Kara Winger leads the Mercanator Washington All Decade women's track & field squad...
Now that we've entered a brand new decade, it's time to reveal the names of the athletes with Washington ties who made the first ever Mercanator Washington All Decade Team as well as the Mercanator Washington Athlete of the Decade.
The criteria for making the Mercanator All Decade Team are very similar to the criteria for earning the yearly Mercanator Awards: they 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.
In addition, athletes under consideration for the All Decade Team had to demonstrate competitive consistency over a period of time against the best in the world, and compete in at least one of what I consider the Big Three major meets--the IAAF (now World Athletics) World Outdoor Track & Field Championships; the World Athletics Indoor Track & Field Championships; and of course, the Olympic Games.
While it was easy to make the distinction of athletes who either attended school in the state of Washington, or were born and raised in the state, it was difficult to sort out those professional athletes who only resided for X number of years in the state, given the transient nature of pros looking for a stable coaching and training situation.
The question was whether you consider an athlete for the All Decade Team who only stayed for one, two or three seasons?
After consideration, I went with two seasons as the minimum criteria for pros who moved into the state.
Like the yearly Mercanators, I reserve the right not to give the award to an event group; however, the criteria of competing in one of the big three major meets sorted out those athletes.
In certain events, there was more than one athlete under consideration, most notably in the distances, an area this part of the country is strong in.
Without further ado, here's the women's Mercanator Washington All Decade Team!
WOMEN
ALL DECADE--Middle Distances (800-1500-steeple-5000): A pair of Washington alums, Ingvill Måkestad Bovin and Katie Mackey, received consideration for this position.
In a three year stretch from 2014-16, Mackey ran personal bests in the 800 (2:01.20, 2015), the 1500 (4:03.81, 2015), the mile (4:25.48, 2016), and the 5000 (15:04.74, 2014).
Mackey's one appearance in a Big Three meet was in 2018, when she finished eighth in the 3000 at the world indoors, running 8:56.62. She won a Diamond League meet in Stockholm in 2015, running 8:52.99, and set her personal best in the 3000 of 8:44.47 in 2018 at the Diamond League meet in London.
Måkestad Bovin's best three year stretch occurred from 2010-12, where she set a Norwegian national record of 1:59.82 in the 800 in 2010, and ran 4:02.20 in the 1500 the same year. She also ran 8:54.57 in the 3000 in 2010.
Indoors, she set national records in the 1500 (4:08.65, 2011), and the mile (4:28.49, 2010).
In her one appearance at a Big Three meet, Ingvill finished sixth in the finals of the 2011 world outdoors in Daegu, running 4:06.85.
Ingvill Måkestad Bovin gets the All Decade honors in the middle distances.
ALL DECADE--Long Distances: I almost elected not to give this out, but upon further review, Washington alum Lindsay Flanagan gets the nod.
Since graduating from the University of Washington, Flanagan's been one of the country's best marathoners, debuting with a 2:33:12 at the 2015 Houston Marathon, and finished that season with a second place finish at the Pan Am Games.
In 2017, Flanagan was 11th in the Boston Marathon, then ran on her first world championship team, placing 37th in London.
After setting a personal best of 2:29:25 in Frankfurt in 2018, the Husky alum broke through in 2019 with two top ten finishes in two World Marathon Majors races in Boston (9th, 2:30:07), and Chicago (7th, 2:28:08 PR).
While a top ten finish in a World Marathon Majors race assured her of the Olympic standard, her 2:28:08 in Chicago put Flanagan under the time standard of 2:29:30.
ALL DECADE--Short Hurdles: Two athletes were considered for All-Decade honors in the short hurdles: former Washington State assistant coach Angela Whyte, and Rainier Beach HS grad Ginnie (Powell) Crawford.
University of Idaho alum Whyte, who was training across the border in Moscow, Idaho for the first part of the decade, made the move to Pullman when Wayne Phipps, the longtime track and cross country coach at Idaho, got the gig at Washington State when Rick Sloan retired after the 2014 season, and put Whyte on his staff.
Whyte, who first burst onto the international scene in 2001 as a member of Canada's team in the 100 hurdles at the world championships, and was an Olympic finalist in that event in 2004, had a rebirth on the international scene starting in 2013, when she finished sixth in the finals of the world championships in Moscow.
In 2013, she was ranked number 9 in the world by Track & Field News.
The Canadian citizen then made the finals at the 2016 world indoors in Portland, running 7.99 to finish fifth, then ran in the first round of that year's Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, finishing sixth in her heat in 13.09.
A year later, Whyte qualified for the world championships in London, but did not get out of the first round.
While her best years in the 100 hurdles from a time standpoint were between 2006-2008, Rainier Beach HS graduate Ginnie Crawford was still among the best in the world for the first half of the last decade.
In that time span, she placed fifth in the 2010 world indoor championships in the 60 hurdles, running 7.97, won a USA indoor title, and was a consistent finalist in the USA outdoor championships. Her best time in the 100 hurdles after 2010 was 12.59 in 2012 in Paris, just over a week after finishing fourth at the Olympic Trials.
Crawford finished her professional career in the 2016 season, qualifying for the US Olympic Trials, but not finishing in the first round of racing.
From 2010-12, Crawford was world ranked by Track & Field News all three seasons, with fourth her highest in 2012.
Crawford is the All Decade selection in the short hurdles.
ALL DECADE--400 Hurdles: Washington alum Gianna Woodruff makes the All Decade team in the 400 hurdles.
While at Washington, Woodruff reached the NCAA championships her junior and senior seasons, then blossomed when she moved back to California to train under Boogie Johnson, best known for coaching Olympic champion Dalilah Muhammad.
In 2016, Woodruff, a dual citizenship of both the USA and Panama, dropped her personal best slightly to 57.34, then broke through the following year to set a Panamanian national record of 55.76 in Tucson. That mark earned her a spot on Panama's world championship team, where she made it to the semifinals.
She lowered her national record to 55.60 in 2018, then made her second world championship team last year, just missing her national record by 1/100ths of a second in the world championship semifinals in Doha.
ALL DECADE--High Jump: Washington State University alum Ebba Jungmark of Sweden gets the All Decade spot in the high jump.
In a three year stretch from 2011-13, she was third (2011) and second (2013) in the European indoor championships, set a outdoor personal best of 6-4.25 (1.94m), as well as an indoor PR (6-5/1.96m) competed at both the Daegu world outdoor championships and the London Olympics, and finished second at the 2012 world indoors in Istanbul, jumping 6-4.75 (1.95m).
Jungmark was world ranked #7 by Track & Field News in 2011.
ALL DECADE--Pole Vault: This was a slam dunk, with the All Decade honors going to Katie Nageotte.
Nageotte, who moved to Pullman midway through the 2017 season to train under Brad Walker at Washington State University, was ranked sixth in the world by Track & Field News that season after raising her personal best to 15-6.25 (4.73m).
The following year, she won her first USA indoor title in a personal best 16-1.25 (4.91m), then finished second at the outdoor nationals, and won four meets outdoors, including the NACAC championships in Toronto to earn another #6 world ranking from Track & Field News.
Last year, the graduate of Division II Ashland University in Ohio, started the season by winning the UW Indoor Preview en route to five other wins including another USA indoor title.
Outdoors, Nageotte was second the the USA Outdoor championships, second in the Pan Am Games in Lima, Peru, fourth in the Diamond League finals in Brussels, a third place finish at the USA vs Europe Match in Minsk, and a seventh place finish at the world outdoor championships in Doha. Katie earned her third straight world ranking from Track & Field News, moving up to fourth after two seasons at number six.
ALL DECADE--Discus: Renton HS and University of Washington alum Aretha Thurmond earns a spot on the All Decade team, though her best years were in the previous decade.
That said, she was still among the world's best discus throwers from 2010 until her retirement after the 2013 season.
In 2010, she competed in six IAAF Golden League meets, with her highest placing a second place finish in New York; finished fourth at the USA championships, and threw a season best 204-11 (62.47m) in Sacramento. She was ranked number eight in the world by Track & Field News.
The following year, she finished second at the USA national championships and made her fifth and final world championships team. That season, she finished second in the Pan Am Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, and threw in six IAAF Golden League meets, placing second in Lausanne and Birmingham, throwing a season best 209-5 (63.85m) in Lausanne. Aretha earned a number 7 world ranking from Track & Field News.
2012 saw Thurmond make her fourth Olympic team with a second place finish at the US Olympic Trials. At the Olympics in London, where she was named by her peers as team captain, she threw 194-10 (59.39m) in the qualifying round.
In her final full season, Thurmond competed in three IAAF Golden League meets, threw a best of 204-1 (62.21m) in Tucson and finished sixth in the USA national championships to close out an international career that started when she made the 1996 Olympic team as an undergraduate at the University of Washington.
ALL DECADE--Javelin: Another easy pick, with the honors going to Skyview HS/Vancouver grad Kara Winger.
Winger, who was an Olympian after her junior year at Purdue in 2008, began her decade of dominance by setting the still standing US national record, throwing 218-8 (66.67m) at the USA championships in Des Moines.
In this decade, she made two Olympic teams, and all but one world championship team (2013, where she finished third at nationals, but didn't have the standard to go to Moscow after injuring herself at the 2012 Olympic Trials).
Winger competed in every USA championship meet in the decade, winning the national title six times, never placing lower than third.
Kara won a NACAC title in 2015, and made the podium twice at the Pan Am Games, winning in 2019. She made the finals at the world championships twice, finishing eighth in the 2015 meet in Beijing (199-9/60.88m) and fifth in Doha last year (207-5/63.23m). In the decade, she earned world top-10 rankings from Track & Field News in 2010, 2018, and 2019, with her highest ranking a number 6 in 2010.
ALL DECADE HONORABLE MENTIONS--Three athletes receive honorable mention on the All-Decade squad: triple jumper Andrea Geubelle, 800 meter runner Justine Fedronic, and 50 kilometer race walker Katie Burnett.
University HS product Geubelle was third at the 2012 US Olympic Trials, and won the USA outdoor title in the triple jump in 2013, but did not have the standard to go to either the London Olympics or the world championships in Moscow. In 2016, she finished third in the US Olympic Trials after getting the Olympic standard the month before in Chula Vista to make the Olympic team, where she finished 11th in her flight.
In 2017, Andrea finished third at the national championships, but did not have the qualifying standard to go to the world championships in London.
Stanford grad Fedronic, who moved to Seattle to train under Brooks Beasts coach Danny Mackey, made the French Olympic team in 2016 after setting a personal best of 1:59.86 in Atlanta in June.
She was injured in 2017, and hadn't come near the marks she set in 2016, with her best outdoors a 2:01.62 in Heusden in 2018, and a 2:02.99 last year at the Portland Track Festival.
Because of the newness of the women's 50 kilometer walk as a world championship event, two time world championships team member and Bellevue native Katie Burnett only merits an honorable mention, despite a fourth place finish in the first world championship race in London in 2017, where she set an American record of 4:21:51.
Her best mark since the American record was 4:29:45.56 on the track in San Diego last year, and was not a factor in any international races during that time period.
MERCANATOR WASHINGTON TRACK & FIELD ATHLETE OF THE DECADE
Given all of that, my Washington women's track & field athlete of the decade goes to javelin thrower Kara Winger from Vancouver for her consistency at the world class level over the course of the decade...congratulations, Kara!
I will reveal the Mercanator Washington men's All Decade team and Athlete of the Decade in an upcoming post...who will be on it? Tune in and find out!
NOTE: Track & Field News and World Athletics contributed statistical information.
The criteria for making the Mercanator All Decade Team are very similar to the criteria for earning the yearly Mercanator Awards: they 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.
In addition, athletes under consideration for the All Decade Team had to demonstrate competitive consistency over a period of time against the best in the world, and compete in at least one of what I consider the Big Three major meets--the IAAF (now World Athletics) World Outdoor Track & Field Championships; the World Athletics Indoor Track & Field Championships; and of course, the Olympic Games.
While it was easy to make the distinction of athletes who either attended school in the state of Washington, or were born and raised in the state, it was difficult to sort out those professional athletes who only resided for X number of years in the state, given the transient nature of pros looking for a stable coaching and training situation.
The question was whether you consider an athlete for the All Decade Team who only stayed for one, two or three seasons?
After consideration, I went with two seasons as the minimum criteria for pros who moved into the state.
Like the yearly Mercanators, I reserve the right not to give the award to an event group; however, the criteria of competing in one of the big three major meets sorted out those athletes.
In certain events, there was more than one athlete under consideration, most notably in the distances, an area this part of the country is strong in.
Without further ado, here's the women's Mercanator Washington All Decade Team!
WOMEN
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| Ingvill Måkestad Bovin (Paul Merca photo) |
In a three year stretch from 2014-16, Mackey ran personal bests in the 800 (2:01.20, 2015), the 1500 (4:03.81, 2015), the mile (4:25.48, 2016), and the 5000 (15:04.74, 2014).
Mackey's one appearance in a Big Three meet was in 2018, when she finished eighth in the 3000 at the world indoors, running 8:56.62. She won a Diamond League meet in Stockholm in 2015, running 8:52.99, and set her personal best in the 3000 of 8:44.47 in 2018 at the Diamond League meet in London.
Måkestad Bovin's best three year stretch occurred from 2010-12, where she set a Norwegian national record of 1:59.82 in the 800 in 2010, and ran 4:02.20 in the 1500 the same year. She also ran 8:54.57 in the 3000 in 2010.
Indoors, she set national records in the 1500 (4:08.65, 2011), and the mile (4:28.49, 2010).
In her one appearance at a Big Three meet, Ingvill finished sixth in the finals of the 2011 world outdoors in Daegu, running 4:06.85.
Ingvill Måkestad Bovin gets the All Decade honors in the middle distances.
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| Lindsay Flanagan (Paul Merca photo) |
Since graduating from the University of Washington, Flanagan's been one of the country's best marathoners, debuting with a 2:33:12 at the 2015 Houston Marathon, and finished that season with a second place finish at the Pan Am Games.
In 2017, Flanagan was 11th in the Boston Marathon, then ran on her first world championship team, placing 37th in London.
After setting a personal best of 2:29:25 in Frankfurt in 2018, the Husky alum broke through in 2019 with two top ten finishes in two World Marathon Majors races in Boston (9th, 2:30:07), and Chicago (7th, 2:28:08 PR).
While a top ten finish in a World Marathon Majors race assured her of the Olympic standard, her 2:28:08 in Chicago put Flanagan under the time standard of 2:29:30.
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| Ginnie Crawford (Mike Scott photo) |
University of Idaho alum Whyte, who was training across the border in Moscow, Idaho for the first part of the decade, made the move to Pullman when Wayne Phipps, the longtime track and cross country coach at Idaho, got the gig at Washington State when Rick Sloan retired after the 2014 season, and put Whyte on his staff.
Whyte, who first burst onto the international scene in 2001 as a member of Canada's team in the 100 hurdles at the world championships, and was an Olympic finalist in that event in 2004, had a rebirth on the international scene starting in 2013, when she finished sixth in the finals of the world championships in Moscow.
In 2013, she was ranked number 9 in the world by Track & Field News.
The Canadian citizen then made the finals at the 2016 world indoors in Portland, running 7.99 to finish fifth, then ran in the first round of that year's Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, finishing sixth in her heat in 13.09.
A year later, Whyte qualified for the world championships in London, but did not get out of the first round.
While her best years in the 100 hurdles from a time standpoint were between 2006-2008, Rainier Beach HS graduate Ginnie Crawford was still among the best in the world for the first half of the last decade.
In that time span, she placed fifth in the 2010 world indoor championships in the 60 hurdles, running 7.97, won a USA indoor title, and was a consistent finalist in the USA outdoor championships. Her best time in the 100 hurdles after 2010 was 12.59 in 2012 in Paris, just over a week after finishing fourth at the Olympic Trials.
Crawford finished her professional career in the 2016 season, qualifying for the US Olympic Trials, but not finishing in the first round of racing.
From 2010-12, Crawford was world ranked by Track & Field News all three seasons, with fourth her highest in 2012.
Crawford is the All Decade selection in the short hurdles.
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| Gianna Woodruff (Paul Merca photo) |
While at Washington, Woodruff reached the NCAA championships her junior and senior seasons, then blossomed when she moved back to California to train under Boogie Johnson, best known for coaching Olympic champion Dalilah Muhammad.
In 2016, Woodruff, a dual citizenship of both the USA and Panama, dropped her personal best slightly to 57.34, then broke through the following year to set a Panamanian national record of 55.76 in Tucson. That mark earned her a spot on Panama's world championship team, where she made it to the semifinals.
She lowered her national record to 55.60 in 2018, then made her second world championship team last year, just missing her national record by 1/100ths of a second in the world championship semifinals in Doha.
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| Ebba Jungmark (Paul Merca photo) |
In a three year stretch from 2011-13, she was third (2011) and second (2013) in the European indoor championships, set a outdoor personal best of 6-4.25 (1.94m), as well as an indoor PR (6-5/1.96m) competed at both the Daegu world outdoor championships and the London Olympics, and finished second at the 2012 world indoors in Istanbul, jumping 6-4.75 (1.95m).
Jungmark was world ranked #7 by Track & Field News in 2011.
 |
| Katie Nageotte (Paul Merca photo) |
Nageotte, who moved to Pullman midway through the 2017 season to train under Brad Walker at Washington State University, was ranked sixth in the world by Track & Field News that season after raising her personal best to 15-6.25 (4.73m).
The following year, she won her first USA indoor title in a personal best 16-1.25 (4.91m), then finished second at the outdoor nationals, and won four meets outdoors, including the NACAC championships in Toronto to earn another #6 world ranking from Track & Field News.
Last year, the graduate of Division II Ashland University in Ohio, started the season by winning the UW Indoor Preview en route to five other wins including another USA indoor title.
Outdoors, Nageotte was second the the USA Outdoor championships, second in the Pan Am Games in Lima, Peru, fourth in the Diamond League finals in Brussels, a third place finish at the USA vs Europe Match in Minsk, and a seventh place finish at the world outdoor championships in Doha. Katie earned her third straight world ranking from Track & Field News, moving up to fourth after two seasons at number six.
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| Aretha Thurmond (Paul Merca photo) |
That said, she was still among the world's best discus throwers from 2010 until her retirement after the 2013 season.
In 2010, she competed in six IAAF Golden League meets, with her highest placing a second place finish in New York; finished fourth at the USA championships, and threw a season best 204-11 (62.47m) in Sacramento. She was ranked number eight in the world by Track & Field News.
The following year, she finished second at the USA national championships and made her fifth and final world championships team. That season, she finished second in the Pan Am Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, and threw in six IAAF Golden League meets, placing second in Lausanne and Birmingham, throwing a season best 209-5 (63.85m) in Lausanne. Aretha earned a number 7 world ranking from Track & Field News.
2012 saw Thurmond make her fourth Olympic team with a second place finish at the US Olympic Trials. At the Olympics in London, where she was named by her peers as team captain, she threw 194-10 (59.39m) in the qualifying round.
In her final full season, Thurmond competed in three IAAF Golden League meets, threw a best of 204-1 (62.21m) in Tucson and finished sixth in the USA national championships to close out an international career that started when she made the 1996 Olympic team as an undergraduate at the University of Washington.
 |
| Kara Winger (Paul Merca photo) |
Winger, who was an Olympian after her junior year at Purdue in 2008, began her decade of dominance by setting the still standing US national record, throwing 218-8 (66.67m) at the USA championships in Des Moines.
In this decade, she made two Olympic teams, and all but one world championship team (2013, where she finished third at nationals, but didn't have the standard to go to Moscow after injuring herself at the 2012 Olympic Trials).
Winger competed in every USA championship meet in the decade, winning the national title six times, never placing lower than third.
Kara won a NACAC title in 2015, and made the podium twice at the Pan Am Games, winning in 2019. She made the finals at the world championships twice, finishing eighth in the 2015 meet in Beijing (199-9/60.88m) and fifth in Doha last year (207-5/63.23m). In the decade, she earned world top-10 rankings from Track & Field News in 2010, 2018, and 2019, with her highest ranking a number 6 in 2010.
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| Andrea Geubelle (Paul Merca photo) |
University HS product Geubelle was third at the 2012 US Olympic Trials, and won the USA outdoor title in the triple jump in 2013, but did not have the standard to go to either the London Olympics or the world championships in Moscow. In 2016, she finished third in the US Olympic Trials after getting the Olympic standard the month before in Chula Vista to make the Olympic team, where she finished 11th in her flight.
In 2017, Andrea finished third at the national championships, but did not have the qualifying standard to go to the world championships in London.
Stanford grad Fedronic, who moved to Seattle to train under Brooks Beasts coach Danny Mackey, made the French Olympic team in 2016 after setting a personal best of 1:59.86 in Atlanta in June.
She was injured in 2017, and hadn't come near the marks she set in 2016, with her best outdoors a 2:01.62 in Heusden in 2018, and a 2:02.99 last year at the Portland Track Festival.
Because of the newness of the women's 50 kilometer walk as a world championship event, two time world championships team member and Bellevue native Katie Burnett only merits an honorable mention, despite a fourth place finish in the first world championship race in London in 2017, where she set an American record of 4:21:51.
Her best mark since the American record was 4:29:45.56 on the track in San Diego last year, and was not a factor in any international races during that time period.
MERCANATOR WASHINGTON TRACK & FIELD ATHLETE OF THE DECADE
I will reveal the Mercanator Washington men's All Decade team and Athlete of the Decade in an upcoming post...who will be on it? Tune in and find out!
NOTE: Track & Field News and World Athletics contributed statistical information.
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