Mike Kennedy's 2015 World Youth Championships Prospects-March 2 Update

2015 WORLD YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIPS (WYC)

At Cali, Colombia, July 15-19

2015 U.S. WORLD YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP TRIALS

At Benedictine University, Lisle, Illinois, June 30-July 1

Boys Report | Girls Report

March 2nd Report

To be eligible to compete you must 1) be a U.S. citizen with a valid passport; 2) be born in 1998 or 1999; and 3) have met two qualifying standards, one standard for the U.S. World Youth Championship trials and a second standard for the World Youth Championships (there are two separate standards and two different time frames when marks must be achieved). Those 2015 World Youth Standards can be found on the separate Boys List and Girls List. Those marks must be made between October 1, 2014 and July 1, 2015. The 2013 U.S. Trials standards for the World Youth Championships are listed and will be updated with the 2015 standards as soon as they are posted on the USATF web site (http://www.usatf.org/Events---Calendar/2015/World-Youth-Track---Field-Trials.aspx) in early 2015. The exact time frame for qualifying will also be established and will likely be between early July of 2014 and early June of 2015.

Second in a Series--Compiled by Mike Kennedy (e-mail mkentrk@aol.com )

INDOOR TRACK IN FULL SWING; OUTDOOR TRACK ON DECK

Jordan Geist, Sydney McLaughlin, Armand Duplantis and Ja'Mari Ward Lead the Way

After just over two months of competition, most of which as been indoors, field eventers have produced most of the headlines. Sophomore Jordan Geist of Knock (Saxonburg, Pa.) tops the shot put with a 66-0¾ at the SPIRE indoor series in Geneva (Oh.) This is almost five feet farther than the 61-4 he threw last year. Given a difference of about three feet between the weight of the high school shot and the lighter Youth shot, Geist is now a solid medal contender for the Cali, Colombia meet. In the 2013 World Youth championships, 67-6 ¾ was good enough for the bronze medal. Sophomore Sydney McLaughlin of Union Catholic (Scotch Plains, N.J.) has not competed in an event that she will try to make the U.S. team for the WYC but she has shown she is on track to make the U.S. team. It is just a question of which event. So far this year, she has run 37.49 for a national class record in the 300 that ranks No. 2 all-time and run nation-leading times of 53.72 for the 400 and 7.66 for the 55 hurdles. Freshman Armand Duplantis of Lafayette (La.) has broken the national freshman class pole vault record three times, most recently at 16-9 ¾. He will almost surely be at the WYC but in his case the question is which country he will represent since he has dual citizenship with the United States and Sweden. Ja'Mari Ward of Cahokia (Il.) has already bettered the IAAF qualifying standard in both the long jump and triple jump with best of 24-7 ¾ and 50-5. Both jumps would have qualified him for the WYC finals in 2013.

Geist is not the only quality boys' shot putter. Sophomore Adrian Piperi of The Woodlands (Tx.) at 61-8 and junior Isaiah Rogers of Campbell (Smyrna, Ga.) at 61-6¼, have set personal best. Piperi is also the leader in the discus at 178-2. Junior Sophie Rivera of Brentwood (St. Louis, Mo.) leads the girls shot at 50-6 ¼ indoors. Five other throwers are over 48-0 led by Meia Gordon of Cypress Creek (Houston, Tx.) at 48-11½. The U.S. uses the 4-kilo shot while the rest of the world uses the 3-kilo shot, which will be thrown at the WYC and U.S. trials. The difference in distance is about six feet. Rivera's best mark adjusted would have placed her fourth in 2013 WYC. Gordon is the discus leader at 150-0. Tara Davis of Agoura (Agoura Hills, Ca.) is the girls long jump leader at 19-10 and Kimani Rushing of Hallandale (Hallandale Beach, Fl.) is the triple jump leader at 40-6½ and has a 41-0¾ jump with no wind readings. Davis also has a best of 40-2 in the triple jump. Last year Vashti Cunningham, a junior at Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nv.) was the national outdoor high jump leader at 6-3 but she chose to pass on the World Junior (under 20) championships in Eugene (Or.), where her best would have placed her second. This fall, for the first time, she began an early fall preparation that culminated in a jump of 6-2 in February at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. That, and Cunningham's consistency, places the 6-4 national record within her grasp. Junior Darius Carbin of Mt. Pleasant (San Jose, Ca.) and sophomore Jacob Heitkamp of Syracuse (Nb.) lead the boys with WYC high jump qualifying height of 6-9. On the last day of February, sophomore Carson Dingler of First Presbyterian (Macon, Ga.) broke away from her U.S. competition in the pole vault with a 13-6 effort--a mark that would have been good enough for the bronze medal at the 2013 WYC.

Despite the space limitations of indoor running, a number of quality performances have take place. Junior Josephus Lyles of T.C. Williams (Alexandria, Va.), who had an outdoor best of 46.23 in the 400 last year, has developed amazing indoor range. He has bests of 6.30 in the 55 dash to tie for No. 5 in the U.S., 21.75 in the 200 to rank No. 14, 34.10 in the 300 meters to rank No. 9 and 64.24 to rank No. 2 at 500 meters. Anthony McFarland of DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.) is the leader at 60 meters with a 6.84. When using indoor track marks to qualify for the World Youth champion they must be run on flat floor tracks of 400 meters or less. All field event marks can be used to qualify. Junior Norman Grimes (Canyon, New Braunfels, and Tx.) has run 48.01 for 400 meters on a flat floor and 21.46 for 200 on a banked track. He also ranks No. 3 in the 60-meter hurdles at 7.82. After very limited action in 2013, a familiar name has returned to the prep track scene. Sophomore Lauren Williams, after sitting out last year while attending Long Beach Poly, has transferred to Oak Christian (Westlake Village, Ca.). She ranks No. 2 in the nation at 60 meters with a 7.40 and set a national class record of 23.39 in the 200 to rank sixth on the all-time high school indoor list. Both times came at the Simplot Games.

Junior Conor Lundy of Fordham Prep (Bronx, N.Y.) has shown great range in the boy's distances with marks of 2:28.43 for 1,000 meters, 4:12.97 for the mile, 8:26.55 for 3,000 meters and 9:05.14 for 3,200 meters. However he was beaten in the Boston Grande Prix mile by juniors Jack Salisbury of La Salle Academy (Providence, R.I.) at 4:08.76 and Aidan Tooker of Saratoga Springs (N.Y.) at 4:11.56. Junior Eric Van der Els of McMahon (Norwalk, Ct.) is the two-mile leader at 9:08.67. Junior Terrell Jackson of University (Memphis, Tn.) has dominated the boys 800 with times of 1:51.80 and 1:50.63--the latter on a flat floor track. Jackson has also run 49.37 indoors. Sophomore Samantha Watson (Rush Henrietta Sperry, Henrietta, Ca.) is the leader in the girls 800 with a flat floor time of 2:09.27. She also set a class record of 2:47.27 for 1,000 meters. Gabrielle Wilkinson of Friends Central (Philadelphia, Pa.) with a 2:09.56 win at the State meet. Olivia Sargent of Pennsbury (Fairless Hills, Pa.) is the leader at 1,500 with a 4:32.21 and the mile at 4:51.02. Both marks came in the Millrose mile. Hannah DeBalsi of Staples (Westport, Ct.) won the New England championship two-mile with a 10:26.09 that is almost 15 seconds faster then the next best time.

U.S. Trials Qualifying Information (a must-read)

The United States is the seven-time defending World Youth team champion. The U.S. Trials are scheduled in just under four months at Benedictine University in Lisle (Il.). The first two finishers in each event provided they have meet the IAAF World Youth championships standard will be placed in a pool and the U.S. team will be selected from that pool. Since 2001 there have been between 40 and 55 athletes selected, although in recent years the number has been between 40 and 43 athletes.

The first two finishers in each event at the U.S. Trials meet at Benedictine University (Lisle, Il.), provided they have meet the IAAF World Youth championship qualifying standard, will be placed in a pool and the team will be selected from that pool. The 2013 U.S. World Youth team was made up of 43 athletes. The USATF has fixed the size of recent teams at around 40, twenty of which are paid for by the IAAF. The general guideline that has been used in selecting the U.S. team has been a demonstrated ability to advance to the finals of the World Youth Championships. Those standards are much higher than the entry standards set by the IAAF. However, the tougher standards have resulted in between five and ten athletes, who have shown that ability to reach the World Youth Championship finals, not being selected. With the success of U. S. Youth-age athletes (born in 1998 or 1999) at last year at the IAAF World Junior championship in Eugene, there is a high likelihood that additional well deserving athletes might not be selected. An example of the success selection method, 2013 World Youth Championships saw 19 of 20 girls selected for the U.S. team made WYC finals. Unless the size of the 2015 team is increased, there is a high likelihood that U.S. will again deny deserving athletes the invaluable experiences that can only be gained in competitions such as the WYC.

Perhaps the most important thing that athletes can do is to be sure to have a U.S. passport valid through 2015. You must have a passport with you when you participate in the U.S. World Youth trials. You will not be able to get a passport at the U.S. trials. Be sure to allow at least six weeks from the time that you apply for a passport until it is sent to you. You can apply for a passport through the Post Office. Getting a passport is a long-term investment. It is good for 10 years and there is every reason to believe that athletes with the talent to qualify for the World Youth Championships will have need of a passport multiple times in the next 10 years.

A special note concerning the following events: 1,500 meters, 3,000 meters 2,000-meter steeplechase and 400-meter hurdles. All athletes must have a qualifying mark in these specific events to that meet the IAAF standards for entry into the World Youth Championships. You can not substitute 1,600, mile, 3,200, two-mile or 300-meter hurdles times to meet the IAAF standards. Because the distance standards are very tough, athletes are advised to compete in 1,500 and 3,000 races against college-open athletes. You can use times in those events to qualify. In the 100, 200, 100-meter hurdles and 110-meter hurdles plus the long jump and the triple jump, qualifying marks must be accompanied by wind readings of 2.0 meters per second or less. It should be noted that the hurdle heights at the U.S. Trials will be the heights at the WYC. The hurdle heights will be three inches shorter in the boys 110 and 400 hurdles and the girls 100 hurdles.

Although the World Youth Championships is an outdoor event, indoor marks may be used to qualify. However, the running events must take place on flat-floor tracks of 400 meters or less.

Here is the U.S.A. Track and Field website link for the U.S. Trials for the 2015 World Youth Championships.

http://www.usatf.org/Events---Calendar/2015/World-Youth-Track---Field-Trials.aspx

Here is a link to the 2013 U.S. Trials for the WYC that will give you an idea of what to expect in 2015. This includes results from the U.S. Trials in 2013.

http://www.usatf.org/Events---Calendar/2013/World-Youth-Track---Field-Trials.aspx

Here is the IAAF website for the 2015 World Youth Championships. That also includes the results from the 2013 World Youth Championships. When take comes up click on History for 2013 results.

http://www.iaaf.org/competitions/iaaf-world-youth-championships