USA Track & Field — News and Notes – June 1, 2015 – Taiwo and Nwaba set multi-event personal bests at Götzis – Meb Keflezighi and Harriette Thompson set records at Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego

Taiwo and Nwaba set multi-event personal bests at Götzis

GÖTZIS, Austria — 2015 USATF Indoor champion Jeremy Taiwo set a new decathlon personal best of 8,303 points this weekend at the 41st Hypo-Meeting in Götzis, Austria. Taiwo (Renton, Washington) set personal bests in the long jump and discus throw as well, leaping 7.57m/24-10 and throwing the disc 43.16m/141-7.

Taiwo won the high jump and the 1,500 meters, a feat never completed at the Hypo Meeting before. Taiwo finished sixth overall and currently ranks seventh in the world in the decathlon.

2015 USATF Indoor runner-up Barbara Nwaba also turned in a personal best heptathlon in Götzis, scoring 6,342 points over the two-day meet to finish 11th. Nwaba (Los Angeles, California) also registered personal bests in the 200 meters (23.82) and 800 meters (2:07.37) this weekend.

2015 NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships entries announced

EUGENE, Oregon — The fields are set for the 2015 NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships, taking place at Historic Hayward Field Wednesday-Saturday, June 10-13.

The men of Florida and Oregon are practically tied heading into Eugene after a weekend of competition at the East and West Preliminary Rounds. The Oregon women are ranked atop the USTFCCCA poll heading into next weekend.

With the NCAA East and West Preliminary rounds completed, USTFCCCA takes you inside the numbers of this year’s #NCAATF.

Entry Lists posted for Diamond League meeting in Rome

ROME, Italy — The Diamond League continues to Rome where action takes place on Thursday, June 4 beginning at 11:45 a.m. ET. Entry lists were released Monday and the women’s 100-meter hurdles looks to be a showstopper, with 2015 sensation Jasmin Stowers taking on Olympians Dawn Harper-Nelson and Queen Harrison, recent IAAF World Challenge – Ostrava winner Sharika Nelvis and defending World champion Brianna Rollins.

Below are the U.S. athletes entered in the Golden Gala – Roma.

 

Meb Keflezighi and Harriette Thompson set records at Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego

SAN DIEGO, California — 2014 Jesse Owens Male Athlete of the Year, Meb Keflezighi, set pending American masters records over 10 miles and 15 km in his first masters half marathon at the Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego on Sunday, May 31. Keflezighi’s finishing time of 1:02:26 does not count towards the American masters record for the half marathon due to the drop in the last 5 km of the course, but his 10 mile (47:39) and 15 km (44:23) splits are viable for records. Keflezighi (San Diego, California) finished second overall behind Jordan Chipangama in Keflezighi’s first masters competition.

The oldest woman to run a marathon now belongs to San Diego native, Harriette Thompson. With an unofficial time of 7:24:36, Thompson (Charlotte, North Carolina) still holds the record of 7:07:42 in her age group she set back in 2014. At 92, Sunday was Thompson’s 16th marathon in 17 years.

Record fundraising results announced for 2015 LA Marathon

LOS ANGELES, California — LA MARATHON LLC announced a record breaking $4,019,747 cumulative funds raised to support 101 charities who participated in the 2015 ASICS LA Marathon. This is the largest amount of money raised since the marathon’s first year of charity affiliation in 1988.

The funds raised by the nonprofits in partnership with LA MARATHON LLC included over 4,500 charity-specific runners who participated in the ASICS LA Marathon, the ASICS LA Marathon charity relay, and the LA BIG 5K. It was also the third year in a row that overall registration for the ASICS LA Marathon sold out, with more than 26,000 registrants.

Charities whose fundraising efforts stood out include:

Team World Vision, The Dream Center and Team-In-Training make up the top three fundraisers and raised close to $1.1 million, combined.

Kitten Rescue is a volunteer-run organization devoted to finding loving homes for unwanted cats and kittens; Kitten Rescue raised over $75,000 to continue their mission-based work in Los Angeles.  

Lupus LA was able to leverage the LA BIG 5K to help their 130 charity runners raise over $95,000 to enable the organization to fund medical research focused on finding the causes of, and a cure for lupus.

P.S. Arts is dedicated to improving the lives of children by providing arts education to underserved public schools and communities. P.S. Arts surpassed both their number of runners and fundraising target.

Contributed by LA Marathon

Amanda Brooks
Marketing and Communications Manager
USA Track & Field
317.713.4690