Preview Notes - John Jacobs Invitational/Mt. SAC Relays
4/17/2015 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field, Cross Country
This Week: Mt. SAC Relays & John Jacobs Invitational
DATE(s): Thursday-Saturday, April 16-18, 2015
LOCATION: Mt. SAC - Walnut, Calif.; John Jacobs Invitational - Norman, Okla.
VENUE: Mt. SAC - Hilmer Lodge Stadium; John Jacobs Invitational - John Jacobs Track & Field Facility
TWITTER: @AlabamaTrack
LIVE RESULTS: Mt. SAC - www.mtsacrelays.com; John Jacobs Invitational - www.cfpitiming.com
TV/VIDEO STREAMING: N/A
The University of Alabama track & field team will compete in two major competitions this week. On Thursday and Friday, nine Alabama athletes (7 women, 2 men) will compete in middle distance and distance races at the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, Calif. On Saturday, 39 athletes will travel to Norman, Okla., to compete in the John Jacobs Invitational hosted by the University of Oklahoma. While the Mt. SAC Relays is an "open" meet, the John Jacobs Invitational will feature seven men's teams and eight women's teams. In Norman, the Tide is set to compete against athletes from Abilene Christian, Barton County (Kan.) Community College, Central Oklahoma, North Texas, Missouri State (women) and Wichita State.
At Mt. SAC, action begins Thursday night with Parker Deuel in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase while Allison Gregg and Alison Ringle compete in the women's 10,000 meters. On Friday, Kimberley Ficenec will go in the women's 800 meters (4:30 p.m. CT), followed by Katelyn Greenleaf and Meropi Panagiotou competing in separate sections of the women's 5,000 meters late on Friday night.
The Tide will travel 39 athletes (19 women, 20 men) to Norman with competitors slated to compete in 26 individual events and three relays. Tide senior Alex Amankwah will be racing in his second 800-meter race of the season. In his first race of the 2015 outdoor season, Amankwah shattered his personal best in the event, running 1 minute, 45.91 seconds, to win at the Florida Relays. That time is the third-fastest time in Alabama history and is currently ranked No. 2 in the event for the NCAA and the SEC so far in 2015.
Alabama sophomore Quanesha Burks will compete in the long jump, an event in which she is the second-ranked athlete in both the NCAA and the SEC this year. In her first outing in the event at the Alabama Relays in March, Burks recorded a leap of 21 feet, four inches, to set a new personal best, as well as claim the No. 2 spot on the Alabama all-time list in the event.
The Tide's last team appearance was on Friday, April 10, at the Border Clash hosted by Mississippi State in Starkville, Miss. Alabama claimed wins in 11 events and recorded three performances that rank among the school's all-time top 10 in three different events. Burks recorded another long jump mark that ranks among the best in Alabama history. The sophomore jumped 20-5 3/4, the eight-best jump in Tide history. With that mark, Burks became the owner of five of the top 10 marks in Alabama history.
Sophomore Alex Gholston also rewrote the Tide history book with a time of 53.37 seconds in the women's 400 meters, winning the event en route to claiming the seventh-best time on Alabama's all-time performance list. Lakan Taylor, another sophomore, finished as the top collegiate in the pole vault, jumping 14 feet for the first time in her career outdoors.
"We are really looking to improve on our performances from last weekend as we head to the John Jacobs Invitational. There were a lot of positive performances from last week's meet, but I know that this team is capable of better marks and pushing to record better times. I think this will be a great meet to do that. We have this meet this weekend and then we have an off week to prepare for final exams, so the athletes are looking for great performances this week."
Lakan Taylor (So.)
Women's Pole Vault (Saturday, 12 p.m. CT)
- Alabama sophomore Lakan Taylor is becoming a dominant force in the pole vault ranks.
- In 2014, her first year with the Tide, Taylor qualified for the outdoor NCAA national championship in the pole vault, earning second team All-America Honors with a 13th-place finish.
- The Tide sophomore qualified for the indoor national championship meet where she recorded a sixth-place finish with her second-best career jump of 14-1 1/4.
- Taylor has set a new outdoor personal best in her last two appearances in the pole vault. In her most recent outing, the sophomore cleared 14 feet (4.27m) for the first time in an outdoor competition.
- She currently has an overall personal best in the event of 14-1 3/4 (4.31m).
- The sophomore currently ranks 10th in the NCAA and fourth in the SEC for 2015.
- The Alabama men's track & field team ranked No. 10 in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division I National Team Computer Rankings for the first week of the season released April 13.
- The Tide women dropped one spot in the rankings from 18th to 19th.
- Alabama's two returning NCAA individual champions from 2014, senior sprinter Remona Burchell and sophomore thrower Hayden Reed, were both among an elite group of collegiate athletes listed among the preseason favorites for consideration for the 2015 Bowerman Trophy, collegiate track and field's highest honor.
- Burchell, the reigning indoor 60-meter and outdoor 100-meter NCAA champion is among 10 members of the award's Watch List announced earlier this week.
- Reed, the 2014 NCAA and USATF men's discus champion, received votes but ranked just outside the top 10 on the Preseason Watch List for The Bowerman.
- Alabama senior sprinter Remona Burchell has emphatically asserted herself as collegiate track's top female sprinter, having won the last three NCAA sprint titles: the 2014 indoor 60-meter dash, the 2014 outdoor 100 meters, and the 2015 indoor 60.
- In her lone 2015 outdoor appearance to date, Burchell posted a time of 11.04 in the 100 meters, the second-fastest wind legal performance of her career, to finish second and post the No. 2 time in the world this season at the Pepsi Florida Relays.
- Burchell and Arkansas distance runner Dominique Scott were co-recipients of the 2015 SEC Runner of the Year honor for indoor track & field by virtue of a vote of the conference's head coaches.
- Burchell also is the NCAA South Region Women's Track Athlete of the Year by the USTFCCCA.
- Burchell set a collegiate record in the 60-meter dash (7.08 seconds) on Feb. 28 at the SEC Indoor Championships.
- The 2014 NCAA indoor 60-meter champion and the 2014 NCAA outdoor 100-meter champion, Burchell ran the second-fastest 60 run in the world to date on Feb. 28 and, dating back to her 7.11 last year at altitude to win the NCAA title in Albuquerque, N.M., she now has two of the five fastest times in collegiate history.
- Burchell has posted the five fastest 60-meter dash times in Alabama history and owns 11 of the 13 fastest times on the Crimson Tide's all-time list.
- She started her 2015 season with a 7.28 in the 60 prelims on Jan. 24 at Vanderbilt, then followed up with a 7.25 in the final to win the event.
- On Jan. 31 at Albuquerque, Burchell ran a pedestrian 7.34 in the preliminary heat before blazing to victory in the final in 7.20.
- On Feb. 13 at Fayetteville, Burchell ran 7.25 in the prelims, 7.17 in the semis, then blazed a 7.14 to win the final.
- The Jamaican has virtually re-written the all-time Crimson Tide top 10 in the 60.
- Many do not know that Burchell ran in pain for much of the 2014 season with an injury that prevented her from running curves, but she is healthy this season.
- Sophomore thrower Hayden Reed stunned the track world last June with convincing victories in the discus at the 2014 NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore., and two weeks later at the USA Track & Field Championships, where he defeated an open field of competitors consisting of the best throwers in the nation regardless of age.
- In his first outdoor appearance of the 2015 season, Reed won the discus at the John Mitchell Alabama Relays on March 21. His best throw of the day was 196-6, a mark that was almost five feet farther than the next competitor in the field.
- After his breakout 2014 season, Reed finished the 2014 season ranked as America's No. 1 discus athlete.
- Reed became the first man since Kamy Keshmiri in 1990 to win the NCAA and USA titles in the discus in the same year.
- Reed, who won the NCAA crown with his final throw at the Outdoor Championships in early June, had a throw of 62.19 meters (204 feet) on his second attempt at the USATF Championships in late June, and that effort held up throughout the rest of the competition.
- His best throw of the 2014 season was a 209-1 effort on May 17 at the SEC Outdoor Championships in Lexington, Ky., a performance that earned a second-place finish for Reed.
- His winning effort at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore., went 205 feet, 10 inches.
- Alabama senior Alex Amankwah will make his second appearance of the year in the 800 meters at the John Jacobs Invitational.
- The senior shattered his previous personal best in the outdoor 800 meters at the Pepsi Florida Relays, winning the competition with a meet record and NCAA-leading time of 1:45.91.
- Amankwah's best indoor 800-meter time of 1:46.86 on Jan. 24 at the Vanderbilt Invitational earned Amankwah the Southeastern Conference's Men's Runner of the Week honor on Jan. 27.
- A native of Ghana who immigrated to the United States and attended high school in Los Angeles, Calif., Amankwah bettered Ghana's men's national record with the performance that broke an 11-year-old Crimson Tide record set in 2004 by Peter Etoot, crossing the line .04 faster than Etoot's previous standard (1:46.90).
- The Tide senior finished sixth in the 800-meters at the indoor NCAA championships with a time of 1:48.03.
- Tide newcomer Cam Hudson has emerged as one of Alabama's top sprinters and jumpers this season.
- A transfer from East Carolina who was the 2014 Conference USA outdoor men's long jump champion (25-8; 7.82m), Hudson finished the indoor season ranked among the 2015 collegiate top 20 in the long jump (7th; 7.84m) and the 60-meter dash (15th, 6.63).
- Hudson also is a key part of Alabama's 4x400-meter relay, running the second leg on the unit that broke the indoor school record with a 3:06.05 clocking on Feb. 14 at Fayetteville, Ark.
- Hudson earned 1st-team All-America honors for the first time in his collegiate career at the 2015 NCAA Indoor Championships He also ran the 60-meter dash at the championships, finishing with the 12th fastest time in the preliminaries of the event.
- Crimson Tide sophomore Jeremiah Green posted a season best in the triple jump of 53 feet even en route to finishing fourth at the Pepsi Florida Relays on April 3.
- The sophomore posted the No. 6 and 7 marks in Alabama history with his Florida Relays performance, as well as the third-longest jump in the SEC and fifth-longest leap in the NCAA in 2015.
- The Tide sophomore will compete in the triple jump at the John Jacobs Invitational in hopes of improving on his current season best of 53 feet.
- Green finished third at the SEC Indoor Championships with his best jump of the season to date, an effort of 52-10 1/4 (16.11m).
- Green won SEC Freshman Field Athlete of the Year honors in 2014.
- The 2014 SEC indoor champion is already one of the top triple jump athletes in Alabama history.
- Green's overall personal best in the event is 53-5 1/2 (16.29m) set at the 2014 SEC Indoor Championships.
- Alabama junior Justin Fondren continues his standout season, competing in the high jump at the John Jacobs Invitational on April 18.
- So far in the 2015 outdoor season, Fondren has a best clearance of 7-1 posted at the Pepsi Florida Relays. His career best in the event is 7-3 set in 2014.
- Fondren cleared an indoor career-best of 7-3 (2.21m) at the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark., on Feb. 14 of this year.
- The junior tied for second at the 2015 SEC Indoor meet at 7-2 1/4 (2.19m).
- Fondren has consistently ranked among the SEC's top high jumpers throughout his collegiate career.
- This season, Fondren and his coach, jumps legend Dick Booth, are hoping to see the Oxford, Miss., native become one of the nation's leaders in the event.
- Fondren earned All-America honors in 2014 by placing fifth at the NCAA Outdoor Championships last June.
- He cleared 7-0 1/4 at the 2015 NCAA indoor championships on March 14 to finish 12th in the event overall.
- Alabama sophomore Quanesha Burks is one of the nation's top athletes in the women's long jump.
- The sophomore currently owns four of Alabama's all-time performances in the long jump, including the No. 2 ranking in Tide history.
- Burks claimed the No. 2 spot in Alabama history with a personal-record leap of 21-4 at the Crimson Tide Invitational on March 28 of this year.
- So far in 2015, Burks' jump of 21-4 ranks as the No. 2 jump in both the SEC and the NCAA.
- Burks's performance at the April 10, Border Clash also resulted in a mark that ranked on the Alabama all-time performance list.. The sophomore's leap of 20-5 3/4 was the eight-best mark recorded in Tide history.
- With her Border Clash performance, Burks became the owner of half of Alabama's top 10 marks of all time.
- In 2014, her first year with the Tide, Burks qualified for the outdoor NCAA national championship in the long jump and made an appearance as the first leg of Alabama's 4x100-meter relay team at the national meet.
- Burks finished 18th at the NCAA outdoor championships, while aiding the 4x100-meter relay team to a sixth-place finish overall to earn All-America honors.
- A sophomore from Fort Worth, Texas, Lakan Taylor is beginning to position herself as one of the top women's pole vaulters in Alabama history along with making a run at the upper echelon of the collegiate ranks.
- Taylor won the Crimson Tide Invitational pole vault competition, which was the sophomore's first outdoor appearance in the event. She jumped 13-4 1/4.
- The sophomore set a new outdoor personal best at the Pepsi Florida Relays, clearing 13-11 1/4 to finish as the top collegiate competitor in the event and claim the eighth-highest clearance in Alabama history.
- Taylor currently ranks fourth in the SEC and 10th in the NCAA in pole vault so far in 2015.
- On Jan. 31, Taylor achieved a new indoor personal best with a clearance of 14 feet, 1 3/4 inches (4.31 meters) to win the event at the New Mexico Team Invitational in Albuquerque, N.M. Taylor has improved consistently over the course of the indoor season, taking top collegian honors at the Vanderbilt Invitational in Nashville, Tenn., on Jan. 24 (13-9 1/4; 4.20m) followed by wins at New Mexico (Jan. 31) and Nebraska (Feb. 7) after opening the season fifth at the Auburn Invitational in Birmingham on Jan. 17 (12-7 1/2; 3.85m).
- Junior Anna Rawles had a standout performance at the Florida Relays with a season-best clearance that matched her personal record, entering the competition at 12-1¾ and clearing that bar on her third attempt.
- Rawles made another third attempt clearance at 12-7½, then cleared her standing personal best of 13-1½ on her second jump.
- The performance by Rawles ranks fifth in the SEC in 2015
- Senior All-American Remona Burchell blazed to her second NCAA 60-meter championship on March 14 in Fayetteville, Ark., after posting a time of 7.12. With the win, she became Alabama's first repeat NCAA individual champion.
- Burchell, who set the collegiate record at 7.08 at the SEC Indoor Championships, bettered the rest of the field at the NCAA meet by 9/100ths of a second. USC's Ky Westbrook clocked a 7.21 for second place while Jasmine Todd of Oregon was third with a 7.22. Burchell's 7.12 in finals marked the sixth-fastest 60 time in collegiate history and third-fastest school history.
- Sophomore Lakan Taylor also earned All-America honors, taking sixth in the pole vault by clearing a height of 14 feet, 1 ¼ inches.
- Junior Cameron Hudson ended up seventh overall, earning All-America honors and two points for the Tide in the team standings. Hudson's best mark was a 24-foot, 11 3/4-inch (7.61 meters), effort on his third attempt.
- Alex Amankwah took sixth in the finals of the 800-meters with a time of 1:48.03, earning All-America honors.
- Jeremiah Green was ninth in the triple jump by leaping 52 feet, 2 inches, on his second attempt.
- The Crimson Tide women finished 17th in the team standings with 13 points, while the Tide men took 38th with five points. Arkansas won the women's meet with 63 points while the Oregon men took first 74 points.
- Twelve Alabama athletes who competed at the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., earned All-America honors based on their performances, the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced.
- The four athletes combined for a total of 16 All-America citations overall, including four first-team honors by four athletes led by women's sprinter Remona Burchell earning first-team honors for her victory in the 60 meters.
- Other first-team honorees included women's pole vaulter Lakan Taylor, Alex Amankwah (men's 800 meters) and Cameron Hudson (men's long jump).
- Seven athletes earned second-team All-America honors: Justin Fondren (men's high jump), Jeremiah Green (men's triple jump), Jacopo Lahbi (men's 800 meters), Alex Amankwah (men's 4x400 relay), Steven Gayle (men's 4x400 relay), Cameron Hudson (men's 4x400 relay) and Quincy Smith (men's 4x400 relay).
- Four athletes on Alabama's distance medley relay received honorable mention: Matt Airola, Robbie Farnham-Rose, Steven Gayle and Andrew Harris.
- Amankwah and Hudson earned both first-team and second-team honors in different events.
- Sprinter Steven Gayle earned second-team honors and honorable mention in two different relays.
- First-Team honors were given to those who placed in the championships' top eight in an event or were a member of an eight-person final.
- Second-Team honors were earned by those who finished between ninth and 16th place.
- Any qualifiers who did not finish or were disqualified from their event were designated Honorable Mention.
- In addition, 14 men and four women earned honorable mention honors.
- Overall, the Southeastern Conference led the way in total first-team honorees both in the men's (45) and women's (61) competitions, with the Big 12 both second in the men's division with 33 and the ACC second in the women's division with 31.
First Team
Men - Alex Amankwah (800 meters) and Cameron Hudson (long jump)
Women - Remona Burchell (60 meters) and Lakan Taylor (pole vault)
Second Team
Men - Alex Amankwah (4x400 relay), Justin Fondren (high jump), Steven Gayle (4x400 relay), Jeremiah Green (long jump), Cameron Hudson (60 meters and 4x400 relay), Jacopo Lahbi (800 meters) and Quincy Smith (4x400 relay)
Honorable Mention
Men - Matt Airola (distance medley relay), Robbie Farnham-Rose (distance medley relay), Steven Gayle (distance medley relay) and Andrew Harris (distance medley relay)
- Both the men's and women's rosters of the 2015 Alabama track & field team are predominantly populated by student-athletes classified as redshirt sophomores or younger in classification.
- A total of 56.4 percent (22 of 39) of the Tide women's roster consists of either freshmen or sophomores, while 52.2 percent (24 of 46) of the men's roster is either freshmen or sophomores.
- Overall, 55.4 percent (46 of 85) members of the current Crimson Tide team are either freshmen or sophomores.
- Eight University of Alabama athletes and three relay foursomes ended the 2014 world track & field season ranked among the best on the final United States and/or World Lists for top performances in the sport by Track & Field News magazine. The magazine, known internationally as the foremost authority on the sport, produced its top 10 World and United States rankings as part of its review of the entire 2014 athletics season in the February 2015 issue.
- Sprinter Remona Burchell of Jamaica and thrower Hayden Reed of the USA were the most prominent members of the 2014 Crimson Tide team on the year-end lists, but by no means were they the only athletes to earn mention among World or US leaders in their respective events over the course of the entire 2014 calendar year.
- Burchell, winner of the NCAA indoor women's 60-meter title and the NCAA outdoor women's 100-meter championship, ended the year with the 13th-fastest 100-meter dash time with her best clocking of 11.03 set at the NCAA East Regional in Jacksonville, Fla., on May 30. Burchell actually posted a wind-aided time of 10.95 seconds in the semi-finals of the 100 at the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Ore., on June 11, but that mark does not officially count for record-keeping purposes as it was above the legal wind speed allowable. However, that time ranked as the fastest wind-aided mark in the world in 2014, and the fifth-fastest 100 run under any conditions in 2014.
- After a breakout season in which he captured the NCAA and USATF discus championships, Reed finished the 2014 season ranked as America's No. 1 discus athlete. Reed became the first man since Kamy Keshmiri in 1990 to win the NCAA and USA titles in the discus in the same year. Reed, who won the NCAA crown with his final throw at the Outdoor Championships in early June, had a throw of 62.19 meters (204 feet) on his second attempt at the USATF Championships in late June, and that effort held up throughout the rest of the competition. His best throw of the 2014 season was a 209-1 effort on May 17 at the SEC Outdoor Championships in Lexington, Ky., a performance that earned a second-place finish for Reed. His winning effort at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore., went 205 feet, 10 inches.
- Several other athletes from the 2014 Crimson Tide team ended the year among the world or American leaders in a variety of events.
- Sprinter Diondre Batson, who won the NCAA indoor men's 200-meter title in March, ended an injury-plagued senior season with the 27th-fastest 100-meter time in the world for 2014, a 10.04 on May 3 at a meet in Starkville, Miss. Batson's 20.32 clocking in the 200 meters at the NCAA Indoor Championships at Albuquerque, N.M., placed him 33rd on the 2014 final World List in the event.
- Thrower Charodd Richardson made remarkable improvements in the hammer and weight throw in 2014. Richardson ended up 37th overall on the U.S. List in the men's hammer via his personal best of 213-6 (65.07m).
- High jumper Justin Fondren was 30th on the U.S. list in the event via a 7-3 (2.21m) clearance he made in Tuscaloosa on April 5.
- In the women's pole vault, Alexis Paine completed her outstanding collegiate career during the indoor season with a school-record clearance of 14-3 1/2 (4.35m) on February 7 in Birmingham. That effort put Paine 21st on the final 2014 U.S. List in the event.
- As a freshman, Quanesha Burks ended the 2014 season tied for 22nd on the U.S. List in the long jump with a best of 20-11 1/4 (6.38m) set during the indoor season.
- Nia Barnes finished 2014 at 34th on the U.S. List in the hammer with a best of 203-9 (62.11m) set at the NCAA East Regional meet in Jacksonville, Fla., on May 29.
- The Crimson Tide relay teams also made the lists. Alabama's men's 4x100-meter relay quartet of Alex Sanders, Diondre Batson, Akeem Haynes and Dwight Davis was 35th on the 2014 World List with a time of 38.91 set on April 5 in Tuscaloosa.
- Alabama's men's 4x400 relay unit of Dwight Davis, Alex Amankwah, Jacopo Lahbi and Ken Taylor was 40th on the 2014 U.S. List with a clocking of 3:07.09 set at the SEC Outdoor Championships on May 18 at Lexington, Ky.
- The Tide women's 4x100 quartet of Quanesha Burks, Remona Burchell, Dominique Kimpel and Sarah Thomas was 34th on the 2014 World List with a 43.76 set on June 11 at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
The Tide takes a weekend off to prepare for final exams before traveling to Baton Rouge, La., for the LSU Invitational on May 2.
Get the latest information on the team by following @AlabamaTrack on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. General athletic news can also be found at UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and AlabamaAthletics on Facebook.
