The Triple

If Ed Cheserek pulls off his triple this weekend, it should go down as one of the greatest track and field performances in history, not only because of how much he’s doing, but also the people he’s doing it against. Keep in mind, this is no easy triple, no matter who you are running against, just ask Lawi Lalang. Last year he tried to triple mile, 5k, 3k. He didn’t win a single event. Cheserek’s proposed triple-mile, DMR, 3k-is just as tough in my opinion. Let’s just go over his schedule. He’ll start at 6:15 on Friday with the mile prelims, and then three hours later, he will come back and anchor the DMR. The prelim shouldn’t be a problem for Cheserek. He’s got great speed, and these prelims tend to be very tactical. I think one of them went out in about 68 last year. He should be able to just sit off the lead and then kick just hard enough to qualify. However, the DMR could be pretty dicey, especially with that mile prelim in his legs. Besides Cheserek, Chad Noelle is the only other anchor doubling back from the mile prelims, so he’s going to have to work pretty hard to get Oregon the win. I mean, look at the DMR this year. Penn State and Georgetown have ridiculous teams, and by the way, they both will have fresh anchors. Then you have Stanford and Villanova, both of whom will be completely fresh, and both of whom have a ton of potential. Cheserek will have to either run down, or hold off, a slew of guys capable of running 3:57 or better on that anchor leg. Sure, he can run 3:54 or better, but he will have to do it on at least somewhat tired legs. That’s going to take a lot out of him. Now, look at Saturday. He will start off with the mile against an absolutely stacked field. Christian Soratos is on an absolute tear this year, silencing all the doubters with a 3:55 mile at UW. The other thing that makes him so dangerous is that he just might have the speed to challenge Cheserek over the last 400. He opened up a pretty sizeable gap on Brannon Kidder, who’s no slouch himself. Three other names that deserve to be mentioned are Kidder himself, Anthony Rotich, and Julian Oakley. Now, Kidder won’t be fresh, but the other two will be, and they need to be respected. Rotich is the defending champion in the mile and the steeplechase outdoors, so he knows how to win championship races. To say Cheserek has his work cut out for him would be a pretty big understatement. Then, about 2 hours later, he will be coming back in the 3k. This is the race I think he’s the most vulnerable in. It will be his fourth race of the weekend, and I think this is the strongest field he will face. His teammate Eric Jenkins was just barely short of Galen Rupp’s collegiate 3k record at Millrose, and then he ran a really solid anchor on their DMR at MPSF championships. Then, seeded less than a second behind him is Will Geoghegan, who is also having a really solid indoor season. I think the other two names that really need to be watched closely are Stanley Kebenei and Kemoy Campbell, both of Arkansas. They have both run very well this year, recording season bests of 7:48 and 7:49 respectively. Neither one will be completely fresh, but they will be fresher than Cheserek, and gunning for him. Ultimately, I think we will see history this weekend. Edward Cheserek is just on another level compared to everyone else, and we’ve seen time and time again that he knows how to win championship races. I for one can’t wait to watch and see what happens. It’s going to be an exciting weekend.