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November 12, 2020
Wolfgram, Connolly earn Athlete of the Week honors
INDIANAPOLIS -- Nevada freshman
Tierney Wolfgram
(St. Paul, Minnesota) beat the existing American U20 record in the women’s marathon to earn USATF Athlete of the Week, while
Hal Connolly
was voted by fans as the winner of the 33rd USATF Throwback Athlete of the Week award for setting a world record in the men’s hammer throw on November 2, 1956. In the absence of regular competition during the Covid-19 pandemic, we are taking a weekly look back at some of the great efforts by American track and field athletes through the years.
Wolfgram, who will turn 18 next May, won the Parkway Marathon in Sacramento, California, in 2:31:50, more than two minutes faster than the established American U20 record of 2:34:24 set in 1984 by Cathy Schiro to finish ninth at the inaugural U.S. Olympic Trials in Olympia, Washington.
A Minnesota state high school cross country and track champion for Woodbury HS, Wolfgram was 76th at the Olympic Trials earlier this year with a 2:42:47 after qualifying for the race with a 2:40:03 in 2018.
Gold medalist at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia, Hal Connolly set his first of six ratified world records on November 2, 1956, at Los Angeles with a mark of 68.54m/224-10 in a special event at Occidental College. That added more than four feet to the previous world record set by Mikhail Krivonosov of the Soviet Union the previous month in Tashkent.
Krivonosov, a seven-time world record setter, was the favorite for gold at Melbourne, but Connolly uncorked a fifth-round throw of 63.19m/207-3 to snatch the top spot from the Soviet athlete. Connolly’s biggest headlines from the ‘56 Games came from outside the stadium, though, as he and women’s discus gold medalist Olga Fikotová of Czechoslovakia fell in love and were married in Prague a few months after the Olympics.
Connolly would go on to compete at three more Olympic Games, finishing eighth in 1960 and sixth in 1964 before closing out his Olympic career in Mexico City in ‘68. He set five more world records in the hammer, the last a throw of 71.26m/233-9 in 1965 at Walnut, California, and won nine U.S. hammer titles. Connolly was the 1959 Pan American Games silver medalist and three times won the AAU National Indoor Championships in the 35-pound weight throw.
A Boston College graduate, Connolly was a teacher before becoming supervisor of secondary education in Santa Monica, California, and was executive director of the Special Olympics for 11 years. He also coached and mentored many of America’s top young hammer athletes through the years, chairing the USATF Junior hammer development committee. His two sons, Jim (decathlon) and Adam (hammer), were also top American track and field athletes. Connolly was elected to the National Track & Field Hall of Fame in 1984, and there is a statue depicting his winning throw in ‘56 in Brighton, Massachusetts. He died August 18, 2010 at age 79.
Other historical performances of note from the November 2-8 period in USATF history:
November 4 — Margaret Murdock American record women’s discus, 30.48m/100-0 at Saratoga Springs, New York in 1922
November 5 — Luther Cary =American record men’s 100m, 11 1/5 at New York City in 1890
November 6 — George Bonhag American record men’s 10,000m, 31:05.2 at New York City in 1909
November 8 — Olga Connolly American record in women’s discus, 54.38m/178-5 at Long Beach, California in 1968
Other notable performances from the past week included:
Adam Peterman won the USATF men’s Trail Marathon Championships in Moab, Utah, by more than five minutes in 2:57:04
Allie McLaughlin won the USATF women’s Trail Marathon Championships in 3:36:48, more than five minutes ahead of the runner-up
Now in its 19th year, USATF’s Athlete of the Week program is designed to recognize outstanding performers at all levels of the sport. USATF names a new honoree each week and features the athlete on USATF.org. Selections are based on top performances and results from the previous week.
2020 Winners: January 9, Miranda Melville; January 16, Paul Perry; January 23, Natosha Rogers; January 30, Tyler Day, February 6, Devin Dixon; February 13, Elle Purrier; February 20, Tori Franklin; February 27, Sandi Morris; March 4, Abdi Abdirahman; March 12 Marielle Hall; March 19, Tim Tollefson; April 2, Louise Ritter; April 9, Francie Larrieu Smith; April 16, Erin Gilreath; April 23, Suzy Powell; April 30, Joe Dial; May 7, Dawn Ellerbe; May 14, Ramona Pagel; May 21, Brian Oldfield; May 28, Jackie Joyner-Kersee; June 4, Jesse Owens; June 11, Mary Decker Slaney; June 18, Leroy Burrell; June 25, Sandra Farmer-Patrick; July 2, Jim Ryun; July 9, Evelyn Ashford; July 16, Wilma Rudolph & Shelby Houlihan; July 23, Pat Daniels & Ryan Crouser; July 30, Michael Norman & Mildred “Babe” Didriksen; August 6, Valarie Allman & Parry O’Brien; August 13, Sara Hall & Kevin Young; August 20, Justin Robinson & Jackie Joyner-Kersee; August 27, Donavan Brazier & Renaldo Nehemiah; September 3, Ryan Crouser & Mike Powell; September 10, Ryan Crouser & Wilma Rudolph; September 17, Rudy Winkler & Kate Schmidt; September 24, Ryan Crouser & Jay Silvester; October 1, Payton Chadwick & Carl Lewis; October 8, Sara Hall & Florence Griffith Joyner; October 15, Shadrack Kipchirchir & Johnny J. Kelley; October 22, Katie Thronson & Billy Mills; October 29, Jaci Smith & Joan Benoit Samuelson; November 5, Molly Huddle & Julie Brown; November 12, Tierney Wolfgram & Hal Connolly.
We welcome your nominations!
To nominate an athlete for USATF Athlete of the Week, please send a detailed email about his/her performance to
communications@usatf.org
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