Walnut, California seems to be a special place for hammer thrower Sultana Frizell. At Saturday’s Mt Sac Relays, the former figure skater spun four times before hurling the hammer out to 71.57m, which was good enough for the victory over a field that included both the American and British record holders. Frizell’s distance was also just seven centimeters off her own meet record of 71.64m set in 2009. On Facebook, the thrower remarked “Always a pleasure competing at the Sac. Onto the next meet and hopefully building towards better things!”
Also competing at Mt Sac was Frizell’s former roommate and Olympic teammate, Melissa Bishop, who produced her fastest ever opener over 800m, 2:02.62. For the second year in a row, the Eganville native decided to open her season up in Walnut. Her previous best opener was 2:03.91 last season. Bishop will compete next in the Cayman Islands on May 8th.
In Poughkeepsie, New York horizontal jumper Divya Biswal continued to dominate Liberty League competition as a member of the St. Lawrence University Saints. The indoor All-American swept the long and triple jump competitions at the conference championships on the Vassar College campus. On the strength of her victories, the Saints sophomore captured the Liberty League Field Event MVP, repeating her indoor performance. Biswal, also a former figure skater, will compete next at the historic Penn Relays taking place this coming weekend in Philadelphia.
Rounding out North American competition, the trio of Oluwasegun Makinde, Michael Robertson and Samantha Murphy were all in action at the LSU Alumni Gold meet in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Makinde produced a new personal best in the 110m hurdles with a clocking of 14.59 seconds before finishing the 200m in 21.17 seconds and running the second leg on Team Canada’s 39.18 second 4x100m effort. Robertson produced a seasonal best 47.45 second run in the 400m, while Murphy finished fifth in a talented 800m field, crossing the line in 2:06.09.
At the London Marathon, world record holder Josh Cassidy made headlines following his collision with 2012 Olympic women’s champion, Tiki Gelana. Cassidy would recommence racing, later pulling out of the race before reaching the mid way mark. London was the second half of a grueling double for Cassidy as he had finished ninth in the Boston Marathon just six days prior.
