After surgery, Olympians shine at meet
Jones, Merritt win 60-meter hurdles
This nation’s best track athletes aren’t merely fast.
It seems they’re fast healers, too.
And no hurdle is too high.
Olympic gold medalist and world-record holder Aries Merritt, five months after a kidney transplant, won the men’s 60-meter hurdles Saturday at the New Mexico Classic and Multis indoor track meet.
Three-time Olympian and two-time world champion Lolo Jones, coming off October hip surgery, won the women’s 60-meter hurdles.
The star-studded meet at the Albuquerque Convention Center concluded Saturday afternoon.
Merritt, who won gold in the 110-meter hurdles four years ago in London and holds the world record (12.80 seconds) in that event, suffers from a genetic kidney disorder. In September, he underwent surgery to receive a healthy kidney donated by his sister.
This weekend, he competed for the first time since the transplant. His winning time in the 60 hurdles, 7.60 seconds, wasn’t too far off his lifetime best of 7.43 — established in 2012 on the same Convention Center track.
“I’ve been training for about 10 weeks now, so I’m really happy with my opener,” he said. “... There’s a lot of room for improvement, for sure.”
Merritt has his eye on more Olympic gold, not so much on the coming IAAF World Indoor Championships in Portland, Ore., on March 17-20.
“Should I make the world indoor team, I’ll compete at world indoors,” he said. “But it’s all focused on the Olympic trials, making that Olympic team and then trying to defend my title in Rio (de Janeiro).”
Jones won the women’s 60 hurdles in 7.95 seconds, over- coming a slow start to power past fellow Olympians Janay DeLoach (7.97) and Queen Harrison (8.02).
“I’m exactly where I wanted to be,” Jones said. “I’m still struggling with the first hur- dle, but the fact that my end speed is great, I’m happy about that.”
Jones, 33, said she hadn’t expected to compete indoors at all this year while rehabbing from the surgery.
“I wasn’t supposed to be able to start running until March,” she said. “I think a lot of people were praying for me, and I had a really good team.
“I’m just taking it race by race. The focus is definitely on Rio.”
Former La Cueva and UNM runner Jarrin Solomon, a 2012 Olympic bronze medalist for Trinidad and Tobago in the 4x400 relay, won the men’s 400 meters Saturday in a time of 46.43 — edging Texas Tech’s Kyle Collins in a photo finish.
“I didn’t get out very good, which is not normal for me,” Solomon said. “I still won, but it wasn’t indicative of how my training’s been going.”
Solomon competes for Trinidad and Tobago because his father, Michael, a former UNM middle-distance runner, is a native of that nation. He said he’ll run both the 400 meters and the 4x400 relay at world indoors.
Former Albuquerque Academy star Curtis Beach finished third in the heptathlon with a score of 5,839, well below his personal best of 6,190 established at the same venue in March 2014.
Beach said he wasn’t at all displeased with his total for his first multievents effort of the indoor season.
“It’s the best opener I’ve ever had,” he said. “I usually have a first decathlon or heptathlon score that’s way below my personal best, and this is a lot closer.
“I’m not thrilled about it, but I’m not disappointed. I think it’s a good first meet.”
Former Albuquerque Academy and UNM runner Alex Herring won the men’s 800 meters in 1:49.14.
Amid a dazzling display by a bevy of world-class athletes, UNM coach Joe Franklin found plenty of encouragement.
He was particularly pleased with middle-distance runner Adam Cotton, who finished second behind Herring in the 800 in 1:52.24. It was Cotton’s first competitive race in almost two years, due to injuries.
Lobos senior Yannick Roggatz ran a personal best of 8.26 in the 60 hurdles, less than 24 hours after setting an indoor personal best Friday night in the long jump (24-11 ¾ ).
“We’re getting a little better all the time,” Franklin said, “so it’s very positive right now.”