Georgia jumpers soar to three titles, with Vashti Cunningham winning high jump at meet for fifth straight year

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Whether it was clearing hurdles, charging down the runway, blasting out of the starting blocks or surging in the final stretch of a middle-distance race, impressive speed was showcased in several areas Saturday at the 60th Mt. SAC Relays at El Camino College in Torrance, Calif.

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Brianna Rollins-McNeal set the meet record in the women’s 100-meter hurdles, running a world-leading 12.43 seconds, the third-fastest time in history by an athlete in April.

“I’m just staying relaxed. Just knowing I’ve been preparing for this each and every day. I’m doing 12-hurdle workouts and things like that to get me ready,” Rollins-McNeal said. “Having confidence like that and trusting in my coaching, that’s what gets me here and gets me driving forward as I compete each and every time.”

It was another significant hurdle cleared for Rollins-McNeal after serving a competition ban in 2017 following three missed drug tests, the latter two while returning home to Florida and during a trip to the White House for a reception for the U.S. Olympic team.

Rollins-McNeal must provide the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency with her whereabouts for random out-of-competition testing. Although she passed all her tests in 2016, her three missed tests in a 12-month span result in the ban.

It marked the fifth time in her career Rollins – the 2013 World champion and 2016 Olympic gold medalist – ran under 12.45. Only world record holder Keni Harrison has more by an American with 10.

“I came in this year with the same mindset as 2013, only with a little bit more motivation,” Rollins-McNeal said. “Having that 2017 season taken away from me was a big upset for me. I was looking so forward to that season because it was like the next year off being an Olympic champion and I wanted to capitalize on that. Just having that taken away, I was so motivated to come out here and do the best that I can this year and try to be on top of my game.”

Ronnie Baker became the first male sprinter in meet history to run wind-legal sub-10 efforts in consecutive years, following his 9.99 performance last year with a world-leading 9.97.

“The fact that I came out here in the first meet of the season and PR’d, just like I did last year with a wind-legal time, I’m super ecstatic,” Baker said. “To be one of the guys to do that is amazing.”

Baker joined Mike Marsh as the only American to produce multiple wind-legal sub-10 clockings in April during his career. Ato Boldon, representing Trinidad and Tobago, was the only other athlete to achieve the feat twice at the Mt. SAC Relays, running 9.93 in 1996 and 9.86 in 1998.

Baker returned later to win his section of the 200 in 20.62, with only former Texas A&M standout Fred Kerley running faster in the following section at 20.48. Kerley also contributed to victory for a U.S. all-star team in the 4x400 in 3:05.92.

Following her wind-aided 10.97 effort March 24 in the Power Five Trailblazer Challenge at USC, Trojans freshman Twanisha Terry ran a wind-legal 10.99 in the women’s 100, the first global sub-11 mark this season that was not wind aided. There were six wind-aided sub-11 performances at the 91st Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays and two from the Power Five Trailblazer Challenge.

“When I (ran) 10.97, knowing it was wind-aided, when people asked what’s my (best) time, I didn’t really them because it was wind-aided,” said Terry, who equaled the No. 4 World U20 performer in history, second among Americans only behind a 10.98 in 2015 from Candace Hill.

“But everyone was telling me, if you ran 10.97, that’s 10.97, wind-aided or not, so I started to accept that and my goal was to decrease each meet. I came in confident, but not expecting to go 10.99. I knew I was going to run fast and hopefully PR, but I didn’t expect 10.99.”

Terry also anchored USC to a program-record 42.57 in the 4x100 relay, defeating Pac-12 rival Oregon (42.93) and a U.S. all-star team (42.94) that included Allyson Felix on its second leg. Without USC competing, Oregon won the 4x400 in 3:31.93.

San Diego State senior Ashley Henderson rebounded from a runner-up finish to Terry in the 100 in 11.06 to win the 200 in 22.66, No. 11 in the world this year.

USC sophomore Michael Norman ran the third-fastest time in meet history in the men’s 400, pulling away in the final stretch to run an outdoor-best 44.53, the second-fastest time in the world. Teammate Rai Benjamin took second in 44.74, elevating him to No. 6 in the world this season.

“I wasn’t really focused on the record, I just wanted to come out here, open up and execute the race properly,” said Norman, who produced the fastest all-time mark by a collegiate athlete at the meet, just off the 1992 record of 44.45 by Steve Lewis.

“Looking at this race, I can already tell I have a lot of stuff to work on, so I’m looking forward to seeing what the rest of the season holds. I feel like I didn’t run a great race pattern and I paid for it the last 200 of the race.”

Kaela Edwards ran the fastest 800 time by an American this year with a personal-best 2:01.06, pulling away from reigning NCAA Indoor champion Sabrina Southerland of Oregon (2:01.44) and Stephanie Brown (2:01.71) in the final 75 meters.

“It always feels good to have some gas going into that last 200, but I was actually feeling kind of anxious and as the race was playing out, I kind of wish I had been a little bit faster,” Edwards said. “But I still felt strong finishing and that’s probably more to my benefit because of the athlete I am how it played out. I’m happy with it because I still came out with a PR.”

Dalilah Muhammad, the 2016 Olympic 400 hurdles champion and 2017 World silver medalist, used the meet as a dress rehearsal for the Drake Relays next week, clocking 55.25, the fastest time by an American this year.

Kristen Hixson set a meet record in the women’s pole vault, clearing 15-1 (4.60m) on her first attempt, before missing three tries at a personal-best 15-5 (4.70m).

Georgia freshman Lynna Irby became the eighth female athlete this season to run sub-51 in the women’s 400, including the third from the Southeastern Conference, prevailing over a deep field in 50.95.

It was a productive trip for Georgia in pursuit of the program’s first NCAA outdoor title after winning the Division 1 indoor championship March 10 in College Station, Texas.

Keturah Orji won her outdoor triple jump debut with a leap of 47-0.25 (14.33m), the third-best outdoor mark of her career and best distance since 2016.

“I think the biggest thing I feel good about are the fouls I had, just because I don’t think I’ve jumped that far in a while, so knowing that I still have it in me is a really good thing,” Orji said. “Consistency is good, but I want to get up above that 14.30m mark. Knowing that I had a bigger foul, it’s really positive looking toward the future and knowing I have that in me.”

Former Agoura CA star Tara Davis shined in her home state, winning the long jump with a leap of 21-9 (6.63m) into a -2.1 mps headwind. Reigning NCAA indoor and outdoor champion Kate Hall took third for the Bulldogs at 21-1.25 (6.43m).

“All my jumps were really high and really far, so I’m happy to see where it’s going,” Davis said. “It’s really cool to come back home and compete with my home crowd and my parents in the stands again. I was just really excited to be back home.”

Three-time NCAA high jump runner-up Tatiana Gusin, a fifth-year senior for the Bulldogs, placed third against American professionals Vashti Cunningham and Liz Patterson, taking over the collegiate lead at 6-2 (1.88m). Cunningham won for the fifth year in a row, twice in high school and the past three since turning pro, clearing 6-3.25 (1.91m) and Patterson cleared 6-2 (1.88m) but had fewer misses than Gusin.

Keenon Laine won the men’s high jump for Georgia with a 7-4.25 (2.24m) clearance and teammate Denzel Comenentia prevailed in the men’s shot put with a 65-8.75 (20.03m) effort.

Illinois senior David Kendziera won the men’s 110 hurdles (13.47) and took second in 400 hurdles in 49.39 behind Jamaican star Shawn Rowe (49.13).

Mexico’s Jesus Tonatiu Lopez prevailed in the men’s 800 in 1:47.07, taking advantage of a slower pace to hold off Clayton Murphy (1:47.22) and Erik Sowinski (1:47.71). Bishop Shanahan PA senior Josh Hoey, competing unattached, ran 1:48.72.

Jarvis Gotch produced a wind-legal 27-1.75 (8.27m) effort to win the men’s long jump, with Donald Scott capturing the triple jump title following a wind-aided 55-9 (16.99m) effort.

Grand Valley State’s Tarasue Barnett won the women’s discus with a throw of 191-2 (58.27m) and Chase Ealey secured victory in the women’s shot put with a mark of 56-9.50 (17.31m).

Memphis’ Luke Vaughn won the men’s discus at 204 feet (62.18m) and Argentina’s German Chiaraviglio cleared 17-10.50 (5.45m) to win the men’s pole vault.