USATF LA Grand Prix hits the mark

LOS ANGELES (The Compton Bulletin) – The 2023 USATF Los Angeles Grand Prix was a great track and field meet that featured some outstanding performances.

The highlight of the meet was shot putter Ryan Crouser upending the world record he set in the event in 2021. Crouser hit his new mark with a throw of 23.56m on a sunny afternoon at UCLA’s Drake Stadium on May 27.

With his big throw, Crouser easily bypassed the 23.37 world standard he set during the U.S. Olympic Trials. Going into the meet, Crouser said that he was trying to get some good throws off. Setting a new world record was not something on his mind.

“The biggest thing for me I just wanted to check and see where I was at,” Crouser said. “I’ve been in heavy training, heavy weight room, been doing sets of five with minimum speed work. So, when it’s like that, I have a lot of power but it’s hard to harness it because I don’t have that speed and finesse. I wanted to keep things simple and execute.”

Although he wanted to keep things simple, erasing Drake Stadium’s record in the shot put, which was set in 1990 by Randy Barnes, was something he had his sights on, Crouser said.  

“The realistic goal was to throw a season’s best,” Crouser added. “That was like the minimum that I was looking for. When I have a meet like this I kind of have two goals: one is like a minimum, and one will be a higher end. And the high-end goal was to break Barnes stadium record [75 feet, 10 inches]. The old record [was] 23.12. That is where I was coming in at. At a minimum, I wanted to throw a season’s best with the goal of throwing Barnes’ record. Warmups were good, and when I had that first-round throw, I was like okay, I’ve got a good opportunity here today.”

Doing something great in the shot-put event is nothing new for Crouser. After all, he is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, coming out on top at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. The biggest thing for him to do was to not overthink the moment, he said.

“The biggest thing is don’t mess it up, don’t get tight and try to force it,” said Crouser.

One competitor who didn’t try to force anything was hurdling specialist Jasmine Camacho-Quinn. Camacho-Quinn, who won the gold medal at the 2021 (2020) Olympic Games, beat a stacked field that included world-record holder Tobi Amusan from Nigeria in the 100-meter hurdles.

 Amusan would finish last in this go-round. Camacho-Quinn got off to a fast start and ran her way to a world-leading time of 12.31. Asked afterward if she ran the race that she wanted, Camacho-Quinn was blunt in her assessment of her performance and if she had everything clicking.

“No, absolutely not,” Camacho-Quinn said. “But being able to compare that race to my semifinals in Tokyo, is not too far off. I still have work to do. It was…I’ll take it. It’s still early in the season.”

Camacho-Quinn is ranked No. 2 in the world. She beat a good field. Aside from the world record holder in Amusan (12.69), Camacho-Quinn was also able to beat back five other Top 10 hurdlers. Keni Harrison (12.35), Tia Jones (12.50), and Alaysha Johnson (12.52) rounded up the top four finishers in the race.

Camacho-Quinn said she entered the race with some jitters.

“I started to get a little nervous, but then I was like, ‘try to stay calm. You’ve raced against all these girls before,’” said Camacho-Quinn.” Like I don’t know if everybody was feeling the same way, but, you know, I did something different with my hair out. I said, ‘alright, let’s see if this is going to work today.’” 

In the first heat of the women’s 100 meters, things appeared to work out just fine for sprinter Sha’Carri Richarson. Richardson bolted out of the blocks and hit the tape in a swift time of 10.90, easily beating the rest of the field. There were two rounds of the women’s 100 meters. The first four times of each race would be entered into the 100-meter finals.

Richardson had the second-best time of both heats. Her first-place place finish guaranteed her a spot in the finals. Unfortunately, Richardson did not get the opportunity to run in the women’s finals. She was scratched in the race due to leg cramps, according to a USATF spokesperson.  

One runner who made it to the finals in her specialty race was Jenna Prandini. Ranked No. 9 in the world in the 200 meters, according to World Athletics, Prandini (22.34) turned on the jets down the final runway and was able to outlast former USC Trojans star Twanisha Terry (22.44) for the win. Prandini also had to outrun Olympian Gabby Thomas, who earned a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games.  

“It was great competition,” Prandini said. “Did you see all the names on the field? It was a stacked field.”