Etrain's Pre-Millrose Top Five

by Jarrett Felix

My compatriots did a fantastic job summarizing most of the action we can expect to see in NYC this weekend. I’m extremely excited to have the opportunity to watch this meet in person for the first time. It finally feels like I’m taking advantage of my New York transplant status. Although I’m definitely looking forward to the Centro vs. Willis rematch, the stacked 3k and Andrew Hunter, here’s a few more things that I’m looking forward to watching.

5. The Women’s 5k: The Exercising of Demons

Molly Huddle is been an absolute monster on the roads and on the track throughout her career. She holds a variety of US titles and US records (and when this race is over she might have one more). But last summer she missed out on what might have been her best shot at a World Championship medal. In a now infamous moment, Emily Infeld (also of the US) snuck by Huddle in the final meters to steal the bronze. Now the two are set for their first rematch since that race in Beijing. It’s unclear just how fit either woman is (neither of them have a huge track record in the indoor circuit the way someone like Shannon Rowbury does), but considering it’s a world indoor championship year and there is a little extra motivation for Huddle, we could see something fun.

Also in the race are runners like Jordan Hasay, Abbey D’Agostino and Marielle Hall who have each proven themselves with titles at the NCAA level and world championship qualifying performances as a professional. This trio is perhaps the nucleus of the 2016 and 2020 Olympic Teams for the women’s distance squad of the future. Also, PA connection, Liz Costello of New Balance will be competing in this field as well.

4. Erik Kynard High Jumping

I won’t pretend I know much about the high jump, but I know Erik Kynard is good at it. He’s been the United State’s top dog in the event and scored a medal in the London Olympics. Watching a dude jump really high in the air, isn’t only popular in the slam dunk contest. This and the pole vault are probably my personal favorite events to witness in person.

3. Loaded Women’s 60m Hurdles

In 2013, Brianna Rollins ran 12.26 for the 100m hurdles. That’s the fastest time this century and just 0.05 away from the world record. In 2015, Jasmin Stowers ran 12.35, the second fastest mark in the US last season behind only USA teammate Sharika Nelvis (12.34 with better wind). Again, I’m no expert when it comes to sprinting and jumping, but those are some stacked resumes. Throw in the star power of Lolo Jones, an intriguing heptathlete in Brianne Theisen-Eaton and a couple other world class stars in Queen Harrison (12.43) and Nia Ali (12.48) and you got yourself a shoot out.

2. Allyson Felix in the 60m Dash

One of the best sprinters of all time, currently preparing for one of the most historic doubles of all time. Shout out to my (probably very distant) cousin Allyson who will be competing in the 60m dash. This isn’t exactly in her wheelhouse (more of 200m/400m stand out), but she’s still world-class at the shorter sprints and should be really cool to watch in person.

1. Ashton Eaton (Twice) including an absolutely stacked Long Jump

The best athlete in the world: world record holder, Olympic and world champion. Ashton Eaton is a beast and can do it all. His best event is arguably the long jump (he’s jumped 8.23 meters in Eugene) and he will be throwing down in that event against a loaded field that includes Marquise Goodwin (the NFL player who is likely the US’s best talent in this event), Omar Craddock, Will Claye and Marquise Dendy. That gives Ashton a chance to show how truly world class he is in each of his events.

Plus we get the 60m hurdles in there as a bonus! And remember, the last time Ashton was here, he just straight up jumped over the finishing pad. So get your popcorn ready.

Leggo my Logo

By Jarrett Felix

Hey all, hope everyone is doing well and enjoying their summer running. The good news is that it hasn't even been hot the last few days so my runs have not been slow and I definitely didn't cry during my Sunday long run so I mean that's cool. Also, apparently it's not a good idea to eat a large bowl of cereal with a generous supply of milk immediately before a run. Would have been nice for somebody to pass that message along ahead of time. 

But enough about that, let's address a few elements of business here on the blog. For starters, I just want to give thanks to our writers and our great interviewees for a fantastic stretch of insightful coverage. Really cool stuff. 

I also want to remind/reiterate that I am technically in the middle of a posting vacation from now until sometime in August to recharge the batteries a bit before the season renews in earnest. When I come back, the team rankings will be released along with probably some other fun stuff.

But have no fear, the blog will not slow down in my absence! The crew is preparing some awesome posts and coverage for us including an in depth look at the college recruiting classes for next season. It's going to be awesome. There is also some great discussion going on in the XC Top 50 section if you need to get more of a PA HS fix. 

So with all that talk cleared off my plate, let's get to the reason why I gathered all of you here today. For starters, we are looking for a new logo for the blog. We think it would make an awesome addition to our front page and would make us seem more like a legit site than just some kids spewing thoughts. You have complete free reign to come up with a cool logo and maybe give us a new, catchier name. Etrain11: the Aftermath seems like it needs a shake up at this point so we are accepting some brainstorming ideas for a new title. Some thoughts that have been floated around

The Train Station

Penn Station

Public Transportation

TrainTrack(s)

ET: Extra Track-estrial

Etrain11 and the Chamber of Secrets

Easy E

Ok so the last one it turns out is taken, but you get the idea here. Get creative and share your ideas/logos with us! Feel free to give me an email or tweet at us to find out more info and ask questions. 

We desperately need your help! My art skills are even worse than my spelling and grammar! 

In addition, I figure I should let you know that we are still willing to take on writers. I'd especially like to add for the etank, shetrain and professional tabs which have been lacking a little spark. If you are passionate about the sport, feel free to give it a shot! It's a guaranteed audience, nice resume booster and a great chance to leave your stamp on the site. Sean Collins has been awesome for us so far, but he's a decathlete at Penn! I'm surprised he even has the time to tweet let alone blog.

So that's all for now. Hopefully, I've managed to grab somebody's attention and we will have an awesome new logo soon to add to the front page. If not, I'm going to spend hours trying to draw a bubble letter E that is also a train. Or maybe an 11 that is also a distance runner.

That can only end poorly. Please save us.

Women's US Champs Distance Preview

By Jarrett Felix

Women's 800m

This is a stacked event this year at USAs. The field is led by Ajee Wilson, the former world junior champion, who has positioned herself to contend for senior gold this year. She has run 1:57.87 this year and is less than half a second from being undefeated on the year. Hopefully she can grab gold in Beijing and help the US by getting us 4 spots next year.

The U.S. has 5 sub two minute girls (one of which will be competing in the Junior championships, Rodgers from Oregon) so somebody has to leave Eugene unhappy. One member of the sub 2 crew is Chanelle Price from Easton, PA. The former world indoor champion has fought well in some tough races this year, but will need to have a strong day to be in the top 3 of this stacked field.

Brenda Martinez is the 2013 bronze medalist at 800m and has great 1500m strength to help her get through the rounds. She could play spoiler to Wilson's coronation. Also don't count out past US champion Alysia Montano who is trying to round back into top form after having a baby. 

Maggie Vessey is probably the #1 contender yet to be mentioned, holding a 1:57 PR and posting a strong win in the slower section of 800m at Prefontaine. Molly Ludlow (formerly Beckwith) also sits under 2 minutes this year. Phoebe Wright, who holds a 1:58 PR, is doing some of her best running since her Tennessee days and will be hunting for former teammate Chanelle Price among others in this stacked field. 

PA's Angel Piccirillo will be competing in this event, having just missed the 15 qualifying. Also keep an eye on decorated Division 3 runner Christy Cazzola. 

Predictions for world qualifying:

1. Wilson

2. Martinez

3. Vessey

Women's 1500m

In this event (also loaded) the United States does have an extra qualifying spot as Jenny Simpson is guaranteed a spot on the line in Beijing thanks to her diamond league title last year. Simpson is the favorite to win this race, but the drama for world qualifying will likely happen behind her.

One of those potential qualifiers, Shannon Rowbury, is also slated to run the 5,000m which is the same day as the 1500 final (earlier Sunday morning, there is about 4 hours in between). Rowbury has proven she is a capable doubler and based on her race schedule it's clear she's been working hard to prepare for the US championships. But in such a deep 1500 field, a slot at Worlds is far from a lock, even for a talent like Shannon. 

Rowbury, a former world bronze medalist in this event, will be challenged by a crew of talents including Sarah Brown, Katie Mackey, Gabby Grunewald and Treniere Moser. Also in the mix to make the team is HS senior Alexa Efraimson who broke Mary Cain's record when she ran 4:03.39 earlier this year.

Efraimson has been fantastic this year, but she has never been as talented tactically or as a kicker as Cain (who was 2nd at USAs and made a world championship final in 2013). However, she's a year stronger and more experienced headed into this year's championships so maybe Alexa can grab one of the world team spots. 

Mary Cain will be in this field as well, but she has had a difficult sophomore year as a professional so few expect her to be much of a factor in this race. 

Also in the mix worth noting is former U.S. Champ Morgan Uceny, former world qualifier Cory McGee and former NCAA champion Shelbh Houlihan.

My picks,

1. Simpson

2. Mackey

3. Brown

4. Rowbury

Women's 5000m

Molly Huddle, the American Record holder at 14:42, will battle with sub 15 woman Shannon Rowbury in this event. Rowbury may choose to conserve her strength and not push for the win considering she has the 15 later in the day while Huddle will be doubling back from the 10k. That could potentially make the duo vulnerable, however their resumes are light years better than most, if not all, of this field. Both should advance to Beijing assuming they contest the race.

After that the field is fairly wide open. Nicole Tully, who has had a fantastic season to date, leads the chase pack on paper but that pack also includes Shalane Flanagan, one of the greatest American distance runners of all time. Also rapidly ascending on the national scene is former NCAA champ and Dartmouth graduate Abby D'Agostino. She could potentially surprise if she continues to drop time like she has in recent weeks. 

Also worth noting Gabby Grunewald and Katie Mackey are both entered in the 5,000 as well as the 1500 and, assuming the make the 1500 finals, I'd bet they scratch out in favor of the shorter race. 

Other names you may recognize include Emily Infeld, Marielle Hall, Alexi Pappas (shout to Luke Munyan), Liz Costello and Kara Goucher.

1. Huddle

2. Rowbury

3. D'Agositino

Women's 10,000m

Molly Huddle is officially making the transition up towards 10k, likely a smart move considering the strength of the 5 on the world stage with two potential world record breakers currently dominating that event. Huddle comes in with a sub 31 minute mark in the event, putting her among an elite group of runners in the nations history. She is too shape and has plenty of momentum in her favor. She shouldn't have much of a problem in this one.

Shalane Flanagan used to hold Huddle's spot at these championships as a clear favorite to win when she steps on the track. Flanagan is getting older and has begun the transition into serious marathoning, but that hasn't stopped her from competing well at both 10k and, surprisingly, 5k so far. Considering her talent and experience it's hard to imagine Shalane not grabbing another qualifying spot.

That leaves just one left and the smart money says it's going to run away NCAA 5k champ Emily Sisson. Sisson was dominate this year at Providence and has always been stronger the farther up in distance she goes. Many consider her the future of US long distance running. She used to hold the high school record for 5k before this girl by the name of Mary Cain came along.

If someone is going to break up the poetic past, present, future trio it's likely going to be Emily Infeld who has had a fantastic year and boasts 15:07 and 31:38 seed marks for the championship. The former Gtown stand out has raced extremely well in a variety of competitive fields and this is likely her best chance to make a US team. 

Also worth noting are Liz Costello, Emma Bates from Boise State (major sleeper after a tough NCAA), Erin Finn, Alexi Pappas and Elaina Balouris.

1. Huddle

2. Infeld

3. Flanagan

Women's Steeplechase 

Emma Coburn who is technically the fastest US women to ever run the steeplechase comes in well ahead of her competition this year and poised to take home another national title. Similar to Evan Jager on the men's side, the real drama for her will come at the World Championships where she will try to challenge for a medal.

Behind her a group of four runners come in with sun 9:30 seeds: Stephanie Garcia, Nicole Bush, Ashley Higginson and Colleen Quigley (the NCAA champ). It appears those ladies and Michigan State's Leah O'Connor  will comprise the chase pack gunning for their own spot in China.

Quigley and O'Connor may only be collegiates, but both are poised to be true contenders in this event. O'Connor apparently had a fall in the stands prior to the steeple final at NCAAs. That coupled with the fact that she led most of the race in Eugene hurt her chances of winning gold. Neither of those should be factors here (assuming she is fully recovered) as Coburn is perfectly comfortable controlling the pace. 

PA's own Tori Gerlach will also be participating in the steeplechase, hoping to qualify for the finals.

1. Coburn 

2. O'Connor

3. Higginson 

1. Coburn

Stan Morgan Girls:

By Sean Collins

 

Guess what! The men weren’t the only ones to compete at Stan Morgan as the women also ran strong at Ken Millen Stadium in Carlisle.

 

In the sprints, Shaylah Dukes of Carlisle ran 12.2h in the 100m to take the win, with Megan Mansfield (a 400m medalist from a year ago?) came in second in 12.4h. The 200m turned out exactly the same way with Dukes edging Mansfield 25.6h to 26.0h. These two sprinters should be looking towards Districts to take down Christina Johnson of Susquehanna Township and Ty’asia Dansbury of Harrisburg. The 400 was Mansfield’s time to take the win, absolutely crushing the field in 56.5h. This time won by almost 3 seconds.

 

The 800m saw possibly the most impressive victory of the day. Shannon Quinn decided to show up and tell everyone that this is her year in AA. Quinn ran 2:10.94, which I believe is the fastest in AA this season. Her time won the meet by 8 seconds over Carlisle’s Maddie Kole who was a AAA finalist last season.

 

In the 1600, Mady Clahane showed her speed by running 4:53.74, breaking the old meet record by a whopping 10 seconds and defeating the field by 19. Clahane has also shown herself as a state title contender but has yet to hoist a state gold. With the absence of Brianna Schwartz in this year’s mile, it may finally be her time to shine. Behind Clahane, Ella Breidenstine and Leanza Lopez of LD and Carlisle respectively race for 2nd and 3rd at 5:12.8 and 5:14 which could both challenge for district medals in District 3.

 

The 3200 turned out to be a great race under the lights, with 2 Chambersburg runners leading 2 Carlisle runners under 11:30. The freshmen Yourkavitch and Mowery from Chambersburg took down Lopez and Padgett but all 4 ran to good times. I would suspect all of these times being district qualifiers but there will need to be a big drop to fight against Clahane who is likely to attack the district title.

 

The hurdles were swept by Paige Geatz of Cumberland Valley who ran 15.3h in the 100h and 45.7h in the 300h. These times will easily earn district qualifying and should contend for district medals especially in the 300s. Geatz was pushed each time by sophomore Najae Nickerson of Carlisle who ran 15.4h and 46.1h in each race. In the 300s, Leanne Weaver ran 47.84 to get 4th, but is a leader in AA and could even contest for a medal at states. Last year she tried the 1600m, 300h double, but I think that she will move away from that this year.

 

In the relays, Carlisle swept the all three, running two meet records. In the 4x1, Carlisle raced to a 48.7h winning by over a second. This time puts them in the conversation to take the district win with Susquehanna Township and Harrisburg, especially if things go wrong at an exchange zone for the others. In the 4x4, Carlisle went to a 4:01.74 which could also lead to a district podium finish. Mechanicsburg put their name into consideration in this race as well with a 4:03.3h. The 4x8 was the relay of the day though, with Carlisle edging Cumberland valley 9:32 to 9:33. Rumors have it that Clahane tried to close on the Carlisle anchor but couldn’t erase the deficit.

 

The jumps had Lilly Harnish of Waynesboro jump 5-04 which will contest for the district title and a state medal. Sarah Bourdon of Carlisle cleared 11-0 in pole vault to add to the district point scorers for the Lady Herd. Phenom Abby Martin of Boiling Spring doubled in the LJ and TJ with jumps of 17-08.25 and 37-04 and puts herself in AA state title contention. Boiling Springs also took the Shot Put with Madison Martin throwing 34-06. Ariana Moyer threw 119-09 to take the discus for CV, and Maura Fiamoncini of Mount Carmel threw 145-02 to win the javelin. Fiamoncini’s throw was also a meet record.

Welcome to SheTrain

Welcome to shetrain! This section will focus on female running, particularly distance running and will hopefully become a female equivalent of etrain's original blog! This is outside of my particularly area of knowledge, so I would love to get some additional writers and contributors involved with the site! Hope to hear from some people soon. Please contact me at jarrettfelix1130@gmail.com if you would like to join the team!

Who Run the World?

I won’t pretend I have been following women’s running particularly closely the past few years, but it’s hard not to take notice of some of the fantastic performances by US women at the high school, collegiate and professional level. 

Jenny Simpson is coming off a fantastic season at 1500m. She was consistently at or around 4 minutes flat and nearly took down Mary Slaney’s American Record. In the final meet of the year on the Diamond League circuit, she won the race and won herself the overall Diamond League title in the process (giving her an automatic bid to the 2015 World Championships). This will be the second world championships in a row Simpson for which Simpson has an auto bid in her back pocket after her Gold medal performance at the 2011 Worlds clinched her spot in the 2013 rendition of the event (where she earned a silver). Not only is it fantastic that Simpson can relax at U.S.A.’s knowing that her spot is assured, but it is also great news for the American team: now we can send four women for the 1500m for the second year in a row, giving valuable experience to a young, up and coming wave of talent.

The leader of that new wave is Mary Cain, formerly of Bronxville, New York and currently a freshman at the University of Portland. Of course she won’t be wearing a Pilots uniform anytime soon as she has been locked up under contract by Nike among the professional ranks, training under Alberto Salazar. Cain chased a variety of indoor records this past winter and appears to be chasing a few more this year. She is still a Junior (still just 18 years old), meaning she is eligible to break American and World Junior Records at a variety of events. She started out her season recently with a 600m and 800m (1:30.03/2:07.21), essentially back to back at University of Washington. After breaking just about every high school record in the books in 2013 and making the world championship final, Cain’s 2014 was relatively underwhelming by most people’s high standards. She passed on her spring/summer season and chose to prepare for her first semester of college instead. However, she did find time to dominate the world junior championships in the 3000m and give the hometown crowd at Hayward Field a Gold Medalist to cheer. 

The US women are rolling right now across the board. Molly Huddle recently broke her own American Record at 5,000m (running 14:42.64). Emma Coburn broke the American Record in the Steeplechase this summer as well (9:11.42). Shannon Rowbury had a barrier breaking year after joining the NOP team. She broke 4 minutes in the 1500m and 15 minutes in the 5k for the first time in her career. She could be a force on either team this year at the world championships. Jordan Hasay is doing some fantastic running at the shorter distances which should hopefully translate to the 10,000 this spring, her new specialty event. Chanelle Price (from Easton, PA) is the reigning indoor world champion at 800m and will look to qualify for her first outdoor team this spring. Ajee Wilson, another high flying youngster, won a Diamond League meet this past summer at 800m and now has a PR of 1:58. Couple that with professional debuts for Lauren Roesler, Abby D’Agostino and Alexa Efraimson and the future of women’s distance running is equally bright.

PA will hope to make their contribution to the future of distance running as well. With Angel Piccirillo, Tessa Barrett and Brianna Schwartz all winning Foot Locker Regional Championships (and Barrett winning the national championship) it’s clear that PA is full of talent. We already have multiple Millrose Games qualifiers on the women’s side (Sheva, Chalane) and we had four footlocker finalists and another regional champ at NXN. Hopefully we continue to see excellent racing from these girls and more as 2015 rolls on.