Between 2005 and 2007, Kamorean Hayes rewrote the throws records, though her discus mark has since been surpassed.
In the first two articles of this series, I established a rough standard for how to identify athletes that truly transcend all the other performances in their event, and I examined some historical examples of this kind of track & field supremacy. Today I want to look at some more recent cases, those who have exceeded the limits of what we thought possible since NCRunners came on the scene in 2006. In addition to Trentavis Friday, who we covered thoroughly in the opening article of this series, I was able to find three other North Carolina all-time greats that fit the 3% rule that I have been using during my research (more on the limitations of this standard later in the week). Anyone who has been following track in the Tarheel State over the last decade will know these names, and remember how singular the athletes seemed at the time of their competition.
Gabby Mayo (Southeast Raleigh) - Sprints
After making her initial splash as a hurdler, Mayo expanded her repertoire by running the 100 and 200 and in so doing became the dominant figure in the state her junior and senior years. She won 4 events at the 4A State Meet in 2006 (100, 200, 100H, 300H) and then 3 events in 2007 (dropping the 300H). It was the extent of her dominance in the sprints, however, that earned her transcendent status. Mayo's best wind-legal 100 was 11.16, which led the nation in 2006, and the second-best FAT time in the state is 11.57 - that's a difference of 3.5% over any other North Carolina sprinter before or after her, as her all-time state record still stands. In the 200, Gabby ran 22.88 (also the national leader in 2006), which is 3.1 % better than the next-best mark in state history. No female sprinter has come close to those marks since, and it might be a while before anyone does. Mayo went on to a college career at Texas A&M, making it to several NCAA championships both individually and as a part of some very strong relay teams.
Kamorean Hayes (Harding University) - Throws
You can make a strong argument that Hayes is the most transcendent athlete in North Carolina history. Her mark of 52' 6.5" in the shot put, set indoors during the 2006-2007 school year, was 15.9% better than any of her predecessors at the time. Even today, it still stands 13% above anyone who came after her on the North Carolina All-Time Top 25, as no other North Carolina girl has even broken the 47-foot barrier. Hayes was also a force in the discus throw, setting what was an all-time state record of 162' 10" in 2005, which at the time was 11.8% better than the next-best performance in state history. Her discus record fell in 2009 (and several other throwers have thrown close to 160 feet as well), but the shot put mark still stands alone at the top of the list, and may be there for some time. After winning multiple national titles in high school, Kamorean went on to have a solid career at Florida State, at one point breaking the school's indoor record in the shot put. She is also noteworthy for having run on the Harding 4x100 team during her high school career, and they were pretty good, too.
With the examination of Trentavis Friday and J-Mee Samuels that kicked off this series, I established a corollary to the 3% rule: it doesn't apply when you try to compare one transcendent athlete to another. In other words, once someone sets the bar with a superlative mark in an event, you can't really expect another athlete to exceed that bar by 3% anymore. Simply becoming the equal of a historically dominant athlete is, in itself, a form of transcendence. Having said all that, Wesley Frazier managed to not only match the feats of the Shea sisters (profiled in yesterday's article), but actually exceeded the standard they set by a pretty good bit. Frazier's 5000 meter time of 15:55.97, which was a national leader in 2013, is 1.8% better than Mary Shea's best time, and 6.4% ahead of the third-place all-time mark in that event. Wesley's 3200 time of 9:57.70 barely edges Mary's out, but it is 3.8% ahead of the highest non-Shea, non-Frazier 3200 time in state history. Likewise in the 1600, where the elder Frazier is 3.1% faster than Samantha George's 2012 mark, which is #5 all-time. It is worth noting that Wesley's sister Ryen has already begun to edge into transcendent territory, as she now sits equal to Mary Shea in the 1600 and to Julie Shea in the 3200.
This is the exception that proves the rule: it would be unreasonable to expect Ryen to run 3% faster than her sister, just as it was not really possible for Wesley to run 3% faster than the Sheas. Instead, North Carolina is lucky to have had two pairs of sisters that have defined transcendence in distance-running, and anyone who reaches their level deserves equal consideration. This example also points out the limitations of the 3% rule, because Wesley Frazier was transcendent in other ways that will be remembered for years: winning all 3 distance races at the 2013 New Balance Nationals, or running two 4:48 miles within 20 minutes of each other at the 2012 NBNO come to mind. Incidentally, Wesley is now at Duke, and still has many accomplishments in front of her in her running career.
Next: Transcendence in Cross Country