Carter sets season mark in shot put at U.S. champs
Michelle Carter unleashed the season's longest women's shot put throw at the U.S. indoor championships in Boston on Sunday, her mark of 19.45 metres on her final attempt capping a solid series that included two other throws over 19m. “Any time you can have your top three throws of a competition be the best three throws in the world, you can’t complain about that,” the 2012 world indoor bronze medallist told reporters. In the women's 60m hurdles, Jasmin Stowers, just a year out of college, missed the season's lead by one-hundredth of a second as she sped to victory in 7.84 seconds, while veteran sprinter-long jumper Tianna Bartoletta was close to the fastest 60m, clocking 7.08 seconds. With no world championships this year, many top U.S. athletes skipped the meeting, giving younger performers a chance to grab national titles. Former world junior silver medallist Casimir Loxsom cruised to a national 600m record of 1:15.33 and collegiate record holder Demi Payne claimed the women's pole vault at 4.55m. World indoor record holder and Olympic champion Jenn Suhr withdrew after two vaults, saying she was not fully healthy. World 1,500m silver medallist Matthew Centrowitz won the mile in a slow 4:01.40 and fellow Olympian Shannon Rowbury completed a weekend double, taking the two-mile in a tactical 9:43.94 to go with her victory of 4:34.40 in the mile on Saturday. (Reporting by Gene Cherry in Salvo, North Carolina; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
