Saturday's 8 Juiciest Performances: Donavan Brazier Runs Wild
Saturday's 8 Juiciest Performances: Donavan Brazier Runs Wild
The 2016 indoor season is still much like an infant barely able to pick up its head (this poor metaphor brought to you by early parenthood), which is to say
The 2016 indoor season is still much like an infant barely able to pick up its head (this poor metaphor brought to you by early parenthood), which is to say brand new but plenty worth our attention. The short-track action won’t be in full crawl mode for another two weeks or so, but if you’re impatient like I am while waiting for FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL then you need some running, jumping, and throwing news in your life to hold you over before a night laden with bone-crushing hits.
Enter this list of the eight juiciest moments from track and field on an otherwise football-consumed Saturday:
1. Shawn Barber Joins The 6.00m Club In Reno
World champ Shawn Barber joined a club of which only 18 other men are members (indoor or outdoor) by clearing a 6.00m bar in Reno, vaulting into outer space and landing softly on Earth with the #5 indoor mark in history.
Here’s the haunting video to prove it, complete with a terrifying musical number:
2. Dear World (Lead), Meet Donavan Brazier
Texas A&M freshman Donavan Brazier has probably heard the NCAA men’s 800 is super deep this year, but this kid is not scared one bit. 1:45.93. ONE FORTY-FIVE NINETY-THREE. Dear lord almighty that’s #5 in NCAA indoor history! That’s the fastest time we’ve seen by an NCAA athlete indoors in nearly 15 years, or put a different way, back when Mr. Brazier was all of three years old!
World leads don’t mean a whole lot this time of year, but Brazier’s should be a notable exception: his 1:45.93 would equal the fourth-fastest time run indoors in all of 2015.
Check out this tweet:
The three men above him all went on to win World Indoor titles. The next great American half-miler has arrived, folks.
The mark demolishes the U.S. junior indoor record held by John Marshall since 1982 (h/t @aggietrk) and puts this 18-year-old that was tossed aside as an NCAA 800 contender before the season right at the front of the discussion. Like Edward Cheserek a couple years ago, we knew Brazier would be good early (he ran 1:47 last June), but this good? Couldn’t have seen it coming.
3. Cameron Burrell On Top Of The World With 6.55
Houston junior Cameron Burrell thought he could sneak one by me with his performance coming on Friday afternoon, but luckily for me Burrell’s 60m World lead popped up on my TL before I went to sleep. Thank you Twitter.
If you remember, Burrell was a beast his freshman year in 2014 when he ran 6.54 at NCAAs, but this performance has been a long time coming as he failed to break 6.60 last season. With World Indoors rapidly approaching, his WL won’t have a long shelf life, but more importantly he looks to be right in the thick of NCAA 60m favorites.
4. Brannon Kidder Sets 1k Collegiate Record LIKE A BOSS
Are we as a society still ending remarkable human achievements with the phrase, “Like A Boss”? I’m assuming no since I was still in high school then, but it’s worth bringing back to describe Brannon Kidder’s 1k collegiate record of 2:18.26 today in State College. Say it with me now, Like a boss, like a boss…ok I see how that got old.
Thanks to the good folks at Track and Field News, we know that the Penn State senior broke the old record, held by Boston U’s Rich Peters (aka Dicky P) since 2014, by .29 seconds. Of course, the 1k isn’t an official NCAA distance, but the biggest takeaway is that Kidder is in fighting shape for that loaded 800 (which became even deeper today, ahem, Donavan Brazier) coming down the line. LIKE A BO…Damn!
5. Raevyn Rogers Is Also A Boss, Breaks 600m Collegiate Record (Kind Of)
Saturday was apparently the day to break off-distance records, as reigning NCAA 800 Outdoor champion Raevyn Rogers took down a 35-year-old 600m record with 1:26.3 in Seattle this afternoon. Unfortunately, it was run on an over-sized track so it won't officially count. Tweet your condolences to @TheROYALlife21.
For someone who ran 1:59 as a freshman, today’s performance isjust another day at the office LIKE A BOSS.
6. Jenn Suhr A Timely Inhalation Away From Breaking Her Pole Vault World Record
Reigning Olympic champion Jenn Suhr tweeted this photo of her near 5.03m leap, and the internet let out a collective “oooohhhhhh” as is customary of field event misses like these. As far as silver linings go, the 33-year-old already owns the indoor World record of 5.02m set in 2013, and more importantly, looks incredibly fit with still two months until Portland. Her 4.91m clearing is light years ahead of what anyone else is jumping right now.
7. 15-Year-Old Tyrese Cooper Is An Animal
They don’t call him Smoke for nothing. The All-Galaxy talent that is Tyrese Cooper has arrived in the high school track world, which means you can wave bye bye to plenty of prep sprint records to come. The same kid who ran 20.94 (!!!) and 46.44 (!!!) as a middle schooler last summer was up to his usual Smoke-like ways today in Arkansas, setting two freshman national records of 21.54 and 47.97 in only the prelims.
Watch both races here:
8. Raven Saunders Can Throw Heavy Objects Super Far
Two ladies with two different spellings of Raven (or Raevyn) make today’s list, with defending NCAA shot put champ Raven Saunders rounding out the top eight with her 18.67m World lead today in Lexington. That’s a new school record at Ole Miss for the new Rebel, who formerly attended Southern Illinois.
Coincidentally, Raven wins a close battle with Raevyn for best Twitter handle, because @GiveME1Shot has gotta be the most perfect handle out there for a shot putter.
Enter this list of the eight juiciest moments from track and field on an otherwise football-consumed Saturday:
1. Shawn Barber Joins The 6.00m Club In Reno
World champ Shawn Barber joined a club of which only 18 other men are members (indoor or outdoor) by clearing a 6.00m bar in Reno, vaulting into outer space and landing softly on Earth with the #5 indoor mark in history.
Here’s the haunting video to prove it, complete with a terrifying musical number:
Here's Shawn Barber @vaultbarber pole vaulting 6.00m to break his own record. Video shared by @polevaultelite pic.twitter.com/ODtpvasFt1
— Callum (@CallumNg) January 16, 2016
2. Dear World (Lead), Meet Donavan Brazier
Texas A&M freshman Donavan Brazier has probably heard the NCAA men’s 800 is super deep this year, but this kid is not scared one bit. 1:45.93. ONE FORTY-FIVE NINETY-THREE. Dear lord almighty that’s #5 in NCAA indoor history! That’s the fastest time we’ve seen by an NCAA athlete indoors in nearly 15 years, or put a different way, back when Mr. Brazier was all of three years old!
1:45.93 SCHOOL RECORD victory in 800m for A&M frosh Donavan Brazier. Previous record was 1:47.14 by Joey Roberts in 2012. Whoop!
— aggietrk (@aggietrk) January 16, 2016
World leads don’t mean a whole lot this time of year, but Brazier’s should be a notable exception: his 1:45.93 would equal the fourth-fastest time run indoors in all of 2015.
Check out this tweet:
World junior indoor all-time 800m list:
— Jon Mulkeen (@Statman_Jon) January 17, 2016
1:44.35 Y Borzakovskiy
1:44.81 A Kaki
1:45.05 M Aman
1:45.93 @DonavanBrazier
1:45.96 T Kitum
The three men above him all went on to win World Indoor titles. The next great American half-miler has arrived, folks.
The mark demolishes the U.S. junior indoor record held by John Marshall since 1982 (h/t @aggietrk) and puts this 18-year-old that was tossed aside as an NCAA 800 contender before the season right at the front of the discussion. Like Edward Cheserek a couple years ago, we knew Brazier would be good early (he ran 1:47 last June), but this good? Couldn’t have seen it coming.
3. Cameron Burrell On Top Of The World With 6.55
Houston junior Cameron Burrell thought he could sneak one by me with his performance coming on Friday afternoon, but luckily for me Burrell’s 60m World lead popped up on my TL before I went to sleep. Thank you Twitter.
Cameron Burrelly runs 6.55 in the 60m dash to move to NUMBER 1 IN THE WORLD! #GoCoogs
— Houston TF/XC (@UHCougarTF) January 15, 2016
If you remember, Burrell was a beast his freshman year in 2014 when he ran 6.54 at NCAAs, but this performance has been a long time coming as he failed to break 6.60 last season. With World Indoors rapidly approaching, his WL won’t have a long shelf life, but more importantly he looks to be right in the thick of NCAA 60m favorites.
4. Brannon Kidder Sets 1k Collegiate Record LIKE A BOSS
Are we as a society still ending remarkable human achievements with the phrase, “Like A Boss”? I’m assuming no since I was still in high school then, but it’s worth bringing back to describe Brannon Kidder’s 1k collegiate record of 2:18.26 today in State College. Say it with me now, Like a boss, like a boss…ok I see how that got old.
Brannon MF Kidder.
— Casimir Loxsom (@cazzylox) January 16, 2016
Thanks to the good folks at Track and Field News, we know that the Penn State senior broke the old record, held by Boston U’s Rich Peters (aka Dicky P) since 2014, by .29 seconds. Of course, the 1k isn’t an official NCAA distance, but the biggest takeaway is that Kidder is in fighting shape for that loaded 800 (which became even deeper today, ahem, Donavan Brazier) coming down the line. LIKE A BO…Damn!
5. Raevyn Rogers Is Also A Boss, Breaks 600m Collegiate Record (Kind Of)
Saturday was apparently the day to break off-distance records, as reigning NCAA 800 Outdoor champion Raevyn Rogers took down a 35-year-old 600m record with 1:26.3 in Seattle this afternoon. Unfortunately, it was run on an over-sized track so it won't officially count. Tweet your condolences to @TheROYALlife21.
For someone who ran 1:59 as a freshman, today’s performance is
6. Jenn Suhr A Timely Inhalation Away From Breaking Her Pole Vault World Record
5.03 WR. Oh so close...!! Just missed it, should have made it. Not satisfied with today's result 4.91m. #PoleVault pic.twitter.com/suoDtuPcmC
— Jenn Suhr (@JennSuhr) January 16, 2016
Reigning Olympic champion Jenn Suhr tweeted this photo of her near 5.03m leap, and the internet let out a collective “oooohhhhhh” as is customary of field event misses like these. As far as silver linings go, the 33-year-old already owns the indoor World record of 5.02m set in 2013, and more importantly, looks incredibly fit with still two months until Portland. Her 4.91m clearing is light years ahead of what anyone else is jumping right now.
7. 15-Year-Old Tyrese Cooper Is An Animal
They don’t call him Smoke for nothing. The All-Galaxy talent that is Tyrese Cooper has arrived in the high school track world, which means you can wave bye bye to plenty of prep sprint records to come. The same kid who ran 20.94 (!!!) and 46.44 (!!!) as a middle schooler last summer was up to his usual Smoke-like ways today in Arkansas, setting two freshman national records of 21.54 and 47.97 in only the prelims.
Watch both races here:
WATCH: Tyrese Cooper breaks his SECOND Fr Nat'l Record of the day!! 21.54 in 200m Prelims==>https://t.co/cDmz2mO5Xa pic.twitter.com/Fhe2PLXdjo
— MileSplit US (@milesplit) January 16, 2016
8. Raven Saunders Can Throw Heavy Objects Super Far
Two ladies with two different spellings of Raven (or Raevyn) make today’s list, with defending NCAA shot put champ Raven Saunders rounding out the top eight with her 18.67m World lead today in Lexington. That’s a new school record at Ole Miss for the new Rebel, who formerly attended Southern Illinois.
Congrats to @GiveMe1Shot, the first Rebel (male or female) to break 60 ft in the shot. OM, meet & facility record. pic.twitter.com/PgX8rReZQV
— Ole Miss Track&Field (@OleMissTrack) January 16, 2016
Coincidentally, Raven wins a close battle with Raevyn for best Twitter handle, because @GiveME1Shot has gotta be the most perfect handle out there for a shot putter.