Monday News & Notes: Laurent (LA) Clears 13-10 in Vault; BenJo Recovers from Injury

While the indoor track season slowly comes to a close, our Monday News & Notes section rolls ahead with some interesting tidbits from the weekend. Read what we're talking about.

Monday News & Notes Highlights
- Rachel Laurent (LA) vaults U.S.#3 all-time with 13-10 effort
- Ben Johnson (NM) recovering from injury out in New Mexico
- College signings continue to roll in
- What's coming up...

Monday News & Notes (3/03)

Laurent Vaults U.S. #3 All-Time at 13-10

YouTube Video of Rachel Laurent Clearing 13-10

U.S. #1 pole vaulter Rachel Laurent (Sr., Vanderbilt Catholic, LA), extended her U.S. #1 ranking, vaulting 13-10 at the E.D. White Catholic Relays this past weekend. Laurent has ruled the indoor rankings, leading currently with her 13-09.25 mark set in February. However, her mark from this weekend leaves her only 4.5 inches from Tori Anthony's (CA) 14-02.5 effort from last year. Anthony's mark was set indoors. The official outdoor national record is Mary Saxer's 14-02 from 2005.

BenJo Recovering from Injury

NACAC Cross Country Championships

Ben Johnson (NM) looks to get back to 100%

This past weekend distance star Ben Johnson (Sr., Albuquerque Academy, NM) was scheduled to compete in the NACAC Cross Country Championships in Orlanda, Florida. However, when looking at the results, BenJo was no where to be found.

Speculation has had Johnson being sick and/or injured. Well, we caught up with his coach, Adam Kedge, and Kedge said this, "Ben has been experiencing some pain in his hip ever since the USATF Junior XC meet. The plan is to keep Ben's level of activity restricted to light jogging and some pool running until he is pain free. He's made good progress in the past few days so I anticipate training will be back to normal by the middle of next week."

Bob Gourley's Weight Throw Lists

Bob Gourley's Weight Throw Lists

With so few competitions taking place the past two weeks with weight throw events, Bob Gourley's Weight Throw Lists haven't changed much. Wes Wright (Sr., Villa Rica, GA) and Victoria Flowers (Sr., Classical, RI) still lead the national rankings, heading into the national championship meets coming up in a little less than two weeks.

College Signings Keep On Coming

MileSplit College Signings Page

Despite National Signing Day taking place nearly a month ago, college signings continue to roll in to colleges all across the country. This past week, Foot Locker finalist Stephen Clark (Sr., Skyline, UT) signed with Duke University, while LSU and Texas announced their women's recruiting classes.

This week we'll bring you an article mid-week on Foot Locker finalists and where they've signed, as well as a few other notable signings in certain track and field events. Also, make sure to check out our College Signings Page, which now consists of 600+ athletes.

The Week Ahead

MileSplit National Calendar

Coming this weekend, with only one week until Nike Indoor Nationals and the National Scholastic Indoor Championships, few big time competitions are taking place. A few bigger meets across the Midwest will be run in Indiana and Illinois, but the biggest meet is hands down the New York State Championships. New York is a powerhouse state in indoor track and the best-of-the-best from the state will square off against each other one more time. MileSplit will be bringing you the best coverage possible this championship.