page

The Big Ten Women's Championships are on Saturday and Sunday at Purdue's Lambert Fieldhouse. TV coverage will be tape-delayed at 2:00 PM on March 12 on the Big Ten Network.
Ranked teams: #12 Ohio State, #14 Indiana, #16 Penn State, #17 Michigan, HM Illinois, HM Michigan State, HM Minnesota
Meet website / LIVE results
Runnerspace page

The Mid-American Conference Championships will be on Friday and Saturday at Bowling Green's Doyt Perry Field House. I will be there on Saturday.
Ranked men's teams: HM Akron, HM Kent State
Meet website / LIVE results
Schedule / Runnerspace page

The Missouri Valley Conference Championships are on Saturday and Sunday at Northern Iowa's UNI Dome.
Ranked women's teams: #22 Wichita State, HM Southern Illinois
Meet website / LIVE results
Schedule / Runnerspace page

The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships are on Friday and Saturday at Washington's Dempsey Indoor. Flotrack is live on site.
Ranked men's teams: #11 Oregon, #13 Stanford, #23 Arizona, HM Arizona State, HM Washington
Ranked women's teams: #1 Oregon, #13 Stanford, #15 Arizona, #21 Arizona State
Meet website
Schedule / Preview
Flotrack coverage / Runnerspace page

The Mountain West Conference Championships began on Thursday and run through Saturday at the Albuquerque Convention Center. Runnerspace is live on site.
Ranked men's teams: #6 BYU, HM New Mexico
Meet website / LIVE results
Schedule / Preview
Runnerspace page

The SEC Championships are on Friday through Sunday at Arkansas' Randall Tyson Track Center. TV coverage is tape-delayed at 8:00 PM on March 10 on ESPNU.
Ranked men's teams: #1 Florida, #2 LSU, #5 Arkansas, #22 Georgia
Ranked women's teams: #2 LSU, #7 Arkansas, #18 Florida, #23 Tennessee, #24 Ole Miss, HM Auburn, HM Georgia, HM South Carolina
Meet website / LIVE results
LIVE webcast at 1:00 PM Friday, 1:00 PM Saturday and 12:30 PM Sunday at RazorVision
Schedule / Runnerspace page

All the rest

High Schools
The Brooks PR Invitational will be held on Sunday at the Dempsey Indoor in Seattle WA.
LIVE webcast Sunday at 4:00 PM at Flotrack
Seattle Times preview

Road Racing

The Tokyo Marathon, an IAAF Gold Label Road Race, will be run on Sunday (Saturday night in the USA) through the Japanese capitol.
Race website
LIVE webcast at 7:00 PM Saturday at Keyhole TV
Japan Running News Men's Preview / Women's Preview
Runnerspace page

The World's Best 10k, an IAAF Gold Label Road Race, will be run on Sunday in San Juan PR.
Race website / Runnerspace page
IAAF preview

Cross Country
The Fukuoka International Cross Country Meeting, an IAAF Cross Country Permit meet, will be held on Saturday in the Japanese city.
Meet website
LIVE webcast at 1:30 AM Saturday at Keyhole TV
IAAF preview

The ING Eurocross Diekirch, an IAAF Cross Country Permit meet, will be held on Sunday in Luxembourg.
Meet website
IAAF preview

The Spanish Cross Country Championships will be held on Sunday in Haro.

Outdoor Track

The Track Meet 4 Christchurch will be held on Saturday in the New Zealand city of Wellington.  The meet is raising funds for earthquake relief in Christchurch.  Donate at the Salvation Army and/or the Red Cross.
LIVE webcast begins at 11:00 PM EST Friday at NZRun.com
Meet website / Flotrack coverage

The second meet in the Yellow Pages Summer Series will be held on Friday in the South African city of Pretoria.

Track on TV and the Web
Endurance, 9:15 AM Friday on Showtime Family Zone
Big South Championships, 9:50 AM Friday at BigSouthSports.com (subscription req'd)
Ohio Athletic Conference Championships live webcast, 11:30 AM Friday at BW.edu
SEC Championships live webcast, 1:00 PM Friday at RazorVision
ACC Championships live webcast, 3:00 PM Friday at TheACC.com
Big Sky Championships live webcast, 5:00 PM Friday at B2TV.com
Track Meet 4 Christchurch live webcast, 11:00 PM EST Friday at NZRun.com
Fukuoka Cross Country live webcast, 1:30 AM Saturday at Keyhole TV
Ohio Athletic Conference Championships live webcast, 9:30 AM Saturday at BW.edu
ACC Championships live webcast, Noon Saturday at TheACC.com
SEC Championships live webcast, 1:00 PM Saturday at RazorVision
Big Sky Championships live webcast, 1:00 PM Saturday at B2TV.com
USATF Championships live webcast, 6:00 PM Saturday at Runnerspace.com
Tokyo Marathon live webcast, 7:00 PM Saturday at Keyhole TV
USATF Championships live webcast, 11:30 AM Sunday at Runnerspace.com
SEC Championships live webcast, 12:30 PM Sunday at RazorVision
Brooks PR Invitational live webcast, 4:00 PM Sunday at Flotrack
USATF Indoor Championships (live), 4:30 PM Sunday on ESPN
Summit League Championships live webcast, 5:00 PM Sunday at NDSU All-Access (subscription req'd)
Summit League Championships live webcast, 2:00 PM Monday at NDSU All-Access (subscription req'd)

Superfan Daily: USATF Picks

You will be able to see the USATF Championships in their entirety, as the portions not on ESPN will be webcast live at Runnerspace.com.

Last year I did well in the outdoor edition of the USATF Pick N Win Game, finishing third overall.  In 2011, though, I'm back to a more middling level of prognostication.  Here's what I have for this weekend's USATF Championships -- feel free to ridicule my choices in the comments section.

Men’s 60 meters
Mike Rodgers is the world leader and is undefeated against Americans. Trell Kimmons is probably the best bet for your backup pick.

Men’s 400 meters
Tavaris Tate, the Mississippi State star, is entered here instead of the SEC because the Bulldogs don’t officially compete indoors. Calvin Smith is probably you best bet for backup pick.

Men’s 800 meters
Most of America’s top middle-distance talent is not entered, making this a wide-open race. Duane Solomon, winner of the Boston 600 meters, is probably the favorite. I have to give a shout out to competitor Jimmy O’Brien, whose hometown is just down the road from where I sit right now.

Superfan Daily: Your Track Vault Pick of the Week

First, an update on the New Zealand situation.

The International Track Meet scheduled for Saturday in Christchurch has officially been canceled.  "Postponed" is the word used by the organizers, but the track is not going to be runnable without major reconstructive work.  Considering the damage and the relatively low priority of a sports venue in the larger scheme of things, I'm going to guess the Kiwis will do well to have the stadium ready for next year.

A fund-raiser meet will be run on Saturday in Wellington.  Athletes who have committed include Nick Willis and Alan Webb plus most or all of the top middle-distance athletes who were entered into the ITM.  Those wishing to donate should go to the New Zealand Salvation Army website.  Willis will finally be presented with his silver medal from the 2008 Olympics, as he moved up from bronze after Rashid Ramzi's doping DQ.

Galen Rupp, who traveled halfway around the world for this meet, is now going the rest of the way around to run the 3000 meters at this weekend's USATF Championships.

EDIT: I've been quoted on this like I actually know that Rupp is running in ABQ this weekend.  I should correct the above to say "he is listed as 'declared' for the USATF Championships and on the Pick N Win Game start lists".

OK, now to the track vault.  This week I give you a 1981 Kenny Moore story on Eugene's "Put Up or Shut Up Mile".  Moore's writing was always entertaining, but this is one of his best.

A lot of Eugenians run, and most of those runners talk big. The idea of the mile was to shame the dozen loudest of roughly 4:40 to 5:00 ability—the Alberto Salazars and Mary Deckers of Eugene being very soft talkers, as well as being intent on the upcoming Olympic Trials—into each ponying up a $25 entry fee for a race the evening of June 26, 1980 on the track of Lane Community College. The winner would receive 50% of the total purse, with decreasing money through fifth place.


A race committee headed by attorney Kip Leonard did the preliminary shaming with its invitations, which merely described the potential contestants. Of Bruce Ronning, 34, the entry form said, "His special petition for a weight class was denied on the grounds that his weight has no class." Leonard's law partner, Bill (Sheephead) Martin, "whose personal record of 48.5 is for the 100-meter freestyle," was said to be praying for rain. And for Leon (Nearly Normal) Henderson, a ranch foreman who had finished second in the 312-mile Great Hawaiian Footrace in 1979, "an especially attractive young heifer had been installed as pace calf at the LCC track."

Read more.

Yesterday's Results
XL Galan (IAAF Permit)
Ericsson Globe Arena, Stockholm SWE
Highlights: Phillips Idowu (GBR) 17.48 TJ, Angelica Bengtsson (SWE) 4.63 WJR PV, Abebe Arigawe (ETH) 4:01.47 WL 1500m
IAAF story / Results / Video

Track on TV
Prefontaine, 10:10 AM today on SHO 2
Bud Greenspan Presents: Beijing 2008 - America's Olympic Glory, 6:05 PM today on Showtime Family Zone

News Links
Runner's World's Racing News has all the headlines.

Let's Run's Week That Was is up, as is this week's RunnerSpace Live.

Mmmm. That's tasty.


Kickin' it.


Mo Farah blogs on his coaching change and racing, and Martin Bingisser introduces his new sponsor.

These days, mile world record holder Hicham El Guerrouj blends into the crowd.

Usain Bolt's website sports a new look.

USATF previews the men's running events at this weekend's championships.

As feared, British pole vaulter Steve Lewis broke a bone in his wrist last week.

The Little East thinks big with mobile video.

College Power Rankings

There are very few changes to the rankings, as last weekend was a quiet one before the conference championship weekend.

The Superfan’s Men’s Power Rankings for February 22, 2011
1. Florida
2. LSU
3. Texas A&M
4. Indiana
5. Arkansas
6. BYU
7. Minnesota
8. Ohio State
9. Wisconsin
10. Oklahoma
11. Oregon
12. Nebraska
13. Stanford
14. Penn State
15. Illinois
16. Alabama
17. Virginia Tech
18. Iowa
19. Texas
20. Florida State
21. Princeton
22. Georgia
23. Arizona
24. Clemson
25. Michigan State
Close, but not quite: Akron, Arizona State, Connecticut, Duke, Houston, Kent State, New Mexico, Notre Dame, Texas Tech, Washington

Florida and LSU at the top two spots set up a showdown at the SEC Championships. Possibly the tightest of the conference championships could be the Big Ten, as eight of the conference members are in the top 25 and four (Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio State and Wisconsin) are in the top ten.

The Superfan’s Women’s Power Rankings for February 22, 2011
1. Oregon
2. LSU
3. Texas
4. Texas A&M
5. Nebraska
6. BYU
7. Arkansas
8. Florida State
9. Oklahoma
10. Texas Tech
11. Clemson
12. Ohio State
13. Stanford
14. Indiana
15. Arizona
16. Penn State
17. Michigan
18. Florida
19. North Carolina
20. Central Florida
21. Arizona State
22. Wichita State
23. Tennessee
24. Mississippi
25. Iowa State
Close, but not quite: Auburn, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Louisville, Miami (FL), Michigan State, Minnesota, South Carolina, Southern Illinois

The toughest conference meet on the women's side of things looks to be the Big XII, as it holds five of the top ten ranking positions.

Superfan Daily: New Zealand Update

A magnitude 6.3 earthquake hit Christchurch yesterday, causing severe damage and significant loss of life.  The city was struck by a 7.1 earthquake last year, but the depth and location of this one made it more devastating.  Prime Minister John Key said "We may be witnessing New Zealand's darkest day".

"Gutted" is how many Kiwis are describing their empathy for those affected, and it is a descriptive word.  For more, go to BBC News.

While this is truly horrible news, it is news to the track and field world because only four days later Christchurch was set to host the International Track Meet, New Zealand's premier invitational.

The meet is not going forward.  QEII Park, the stadium hosting the meet, has suffered severe damage, and the entire city is under a five-day state of emergency.  There is no official word yet, but it is not possible to hold the meet.

Of more immediate concern is the safety of athletes in New Zealand.  TrackFocus reports that Alberto Salazar, Galen Rupp and Steve Magness are all safe in Australia.  Japan Running News reports that the nine Japanese runners and their staff at a Christchurch-based training camp are all safe (after a few terrifying moments).  Let's Run's message board reports that Alan Webb, Nick Willis, Lee Emmanuel, and Will Leer were all in Wellington and are safe, which appears to be confirmed by Willis' post at NZRun.com.

Willis is looking at putting together a fund-raiser mile race in Newtown, a southern suburb of Wellington:

There are a bunch of us ready to run an exhibition mile (and an 800m for some) at Newtown on Saturday once given the official word. Hayden Shearman is going to help organise a fundraising platform, and we can make this a good opportunity to help in what little way we are able to the CHCH cause.

if interested in running a fast 800m or mile, please facebook me, and I will help put the potential fields together.

Keep the people of Christchurch in your thoughts.

What's On
The XL-Galan, the last IAAF Indoor Permit meet of 2011, takes place today at the Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm.  There are two World Record attempts in the offing, plus some good showdowns in the women's 1500 and the men's triple jump.
Meet website
Live webcast link (begins at 1:30 PM EST)
Schedule and start lists / Runnerspace page
IAAF preview

Track on TV
Bud Greenspan Presents: Beijing 2008 - America's Olympic Glory, tomorrow at 9:30 AM on Showtime Family Zone

News Links
Runner's World's Racing News has all the headlines, including Edison Pena's next race and Deena Kastor's new baby.

The USTFCCCA's college weekend roundup, and Ken Goe's daily Oregon track report.

Jessica Ennis headlines the UK team for the European Indoor Championships.

Linet Masai determined to win World Cross.

Russell Brown, surprise Boston mile champ, now training with Andrew Wheating.

Alberto Salazar talks about getting Alan Webb's attitude right.

Dathan Ritzenhein blogs about the never-ending sickness that comes with a child.

Allyson Felix still thinking about a 200/400 double at the USATF Championships.

Pat Butcher writes about the year of the rabbit.

Yes!  Athletes are replacing sports drinks with beer.  I'm just rehydrating and refueling while under the table...

Will the 100th Bay to Breakers be the last?  I doubt it.  It may not exist in its current form, but someone will continue to hold "the world's sickest traveling party".  It's San Francisco, after all.

The Kenyan XC team now preparing for a Worlds defense.  It looks like Geoffrey Mutai got his demand of being able to train on his own instead of at the Kenyan camp.

Sunday Evening Decathlete: Special Monday Edition

I'd like to say this week's column is delayed a day because of the holiday, or because of an ice storm that knocked out my power for eight hours. But it's really because if I was going to go out drinking last night, it to be before the storm hit. It's important to keep your priorities in order.

What did we learn this week?

Mo Farah is joining up with the Oregon Track Club. While this was news to me when it was formally announced, others have said this was well known for a month or two before it finally happened. The issue that held it up was sponsorship. As with most top British athletes, Farah was under contract to adidas and the OTC is a Nike group. Farah is specifically joining up with Alberto Salazar's subdivision of the OTC, which does a lot of its training right on the Nike headquarters campus. An adidas-sponsored athlete would barely be more welcome there than a Protestant would be in the Falls Road area of Belfast. So a switch in allegiances was a pre-requisite and various reports say it's happened.

This does bring up a couple of questions, though. First of all, why would Farah change his coaching right after the most successful season of his career? Last year he won a 5k/10k double at the European Championships and broke 13:00 in the 5k. It seems very foolish to make such a radical change when the current situation is obviously working. A comment by "John G" at the Track and Field News message boards sheds some light on the situation:

Steve Cram made the comment that it has been unclear for a while who was coaching Mo. He mentioned his agent Ricky Sims and Gary Lough as people who had advised him in addition to Alan Storey. He also said rather pointedly that Ian Stewart "claims" to have advised him. The latter remark made me laugh. I watched the Barcelona 10k in a pub in Teddington. A bunch of British and Australian athletes were in a corner of the bar cheering on Mo and Chris Thompson. After the race Ian Stewart got himself into camera shot and there was a chorus of "There he is, pretending he's had something to do with their success."

So if Farah really didn't have a coach, moving to Portland may not be much of a change--especially if he's planning on "being his own man", being advised by Salazar but ultimately making his own decisions regarding training and racing.

Another reason Farah may have wanted a change in scenery is to get out of the pressure cooker. Britain hasn't hosted an Olympics since 1948, and it is a far bigger deal there than it would be here. The British sporting press is on the whole nearly as savage as our sports talk radio. Getting out of England for the next year and a half will allow him to concentrate on training and racing and little else.

The other question raised by this move is in regard to Salazar's training group. Kevin Liao pointed out that Salazar's group was originally called the Nike Oregon Project, founded in 2001 by Nike VP Tom Clarke to improve American distance running. Why bring in Farah? He's not American.

There are a few different ways to look at this. One is that Farah is not the first foreigner to join the club. Jerry Schumaker's group, also under the OTC and Nike Oregon Project umbrella, already has Canadian Simon Bairu and Brit Chris Thompson along with a few other foreigners. Another is that the group training ethos of the OTC should welcome outsiders because they make everyone better (and Farah probably brings more to the table this way than most). But I think it's mostly that the OTC has accomplished the goal of improving American distance running, and has more or less discarded that as its raison d'etre.

Why indoor track became popular in the first place. At Saturday's Aviva Grand Prix in England, we got to see the indoor 400 meter hurdles. If you didn't see it, check out the YouTube video, it's awesome.

How the heck do you run an indoor 400 hurdles? There are two flights of hurdles on each straightaway, giving eight hurdles for the full distance. Thus they aren't exactly evenly spaced, especially since the start is staggered but the hurdles are not.

What's really wild is that, as with the non-hurdling indoor 400, the athletes cut in after one lap. You have to go wide to pass in the last 200, making it almost like a high-speed steeplechase. Felix Sanchez won the race on Saturday while stumbling at the finish and doing a somersault, after which he landed on his feet and took a bow.

Is this a legitimate track event? Does it conform to the idea of "fairness" that we seek to put into the sport, or does lane draw make a big difference? The answer is it doesn't matter. It's highly entertaining and close enough to real racing. What's more, this is how we always used to look at indoor track.

Back in the 70s and probably earlier, there were "devil take the hindmost" races at some indoor meets, where the last runner at each of various points in the race was eliminated until only the winner remained. Some had a guy in a Satan suit and pitchfork actually come out on the track to theatrically do the deed. The ITA sometimes ran a race between a woman sprinter and a male shot putter. As late as the 90s there were other stunts, like bringing Jackie Joyner-Kersee out to the competition on the back of a Harley.

Indoor track wasn't real track, it was a track circus. Even for field events, Track and Field News never counted indoor competition in its World Rankings until the late 70s. The IAAF didn't recognize indoor track records until the early 80s. Only for the last three decades has indoor track been thought of as anything like the real thing. It's kind of like Winter X Games versus Winter Olympics--one is for fun, the other is serious.

So if the indoor 400 hurdles catches on as a popular event, I could not be happier. It's nice that Mo Farah and Galen Rupp both broke 5k records at the Aviva meet, but that scripted evenly-paced 25-lap race isn't likely to make an SportsCenter highlights. Something that looks like roller derby with hurdles just might.

Ryan Crouser is nothing short of amazing. The high school senior broke Brent Noon's national indoor shot put record twice in his six throws at Saturday's Simplot Games in Pocatello ID, topping out at 77' 2 3/4". When indoor and outdoor marks are combined, it's the second-best distance in US high school history--the best being Michael Carter's 81' 3 1/2" from 1979, often considered an unbreakable record. Yet Crouser is closing in, and that was just his second meet of the season.

Think about this: Crouser is doing the equivalent of taking a 12-lb ball, bowling overhand, and hitting the pins while standing at the ball return, not the foul line..

Being a great athlete in high school sometimes leads to greatness as an adult, and sometimes it doesn't. For every Carl Lewis there are a dozen Michael Granvilles. Nowhere is the relationship between early success and world-class status more tenuous than in the throwing events. They are so highly technical, and fulfilling potential takes so long, that being a great high schooler can work against an athlete. Young people are not noted for their patience, and developing as a thrower requires a lot of it.

There are two things that make me hopeful that Crouser might be an exception. One is that he's so good, he might soon be world-class. The rule-of-thumb difference between the high school (12 lb) and international (16 lb) shots is ten feet, which implies Crouser would almost certainly make the finals at this year's World Championships.

The other, though, is revealed in a long feature at ESPN Rise about the entire Crouser clan of throwers, reaching back two generations. Ryan's cousin Sam was last year's high school athlete of the year, and his father and uncles are in the Oregon Hall of Fame. The story relates throwing as being as much family fun for the Crousers as it is highly competitive.

We sports fans (and athletes) like to repeat the mantra of "work, work, work". But there is no way that an athlete can keep up that level of motivation for the ten to fifteen years that throwing requires if it is only outcome-related. The elder Crousers say that they were obsessed with throwing further every day, but that their children haven't made that mistake. No doubt they're motivated by new personal records, but they understand they aren't going to come every single time.

I know an awful lot of high schoolers who were single-minded in their approach to sports, and then went away to college and found their minds distracted by other things. If the ESPN Rise article paints an accurate picture, I doubt this will happen to the Crousers for one simple reason: throwing is the most fun they can have. Every child or teenager has on at least one occasion found an object leaving their hand, followed a split-second later by their eyes popping wide open and their mouths saying "Oh s**t!" in a combination of horror and fascination at the destruction they've caused. In the Crouser homes, no one gets punished for this. They get asked things like "How far did it go? Was your form good?" Free reign to have constructive but completely rambunctious fun is a gift few young athletes are given.

Curtis Mitchell bombed. This happened the week before last, but he bombed so badly that I totally missed it.

If you do not recall, Mitchell was a star sprinter at Texas A&M who won the NCAA indoor championship at 200 meters last winter (and runner-up outdoors), then ran 19.99 at the NACAC U-23 Championships over the summer. He decided to forego his senior year and join the pro ranks just before the 2011 indoor season began, infuriating Aggie coach Pat Henry, who said "we have agents and management groups who prey on young people's financial dreams and aspirations".

Fast forward to the Tyson Invitational two Saturdays ago. Mitchell was entered in the 200 meters, and was described as "strutting around Fayetteville prior to the race...like he was the second coming" and "spouting off before the meet he felt ready for a big PR and a run at the world record". He ran 21.43, more than a second slower than his NCAA title run a year ago on the same track.

Unless things change and in a big way, Mitchell will join the scrapheap of tracksters who left to go pro and did diddly-squat. It's either a pretty short list, or my memory doesn't come up with many because they didn't make themselves memorable.

Henry says agents and management groups take advantage of athletes like Mitchell. Right now I'd have to say Mitchell is the one taking advantage of someone else. Whatever his three-year adidas contract is paying him, so far he hasn't been remotely worth it.

Jon Terzenbach is taking a crazy track and field road trip. This I discovered through the latest House of Run podcast. This nutjob and his friend, Calvin Brawner, are taking a twenty-five week trip, going to things ranging from the Millrose Games to the Moby Dick 7-mile Snowshoe Race. You can read their daily blog at Runnerspace. A hundred and seventy-five days on the road...yeah, you'll never want to see the other one again. They'll be lucky if neither goes the full Travis Bickle on the other.

Don't get me wrong -- it sounds like a heck of a lot of fun and I'm a little jealous. But 25 weeks? Yow.  If they're still having fun at the end, it will be a remarkable feat of endurance akin to running across the continent.

Superfan Daily: Weekend Roundup

Indoor Track
Professionals
Aviva Indoor Grand Prix (IAAF Permit)
Saturday, National Indoor Arena, Birmingham ENG
Highlights: Mo Farah (GBR) 13:10.60 European Record 5k, Phillips Idowu (GBR) 17.57 TJ, Jenny Meadows (GBR) 1:59.22 800m
IAAF story / Athletics Weekly story
Results / Video

High Jump with Music
Saturday, Arnstadt GER
Winners: Ivan Ukhov (RUS) 2.34, Svetlana Shkolina (RUS) 1.95
IAAF story / Results

Potsdam Pole Vault Meeting
Saturday, Potsdam GER
Winners: Malte Mohr (GER) 5.86, Kristina Gadschiew (GER) 4.66
Results

Russian Championships
Wednesday through Friday, Moscow RUS
Highlights: Olesya Forsheva 51.22 (world leader) 400m, Yuliya Rusanova 1:58.14 (world leader) 800m, Olesya Syreva 8:41.35 (world leader) 3k
IAAF story / Results

French Championships
Saturday and Sunday, Aubière FRA
Highlights: Teddy Tamgho 17.91 World Indoor Record TJ, Renaud Lavillenie 5.85 PV, Miriam Soumare 7.19 60m
IAAF story

Greek Championships
Saturday and Sunday, Athens GRE
Highlight:  Luis Tsatoumas 8.21 (world leader) LJ
IAAF story

Spanish Championships
Saturday and Sunday, Valencia ESP
Highlight: Ruth Beitia 1.95 HJ
IAAF story

Czech Championships

Saturday and Sunday, Prague CZE

Highlight: Petr Svoboda 7.48 60H

IAAF story

Italian Championships

Saturday and Sunday, Ancona ITA

IAAF story

Other European national championships

Colleges
Big East Championships
Saturday and Sunday, Akron OH
Winners: Connecticut (men), Louisville (women)
Story / Results

All the rest

High Schools
Simplot Games
Thursday through Saturday, Pocatello ID
Highlight: Ryan Crouser (OR) National Record 77' 2 3/4" SP, Ciara Brewer (CA) 42' 3 1/2" TJ
ESPN Rise page / Results / Flotrack video

Cross Country
KCB National Cross Country (IAAF Permit)
Saturday, Uhuru Gardens, Nairobi KEN
Winners: Geoffrey Mutai, Linet Masai
IAAF story and results

Jan Meda Cross Country International
Sunday, Addis Ababa ETH
Winners: Hunegnaw Mesfin (men), Meselech Melkamu (women)
IAAF story and results

South American Championships
Sunday, Club Deportivo Sajonia, Asuncion PAR
Winners: Brazil (men and women), Solonei Rocha da Silva (men), Simone Alves da Silva (women)
IAAF story and results

NACAC Championships
Saturday, Queen's Park Savannah, Port of Spain, Trinidad
Winners: USA (men and women), Robert Cheseret (USA), Kathryn Harrison (CAN)
IAAF story

English National Cross Country
Saturday, Alton Towers, Staffordshire ENG
Winners: Steve Vernon, Louise Damen
Athletics Weekly story / Results

Road Racing
Ras Al Kaimah Half Marathon (IAAF Gold Label)
Friday, Ras Al Kaimah UAE
Winners: Deriba Merga (ETH) 59:25, Mary Keitany (KEN) 1:05:50 World Record
IAAF story and results

Yokohama International Women's Marathon (IAAF Silver Label)
Sunday, Yokohama JPN
Winner: Yoshimi Osaki (JPN) 2:23:56
IAAF story / Japan Running News story and results

Ohme 30km Road Race
Sunday, Ohme JPN
Winners: Jason Lehmkuhle (USA) 1:32:08, Hiromi Ominame (JPN) 1:46:27
Japan Running News story and results

Outdoor Track
Briggs Athletic Classic (Athletics Australia Tour)
Sunday, Domain Athletics Centre, Hobart AUS
Highlight: Reese Hoffa (USA) 21.08 SP
IAAF story / Runner's Tribe story / Results

Race Walking
Australian Championships (IAAF Race Walking Challenge)
Saturday, Hobart AUS
Winners: Jared Tallent 1:20:18, Claire Tallent 1:33:39
IAAF story

News Links
Runner's World's Daily News has all the headlines.

The Detroit Free Press ran a feature on the return of hometown hero Lauryn Williams.

Ashton Eaton embracing life as a pro athlete.

Superfan Daily: What's On The Weekend

Indoor Track
Professionals
The Aviva Indoor Grand Prix, an IAAF Indoor Permit meet, will be held on Saturday in the English city of Birmingham.
Meet website / Runnerspace page
Schedule and start lists
IAAF preview / Athletics Weekly preview

The 35th Hochsprung mit Musik (High Jump with Music) will be held on Saturday in the German city of Arnstadt.
Meet website

Many European countries are holding their national championships this weekend: Russia (in Moscow through Friday), Poland (in Spala on Saturday and Sunday), Greece (in Athens on Saturday and Sunday), Finland (in Helsinki on Saturday and Sunday), Hungary (Budapest on Saturday and Sunday), Spain (in Valencia on Saturday and Sunday), France (in Aubiere on Saturday and Sunday), and the Czech Republic (in Prague on Saturday and Sunday) and many more.

Colleges
The only college meet this weekend that could reasonably be called “major” is the Big East Championships, held in Akron on Saturday and Sunday.
Meet website / Runnerspace page
LIVE webcasts begin at 11 AM Saturday and 8:30 AM Sunday at BigEast.tv
Preview / Live results

Other conference championships

All the rest

Cross Country
The toughest national championship meet in the world, the Kenyan Cross Country Championships, will be held in Nairobi's Uhuru Gardens on Saturday.  The meet is also an IAAF Cross Country Permit event.  Teams will be chosen for the African and World Cross Country Championships.
IAAF preview / KBC preview / Daily Nation preview

Road Racing
The Yokohama Women's Marathon, an IAAF Silver Label Road Race, will be run through the Japanese city on Sunday (Saturday night in the USA).
Race website / Runnerspace page
LIVE webcast at 10:00 PM EST Saturday at Keyhole TV
Japan Running News preview

The Ohme 30 km will be run through the Japanese city on Sunday.
Meet website

The Djibouti International Marathon will be run through that nation's capitol city on Friday.

Outdoor Track
The first Athletics Kenya outdoor track meeting of the year will be held on Friday in Nairobi.

The Porritt Classic, an Athletics New Zealand Grand Prix meet, will be held on Saturday in Porritt Stadium in Hamilton.
Schedule / Start lists

The Ben Francis Invitational will be held on Saturday in the Jamaican city of Clarendon.

The first meet in the Yellow Pages Series will be held on Saturday in the South African city of Potchefstroom. Caster Semenya will return to action in this meet.
Schedule and start lists
SuperSport.za preview

The Briggs Athletic Classic, the second meet in the Athletics Australia Tour, will be held on Sunday in the Tasmanian city of Hobart.
Meet website / Start lists
Runner's Tribe preview

Race Walking
The Australian 20k Championships, the first event in the IAAF Race Walking Challenge, will be held on Saturday in Hobart.
IAAF preview

Track on TV and the Web
Endurance, 2:35 AM and 12:15 PM Saturday on Showtime Family Zone
Yokohama Women's Marathon live webcast, 10:00 PM Saturday at Keyhole TV
Big East Championships live webcast, 11:00 AM Saturday at BigEast.tv
Big East Championships live webcast, 8:30 AM Sunday at BigEast.tv
Bud Greenspan Presents: Beijing 2008 - America's Olympic Glory, 5:45 PM Sunday on Showtime Family Zone

Superfan Daily: What Are Rankings For?

Yesterday I was informed that the USTFCCCA is working on both dual-meet rankings and relay rankings for college teams.  I like the ideas, but I have some reservations.

First of all, I have to applaud the coaches involved in this effort for coming up with more than one way to evaluate college teams.  College track lost its way when the NCAA championships became the only goal, because now all the other meets leading up to it have no intrinsic value--and therefore no reason for spectators or media to care.  Dual meets, conference meets, and relay carnivals all have significant entertainment potential on their own.  Doing well at them should be important for college teams.

The current USTFCCCA computer rankings only evaluate teams on their ability to score points at the NCAA Championships.  My own power rankings take conference championship type of meets into account as well (and are the bulk of the ranking for teams outside the top three or four).  So these dual-meet rankings and relay rankings will be a welcome addition.

As far as how the rankings are put together...well, that's important if they're going to have any meaning.  It's important to think about what rankings are for.  Do we want the top teams to be the ones who probably would be good at dual meets but don't have any on their schedule?  Or do we want the rankings to reflect real wins and losses?  In other words, do we want teams to be fighting for a ranking on the track, and have it be a compelling thing to watch?  Or do we want more navel-gazing about numbers?

Superfan Daily: Your Track Vault Pick of the Week

This week I give you something very different, a story I witnessed firsthand at the 2001 Edmonton World Championships.  It relates to the issue of A and B qualifying marks for the Worlds and Olympics, which came up yesterday with the new bye round for Olympic sprinters.

As you know, nations are allowed to enter up to three athletes in an event if they all have met the "A" standard, and one if s/he has met the "B" standard.  Some tiny nations have no "B" qualifiers in any event at all, but may enter one male and one female athlete in an event of their choosing.

At the '01 Worlds, tiny Norfolk Island (population 2,141) used its lone female entry on Angela Keough, a 39-year-old Brit expatriate who competed in the 20k walk and finished nearly 40 minutes behind the winner.  From The Telegraph:

Angela Keogh did not crawl into the stadium on her hands and knees; she reappeared into our midst fair bursting with pride and her face wreathed in smiles as the entire crowd (aye, even the press box) accorded her a standing ovation. "I was born in Muswell Hill, Barnet," she explained to an array of cameras and microphones which awaited her (blast, there goes my Fletcher Christian angle up the Swanee), "but when I was in my twenties I decided to go backpacking around the world and stopped halfway when I found Norfolk Island. It's paradise."

Read more...

What's On
Pedro's Cup will be held today in the Polish city of Bydgoszyz. The all-field events indoor meet will highlight Ivan Ukhov in the men's high jump, Ryan Whiting in the men's shot put, and Anna Rogowska in the pole vault.
Meet website
EAA preview

News Links
Runner's World's Racing News has all the headlines.

Ken Goe's Oregon track rundown: Jerry Schumacher pleased but not surprised be recent success.

Athletes react to the London Olympic schedule.  The 2011 Daegu Worlds schedule has been released as well.

Notorious former Ohio Secretary of  State Kenneth Blackwell reflects on long jump great William DeHart Hubbard.

More track history: TFN digs out its story on Gerry Lindgren's high school record.

China has hired Jos Hermens, Haile Gebrselassie's manager, as an athletics advisor.

The IOC says it thinks the new US TV rights package could be signed by July.

Remember WCSN? It eventually got bought out by NBC and is now Universal Sports. It has new life in Australia and will do live webcasts of the Aussie domestic tour. No word yet on whether it will be available in the USA, and if they'll cost anything to see.

Mmmm. That's tasty.


Kickin' it old school.


RunnerSpace Weekly

College Power Rankings

The women’s leader stays the same, but there’s a new #1 team in the men’s rankings.

The Superfan’s Men’s Power Rankings for February 15, 2011
1. Florida (3rd last week)
2. LSU (2)
3. Indiana (1)
4. Texas A&M (4)
5. Arkansas (6)
6. Wisconsin (16)
7. Ohio State (8)
8. Oklahoma (11)
9. Minnesota (13)
10. Oregon (10)
11. BYU (7)
12. Texas (19)
13. Stanford (15)
14. Penn State (9)
15. Nebraska (14)
16. Alabama (17)
17. Iowa (18)
18. Illinois (24)
19. Florida State (22)
20. Georgia (NR)
21. Princeton (NR)
22. Clemson (23)
23. Arizona (21)
24. Washington (20)
25. Houston (NR)

Florida, a heavy favorite for the NCAA Championship, finally made it to #1. Indiana was strong early but the field has come back to the Hoosiers. Wisconsin has come on strong.  Duke drops out of the rankings after it became obvious that last week's 3rd place at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational was a fluke.

The Superfan’s Women’s Power Rankings for February 15, 2011
1. Oregon (1)
2. LSU (3)
3. Texas A&M (4)
4. Texas (5)
5. Nebraska (6)
6. Arkansas (7)
7. BYU (2)
8. Florida State (14)
9. Oklahoma (12)
10. Clemson (8)
11. Texas Tech (19)
12. Ohio State (10)
13. Tennessee (23)
14. Michigan (15)
15. Stanford (16)
16. Indiana (9)
17. Penn State (18)
18. Arizona (11)
19. Florida (NR)
20. North Carolina (24)
21. Central Florida (17)
22. Wichita State (NR)
23. Mississippi (NR)
24. Illinois (25)
25. Michigan State (NR)

Oregon has solidified its place at the top. Wichita State enters the rankings for the first time at #22, and Ole Miss does so at #23.

For comparison's sake, here are the USTFCCCA rankings.

Superfan Daily: Olympic Sprint Brouhaha

The big overnight news is in relation to just-released London Olympic scheduling and ticket prices.  In the track and field world, it's not the prices (up to $1168 for prime seats for the sessions which includes the men's 100 meters final).  Rather, it's the scheduling. From Britain's Daily Mail:

Spectators at London 2012 will be left short-changed by a revolutionary rule that sees Usain Bolt and the world’s other leading sprinters handed a bye into the second round of the 100 metres for the first time in Olympic history.
...
The household names will miss what would have been the first round — but is being rebranded the ‘classification’ stage — before competing in the old second round, which will now be called the first round.

And in what is apparently news to everyone, this will also be done at the Worlds in South Korea this year.

Never at a loss for words or short on an opinion, Ato Boldon thinks it's a terrible idea. He doesn't think it's good for the Olympics or for track and field.

He wonders why anyone would want less exposure for track's biggest stars instead of more. He challenged anyone to "name the other sport that auto-advances its biggest names to the 2nd round....Tennis? Soccer? NBA? Swimming? Golf? Baseball? Gymnastics?"

I can do that with ease: NCAA basketball and the NFL. But that doesn't mean I think it's a good idea here, or that it's going to be executed in a way that could be good for everyone.

Let me start by saying that I can see why the IAAF bigwigs wanted to do this. Top spinters tend to be worn down after a Worlds or Olympics and skip a lot of post-championship invitational meets, just at the point when the sport can most benefit from them. So the idea may be to save a bit of wear and tear.

The other thing that just occurred to me is the timing of this new bye round. It is being put into place at the first championships after the launch of the Diamond League. It would not surprise me at all if a small number of agents, possibly even just one, would only agree to have their sprinter(s) sign on to the DL's summer-long series contract if the IAAF gave them the championship bye in return. They'd have the pull to make it happen, as the Diamond League (and the IAAF by proxy) needs the big sprint stars much more than the stars need the DL.

The concerns of the British press mainly center on the people in attendance at the stadium and their being shortchanged of getting to see the best sprinters run. But in the big picture, the needs of 80,000 individuals are more or less meaningless.

Global TV is what really matters. And I wonder when the last time you made a special point to see the first round of the 100 on TV. I don't miss anything, and for me I think it was 1996. I don't think anyone will feel shortchanged there either.

Whatever the real reasons behind this move are, I don't like it for the same reasons Boldon doesn't like it. I don't like it just on principle. I don't think it sets a good precedent, and I don't think winning an Olympic gold medal should be made easier.

I also think the IAAF will screw up how to award the byes. They will almost assuredly hand them out to the top eight by seed time. I'd rather see them hand out the byes to the top eight in the Diamond League standings going into the Olympics.

Why? For one, I think competition rather than a stopwatch is the essence of sport. Who actually wins a race should be what matters the most. But also, I think the IAAF has the means to encourage the best sprinters to run on the biggest non-Olympic stage. It shouldn't waste that opportunity.

News Links
Runner's World's Racing News has all the headlines.

The USTFCCCA rounds up the weekend college action.

Top Aussie discus thrower Dani Samuels will face off against top American Becky Breisch at the Sydney Track Classic in March.

Superfan Daily: Weekend Roundup

Indoor Track
Professionals
Belgacom Flanders Indoor (IAAF Permit)
Sunday, Gent BEL
Highlights: Isiah Koech (KEN) 7:37.50 3k, Aries Merritt (USA) 7.53 60H, Pawel Wojciechowski (POL) 5.86 PV
IAAF story / Results / Video

BW-Bank Meeting Karlsruhe (IAAF Permit)
Sunday, Karlsruhe GER
Highlights: David Oliver (USA) 7.40 60H, Kellie Wells (USA) 7.82 60H, Silke Spiegelberg (GER) 4.76 PV
IAAF story / Results / Video

International PSD Bank Meet (EAA Permit)
Friday, Dusseldorf GER
Highlights: Isiah Koech (KEN) 12:53.29, Malte Mohr (GER) 5.85 PV
IAAF story / Results / Video

Samsung Pole Vault Stars (EAA Permit)
Friday, Donyets'k UKR
Winners: Renaud Lavillenie (FRA) 5.93, Yelena Isinbayeva 4.85
IAAF story and results

Aviva Indoor UK Trials and Championships
Saturday-Sunday, Sheffield ENG
Highlights: Dwain Chambers 6.57 60m, Andy Turner 7.61 60H, Tom Parsons 2.31 HJ
Athletics Weekly Day 1 recap / AW Day 2 recap / Results

Belarus Indoor Championships
Friday-Saturday, Mogilev BLR
IAAF story and results

NYRR Deuce Challenge
Saturday, Armory Track and Field Center, New York NY
Winner: Bernard Lagat (USA) 8:10.07 2 mile, American Record
AP story

Colleges
Tyson Invitational
Friday-Saturday, Randall Tyson Track Center, Fayetteville AR
Highlights: Mookie Salaam (Okla) 6.54 60m, Erik Kynard (Ks St) 2.33 HJ, Christin Wurth-Thomas 8:43.79, Marshavet Myers 6.83 LJ
Results / Video

Texas A&M Conference Challenge presented by Polytan
Saturday, Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium, College Station TX
Highlights: Texas A&M men 3:05.48, Baylor 3:05.92 4x400
Results / Video

Flotrack Husky Classic
Friday and Saturday, Dempsey Indoor, Seattle WA
Highlights: Elijah Greer (Ore) 1:47.02,Chris Solinsky (OTC) 3:54.52, Tim Nelson (OTC) 7:49.95, Elliot Heath (Stan) 13:37.77, Jackie Areson (Tenn) 15:39.81
Results / Flotrack video / Runnerspace video

All the rest

Outdoor Track
Brisbane Track Classic (Athletics Australia Tour)
Friday, QSAC Stadium, Brisbane AUS
Highlights: Dani Samuels 59.72 DT
Runner's Tribe story / Results / Video

Western Relays
Saturday, Montego Bay JAM
Highlights: MVP men 38.87, women 43.68 4x100
Jamaica Gleaner story

Cross Country
Chiba International (IAAF Permit)
Sunday, Chiba JPN
Winners: Bidan Karoki (KEN), Hitomi Niiya (JPN)
IAAF story and results

Road Racing
Rock N' Roll Mardi Gras Marathon and Half Marathon
Sunday, New Orleans LA
Highlight: Kim Smith (NZL) 1:07:36 half marathon
Competitor.com story

News Links
Runner's World's Daily News has all the weekend's headlines.

The EAA's weekend roundup.

Britain's Steph Twell suffered a nasty leg break during a cross country race on Saturday.

Athletics South Africa's Leonard Cheune has been found guilty.

Running Times grills USATF over the Joseph Chirlee affair.  Poor Jill Geer -- I'm sure she agrees it's a bad policy but has to defend it anyway.

OTC coach Alberto Salazar gets a science-based assistant.  I'm not sure more science is what he needs.