Mark Maloney on Kentucky sports

The pre-season roster of athletes on the Women’s Watch List for The Bowerman is made up entirely of juniors and seniors.

The Bowerman is the most prestigious individual award for collegiate track and field. The men’s watch list was released Wednesday.

Three of the 10 women listed are from Texas A&M — sprinters Jessica Beard, Gabby Mayo and Jenebe Tarmoh. Mayo also hurdles.

The first women’s watch list of the season, with name, class, school, event(s) and hometown:

Joanna Atkins, sr., Auburn, sprints, Stone Mountain, Ga.
Jessica Beard, sr., Texas A&M, sprints, Euclid, Ohio
Ti’erra Brown, jr., Miami (Fla.), hurdles, Hampton, Va.
Semoy Hackett, jr., LSU, sprints, Scarborough, Trinidad & Tobago
Amber Kaufman, sr., Hawaii, jumps, San Jose, Calif.
Gabby Mayo, jr., Texas A&M, sprints/hurdles, Raleigh, N.C.
Sheila Reid, jr., Villanova, distance, Newmarket, Ontario, Canada
Jeneba Tarmoh, jr., Texas A&M, sprints, San Jose, Calif.
Brianne Theisen, sr., Oregon, combined events, Humboldt, Sask., Canada
Kim Williams, sr., Florida State, jumps, Kingston, Jamaica

Gay, Phillips among T&FN’s top 10 in world

Tyson Gay

Dwight Phillips

Lexington’s Tyson Gay finished fourth in Track & Field News magazine’s voting for Men’s Athlete of the Year. Former University of Kentucky competitor Dwight Phillips ranked ninth.

Kenyan middle-distance runner David Rudisha was a unanimous pick for the men’s award.

Croatian high-jumper Blanka Vlasic took women’s honors.

Other winners included hurdler David Oliver (U.S. men’s athlete), sprinter Allyson Felix (U.S. women’s athlete), Rudisha for his 800-meter world-record 1:41.01 (men’s performance of the year) and Polish hammer-thrower Anita Wlodarczyk for her world-record 256-11 (women’s performance).

After Rudisha, the men’s rankings saw Americans take the next three spots: Oliver, shot-putter Christian Cantwell and Gay. Gay’s long-time rival, Usain Bolt of Jamaica, finished 15th.

Felix was the top American woman, second to Vlasic.

Event-by-event world rankings had Gay first in the 100 meters and fourth in the 200 globally, 1-3 nationally, where he also was seventh in the 400.

Reese Hoffa

Danielle Carruthers

Phillips ranked No. 1 in the world and nation in the long jump, while Louisville native Reese Hoffa was second to Cantwell in the shot put.

Paducah Tilghman graduate Danielle Carruthers ranked fifth in the nation and ninth in the world in the women’s 100-meter hurdles.

Other men’s national rankings had St. Xavier graduate Bobby Curtis fourth in the 5,000 and 10,000, and Ballard graduate Ray Sharp fourth in the 50-kilometer walk.

Former UK standout Allison Grace ranked ninth nationally in the 10,000.

Of course, I’m talking about the indoor track and field season kicking into gear.

The University of Kentucky Invitational is set for Friday and Saturday inside Nutter Field House.

Along with UK, men’s and women’s teams from Eastern Kentucky, Kentucky State, Louisville, Western Kentucky, Middle Tennessee, Georgia Tech, Tennessee, Michigan State, Western Carolina and Alabama will compete. Florida A&M will compete in men’s events only. Central Florida, Marshall and Vanderbilt will send only women’s teams.

Friday’s competition, limited to the weight throws and triple jumps for men and women, plus men’s high jump and women’s pole vault, begins at 6 p.m.

Saturday’s schedule starts at 10:30 a.m. with the women’s high jump and long jump. The first track event, semifinals of the women’s 60-meter hurdles, is set for 12:30 p.m. The final event, the men’s 4-by-400-meter relay, is scheduled for 5:05 p.m.

First Bowerman Watch List released

The Bowerman Men’s Watch Committee, in conjunction with the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, released its first crop of candidates for collegiate track and field’s most prestigious award. All three of last season’s finalists have graduated.

The list of possible successors includes 2009 finalist German Fernandez and three sophomores. Washington State’s Jeshua Anderson is on the list for a record ninth time.

One, Alabama’s Kirani James, is scheduled to compete at UK this weekend.

The preliminary watch list, in alphabetical order, with athlete, year, school, event(s) and hometown:

Jeshua Anderson, sr., Washington State, hurdles, Woodlands, Calif.
Robby Andrews, soph., Virginia, distance, Englishtown, N.J.
Sam Chelanga, sr., Liberty, distance, Nairobi, Kenya
Charles Clark, sr., Florida State, sprints, Virginia Beach, Va.
Jeff Demps, soph./jr., Florida, sprints, Winter Garden, Fla.
German Fernandez, jr./soph., Oklahoma State, distance, Riverbank, Calif.
Mason Finley, soph., Kansas, throws, Salida, Colo.
Walter Henning, sr., LSU, throws, Kings Park, N.Y.
Kirani James, soph., Alabama, sprints, Gouyave, Grenada
Christian Taylor, jr., Florida, jumps, Fayetteville, Ga.

Kentucky connections on T&FN annual list

Tyson Gay at the Beijing Olympics.

Track & Field News magazine’s annual lists of Top 40 performers in the nation for the 2010 season is loaded with Kentucky connections. In addition to the top 40 nationals, T&FN tacks on a list of foreign collegians.

Event leaders included Lexington’s Tyson Gay in the men’s 100 and former UK competitor Dwight Phillips in the men’s long jump. Gay had six of the 10 fastest times by an American in 2010, including the top three. Phillips had the top 11 best jumps by an American last season, ranging from 27-9 1/4 to 27-2.

Here are the Kentucky connections listed.

WOMEN
100-meter hurdles — 5. Danielle Carruthers (Paducah Tilghman) 12.68.
Mile — (foreign collegian) Janet Jesang (WKU) 4:41.57.
3,000 — (foreign collegian) Janet Jesang (WKU) 9:11.09.
5,000 — 24. Allison Grace (UK) 15:49.10.
10,000 – 11. Allison Grace (UK) 32:54.99.
Half-marathon — 22. Allison Grace (UK) 74:20.
4-by-200 relay — 18. UK 1:35.23.
4-by-400 relay — 32. UK 3:35.14.
Shot put — 8. Ashley Muffet (UK) 57-3 1/2; 17. Jere’ Summers (Lvl.) 55-9 1/4; 36. Chinwe Okoro (Russell, Lvl.) 52-7 1/4.
Discus — 8. Jere’ Summers (Lvl.) 188-1; 13. Ashley Muffet (UK) 181-10; 32. Mary Angell (UK) 173-0; 37. D’Ana McCarty (Lvl.) 171-5.
Hammer throw — 11. Kristin Smith (UK) 212-7; 19. Jere’ Summers (Lvl.) 207-4; 29. D’Ana McCarty (Lvl.) 204-2; 40. Lindsey Cook (Lvl.) 195-9.
Javelin — 10. Dana Pounds Lyon (Lexington) 172-6.
Heptathlon — 22. Precious Nwokey (UK) 5,543.

MEN
100 — 1. Tyson Gay (Lafayette) 9.78; (foreign collegian) Rondel Sorrillo (UK) 10.19 (10.05 wind-aided).
200 — 1. (tie with Walter Dix) Tyson Gay (Lafayette) 20.29; (foreign collegians) Rondel Sorrillo (UK) 20.29; Gavin Smellie (WKU) 20:46.
400 — 7. Tyson Gay (Lafayette) 44.89.
800 — 36. Sharif Webb (UK) 1:47.64.
3,000 — 29. Bobby Curtis (St. Xavier) 7:57.28; (foreign collegian) Soufiani Bouchikhi (EKU) 7:59.20.
5,000 — 10. Bobby Curtis (St. Xavier) 13:18.97.
10,000 — 4. Bobby Curtis (St. Xavier) 27:33.38.
20K walk — 15. Ray Sharp (Ballard) 1:46:24.
50K walk — 4. Ray Sharp (Ballard) 4:31:04
3,000 steeplechase — (foreign collegian) Matt Hughes (Lvl.) 8:34.18.
4-by-100 relay — UK 39.62.
4-by-200 relay — 18. WKU 1:24.36; 21. UK 1:24.72.
4-by-400 relay — 34. WKU 3:06.99.
Triple jump — 19. Andre Black (Lvl.) 53-4 1/4.
Long jump — 1. Dwight Phillips (UK) 27-9 1/4; 23. Wesley Smith (Lvl.) 25-8; 28. Tone Belt (Lvl.) 25-6 1/4; (foreign collegian) Rudon Bastian (Lvl.) 25-10.
Discus — 10. Chase Madison (UK) 201-0; 22. Rashaud Scott (UK) 193-8; 28. Colin Boevers (UK) 192-1.
Shot put — 2. Reese Hoffa (Lvl. native) 72-8 1/2; 11. Jeff Chakouian (UK) 65-11; 29. Steve Hnat (Lvl.) 62-6 3/4.
High jump — 30. Grant Lindsey (UK) 7-2 1/2.