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Henderson, Gardner Lead Seven Athletes to Watch at Mt. SAC Relays

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DyeStatPRO.com   Apr 15th 2015, 7:36pm
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Top Americans Jump Start Season Outdoors

By Scott Bush

It’s American relay weekend and many of the top American track and field stars get their outdoor season underway at the Mt. SAC Relays. Warm weather, a history of fast and far performances and competitive fields bodes well for the pros competing this weekend in southern California.

Here are seven athletes to keep an eye on at the Mt. SAC Relays:

English Gardner: The two-time NCAA champion comes off a tough year. In 2013, the University of Oregon alum went sub-11 five times, finishing fourth over 100m at the World Championships and running a lightning-fast best of 10.85. Transitioning to professional life, Gardner seemingly took a step backward last year, running seasonal best of 11.01. Clearly the 22 year old is not finished, but her 100m race against strong competition this weekend will be telling.

Jeff Henderson: Similar to Kovacs, Henderson shined bright last season. He came up big with numerous winning performances on a global stage, won the U.S. outdoor title and ended the season with four of the top 12 marks in the world. He’ll look to build on his success at Mt. SAC, where he’ll face some good competition, including top ten ranked Luis Rivera (Mexico).

Laura Thweatt: The Colorado native won the USATF Cross Country Championships by a huge margin earlier this year and hasn’t slowed down since. While many thought she could potentially challenge for a top ten finish at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships (she finished as second American in 29th), Thweatt looks to build momentum into the track season. She owns a PR of 15:04 over 5,000m and seems more than ready to lower that mark and take on the 10k later this spring. She’ll face solid competition at Mt. SAC over the 5k distance.

Ricky Robertson: Robertson is on the cusp of becoming the second best high jumper in the United States and one of the top ten best in the world. He placed second, one inch behind, to Erik Kynard at the USATF Indoor Championships in late-February and looks to better his 7-7.25 this outdoor season. He has plenty of competition this weekend from Gowei Zhang (China), who enters off a successful Stanford Invitational, where he leapt 7-7.75.

Phyllis Francis: It’s been a year of transition for Francis. After tearing up the track in 2014, where she ran 50.46 for 400m indoors and 50.59 outdoors, including a runner-up finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, Francis is ready to get rolling after a 200m victory earlier this outdoor season. She’s still training in Eugene, which should provide her some stability making the shift to professional life. She’s got the potential to be a fierce rival of Francena McCorory and Sanya Richards-Ross. This weekend will be telling, as she’s entered in both the 200m and 400m

Diego Estrada: Since winning the USATF Half Marathon title back in January, Estrada has been very quiet. In Houston, he ran 60:51, becoming the seventh best half marathon runner in U.S. history. The Flagstaff resident enters this weekend’s men’s 5,000m coming off a sixth place effort at the Carlsbad 5000 road race, where he beat plenty of very talented runners, finishing as second American behind Bernard Lagat. While besting his 13:15 PR at Mt. SAC might be a reach, do not be surprised if he dips under 13:20.

Alexa Efraimson: After getting over whooping cough, which affected her season of indoor racing, the high school senior is excited and ready to open up her outdoor season in the women’s 1,500m at Mt. SAC. She faces plenty of competition in the likes of Cory McGee, Stephanie Brown, Emma Bates, Dominique Scott and Natalja Piliusina, but fans can celebrate that she’s healthy, testing her fitness against a strong field and seemingly ready to get her first professional outdoor season underway.

(editor's note: Joe Kovacs will not be competing at the Mt. SAC Relays as first reported)



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