In the midst of the 2015 Cross Country season--which is seen mostly as a TEAM-oriented segment of our sport--I started thinking of how INDIVIDUAL rivalries inhabit--and enhance!--Track and Field, both INdoors and OUTdoors!
While Team rivalries dominate XC thinking, there are still those most interested in the Individual rivalries.
Who will challenge Ed Cheserek at NCAA's?
And can that man be considered a RIVAL?
Same goes for the Women, who right now don't have as dominant a leader as Ches is for the Men!
(But how about a rivalry among the Freshmen--Allie Ostrander vs Ryen Frazier?)
Anyway, let's stick with T&F.
Here's a list of some Rivalries that come to mind--event by event.
(Where Americans are NOT involved, I will offer an American-centric rivalry also!)
Men
100-200-----------Usain Bolt vs Justin Gatlin
Gatlin vs Tyson Gay
400----------------Wayde Van Niekerk vs LaShawn Merritt vs Kirani James
800----------------David Rudisha vs Mohammed Aman vs Nijel Amos
Nick Symmonds vs Duane Solomon (vs Boris Berian?)
1500/Mile---------Asbel Kiprop vs Ayanleh Souleiman (vs Silas Kiplagat?)
Leo Manzano vs Matthew Centrowitz
5000-10000------Mo Farah vs Geoffrey Kamworor (vs Galen Rupp?)
Marathon---------Eliud Kipchoge vs Wilson Kipsang
(Sadly, NO real top-level rivals for the USA!)
3000SC----------Consesius Kipruto vs Jairus Birech (vs Evan Jager?)
110H-------------David Oliver vs Orlando Ortega (vs Pascal Martinot-Legarde?)
400H-------------(Again, sad to say this event has NO serious rivalries!)
HJ----------------Mutaz Barshim vs Bogdan Bondarenko
(Derek Drouin vs Erik Kynard for a "North American" rivalry!)
LJ----------------(Greg Rutherford doesn't have any ONE stand-out rival!)
TJ--------------- Christian Taylor vs Pablo Pichardo
(Taylor vs Will Claye, and more recently, Omar Craddock)
PV-------------- Renaud Lavillenie vs Shawn Barber
(Best US-centric PV rivalry was probably in the HS sector this year!!)
SP--------------David Storl vs Joe Kovacs
(You could list 3 or 4 other Americans who now have Kovacs as their main rival!)
DT-------------No really serious rivalries here, World or US!
JT------------- Julius Yego vs Keshorn Walcott
(No solid American rivalry!)
HT------------ No serious rivalries here either!
Decathlon----- WHO is going to SERIOUSLY challenge Ashton Eaton?
Women
100-200-------Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce vs Tori Bowie?
Or Elaine Thompson vs Dafne Schippers?
400------------Allyson Felix vs Francena McCorory vs Sanya Richards-Ross
(Can't think of any serious NON-US rivalries, but might want to add Shaunae Miller to the above trio!!)
800------------Francine Niyonsaba vs Eunice Sum
Alysia Montano vs Brenda Martinez vs Ajee Wilson
1500/Mile-----Genzebe Dibaba vs the CLOCK!!
Jenny Simpson vs Shannon Rowbury
5000-10000--Tirunesh Dibaba (assuming she comes back!) vs Vivian Cheruiyot
Or maybe Genzebe Dibaba vs Almaz Ayana!
Molly Huddle vs Emily Infeld, maybe??
Marathon------No serious rivalries here, with several names in contention!
Shalane Flanagan vs Desiree Linden
3000SC-------Milcah Chemos (if she's back strong!) vs Virginia Nyambura
Emma Coburn has NO real American rival, but there's a solid rivalry for 2nd among 3 or 4 Women!)
100H---------Notwithstanding the WC meltdown, we have Dawn Harper-Nelson vs Brianna Rollins vs Sharika Nelvis vs Etc Etc Etc ETC among US Women!
Will Sally Pearson CRASH (pun intended!! LOL) the US party??
400H Zuzana Hejnova vs Kaliese Spencer (vs Shamier Little?)
HJ------------Anna Chicherova vs Blanka Vlasic (if she's injury-free!)
If they come back strong, the US might have Chaunte Lowe vs Brigetta Barrett again, with Vashti Cunningham added to the mix!
LJ----------- Tianna Bartoletta has a few rivals, but they change from meet to meet!
TJ----------- Caterine Ibarguen vs Olga Saladukha (Or are they now PAST-rivals?)
Keturah Orji vs Ciarra Brewer as a possible 2016 Rivalry?
PV---------- With Yelena Isinbayeva in a SERIOUS return, we have--again!!--Isi vs Jenn Suhr!
And we have Act II of Demi Payne vs Sandi Morris!!
On the Collegiate Frosh level, how about Tori Weeks vs Lexi Weeks??!!
SP-----------Assuming Valerie Adams is BACK, Christine Schwanitz has her main Rival again!
Michelle Carter vs a much-improved Raven Saunders (or Tia Brooks!)
DT----------Sandra Perkovic vs a 2014 Gia Lewis-Smallwood or a 2015 Denia Caballero
JT---------- Barbara Spotakova, at her best, has NO real Rival!
HT--------- If she can reach 260+ level again, pin Betty Heidler against Anita Wlodarczyk!
Amanda Bingson vs Amber Campbell in the US
Heptathlon--The 3 Hyphenates!!--Brianne Theisen-Eaton vs Jessica Ennis-Hill vs Katarina Johnson-Thompson
So, as you can see, Bolt vs Gatlin isn't the ONLY rivalry to grab the headlines!
If you look deeper, there are MANY rivalries to get excited about!
And I've really listed just the few that came to mind!
There's more--if only on a level BELOW that of the true elites!
Getting back to Cross Country for a minute or two, since there's still 9 more days until the NYC Marathon, let me give you a brief rundown of (fairly) recent XC happenings.
The Crimson Tide Men's 8K was won by Cerake Geberkidane in 23:40.
He's won a couple of solid races this fall!
Chad Noelle was a notable name who finished in 8th, but he was 59 seconds behind the winner!
There was a HUGE upset in the Pre-Nationals race in Louisville KY!
Thomas Curtin, a Virginia Tech Senior, beat Ed Cheserek!!
It was by "just" 4 seconds, their times being 23:18 and 23:22 over the 8000 meter course!
And Anthony Rotich was only one second behind "King" (??) Ches in 3rd!
There were 2 Kenyan Frosh ahead of them, but the US Frosh "race" in Louisville was "won" by 2014 NXN winner, Tanner Anderson, who finished 40th overall.
In 46th was John Dressel!
Their times were 23:51 and 23:54, so about 30 seconds behind the leaders!
Marc Scott, a virtual unknown (to ME!!), won in Wisconsin with a good 23:35 over the 8K route!
Justyn Knight of Team-winner Syracuse (101 points) was 2nd, with Sean McGorty 3rd, both within one second of Scott!
Neither Grant Fisher, nor Jim and Joe Rosa, ran for Stanford!
The Wisconsin Women's race was taken by the sensational Freshman from Boise State (via Alaska!), Allie Ostrander, who now looms as one of the SOLID favorites for the NCAA title!
Her time of 19:19.5 broke none other than Abbey D'Agostino's Course Record, and she did that by about 12 seconds!!
In 2nd came Molly Seidel, with Dominique Scott finishing 3rd, their times being 19:22 and 19:32.
Ryen Frazier, who had won her first 2 races in Record times, was with the leaders at 4000 meters, but faded BAD over the final 2K, finishing in 38th, more than a minute behind Ostrander!
Despite being sick in the week prior to the race, Freshman Anna Rohrer ended in 12th place, running 19:56.
New Mexico's Women broke the All-Time Record for points, their 32 points FAR ahead of the others!
In the Pre-Nationals race, Colorado's Erin Clark prevailed, running 20:00.5 over the 6K course.
Chelsea Blaase was 3rd about 2 seconds back, with early leader (Natch!! LOL) Erin Finn finishing in 6th, time of 20:09.
Sarah Baxter is coming back---even if slower than wanted, or expected!--as she ended in 37th place, time of 20:40.
Michigan won the Team title.
On the High School level, leading times were run by Drew Hunter (14:20 for 5000) for the Men, with the Women's leader being Amanda Gehrich's 16:54, also over 5000 meters!
Kayla Montgomery's season continues steady, but at a lesser level than in 2014.
She's been finishing outside of Lipscomb's top 7 Women, but not TOO far outside!
In her latest race (the Crimson)), she was 9th Lipscomb Woman, and just 10 seconds from the Top 7!!
(19 Women finished for the Bisons!)
Her time was 19:06 over the 4953 (!!) meter course!
My next planned post will have the NYC Marathon results--whatever they are!
Along with that, I will most likely outline my plans for the 2015-2016 INdoor season--which I think COULD be one of the best!!
A few notes of interest from some notable Women!
In a San Francisco Half-Marathon, both Alexi Pappas and a comebacking Jordan Hasay "won", even though they were officially the Pacers.
They finished holding hands, both timed (but NOT listed in the results!) in 1:21:53.
Another who ran that race, but in a planned "jog", was Shannon Rowbury, who nonetheless became "competitive" over the last few K's!
Mary Cain is expected to run a 5000 meter XC race in Boston this weekend, her 2nd race of the season!
Her main "rival" seems to be Cory McGee.
Which is a bit ironic, as McGee was a teammate of Cain's in the Moscow WC 1500 in 2013!
Three HS Women have just announced where they'll be competing in College next year!
Hannah DeBalsi is heading to Stanford.
Stephanie Jenks will become a UC Berkeley runner!
And Katie Rainsberger is a future Oregon Duck!!
See you in about 9 days!
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