Winning Weekend | Konle and Griffith Fire, NCAA Heating Up

It was a winning weekend for Australian athletes across the globe who registered victories, podiums, and personal bests. Georgia Griffith lead the way on the track as Julian Konle flew the flag in the field, while a host of NCAA stars look set to force their name into senior team contention.

Georgia Griffith (Nic Bideau) continued her winning ways overseas when making it two wins from two starts at her 2022 international campaign, taking out the Millicent Fawcett Mile in a time of 4:27.81 at the 10,000m Night of PB’s in Highgate.

Paced by Ellie Sanford, Griffith raced patiently behind the leaders before unleashing a punishing kick in the final 200m to win the encounter by a significant margin, building on the form that saw her win last week’s 1500m at the Tokyo Golden Grand Prix.

Fellow Australian Sarah Billings (Nic Bideau) finished in seventh place of the race with a performance of 4:37.63.

Tokyo Olympian Izzi Batt-Doyle (Nic Bideau) produced a much-improved run over 10,000m to clock 31:40.10 and deliver a fitting three second personal best at the Night of 10,000m PB’s, finishing in fifth place of the UKA Championships.

While Batt-Doyle’s time fell outside the 31:25 qualification standard for this year’s World Athletics Championships, the 26-year-old remains confident that her form is trending in the right direction as she prepares for her Diamond League debut in Birmingham this Saturday.  

Triple jumper Julian Konle (Gary Bourne) bounced back into form with a distance of 16.56m (0.0) to win at the win Princeton Elite Invitational, just 10cm shy of his career best jump. After a slow start to the competition, Konle produced his best leap on his sixth and final attempt to regain the lead and secure a confidence boosting win.

On Australian soil at the Sydney Morning Herald Half Marathon, two-time Olympian Liam Adams (Ken Hall) proved too strong on the challenging course when winning in a time of 1:04:49, while Leanne Pompeani (Des Proctor) was the first Australian woman across the line with a run of 1:14:22.

The NCAA action is warming up in the United States and it’s Australia’s 800m women who are bringing the heat, with Imogen Barrett (Florida) and Carley Thomas (Washington) both recording strong wins in fast times.

Barrett continued her progression with a personal best of 2:01.42 to win the Southeastern Conference final by over one second to her nearest rival, clinching valuable points for the Gators took home the title.

Thomas cruised to victory at Hayward Filed in a time of 2:02.93 to demolish the PAC-12 field and set a new school record for the Huskies, becoming the first 800m champion in the University of Washington’s history.  

World Athletics Indoor Championships representative Tom Willems (Colorado State) was in fine form at the Mountain West Conference Championships when tearing around 400m in a new personal best time of 46.14 seconds, clinching second place in the encounter. The 21-year-old has thrived in the NCAA system and continues to go from strength-to-strength for the Rams. 

Adam Spencer (Wisconsin) and Haftu Strintzos (Villanova) added to the Australian success with wins in their respective conferences, with Spencer closing out the Men’s 1500m in 3:52.43 to take home the Big 10 title, while Strintzos’ 14:13.58 saw him crowned the Big East 5000m champion. Jackson Sharp (Wisconsin) finished sixth in the 1500m in a time of 3:53.55.  

Florida State’s Lauren Ryan piled on the pressure in the 10,000m at the Atlantic Coast Conference finals to register an emphatic victory in a time of 32:56.53 as she prepares for the regional and national championships.

Maudie Skyring (Florida State) contributed to the Australian success at the meet with an equal personal best of 4:09.83 to clinch silver in the 1500m, while Jesse Hunt (North Carolina) clocked 3:43.27 to take home fourth and edge out fellow Australian Samuel Field (Florida State) who ran 3:44.62 to finish in seventh place of the Men’s 1500m final.

James Joycey (North Carolina) continued his strong form in the hammer throw to record yet another podium finish, launching the hammer 67.41m to finish in second place at the ACC Championships, with the mark just shy of the 22-year-old's personal best as Joycey relished the opportunity to compete in front of his family. Joycey sits second in the current Australian hammer throw rankings. 

Also competing at the ACC Championships was Melbourne's Annaliese Bush (Wake Forrest) in the Women's Heptathlon, who punched in a new personal best of 5675 points on the big stage to take home bronze. The versatile 22-year-old put in a big day one with marks of 24.60 (200m) and 13.91 (100m hurdles), before added significant points to her tally with a leap of 6.08m in the long jump on day two. 

20-year-old Ky Robinson (Stanford) was out the flex his versatility at the PAC-12 Championships as he completed a slick double, delivering a dazzling 8:33.91 for second place in the 3000m steeplechase before returning to take bronze in the 5000m with his run of 13:36.80.

Olympian Ed Trippas (Princeton) chimed in with a steeplechase performance of his own at his home Princeton Elite Invitational, completing the 2000m Steeplechase in a time of 5:28.14 on his way to third place of the quality encounter.

Amelia Mazza-Downie (New Mexico) climbed onto the dais at the Mountain West Conference Championships with her run of 16:02.58 to finish in third place of the 5000m, with the 22-year-old looking to build on the form that took her to seventh place at the NCAA Division 1 Indoor Championships in March.

Other results included Ruby Smee (San Francisco) clocking 34:00.88 to win the 10,000m at the Last Chance meet at Azusa, while Jason Clayton (Loyola) finished in second place of the Missouri Valley Conference 1500m in a time of 3:54.82, and Princeton’s Duncan Miller lowered his 1500m personal best to 3:42.33 to finish in seventh place at the Princeton Elite Invitational.

By Lachlan Moorhouse, Athletics Australia
Posted: 16/5/2022