First off, I apologize for my absence. I’ve been overwhelmed with tests and luckily I’m now free for most of April. I know all 4 of the people that actually read this must care so much (hi mom). That said, there was some excellent action at Palo Alto that I want to get into.
800
The top NCAA time went to Chris Low of Long Beach South (the results cut the full name off) with a time of 1:47.56. Nice first race of the season for him and I’ll be watching to see if he can drop some time. I’m not really sure what to expect at the 800 this season but I’d guess that 1:46 high is going to be the cutoff time to get into Nationals. Behind Low was Tre’tez Kinnard(Indiana) who had a nice indoor season and is picking up where he left off. Texas A&M has some nice 800 pieces and they are all named Hernandez. Hector Hernandez finished 4th in 1:48.46. Efrain Hernandez ran 1:50.58 to win his heat. Josh Hernandez ran 1:50.35 to claim second in his heat. Worth noting was that Gaines Kinsey (also of Texas A&M) was behind Efrain running 1:50.76. That is a very potent 800 squad.
1500
There were some pretty quick 1500s here. I was surprised to see the depth. 15 guys in total broke 3:45. However, it was the D2 star Oliver Aitchison (Adams State) who won the whole thing in a time of 3:40.77. Outstanding time and it really makes you think what it’d be like if he was D1. Behind him was another D2 runner, Matthew Clowes (Concordia)! He ran 3:42.24. The top D1 finisher was a guy I’ve never heard of. Connor Winter of Colorado took top D1 honors with a time of 3:43.34. Surprising to see Colorado have another mid distance guy doing so well. Winter ran faster than guys like Burcham, Kebenei, Deir, Penzenstadler, and even his own teammate, Jake Hurysz. Put him in the right race, and I could see him drop something as low as 3:41low. Will Crocker of Missouri also makes a name for himself running 3:43.66
PA had some representation in this race, although it was nothing spectacular. Joseph Kush (Syracuse) finished last in the 1500 running 4:22.31. Hopefully he didn’t injure himself. I imagine we wont see him for a bit while he gathers himself and goes back to the grind. Luke Lefebure (Stanford) ran a solid time of 3:50.54. It’s a nice step in the right direction for a guy who struggled a bit during indoor.
3000St.
I’m not gonna pretend like I know anything about the steeple chase. However, I do know that 8:32.50 is an outstanding time and Tabor Stevens (Adams State) came to win. Adams State didn’t fool around at this meet as they won the 1500 and the 3kSt. Zak Seddon of FSU has a great race of his own running 8:36.55. He should be happy with that time. Blake Theroux (Colorado) makes his first appearance in a while and he ran a solid race finishing with a time of 8:43.77. Not a bad time by any means, but I feel like his best event is in the 5k.
5000
Of course the big headline for this event was the Lamar Cardinal, Sam Stabler, winning the event in a time of 13:30.5. He edged out the pro Jose Juan Esparanza by .31 seconds. Quite honestly, I’m not that surprised with his performance. Stabler had a great 3k at UWashington in very early February running 7:53 but then went MIA for the rest of indoor. For him to win this event does not surprise me although I will say I didn’t quite think we’d see him drop a time as low as 13:30. Maybe he could be the next Soratosof the 5k? We’ll have to see. The next collegiate finisher was the miler stud himself, Anthony Rotich, running an excellent time of 13:31.59. I didn’t quite expect a time like this from the miler but he raised some eyebrows and he should look into dropping that 5k time. One result I loved seeing was Tommy Awad running 13:33.29. Most of you know that I’m an Awad fan since I’ve been watching him during his high school days. This race is a great indicator for the future. I’m notcompletely banking on him to beat the proven veterans this season, but I’m really liking how his development is going and I’m high on him for next year. Kirubel Erassa(OKST) won his heat in 13:45.83. Surprised he wasn’t in the hot heat but this is a solid win and if he can get in the right race, he’ll qualify for NCAA’s.
A couple PA alum were in this race. Dan Lowry (BAA) finished 17th in the hot heat running 13:50.24. Tom Coyle (Stanford) ran 14:24.25. He’s definitely a miler but if there was a non-steeple 3k, I think he could do really well there also.
10,000
Very solid racing in this event. The top collegiate finisher was the very underrated Maritn Hehir (Syracuse) who finished second overall running 28:27.70. Should he choose the 10k, I think he could medal at NCAA’s. He’s been progressing quite well through indoor season and I’m eager to see how he’ll compare with some of the other top 10k guys this season. Further down the list was Tulsa runner Marc Scott running 28:30.33. I’ve honestly never heard of him but it’s good to see guys make themselves relevant when other names dominated the indoor headlines. Craig Lutz (Texas) had a strong race running 28:33.48. I’m not looking too much into this considering he had such a disappointing indoor season. I want to see some consistency but this is a good start and hopefully he uses this as motivation for continuing to race well later on in the season. Behind Lutz was the Northern Arizona duo of Zienasellas and McElroy running 28:35.76 and 28:36.53 respectively. Also watch out for Dan Lennon of Syracuse. I watched him a bit in high school and he’s starting to turn into a very solid runner. He ran 28:46.21 and finished 17th.
What was really odd were the lack luster performances from some of the NCAA’s top stars. Cheserek and Jenkins finished together in 29:04.06 and 29:04.08 respectively. I don’t really know what their goal was but if it was just to get a workout in then I’m not sure why you enter a race to do that. I’m a little confused but I’m not thinking too much into it. Knowing Oregon, they have some master plan that will turn out to be brilliant. Kemoy Campbell (Arkansas) finished 16th (in heat) running 28:45.84. Pierce Murphy (Colorado) was 21st (in heat) and ran 28:52.70. Definitely not where I imagined these guys placing but it’s just the beginning of the season and we’ll see what they end up pursuing.
Jake Kildoo was the only PA alum in this race and he finished 19th in the slower heat running 29:18.30.
Hope you all enjoyed the recap! Comment below your thoughts and ideas for other articles now that I’ll have more free time.
As always, run on.
-Garrett
I'm pretty sure I read that the Oregon boy's were just trying to get in regional qualifying times
ReplyDeleteI believe that is true as well, they did the same thing last year
ReplyDeleteWhat were/are the regional times? Will Cheserek focus on the 5k or 10k more? Lastly, is there any chance we see Jenkins take 5k and Cheserek take the 10k, or is it just more likely to see them double up anyways?
ReplyDeleteI could be wrong, but I don't think there are set times for regionals, they just take the top x amount of people from the performance list in each region. the oregon guys are banking on 29 flat for 10k being enough to clear the west region standards and that's probably a safe assumption
Deleteas for your other questions, I would suspect that Jenkins and Ches will both being doing the 10k-5k double at nats to rack up as many points as possible to try and take yet another team title (it's in Eugene again so extra incentive if they needed one)
as for Ches's preference, I'd imagine based on his excellent top end speed and the difficulty of training for a long grueling event like the 10k, Ches would be more of a 5k guy. But just one man's opinion.
Hopefully if Zat finds some free time next (he's been real busy at school), he'd be willing to weigh in here as well
Hi all. Sorry about my absence. Luckily Etrain was able to pick up my slack.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, thank you for clarifying that Oregon result. That would make a lot more sense and it sounds like something Oregon would do.
In regards to regionals I believe Etrain is right. Ustfccca.org states that "For each individual event contested at each of the Preliminary Championships Competition sites, the top 48 declared student-athletes will be accepted into the competition". 48 seems a bit high but I don't believe there is a set time they need to hit.
As for what Ches and Jenkins will run I'd have to again agree with Etrain and say that they'll both run the 5k/10k double. It just makes sense and they were very successful with this approach last year. Plus, there is no Lawi Lalang this year to really worry Ches/Jenkins. I'm not saying they won't be pushed, but for now I don't see anyone quite capable of beating them.