Weekend Track Results And Recap

Outside of the amazing effort of Dathan Ritzenhein on Friday, there was plenty of track and field action over the weekend. Check out the USATF’s recap of the weekends events including races by Tyson Gay, Allyson Felix and LaShawn Merritt.

Source: USATF

USATF News & Notes, Volume 9, Number 44

Led by Tyson Gay, LaShawn Merritt, Dwight Phillips, Carmelita Jeter and Allyson Felix, U.S. athletes won 12 of the 20 events contested Monday at the Aviva Grand Prix in Gateshead, England.

2009 World Outdoor Championships silver medalist Tyson Gay got back on the winning track by finishing first in the men’s 100 meters in 10.15 seconds. Gay won the race convincingly over runner-up Craig Pickering (GBR, 10.32) and third-place finisher Mario Forsythe (JAM – 10.35). Competitors ran into a -2.0 meters per second headwind.

2004 Olympic gold medalist and 2009 World Championships fourth-place finisher Shawn Crawford, and 2009 world champs bronze medalist Wallace Spearmon staged a spirited duel in the men’s 200 meters. Crawford barely made it across the finish line first for the win in 20.80 seconds, with Spearmon the runner-up in 20.81.

Reigning world and Olympic champion LaShawn Merritt continued his dominance in the men’s 400 meters by winning in 45.10 seconds. Martyn Rooney (GBR) was the runner-up in 45.47, and two-time Olympic 400m hurdles gold medalist Angelo Taylor finished third in 45.50.

Two-time USA Outdoor champion and 2009 World Outdoor Championships sixth-place finisher Nick Symmonds won the men’s 800 meters in 1 minute 47.30 seconds, with Kenya’s Geoffrey Kipkoech Rono the runner-up in 1:47.43.

2008 Olympian and 2009 world outdoor champs finalist Leonel Manzano was victorious in the men’s 1,500 meters, stopping the clocks in 3:41.10. Andrew Baddeley of Great Britain was the runner-up in 3:41.24.

Two-time World Outdoor Championships bronze medalist and 2008 Olympic Games silver medalist David Payne captured a narrow victory in the hotly contested men’s 110m hurdles. Payne finished first in 13.60 seconds, followed closely by William Sharman (GBR), who finished on Payne’s heels in 13.61.

In men’s field event action, three-time World Outdoor champion and 2004 Olympic gold medalist Dwight Phillips finished first in the long jump with a best leap of 8.39 meters/27 feet 6.50 inches.

2008 Olympic Games fourth-place finisher Derek Miles tied 2009 world champs finalist Viktor Chistiakov (RUS) for top honors in the pole vault with both clearing 5.70m/18-8.25, and 2009 world champs finalist and current world leader Andra Manson won the men’s high jump with a best clearance of 2.33 meters/7 feet 7.75 inches.

In women’s action, two-time World Outdoor Championships bronze medalist and reigning U.S. champion Carmelita Jeter was victorious in the 100 meters in 11.07 seconds. 2009 world champs finalist Debbie Ferguson McKenzie (BAH) was the runner-up in 11.26.

Three-time World Outdoor champion and two-time Olympic silver medalist Allyson Felix was the winner in the women’s 200 meters in 23.13 seconds, with Emily Freeman (GBR) the runner-up in 23.39. Also posting a win on the track was 2008 Olympian and 2009 world champs 1,500m fifth-place finisher Christin Wurth-Thomas, who finished first in the 800 meters in 2:01.22.

Cantwell posts world leader in Zagreb

2009 world champion Christian Cantwell continued to dominate the competition this outdoor season with his win in the men’s shot put Monday at the Zagreb 2009 Grand Prix Meeting in Zagreb, Croatia.

Cantwell’s winning toss of 22.16 meters/72-8.50 currently sits atop the 2009 world outdoor list, bettering his winning throw at the 2009 World Outdoor Championships of 22.03m/72-3.50, which is currently the second-best mark in the world this outdoor season.

Other U.S. winners in Zagreb include 2009 World Outdoor Championships finalist Darvis “Doc” Patton, who crossed the finish line first in the men’s 100 meters in 9.94 seconds (+0.6 mps).  Reigning U.S. champion Michael Rodgers was the runner-up in 9.97. Additionally, 2008 Olympic gold medalist Dawn Harper posted a win in the women’s 100m hurdles by crossing the finish line first in 12.67 seconds.

For more information on today’s meets in Gateshead and Zagreb, including the complete results, visit: www.iaaf.org.

Olympic shot putter Laut dies

2004 Olympic Games shot putter Dave Laut was found shot to death Friday night in the backyard of his home in Oxnard, Calif. He was 52.

A two-time NCAA shot put champion while at UCLA, Laut won a gold medal at the 1979 Pan American Games and the bronze medal at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. He was the U.S. Outdoor national champion in 1979, 1981, 1983 & 1985, and the Olympic Trials champion in 1984. Laut finished fourth in the shot put at the 1983 World Outdoor Championships in Helsinki, Finland.

Laut, who was born in Ohio and raised in Southern California, was the athletic director at Hueneme High School, a position he had held for one year. Prior to accepting the position as the school’s athletic director, Laut served as a teacher and track coach at Hueneme.

He is survived by his wife of 29 years, Jane, and their adopted son, Michael, 10. Funeral arrangements are pending.