WALNUT, CALIFORNIA, April 12–15 — Rai Benjamin followed a pair of 400s on April’s first two weekends with an excursion in his specialty event at the Mt. SAC Relays. He laid down a world-leading 47.74 in the 400H, his fastest ever before the second weekend in May.
Only two others have ever hurdled faster in April: South African LJ van Zyl with 47.73 on April 10, 2011, and Qatari Abderrahmane Samba with 47.51 on April 22, 2019.
Nevertheless, Benjamin assessed that his race this early in the year is very much a work in progress. Speaking frankly, he admitted, “I could have run faster, but it’s still so early.… I kind of coasted.”
With ambitions to incorporate a 12-step approach through hurdle 4, then settle into 13s the rest of the way, the American Recordholder left that for another time. “I could have done it today,” he said of the actively lead-leg-switching pattern, “but I just didn’t want to take that risk. It can be done, it’s just a matter of when.”
Benjamin ran 13s and then switched his lead for 14 strides to hurdle 9 for the race, which he won by almost 2 seconds.
The build-up to this year’s edition of the massive meet in Hilmer Lodge Stadium promised an early-season 100 showdown among Christian Coleman, Micah Williams and Michael Norman that would certainly whet anybody’s appetite. The event became even more tantalizing when Georgia’s all-around sprinting machine Matthew Boling was added to the mix.
But — and you know what they say about “best laid plans”— all of that went away when it became apparent Coleman wasn’t anywhere near Southern California. That didn’t bother former Mt. SAC Mountie Cravont Charleston who, fresh off a steaming anchor leg for the USA Stars 4×1 team that won in 38.53, was ready to take on whomever was in the house.
Charleston, whose PR is a not too shabby 9.98, was relegated to the frontier in lane 8, next to Boling in 7, who was beside Norman in 6. From the other side of the track, it was Keshaun Black in 2, Ilias Garcia in 3, Kyree King in 4 and Brandon Carnes in 5.
At the gun, all eyes were focused on the middle lanes, as King and Norman got out well. But by halfway, Charleston had the jump on everyone and was pulling away as he neared the line. His 9.87w gets the “w” for a 3.0 tailwind, but was still more than a 10th better than King, whose 9.98w bested Norman’s 10.02w and Garcia’s 10.04w. Boling finished 6th in 10.20w.
A subdued Charleston remarked afterwards to reporters, “In the end, we’re all human, so I just ran a race. You do what you gotta do, control your lane and you’ll be alright.”
Norman, while not exactly thrilled with his outcome, put his performance into perspective, saying, “I’ve got a lot of work to do, but it was a good opener.”
Some fast hurdling other than Benjamin’s occurred in the 110H when Pittsburg State’s Cordell Tinch bested both Houston’s De’ Vion Wilson and USC’s Omotade Ojora by nearly 0.2, 13.22w–13.41w. Though aided by a 2.2 wind, Tinch’s time was faster than the legal 13.31 he ran just 2 days prior at Cal State LA.
A fast 400 was in the cards when Georgia’s NCAA indoor champ Elija Godwin lined up against USATF Indoor winner Justin Robinson of Arizona State and UCLA’s Ismail Turner. But coming down the homestretch, Godwin started to tighten as Robinson and Turner passed him 50m from the finish.
Robinson was strongest to the line and he crossed in 44.98, his first time under 45 since his high school senior year in ’20. Turner was next in a season’s best 45.13 followed by Arkansas’s Chris Bailey in 45.30, UCLA’s Willington Wright (45.34) and Godwin (45.64).
Solid field events were highlighted by Cal’s Mykolas Alekna who unleashed the No. 3 collegiate discus mark ever. After appearing to struggle with finding his rhythm early on, the WC silver medalist uncorked a fifth-round throw of 224-3 (68.35) to better Arkansas’s Rojé Stona final-frame toss of 218-8 (66.64). The mark moved Stona, a Jamaican senior, to No. 6 on the all-time collegiate list.
Italy’s Emmanuel Ihemeje twice jumped beyond 57ft, but both leaps were wind aided, with 57-3¾w (17.47) from the first round being his best. The former Oregon Duck’s best legal jump, 56-8¾ (17.29), came in the second round, and was an outdoor world leader.
Perhaps the most underappreciated performance came from former Stanford multi-eventer Harrison Williams, who had not competed in a decathlon in nearly 2 years due to injury. His 8492 added 53 points to his PR as he won 5 out of 10 events ( LJ, SP, 400, DT & PV). He led Michigan State’s Heath Baldwin (8084 PR), Austin West of Iowa (8038) and Bahamian Kendrick Thompson (8015 NR) past 8000 points.
Georgia’s CR holder Kyle Garland was leading Harrison by 4 points heading into the vault, but he failed to clear a height and subsequently did not contest either the javelin or 1500.
MT. SAC RELAYS MEN’S RESULTS
(4/13—St, 10K; 4/14—5K, 20W, JT)
100: III(3.0)–1. Cravont Charleston (TS) 9.87w (a-c AL);
2. Kyree King (Nike) 9.98w; 3. Michael Norman (Nike) 10.02w; 4. Ilias Garcia (SHARKS) 10.04w; 5. Brandon Carnes (US) 10.14w; 6. *Matthew Boling (Ga) 10.20w.
200(1.8): 1. **Udodi Onwuzurike’ (Stan-Ngr) 20.14; 2. Boling 20.27; 3. David Dunlap (NnAz) 20.38; 4. Mouhamdou Fall’ (Fra) 20.38; 5. *Shaun Maswanganyi’ (Hous-SA) 20.49.
400: 1. **Justin Robinson (AzSt) 44.98; 2. *Ismail Turner (UCLA) 45.13; 3. Christopher Bailey (Ar) 45.30; 4. *Willington Wright (UCLA) 45.34; 5. Elija Godwin (Ga) 45.64.
800: 1. Isaiah Jewett (Nike) 1:47.41.
St: 1. Geordie Beamish’ (NZ) 8:42.56; 2. *Pedro Garcia-Palencia’ (EnKy-Spa) 8:42.57; 3. Craig Huff (HokaAg) 8:44.74; 4. Charlie Parrish (Brad) 8:45.27; 5. **Declan Rymer (VaT) 8:46.58.
10,000: 1. *Haftu Knight (Tx) 28:32.53; 2. Mario Pacay’ (Gua) 28:36.19; 3. James Mwaura (Gonz) 28:39.50; 4. *Jan Lukas Becker’ (MsC-Ger) 28:43.24.
110H: I(2.1)–1. **Johnny Brackins (USC) 13.44w. II(2.2)–1. **Cordell Tinch (PittSt) 13.22w; 2. *De’Vion Wilson (Hous) 13.41w; 3. Omotade Ojora’ (USC-GB) 13.41w;
4. *Connor Schulman (TxAM) 13.54w.
400H: 1. Rai Benjamin (Nike) 47.74 (WL, AL);
2. Cass Elliott (Wa) 49.65; 3. Guillermo Campos’ (Mex) 49.73; 4. *Caleb Cavanaugh (Ga) 49.92; 5. Shakeem Smith’ (Bah-Bah) 50.09; 6. Rivaldo Leacock’ (Bar) 50.30; 7. **Bryce McCray (TxAM) 50.69.
20W: 1. Ever Palma’ (Mex) 1:23:00.6;
2. Nick Christie (unat) 1:26:14.6 (AL);
3. Sam Allen (Shore) 1:31:05.3; 4. Jordan Crawford (unat) 1:33:22.3; 5. Emmanuel Corvera (unat) 1:34:01:4.
4 x 100: 1. USA Stars 38.53 (Garcia, Carnes, King, Charleston); 2. USC 39.18; 3. Texas A&M 39.29; 4. Houston 39.53.
4 x 400: 1. Georgia 3:02.00 (Godwin, Morales Williams, Boling 44.70, Cavanaugh 45.72); 2. Texas A&M 3:03.30 (Escobar, Etiwe, Hemphill, Robinson); 3. Arkansas 3:03.33 (Battle, Benson, Washington, Bailey 43.96); 4. Arizona State 3:04.69.
Field Events
HJ: 1. **Ali Eren Ünlü’ (LaM-Tur) 7-2½ (2.20); 2. tie, Erik Portillo’ (Mex) & *Romaine Beckford’ (SFl-Jam) 7-2½; 4. Eric Chatten’ (Can) 7-2½.
PV: 1. Austin Miller (Vaulth) 19-¼ (5.80); 2. Clayton Fritsch (unat) 18-6½ (5.65); 3. tie, *Kyle Rademeyer’ (SAl-SA) & Luke Winder (unat) 18-6½; 5. Carson Waters (Bell) 18-2½ (5.55); 6. *Christyan Sampy (Hous) 18-2½; 7. Trevor Stephenson (MiSt) 18-2½.
LJ: 1. Will Williams (unat) 27-0 (8.23) (out AL) (26-8¼w, 26-7, 25-11, f, 26-6¼, 27-0) (8.13w, 8.10, 7.90, f, 8.08, 8.23);
2. Kemonie Briggs (unat) 26-11¾ (8.22); 3. ***JC Stevenson (USC) 26-1 (7.95); 4. Sydney Rush (unat) 25-5¼ (7.75).
TJ: 1. Emmanuel Ihemeje’ (Ita) 57-3¾w (17.47) (a-c: out WL) (57-3¾w, 56-8¾ [out WL], f, f, f, 57-0w) (17.47w, 17.29, f, f, f, 17.37w); 2. *Russell Robinson (Mia) 56-2 (17.12) (out AL, CL);
3. Ruiting Wu (Chn) 55-11¼w (17.05) (54-4½/16.57); 4. Gyu-min Yu’ (SK) 54-½w (16.47) (54-0/16.46); 5. Chris Benard (unat) 53-11¼ (16.44).
SP: 1. Jordan Geist (Az) 69-8¾ (21.25) (out AL, CL);
2. Uziel Muñoz’ (Mex) 68-5¼ (20.86); 3. Jordan West (Ar) 66-¼ (20.12); 4. Tia Zizhong’ (Chn) 64-3¼ (19.59);
5. Youssef Koudssi (Az) 63-11¾ (19.50).
DT: 1. **Mykolas Alekna’ (Cal-Lit) 224-3 (68.35) (x, 3 C) (f, 214-8, f, 216-2, 224-3, 214-4) (f, 65.43, f, 65.89, 68.35, 65.32); 2. Rojé Stona’ (Ar-Jam) 218-8 (66.64) (6, x C);
3. Lawrence Okoye’ (GB) 217-0 (66.15); 4. **Ralford Mullings’ (Ar-Jam) 206-0 (62.79); 5. *Francois Prinsloo’ (SAl-SA) 205-2 (62.53); 6. Jordan Roach (unat) 199-11 (60.95); 7. Iffy Joyner (Cal) 194-4 (59.23).
HT: 1. Diego Del Real’ (Mex) 246-10 (75.25); 2. Adam Keenan’ (Can) 243-8 (74.26); 3. Decio Andrade’ (Mia-Por) 240-7 (73.33); 4. Brock Eager (Iron) 238-2 (72.61); 5. Avery Carter (unat) 237-7 (72.43); 6. Trey Knight (unat) 235-6 (71.78); 7. Alencar Pereira’ (Ga-Bra) 233-7 (71.21).
JT: 1. Marc Minichello (Ga) 264-6 (80.62) (AL, AmCL) (254-10, 250-1, 264-6, 254-10, 245-1, p) (77.67, 76.23, 80.62, 77.69, 74.71, p);
2. Capers Williamson (unat) 262-3 (79.95); 3. Curtis Thompson (unat) 260-11 (79.52); 4. Ethan Shalaway (unat) 254-5 (77.54); 5. Donavon Banks (unat) 246-11 (75.26); 6. *Cameron Bates (BYU) 240-4 (73.27); 7. Michael Shuey (unat) 237-5 (72.38).
Dec(4/12-13): I–1. Harrison Williams (CVE) 8492 (WL, AL) (10.54, 25-½/7.63, 49-6¼/15.09, 6-4¾/1.95, 46.47 [4471], 14.12, 150-5/45.85, 16-4¾/5.00, 173-7/52.91, 4:31.38 [4021]);
2. *Heath Baldwin (MiSt) 8084 (AmCL) (11.02, 23-9/7.24, 49-5½/15.07, 6-9½/2.07, 49.58, 14.14, 139-5/42.50, 14-9/4.50, 212-1/64.64, 4:49.73);
3. *Austin West (Ia) 8038; 4. Kendrick Thompson’ (Bah) 8015; 5. Ken Mullings’ (Bah) 7933; 6. *Yariel Soto Torrado’ (Ar-PR) 7911; 7. Jack Flood (unat) 7783; 8. Daniel Spejcher (Ar) 7675; … dnf—Kyle Garland (Ga) 6218 (10.56, 25-3¼/7.70, 55-¼/16.77, 6-8¼/2.04, 49.84 [4507–1], 14.04, 143-8/43.79, nh), Steven Bastien (unat) 5628.
