byLarry EderAshton Eaton is USA Track & Field athlete of the Week. After his superb WR this past weekend, USATF has given Ashton his well deserved kudos! Eaton continues to show that he is chasing a level in multi-events that will make him one of the top contenders for London 20102 and Daegu 2011!
INDIANAPOLIS
– Former University of Oregon great Ashton Eaton has been named USA
Track & Field’s Athlete of the Week after bettering his own indoor
heptathlon world record with an amazing two-day performance that
concluded Sunday in Tallinn, Estonia.
Eaton,
who the previous week defeated reigning Olympic decathlon champion
Bryan Clay and 2009 World decathlon champion Trey Hardee at the Millrose Multi Challenge at the 104th Millrose Games in New York, rode that momentum to a world record Sunday in the indoor heptathlon of 6,568 points.
Eaton’s performance
easily bettered his previous world record of 6,499 points set at last
year’s NCAA Indoor Championships, March 12-13, 2010, in Fayetteville,
Ark.
Eaton began the
competition Saturday by running a personal best 6.66 seconds in the 60
meters, which gave him an opening tally of 1,007 points. The next event was the long jump, where Eaton soared to 7.77 meters/25 feet 6 inches, which gave him 1,002 points.
The third event was
the shot put, where Eaton posted a personal best distance of 14.45m/47
feet 5 inches, which was worth 756 points. Day 1 concluded
with Eaton clearing 2.01m/6-7 in the high jump, which gave him a first
day total of 3,578 points, which was a 17-point improvement over his
world record setting effort in 2010.
Day 2 began with a
stellar effort in the 60m hurdles, which saw Eaton set a combined events
indoor world record of 7.60 seconds, which added 1,085 points to his
total.
Eaton matched his
personal best when he cleared 5.20m/17-0.75 in the pole vault for 972
points before concluding his world record effort with his right fist
raised over the final 30 meters of the 1,000m run that he completed in
2:34.74 (933 points).
Now in its tenth
year, USATF’s Athlete of the Week program is designed to recognize
outstanding performers at all levels of the sport. USATF names a new
honoree each week and features the athlete on the USATF website.
Selections are based on top performances and results from the previous
week.
Winners: January 5, Bill
Tribou; January 12, Tyler Sorensen; January 20, Josh Cox; January 26,
Ben Shorey; February 2, Ashton Eaton; February 9, Ashton Eaton.
WEEK IN REVIEW — JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 6 (From USATF Statistician Glen McMicken)
OLIVER INCHES AWAY FROM 60H AR
Coming off a
2010 season that saw him go undefeated in the 110H and twice claim the
American Record in that event, David Oliver is off to a stellar start in
the 60H. Oliver zipped to a 7.37 at Stuttgart on Feb. 5 to come within
.01 of the AR and chop .07 off his pre-’11 best. He added a 7.40 in the
prelims.
BROWN MILES TO WORLD LEAD
Russell
Brown moved to No. 8 on the all-time U.S. performers list in the mile at
the New Balance GP in Boston with his 3:54.81 win. The former Stanford
runner, who represented the U.S. at the ’08 World Indoors, knocked
almost a second off his previous mile PR.
World-leading marks were also turned in by Calvin Smith (32.93 in the 300m) and Duane Solomon (1:17.00 in the 600m).
2005 World
100 champ Lauryn Williams hasn’t run indoors for five years, but she
showed that she is ready to battle again for top honors with an
American-leading 7.17 in the 60m.
Natasha
Hastings continued to show that a return to her college coach, Curtis
Frye, has done a world of good, romping to a 51.88 AL in the 400m. Jenny
Simpson (nee Barringer) ran a U.S.-leading 8:50.78 to finish second in
the 3,000m.
5K WORLD LEADER FOR SPENCE AT ARMORY
Shippensburg’s
Neely Spence, the daughter of 1991 World Championships marathon bronze
medalist and ’92 Olympic Trials marathon champion Steve Spence, lowered
her PR in the 5,000m to 16:01.09 at the New Balance Collegiate
Invitational at the Armory in New York to take over the world lead. 2010 World Junior bronze medalist and relay gold medalist Errol Nolan of Houston ran a U.S.-best 46.46 in the 400m.
PORTER MOVES UP WEIGHT LIST AGAIN
Former
Tennessee thrower Garland Porter moved to No. 5 on the all-time U.S.
35-pound weight throw performers list with his massive 24.40
meters/80-0.75 toss at the Findlay (Ohio) Open.
SUB-8 60H EFFORTS BY CARRUTHERS, LOLO
Danielle
Carruthers won the Moscow women’s 60H in 7.94 on Feb. 6, one day after
Lolo Jones ran that same time to place third at Stuttgart and establish
an American-leading mark. Also at Moscow, Jesse Williams moved atop the
U.S. men’s high jump list, clearing 2.31m/7-7 to take third.
IMPRESSIVE SOLO EFFORT BY CASEY IN MONTANA MILE
Montana
State’s Patrick Casey became the 352nd U.S. man to break 4:00 for the
mile, but he did it the hard way. Running virtually solo on a
gently-banked 200m track in Bozeman at almost 5,000 feet of altitude,
Casey pushed the pace from start to finish to stop the clock at 3:59.76.
ROUND-UP OF AMERICAN-LEADING MARKS
Field event
American leaders were turned in by veterans Jill Camarena and Shakeema
Welsch, as well as Nebraska’s Chantae McMillan. Camarena threw the shot
put 18.64m/61-2 at the Armory, while Welsch assumed the triple jump lead
with her 13.84m/45-5 at Virginia Tech. McMillan became the 10th-best
U.S. all-time pentathlon performer with her 4,378-point effort at the
Sevigne Invitational in Lincoln.
For more information on USA Track & Field, visit: www.usatf.org
About USA Track & Field
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for track & field, long-distance running and race walking in the
United States. USATF encompasses the world’s oldest organized sports,
the World’s #1 Track & Field Team, the most-watched events at the
Olympics, the #1 high school and junior high school participatory sport,
and more than 30 million adult runners in the United States: www.usatf.org.
