By Garrett Zatlin
One of my favorite weekends of track and field is championship weekend. It may not be a regional or national championship, but everyone is competing for a title and trying to get in qualifying times before the later part of the post season begins. With so much different action around the country, there’s a lot to talk about so lets get into it.
Pac 12’s
800
As if the 800 field wasn’t deep enough already, Jesse Jorgenson of Washington St. runs an outstanding time of 1:46.49 to take the half-mile title. He did it over Collins Kibet of Arizona (1:47.06) and Nick Hartle of UCLA (1:47.80). An honest pace allowed Jorgenson to grab a massive PR. His 800 has improved by a little over 2 seconds this season. That’s a nice confidence booster going into western regionals.
1500
A crazy loaded field made this race extremely interesting.Izaic Yorks of Washington grabbed first place honors with a 3:46.42. Behind him? Thomas Joyce, the man that was originally unbeatable, loses in an extremely close race by finishing second in 3:46.46. The field behind these guys weren’t slackers either. Ben Saarel, Blake Haney, Sean McGorty, Daniel Winn, Tom Coyle (3:42.80 in preliminaries), and Jake Hurysz made up most of this field.
So what can we take away from this? Yorks has finally shown that he can contend in the postseason. A slow pace is not kind to Joyce. McGorty needs to work on his closing speed (think back to Penn Relays and duel meet against Cal.) and Gregorek was a no-show to the finals even after he won his preliminary heat. Is Gregorek injured or is Oregon up to something? I guess time will tell…
5000
The 5k was essentially an Oregon/Colorado duel meet. Ches and Jenkins cruised into the finish going 1-2 running 13:45.22 and 13:45.33 respectively. Clearly they were just running together and taking the pace into their own hands. The ability to just cruise control a race like that makes me hyped to see the matchup they’ll have with KemoyCampbell later on this season. Behind them were the Colorado duo of Morgan Pearson and Pierce Murphy running 13:47.83 and 13:48.43. Geoghegan rounds out the top 5 running 13:50.64.
10,000
Ammar Moussa (Colorado) is the winner in a strong field. Moussa’s 29:34.28 bested Erik Olson’s (Stanford) 29:36.75. Moussa’s teammate, Pearson, grabbed third with a 29:41.84. Maksim Korolev (Stanford) struggled with a 6thplace finish running 29:47.65. If I had to guess, his extended XC season was rough on him and he burned out. Unfortunate to see, but it was a necessary sacrifice if he wanted to continue his excellent XC season.
3000St.
Colorado goes 1-2 with Connor Winter ending up as the winner in a time of 8:48.93. He led Blake Theroux who ran 8:49.00. Oregon’s Tanguy Pepiot closed out the top three with a time of 8:52.15. A little disappointed with Pepiot this season. I thought he could throw down a fast time but he hasn’t done anything faster than that 8:52.15 so far.
Big 12’s
800
Edward Kemboi continues to put more wins on his resume as he heads into the last conference championship race of his collegiate career. He wins the event in 1:48.42 while sophomore, Brandon Moore (Baylor), ends up in second running 1:49.24.
1500
An absolutely crazy race. Why? Mainly because the race went out in an 83 for the first 400… Everyone in the field refused to push the pace and it resulted in a sit and kick kind of race with Chad Noelle (OKST) throwing on a surge to win in 4:05.93. Not much we can take away from this except that Noelle has now won races that have gone out very fast and very slow. He’s dominated the 1500 so far this season and there’s no reason to think he’ll let up at this point.
5000
Kirubel Erassa (OKST) and Craig Lutz (Texas) go after the 5k title in a somewhat slower race. Erassa pulls away from Lutz towards the end to win in a time of 14:24.98. Lutz finished second in 14:31.17.
10,000
The top two were exactly the same as the 5k with Erassagetting his second gold and Lutz getting his second silver. The pace, unlike the 5k, was much faster. Erassa won with a time of 28:50.41 while Lutz finished in 28:55.84. Nice doubling from both of these guys and it shows good strength moving forward. Lutz’s shots for medaling in the 10k are growing week by week.
Big 10’s
800
Brannon Kidder continues to show his dominance by throwing down a solid 1:47.99 to win over Joe McAsey of Illinois (1:48.29). Every indicator points to Kidder as the favorite for the title and this win just solidifies that thought. Tre’tez Kinnaird (Indiana) struggles greatly in the final running 2:03.64 for last. Hopefully he wasn’t hurt or anything like that. Sometimes people just have off days.
1500
The race was pretty slow although not quite as slow as Big 12’s. The freshman Joe Hardy of Wisconsin, takes the title in 3:57.06 to beat out the established Indiana Hoosier, Rorey Hunter (3:57.48). I’m really liking Hardy’s progression. He had the fastest split in the 4xMile at Penn and he’s gusty. He shows no fear. Props to this kid and I look forward to seeing more of him in the future. The favorite, Robby Creese, finishes dead last in the finals in4:05.68.
10,000
After falling to sixth in the 5k, Malachy Schrobilgen(Wisconsin) beats out a tired McClintock for the win in 29:19.55. McClintock was close to his second gold of the day running 29:20.14.
3000St.
While he couldn’t grab that 5k title, he made sure to get the 3kSt title. Mason Ferlic (Michigan) runs an excellent 8:43.30 for the win. He was followed by Dylan Lafond(Illinois) and Jackson Neff (Ohio State) who ran 8:46.53 and 8:47.00 respectively. The Big 10’s are full of guys with excellent potential and Ferlic is one of them. Another year for him and he could be in the title talks for the steeplechase.
ACC’s
800
Give some love for my Hokies! Patrick Joseph (Virginia Tech) is the winner running a very smooth 1:48.44 to win. That’s nice speed for a 1500/mile guy and he’ll need that speed come regionals and NCAA’s. Joseph was followedby the FSU duo of Jake Burton and Otniel Teixeria running 1:48.90 and 1:49.08 respectively.
1500
Who else but the Syracuse freshman to get the gold? JustynKnight continues one of the best freshman seasons ever seen (maybe besides Cheserek) with an ACC title running 3:47.85. He gets his win over Neil Gourley (Virginia Tech) who ran 3:47.91 and Mike Marsella (Virginia) who ran 3:47.93.
5000
Of course it had to come back to Hehir vs Curtin for an ACC 5k rematch. However, the result was no different. Tommy Curtin (Virginia Tech) was just able to hold offMartin Hehir (Syracuse) to win his 4th ACC title. Curtin ran 13:59.33 to Hehir’s 14:00.63. While Hehir did lose the 5k, I still really like his chances to medal in the 10k. The competition in front of him will not be easy (Ches, Jenkins, Witt) but if anyone is going to make a surprise, it’s going to be Hehir.
3000St.
Edwin Kibichiy (Louisville) runs an exceptional 8:33.78 to win. Outstanding race for this guy. He might be one of the very few (or maybe the only one) that can challenge Kebenei for the NCAA title. Kebenei is still the heavy favorite, but enough pressure from behind can do crazy things to people. Zak Seddon (FSU) continues his excellent steeplechase campaign this season by grabbing second with an 8:36.75. He’s another that’ll fight for a medal. Stuart Robinson (Virginia Tech) rounds out the top three running 8:42.73.
Mid-American
Clayton Murphy (Akron) takes titles in the 800 and 1500 pretty easily running 1:50.51 and 3:46.77.
SEC’s
800
Even on his home track, Brandon McBride (Miss. St.) couldn’t capture the title. McBride fell to Julian Parker of LSU who ran 1:46.17. McBride ran 1:46.43. Andres Arroyo (Florida) finished third in 1:46.49, Alex Amankwah(Alabama) was fourth in 1:46.64 and Ryan Schnulle(Florida) was fifth in 1:47.45.
This race was incredibly fast and deep with talent. What is scary was how fast the prelims were! McBride threw downan impressive (but unnecessary) 1:45.87 to win the prelim. Not the smartest decision ever especially by a very experienced 800 guy. Keffri Neal had a great prelim at 1:47.38 but faltered to last in the final (1:48.91). With McBride now displaying he can go under 1:46, the 800 national title became arguably the most intriguing event this season.
1500
While his 800 did worry me, his 1500 put me slightly at ease. Keffri Neal (Kentucky) is your winner with a time of 3:44.89. He is followed by Missouri’s Will Crocker in 3:45.32. Craig Engels of Ole Miss finishes in a somewhat disappointing third place running 3:45.37. It would’ve been great to see him get a win knowing how well he has run earlier this season.
5000
Campbell and Kebenei (both of Arkansas) go 1-2 in this race clocking in at 13:52.62 and 13:53.11 respectively. Brandon Lord (Georgia) grabs third in a nice race for him considering his relatively quiet season. He has a nice 10k under his belt this season so I hope to see more of him.
3000St.
In what was most likely a jog, Stanley Kebenei (Arkansas) gets a win in 8:58.40. Mark Parrish of Florida was a little less than a second off running 8:59.06.
Big Sky
Montana State is going to get every last bit they can out of their super senior, Cristian Soratos. Soratos went for the very difficult 800, 1500, 5000 triple. Soratos was able to take the 800 and 1500 titles in 1:49.22 and 3:43.97. Throw in his fifth place finish in the 5k running 14:31.52 and this guy had a long day. Soratos is clearly strong right now and this was a good to test to see just how far he could be pushed.
Heps (Ivy League)
800
Henry Tufnell of Brown is able to edge out Columbia’s 800 studs Connor Clafin and Brendon Fish. Tufnell ran 1:49.01 while Clafin and Fish finished just a stride behind in 1:49.06 and 1:49.09.
1500
Thomas Awad gets a relatively easy win in a tactical race with a time of 3:53.69. PA’s Ned Willig (Brown) finished fourth in 3:54.11.
5000
Awad would come back from the 1500 to win the 5k as well earning him Athlete of the Meet honors. Awad got his win over Princton’s Mike Mazzaccaro (14:37.78 to 14:37.99). Kevin Dooney of Yale was close behind in third running 14:38.18.
3000St.
Nick Tuck of Penn was the victor here as he blasted an 8:46.63 for the win. He won over the Cornell duo David Melly and Connor Herr who both ran 8:51.83 and 8:53.66 respectively.
Big East
800
Georgetown went 1-2 in this race with Joseph White beating out teammate Billy Ledder, 1:49.38 to 1:50.02. Dusty Solis of Villanova was third in 1:50.05.
1500
Jordy Williamsyz cruises to a win over Georgetown’s Cole Williams. Jordy wins it in 3:48.46 while Williams finishes at 3:49.11. Denault (Villanova) was an inch short of Williams running 3:49.12 for third.
3000St.
PA’s own Ryan Gil gets his first steeplechase win running 8:58.67. Gil outdid teammate Mathew Howard who ran 9:01.24 for second.
Other News…
So now some questions to leave you with…
These are tough questions but I’ll leave it for you all to ponder.
Get ready ladies and gents. The real action is just around the corner.
Run on,
Garrett
Just so you know Creese fell the last lap
ReplyDeleteThat would make a lot of sense. Good to know and thanks for that heads up.
DeleteAlso to note...
-Justyn Knight finished his 1500 without a shoe making his win even more impressive.
-Fellow writer, Caleb Gatchell, informed me that Badane Sultessa of Western Oregon had an original PR of 1:51 before he ran his 1:47.59 at Portland Twilight. Unfortunately, he will not make D2 nationals because the deadline for qualification has passed. It's a shame he won't make that trip but that's an awesome PR.