And now...the 2018 Mercanator Award winners!

Refreshed and rarin’ to go after an extended break over the Christmas and New Years holiday, it’s time to put a bow on 2018 with the presentation of the blog’s annual Mercanator Awards for the top performers and performances of the year.

In 2018, the blog covered all of the University of Washington’s home indoor and outdoor track & field meets. In addition, the blog travelled to Moscow (Idaho, not Russia), Tucson, Stanford, Eugene, Portland, Spokane, Vancouver BC, Ellensburg, Madison, and Sacramento for meets, while the only air trip out of the country was to Toronto for the NACAC championships.

And now, the 2018 Mercanators!

Here are the disclaimers:  Mercanator Awards are limited to athletes who have affiliations with the state of Washington—either they were born in this state, currently reside in the state or attend(ed) school in the state.  Also, not all categories from previous editions were awarded this year…publisher’s decision.

WOMEN

TOP PERFORMER—Women’s middle distance: For a category that you’d think would have a lot of athletes in consideration given the depth of folks with Washington ties, it really came down to a pair of Washington alums in Katie Mackey and Mel Lawrence (left/photo by Paul Merca).

Mackey started off well, taking second in the 3000 at the USA indoors at altitude in Albuquerque to make her first world championship team, two places ahead of Lawrence.

She then finished eighth at the world indoor championships in Birmingham, then during the outdoor season, finished sixth in the 5000m at the USA outdoor championships in Des Moines. A few weeks after the US championships, Mackey set a personal best in the 3000 of 8:44.47 in taking third at the London Diamond League meet

Meanwhile, Lawrence earned her highest finish in the steeplechase at the USA outdoors, taking third at the USA championships, then setting a personal best a few weeks later, running 9:32.68 in finishing second in Liege, Belgium, then winning the NACAC title in Toronto.

You could make an argument for/against either one. In my mind, was Mackey’s eighth place at world indoors superior to Lawrence’s win at NACAC, where she got the Doha world championship qualifier by winning? Weighing the merits of those was so close that I went to the IAAF scoring tables to decide it.

Lawrence’s steeple PR of 9:32.68 is worth 1162 points, while Mackey’s 3000 PR of 8:44.47 is worth 1158 points, so I’m giving it to Lawrence, but not by much.

TOP PERFORMER—Women’s distance: Washington alum Lindsay Flanagan gets the nod here, with her 2:29:25 performance at the Frankfurt Marathon, with Western Washington alum Sarah Crouch (2:32:37 in Chicago) and Tacoma's Kate Landau (2:33:29 also in Chicago) getting honorable mention here.

Flanagan’s mark, which got her a 13th place finish in Frankfurt, was #8 in the US last year, while Crouch was #14 and Landau was #17 in the US.  Crouch did earn a #10 ranking from Track & Field News for finishing sixth in Chicago.

TOP PERFORMER—Women’s hurdles:  Washington alum Gianna Woodruff gets another award here, for breaking her own Panamanian national record in the 400 hurdles, running 55.60 at the Central American & Caribbean Games in Barranquilla, Colombia on July 31st. That mark was the #38 mark in the world in 2018.

TOP PERFORMER—Women’s multi-events:  Easy call here, with Alissa Brooks-Johnson, who recently graduated from Washington State getting the honors.

AB-J’s season best score of 5977 in winning the Pac-12s was the #42 mark in the world in 2018, and she followed it up with a sixth place finish at the NCAAs, a seventh at the USA nationals, and a fourth place finish in the Thorpe Cup dual against Germany.

TOP PERFORMER—Women’s horizontal jumps:  Despite competing sparingly, Andrea Geubelle gets another award, in spite of a season where she struggled with a hamstring injury.  She had a 2018 best of 45-2.5 (13.78m) at the USA indoor championships where she got second, and was fifth at the outdoor nationals.

TOP PERFORMER—Women’s vertical jumps:  Easy.

Pullman’s Katie Nageotte (left/photo by Paul Merca) gets the nod here, as she was one of only two women with Washington ties to earn a world ranking from Track & Field News, ranking #6 in the pole vault, and #3 in the USA.

Her 2018 resume included winning the national indoor title, taking fifth at the world indoor championships in Birmingham, a third place finish at the USA outdoor championships, and winning the NACAC title in Toronto.  Oh, by the way, she joined the 16-foot club, clearing 16-1.25 (4.91m) indoors to become the third American to accomplish that feat.

TOP PERFORMER—Women’s throws:  Vancouver native Kara Winger collects another award here, as she was the only other woman with Washington ties to earn a world ranking, earning the #8 spot on Track & Field News’ world rankings.

Winger’s best of 212-5 (64.75m) in the javelin at the Zürich Diamond League finals was the number ten performer worldwide in 2018.

She collected her eighth career national title in Des Moines, then had several strong performances on the Diamond League circuit, taking fourth in Lausanne, and third in Zürich in the DL finals.

MEN

Quite frankly, 2018 was a down year in several event categories, including the sprints, throws, horizontal, vertical jumps, and multis, with no one earning US rankings from Track & Field News in those events.

TOP PERFORMER—Men’s hurdles: There were only three athletes considered here--Washington State alum CJ Allen, who ran 49.40 in Heusden and was sixth at the USA outdoors in the 400 hurdles; Bonney Lake resident and 2016 Cape Verde Olympian Jordin Andrade, who had a season best of 49.39 at the Huelva Meeting Iberoamericano de Atletismo meeting in Spain in June; and former Renton resident Devon Allen (left/photo by Paul Merca), who had a season best 13.23 in the 110 hurdles at the Paris Diamond League meet.

Allen’s total body of work in 2018 made this an easy call. He won his third national title, and had a pair of second place finishes in the Diamond League meets in Lausanne and London.  He was ranked #1 in the US by Track & Field News, and was the only male with Washington ties to be world ranked by the publication, earning a #6 spot from T&FN.

TOP PERFORMER—Men’s middle distance: Three runners were in the running here:  former Emerald Ridge HS standout Hassan Mead, who was third in the 5000 at outdoor nationals and won the NACAC title; Washington alum Izaic Yorks, who was second in the 1500 at outdoor nationals and won the NACAC crown at that distance; and Drew Windle (left/photo by Paul Merca) of the Brooks Beasts who was second in the 800 at the world indoor championships, but wasn’t a factor outdoors due to injuries.

In the end, what Windle accomplished at world indoors despite not having much of an outdoor season (only four meets over 800m with a best of 1:46.88 in Lignano, Italy) was good enough to get the nod here, even though Track & Field News did not give him a US ranking, while Mead was ranked #3 in the 5000, and Yorks was ranked #3 in the 1500.

He had a season best indoors of 1:45.52 in the semis at world indoors, and was second at the USA indoor championships in Albuquerque before taking second at the world indoor championships.

TOP PERFORMER—Men’s distance:  Easy call here, with Garrett Heath of the Brooks Beasts getting the nod, based on his fourth place finish in the Payton Jordan 10000 meter race, where he ran a personal best 27:56.11, and a fifth place finish in the USA outdoor championships. Heath was ranked #3 by Track & Field News in the US.

In case anyone is wondering why both defending Olympic 1500 champ and US #1 Matthew Centrowitz, and Oregon alum Sam Prakel, who was ranked #8 by T&FN in the 1500 are not in the conversation, it’s because they had not moved to the state until after the USA outdoor championships. Ditto for UW pole vaulter Olivia Gruver, who was ranked #5 in the US after winning the NCAA outdoor title for the University of Kentucky.

The 2018 Mercanator Awards for the best track & field athletes from Washington as selected by the editor of paulmerca.blogspot.com are Devon Allen for the men, and Katie Nageotte for the women…congratulations to the two of you!

Let’s get 2019 kick-started!