And now...the 2019 Mercanator Award winners!
Last year, the blog covered all but one of the University of Washington’s home indoor and outdoor track & field meets. In addition, the blog travelled to Moscow ID, Tucson, Portland, Des Moines, Monmouth OR, and Terre Haute, IN. for meets, while taking two international trips to Aarhus, Denmark for the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, and to Doha, Qatar for the IAAF World Track & Field Championships.
And now, the 2019 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.
With the new World Athletics (formerly IAAF) rankings coming into play, the two numbers next to an athlete's name signifies their world event ranking in 2019, followed by the number of points accumulated. For a thorough explanation on how the World Athletics event rankings work, here's a link.
WOMEN:
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| Allie Ostrander (Paul Merca photo) |
The five finalists under consideration for this award were incoming Washington freshman Carley Thomas from Australia, Camas' Alexa Efraimson, and steeplechasers Allie Ostrander of the Brooks Beasts, Washington alum Mel Lawrence (who won the award last year), & Pasco native Marisa Howard.
Thomas (50, 1163) had a solid season (I didn't count her marks before June 1st, all but two which were in Australia). She was ninth in the Oslo Diamond League 800 in 2:05.78, and won an 800 in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, running 2:02.85. She then set her personal best of 2:01.01 at the London Diamond League.
Thomas finished her season by running 2:04.65 in the first round at the world championships in Doha, and opened her 2020 season outdoors in Sydney on December 21st, finishing second in the Albie Thomas meet.
Alexa Efraimson (28, 1216) was ranked tenth in the US in the 1500, starting well with a win at Drake Relays, and a season best & Olympic standard and PR of 4:04.53 at the Shanghai Diamond League meet. She was third at the Pan Ams in Peru. The only blemish on her record was not making the finals in the USA championships in Des Moines.
While Lawrence (20, 1228) has the faster time in 2019 (9:29.81 at Oslo DL) and is higher ranked in the World Athletics steeplechase ranking for 2019 over both Allie Ostrander (37, 1185), and Marisa Howard (40, 1180), the Mercanator Award all came down to head-to-head.
After winning the NCAA championships in Austin, Ostrander beat Lawrence twice--at the Prefontaine DL meet in Palo Alto, and at the USA Outdoors in Des Moines to snag fourth place and the final spot to Doha because Emma Coburn earned a wild card as defending world champion.
Ostrander set her personal best of 9:30.85 in the semis at world championships in Doha, while Howard ran a season best of 9:36.46 at the Sunset Tour in Azusa, but got major world ranking points for her second place finish at the Pan Am Games, and a sixth place finish at The Match between the USA & Europe in Minsk.
While Lawrence had the superior marks and world ranking in 2019, Ostrander's 2-0 record over Lawrence was the deciding factor, so the 2019 Mercanator Award in this category goes to Allie Ostrander of the Brooks Beasts.
TOP PERFORMER--Women's distance: Washington alum Lindsay Flanagan (209, 1164) again gets the Mercanator here with two top-ten finishes at both the Boston (2:30:07) and the Bank of America Chicago (2:28:08) Marathons, setting a personal best in Chicago.
Although she got under the Olympic qualifying time standard of 2:29:30 in Chicago, the fact that she got inside the top ten at both Boston and Chicago assured Flanagan the Olympic standard as they were World Marathon Majors races.
She finished second at the South American Championships, running 56.76, then ran 55.91 at the Trinidad & Tobago national championships. She then finished seventh at the Pan Am Games, before running a season best 55.61, 1/100th off of her Panamanian national record and personal best to finish sixth in the semis of the world championships in Doha.
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| Katie Nageotte (Paul Merca photo) |
Nageotte (5, 1354) won the USA indoor title, then won a Diamond League meet in Lausanne, finished second in the Zürich Diamond League meet, took fourth in the Diamond League finals in Brussels, and finished seventh at the world championships in Doha.
Katie was one of two women with Washington ties to earn world rankings from Track & Field News, ranking fourth.
After former American record holder and UW alum Brad Walker resigned his coaching position at Washington State to go to chiropractic school in Georgia, Nageotte followed him and is continuing to train under Walker.
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| Kara Winger (Paul Merca photo) |
Winger also finished fifth at the world championships, throwing 207-5 (63.23m), which was a career best placing at either the world championships or Olympics. She was ranked seventh in the world by Track & Field News.
MEN
TOP PERFORMER--Men's hurdles: Though it was a down year for former Renton native Devon Allen (14, 1303), he did earn another Mercanator Award by making it to the finals in the 110 hurdles at the world championships, finishing seventh in 13.70.
After a strong start to the year, where he won the USA indoor title, Allen wasn't completely healthy during the outdoor season, as he was fighting through issues with his Achilles tendon.
He only ran in two Diamond League meets--Prefontaine (5th, season best 13.33), and the Lausanne meet (7th, 13.35), then got third at the USA outdoors to earn a spot to Doha.
The Oregon alum didn't race after the US nationals until Doha, where he ran 13.36 in the semis, and 13.70 in the finals.
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| Josh Kerr (Paul Merca photo) |
Thanks to the presence of not one but two professional middle distance training groups in Seattle--the Brooks Beasts, and UW head coach Andy Powell's professional group, informally named the Ravenna TC, the middle distance award for 2019 was the most competitive ever.
Husky volunteer coach Sam Prakel (29, 1203), along with the Brooks Beasts' Izaic Yorks (54, 1148), Brannon Kidder and Henry Wynne (57, 1145) all were ranked in the US top ten by Track & Field News in the 1500.
Kidder (39, 1193) was the beneficiary of Donavan Brazier winning the Diamond League final in the 800 and a wild card berth, as he held the world championships standard despite finishing sixth at the USA nationals. He made the most of his time in Doha, running 1:45.62 in the semis.
In the men's 5000, former Emerald Ridge HS standout Hassan Mead (30, 1188) was fourth at the USA outdoors in 13:28.04, but had the world championship standard. In Doha, he finished 11th in 13:27.05, after running 13:22.11 in the semis.
Husky volunteer coach Amos Bartelsmeyer (50, 1161) was the revelation of the 2019 season, as he popped a 3:55.32 at the UW Indoor Preview meet, then got sixth in the European Championships indoors in the 3000, and won the German outdoor championship in the 1500 a month after running a personal best 3:36.29 at the Brooks PR meet at Husky Track.
The 2019 Mercanator Award came down to defending Olympic 1500m champ and Washington volunteer coach Matthew Centrowitz (21, 1240) and new Brooks Beast member Josh Kerr (14, 1274).
Centrowitz, who was slowed down early in the season with injuries, rounded into form with a season opening 3:52.26 in the Bowerman Mile at the Prefontaine Classic at Stanford, then got third at the USA Outdoors to secure his ticket to Doha.
Before Doha, he set a personal best in the 5000 at the Portland 5000 in Beaverton, finishing third in 13:00.39 behind Woody Kincaid and Lopez Lomong.
In Doha, he finished eighth in the 1500 in a season best 3:32.81.
Meanwhile, Kerr won the 1500 at the Brooks PR meet at Husky Track, running 3:33.60, then took second in the British national championships.
In Doha, Kerr finished sixth in the 1500m finals, running 3:32.52. The results of that head-to-head race with Centrowitz got Josh the Mercanator Award for the middle distances.
TOP PERFORMER--Men's distance: Sehome HS graduate Jake Riley (unranked) ran the second fastest time in the marathon by an American in 2019, running 2:10:36 to finish ninth at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, and go under the Olympic Games qualifying standard of 2:11:30.
The Stanford grad left the Hanson's-Brooks Distance Project and moved to Boulder to train under Lee Troop after undergoing Achilles tendon surgery in 2018.
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| Tim Duckworth (Paul Merca photo) |
The University of Kentucky grad and volunteer coach at the University of Washington won the British national title in the long jump, with a season best of 26-0 (7.92m).
While his long jump is one of his best events, the multis is where the 2018 NCAA champion made his mark, finishing second in the indoor heptathlon at the European Championships, scoring 6156 points, just 32 points off his personal best and British national record.
In the one decathlon he completed in 2019, he scored 7981 points at the Götzis Hypo-Meeting to finish 17th. His world championships competition ended before it began, as he hurt himself warming up for the first event of the two-day competition, the 100 meters.
The 2019 Mercanator Awards for the best track & field athletes from Washington as selected by the editor of paulmerca.blogspot.com are Josh Kerr for the men, and Katie Nageotte for the women…congratulations to the two of you!
Stay tuned, as we reveal the first Mercanator All-Decade Track & Field Team!
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