Conference Call

As long-time readers know, I don't cover XC to the extent I do T&F.
But Collegiate Conference races do tell us some of what we need to know regarding the upcoming NCAA Championship, as well as who might be running fast distance races---especially 5000's---INdoors in December, as has happened in recent years!
Also, while overall times aren't really important in XC, margins of victories are!
(See the ACC Men's results to know why times are fairly meaningless over Hill & Dale!)
Onward!

The SEC was won by Alex George in 23:24, a 9 second margin over Sean Tobin, and 15 over MJ Erb!
The Women were led by Karissa Schweizer's 20:10.
She beat Devin Clark by 8 seconds!
Arkansas took both team battles!

The Big East races were won by Angel Piccirillo's 20:49 and Patrick Tiernan's 24:18.
Sarah Collins finished 4th, 21 seconds behind Piccirillo!
The Providence Women beat Villanova, while Georgetown's Men prevailed!

The Mountain West Women's race saw an upset of sorts, as Brenna Peloquin's 20:27 was 25 seconds behind winner Alice Wright's 20:02.
Peloquin, an early season projected NCAA Champ, faded at the end!
Yusuke Vahikoshi (sp?) took the Men's race in 23:48.
Jerrell Mock was 9 seconds back!

Bernard Keter's 25:28 led the Big 12 Men.
Sharon Lokedi's 20:18 won for the Women!
Oklahoma State and Iowa State took the respective team races!

Erin Finn won again!!
And by another HUGE margin!!
Her 20:37 controlled the Big 10 Women's field by 25 seconds!
Sarah Disanza was 24th, a full 1:12 behind Finn!
Morgan McDonald took the Men's race in 24:35.
Finn's Michigan team won, while Wisconsin took the Men's side!

Edward Cheserek---YAWN!!--took the PAC-12 Men's race by 15 seconds over Grant Fisher!!
Ches's time was 23:58.
Ben Saarel was 3rd, while John Dressel took 6th in 24:20, with Sean McGorty two seconds behind Dressel!
Amy Eloise-Neale's final kick prevailed for the Women in 20:22, with just a second's spread back to Erin Clark in 2nd, and Dani Jones in 3rd another second back!
Katie Rainsberger led the Oregon Ducks in 5th, with Charlotte Prouse in 6th, Fiona O'Keefe in 11th, and Christina Aragon in 14th!
Colorado won both team battles, beating Stanford's Men, 41 to 47, and beating the Women  UDubbers, 33 to 74!!

The ACC Men's course (the Women too??) must have been anywhere from 200 to 500 meters short!
Justyn Knight led the Men's "8K" with 22:50.
While not outrageously fast, it WAS about 30 seconds to a minute or more faster than all other Conference Men's times!
Knight is certainly worthy of such a time, but check out what followed!
Ed Kibichiy was just 2 seconds behind in 2nd, with a 3rd runner also dipping under 23:00!!
But 27 (!!!) running under 24:00---in one race on one course??
Doubtful!!
For the Women, Anna Rohrer's 19:26 for the 6000 meter course was much more believable, as she's also a strong favorite for the NCAA's!
Isabelle Kennedy's 19:51 took second.

Special note!
That ACC Women's race saw the startling return of Wesley Frazier!!
With just the occasional race (of any quality!) since her great final year of HS, she finished 10th, although her 20:21 was 55 seconds behind Rohrer!!
The "other" Frazier--Ryen--improved greatly over her far-back (around 100th or so) finish in an early season race.
She was 14th, seven seconds behiind Wesley!
They helped North Carolina State to the team victory!!
Syracuse took the Men's title!

Some Road Race news.

Tirunesh Dibaba won the Great South 10 Miler in a solid 51:49.
Chris Thompson won the Men's race in 47:23.

The Valencia Half-Marathon was taken by Stephen Kibet's 59:27 and Peres Jepchirchir's 67:09!

Today's Frankfort Marathon saw Mark Korir's 2:06:48 prevail.
Bobby Curtis moved from 16th to 4th as leading American, time of 2:11:20.
Mamitu Daska won the Women's race, but fading badly over the final 2K, moving from 2:21 pace to her final time of 2:25:27.
Fate Tola's 2:25:42 was 15 seconds behind, but she closed strongly, and with another 400 meters or so, might have won!!
A Flanagan Woman led the American charge--but it wasn't Shalane!!
Lindsay Flanagan--25 years old--ran a PR by well over 3 minutes, her 2:29:28 in 4th missing my DDD by 35 seconds!!

Mary Cain ran the Mayor's Cup XC race again, finishing 3rd behind Liz Westphal and Amy Van Alstine--times of 16:53, 16:57, and Cain's 17:08.
But a post on her website made Cain's "return" to racing more interesting than the result!
She announced her official SPLIT from the Nike Oregon Project!!!

She said she's a full-time student at Fordham University, is being coached by John Henwood, and plans to remain in New York for the indefinite future!!
She said her split from NOP---and from Alberto Salazar as her coach!!!--was amiable and friendly.
She said she intends to race more this fall on XC courses and a road race or two, before heading to INdoor tracks!!

My opinion?

While she said her decision was based mainly on the logistics of living on one coast, while training on the other, I think there's also a divide between Salazar's personality and demeanor and Cain's---a HUGE divide!!
She was just too nice to mention that!!

Does this mean a return to her form of 2011-INdoors 2014, when she rewrote the HS Record Book?
Her great forward movement of those years was due mostly to her youth, and the unfettered freedom she had BEFORE Dr Frankenstein got his draconian claws into her innocent psyche!!

It wasn't until early 2014 that we began to see the negative effects AlSal had on her!!
He must take ALL the blame for her failings of OUTdoor 2014, ALL of 2015 AND 2016!!
Let's hope her Exodus from Salazar and NOP will see a whole set of new PR's--and World Class times from this still-20 year old Woman!!

Australian Pole Vaulter Alana Boyd---her 15-9.25 PR ranking her 14th A-T World OUTdoors---has retired!

As for future posts, the 2016-2017 INdoor Track and Field season is just 20 days from kickstarting at the JDL All-Comers meet on November 19th!
My next post will cover the NYC Marathon.
I'll of course report on the big Championship XC races---NCAA, Footlocker & NXN--yet to come!
But November will also see posts PREVIEWING the INdoor T&F season!!

What it takes to make my INdoor Top 24 Performers lists!
My Age Records predictions.
A fairly complete schedule of meets.

And then the beginning of RESULTS!!

See you soon!

LIFE (& other news)

"Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans!"
(John Lennon)

After watching the livestream of the Toronto Marathon this morning, I went to Twitter to see what was what before beginning my newest post--which had been my plan!
There, I was blasted by the most tragic news imaginable---the death of an innocent child!
100's of tweets abounded about the death of Tyson Gay's 15 year old daughter---Trinity Gay---from a stray bullet in a gunfight between people in 2 cars outside a Lexington KY restaurant today!

I didn't even know he had a daughter!
Nothing---NOTHING!---is more tragic than the loss of a child.
Made even worse---if that's possible--is that she was an innocent bystander---caught in the middle of more ugly violence!

I will get to my "normal" material soon----Cross Country results, recent marathons---but first I'll continue with more "off-track" news.

Familiar with Suzy Favor Hamilton's story--as written about in her memoir called "Fast Girl"?
One of the greatest runners in American history, she was "outed" as a Las Vegas escort, and as a victim of Bi-Polar disorder.
Since then, she's salvaged her marriage---and as much happiness & strength as possible--even though she'd lost almost everything due to her year in Vegas!

Well, a blog by her turned up yesterday, in which she said a recent episode of the TV show "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" had used HER story for ITS plot in this episode!
I watched it, and it DOES follow SFH's story---almost to a T!
The main differences---the ONLY differences!--are that "Jenna Miller" is a Pole Vaulter (the WR holder!!), and she was brutally raped by one of her clients!!
Other than that, it's Suzy's story, as SHE told it in her book!
Being a star T&F athlete, who's a part-time escort, who's afraid of losing her fans and her contracts if she's outed, and is Bi-Polar!
Watch it---Season 18, Episode 4--and see why Suzy was so upset about it!
(BTW, I highly recommend her memoir, and the particular episode---even though I hadn't watched the show for several years!)

Four more brief items--
Evan Jager got married (!!) to a Swedish beauty, Sofia Hellberg Jonson (sp??)--IN Sweden last week!!
She apparently had an okay track career at Ole Miss, running the 400, 400H, and the 800!!
Elise Cranny and Allie Ostrander are both injured--with Allie O being redshirted for the season, and according to one report, Cranny being seen on crutches at her team's recent XC meet!
Jessica Ennis-Hill has retired early---and will not be in London's World Championship next summer!
And HS star Kate Murphy tweeted she's signed on to attend the University of Oregon next year!!
(About Murphy--a new TV show called "Better Things"--about a single mom of 3 daughters--has a character--that of the teenage daughter--played by an actress whose face---especially her eyes!--strongly resembles Ms Murphy!!)

Okayyyyyy!!
This XC season's finale is being forged at a rapid pace by the results of key early meets, including this weekend's Wisconsin and Pre-Nationals!
Meaning, it appears that ALL of the NCAA meet's Top 20 or so---maybe even the Top 10---are becoming highly predictable through the above meet's results!

Look for Ed Cheserek to do battle with Justyn Knight for the win, with sub-4 HS milers of 2015--Grant Fisher and Matthew Maton in close--with Futsam Ziensillassie in the lead pack!
Add "newcomer" Jerrell Mock, plus Levi Thomet, John Dressel, and maybe MJ Erb to the mix!

For the Women, it should be a dogfight between Erin Finn, Anna Rohrer, Brenna Peloquin, and maybe Alice Wright and Erin Clark.
Add Charlotte Prouse and Amy Eloise-Neale of Washington, Courtney Smith of Harvard, and Lauren LaRocco of Portland!
(The Women's Collegiate elite list is much longer than the Men's!!)

The Wisconsin Men's race was won by Justyn Knight in 23:53.
Ziensellassie was 2nd, just 2 seconds back.
Stanford's Grant Fisher and Sean McGorty took 4th and 6th, both within 5 seconds of the winner!
Jerrell Mock finished only 29th!!
NAU took the team battle with 78 points, beating Stanford's 118!

Brenna Peloquin won the Women's race in 20:00, just one second ahead of Alice Wright, 3 in front of Anna Rohrer, with the U-Dub duo Neale and Prouse running 4th and 5th!
Courtney Smith took 6th, but Sarah Collins was just 16th, while Angel Piccirillo was 19th.
Ryen Frazier---once a rising star--ended way back in 96th place!!
UW won the meet with 124 points over North Carolina State's 166, Providence's 170, and New Mexico's 207!

The Pre-Nats meet on the Terre Haute course is where Oregon's Men--led by King Ches's 22 second win in 23:34 --prevailed!
Frankline Tanui's 23:56 took 2nd, with total unknown Amos Terer (of Campbell, wherever THAT is!!) 3rd two seconds behind Tanui!
Matt Maton was 4th, but 33 seconds behind Cheserek!
Levi Thomet, John Dressel, and Ben Saarel were 26th, 27th, and 28th, all back at least 55 seconds from Ches!
Sam Prakel was just 36th.
Brenna's brother--Tristan Peloquin of Portland--finished in 59th, while Lopez's younger brother---Alex Lomong---was back in 162nd!!

Erin Finn made it 3 of 4 on the season---her only loss to Ms Peloquin at the Griak meet---and her 3 wins by HUGE margins!!
Her 19:44 finished a full 24 seconds in front of Erin Clark (who led the Colorado team victory!).
Remember me mentioning a high place in an early season race by one Peyton Bilo of Cal Poly?
I said I'd never heard of her, and that she's a Soph!
Well, she's NOT so unknown now!!
She happened to take THIRD, just 3 seconds in back of Clark!!
(Add her to my above list of NCAA contenders!!)
Katie Rainsberger---who seems to be the top Collegiate Frosh runner this year--was 6th, but LED the UO team to its 2nd place podium spot!!
The vaunted Stanford Freshman class---Christine Aragon and Ella Donaghu--ended well back in 41st and 47th, respectively--well over a minute behind Ms Finn!!
Matt's sister--Ashley Maton--was 98th, while Hannah DiBalsi was just 113th!!

The Penn State meet saw Tessa Barrett (20:06) and MJ Erb (24:49) win.
Destiny Collins--now a Texas Frosh, formerly of the Great Oak distance factory--finished 35th in what I believe was her first Collegiate race!

The Chicago Marathon--minus professional pacers!!--was another slow one for the Men--Abel Kirui's 2:11:25 winning by 6 seconds over Dickson Chumba.
Diego Estrada was 8th in 2:13:56--in his initial 26.2 race!!

The Women's race---also no rabbits--was faster!
In a battle of the Kiplagat's, Florence's 2:21:32 prevailed over Edna's 2:23:28.
American Serena Burla was 7th in 2:30:40, while Sarah Crouch ended in 9th in 2:33:48.

The Eindhoven Marathon in the Netherlands was WON by the PACER!!!
Kenya's Festus Talam---designated rabbit--stayed in the race, winning it in 2:06:26!!
A prior credential was a Half-Marathon in 60:56!
He's 21 years old!

The Twin Cities race saw the Course Record being broken---and it dated from 1985!!--by Dominic Ondoro, his time being 2:08:51.

I watched TWO full Marathon livestreams this morning--the Amsterdam race and the earlier-mentioned Toronto race!

Daniel Wanjiru's 2:05:21 took the Amsterdam affair, his time a PR of around 3 minutes!!
Sammy Kitwara's 2:05:45 was 2nd, two seconds in front of Marius Kimutai!

Meselech Melkamu's 2:23:21 prevailed for the Women over Aselech Afework's 2:24:27.
Priscah Jeptoo took 4th, 2:35 behind the winner!

Toronto's race was won by the 2:08:28 of Philomon Rono!
Shure Demise's 2:25:15 took the Women's race!

The Women's Tufts 10K was won by Emily Sisson, who is having a GREAT end of 2016 on the roads!!
Her time of 31:47 was a full 44 seconds in front of Sarah Pagano's 32:31.
Lauren Paquette was 3rd, with ageless Jen Rhines finishing 6th in 33:31.

Finally, the Twin Cities 10 Mile race saw a "shock" winner!
Ms Jordan Hasay crushed the field with her time of 52:49!!
Aliphine Tuliamuk was 2nd some 12 seconds back!
(Former??) Triathlete Gwen Jorgensen---training for her 1st official marathon in New York---was a strong 3rd in 53:13!!
She finished some 20 seconds ahead of Sara Hall!!
Watch for her in the Big Apple!!

Sam Chelanga won the Men's race in 47:25, with Noah Droddy 3 seconds back.
Andy Bumbalough was 8th in 48:13!!

Again, sincere condolences to the family of Trinity Gay, Tyson's 15 year old daughter, killed early this morning!!

XC Leaders Emerging

While it's not this blog's specialty, I do like to keep an eye on the Cross Country results.
The times they run aren't as important as their margins of victory.
Whether they break a Course Record has no or little significance.
The Team titles?
This blog doesn't really care!

So why report XC results at all?
Why not just take a long (and deserved!) vacation from the burden of putting out over 100 posts per year?
The best reason is that XC often reveal the names of the next season's (INdoors or OUTdoors!) leaders on the TRACK in distances ranging from 1500 to 10000--and including the 3000SC!

Also, in a sort of reverse realm of thinking, we can see which Track record setters do NOT do so well over hill and dale!
Believe me, that list is long!!

All that said, here's the latest from XC--especially the Collegiates.

Anna Rohrer led Notre Dame's team with her 16:11 win at the Joe Piane Invite.
Alice Wright was 5 seconds back, with Bethan Knights another 5 behind Wright.
Sarah Collins was just 9th, 26 seconds behind Rohrer.
Sean Tobin took the Men's race in 23:31, three seconds in front of George Parsons.
Jonah Koech was 5th in 23:52.

The UDub Invite in Seattle saw Ed Cheserek dominate.
Duhhh!
He won by 19 over Jerrell Mock, who's been having a good season.
Sam Prakel and Matt Maton took 3rd and 4th, while Grant Fisher was 29 seconds in back of the King, with Blake Haney another 11 behind in 12th place!
Huskie Soph Charlotte Prouse won the Women's race in 19:36 over Oregon's stud Frosh Katie Rainsberger, who ended just 6 seconds behind!
Amy Eloise-Neale and Harvard's Courtney Smith were almost tied in 3rd and 4th, both timed in the 19:47's!

Angel Piccirillo won Paul Short by 15 seconds in 19:56.
Scott Carpenter's 23:36 led Kierin Clements's 23:37 and Gilbert Kirui's 23:39 to victory.

An interesting match of Collegiate Frosh---running unattached--saw Austin Tamagno beat Levi Thomet by 1 second, winning the Willamette Invite in 24:31!

Erin Finn is now 3 for 4--losing only last week's Griak race to Brenna Peloquin!
And she again won by a huge margin--this time, it was by 24 seconds at the Louisville Classic, her time 16:26.

John Dressel beat Ben Saarel by 36 seconds in the Rocky Mountain Shootout race, 24:37 to 25:13.
Another race there saw Joe Klecker win in 24:41.
Erin Clark's 19:53 beat Kaitlyn Benner's 20:01.

Elise Cranny's 20:02 took the Stanford Invite over the 20:06 of the unheralded Peyton Bilo, who is a Soph at Cal Poly.
Hannah DiBalsi was far back in 18th, 1:22 behind Cranny!
Thomas Ratcliffe--the 4:01 HS Miler--beat Emmanuel Rotich by two seconds, 23:17 to 23:19.
Not bad for his first Collegiate race!!

Vincent Kiprop (23:03) and Karissa Schweizer (16:09) took the Chili Pepper races!
Kiprop won by 30 seconds, while Schweizer could manage just a 2 second gap in front of Devin Clark!
Nikki Hiltz finished in 10th place, 33 seconds behind Schweizer!

Anything conclusive yet?
Ches looks to win again at NCAA's, but watch for Ratcliffe, Dressel, and Justyn Knight, whose fast win last week went unreported by me!
Sorry!
Allie Ostrander is either injured, or otherwise hurting, as she's yet to race this year!
But she's still considered one of the faves for NCAA's.
Erin Finn--despite that 1 loss (to Ostrander's Boise State teammate!!)--looks super formidable!
Rohrer and Cranny are others to watch.
Watch for Frosh Rainsberger to sneak into the Top 10.

Betsy Saina won the Great Scottish Run Half-Marathon, her 67:22 a PR by over 2 minutes!
Helah Kiprop's 68:52 in 2nd was also a PR.
Callum Hawkins set a Scottish record with his win in 60:24!
Moses Kipsiro's 60:54 was well back!

The Lisbon Marathon saw Sarah Chepchirchir PR by 6 minutes with her 2:24:12 win!

In another exhibition event---NOT legit for record or list purposes!!--Jenn Suhr wowed her hometown fans (including her mom and dad!!) with a clearance at 16-5.25 (5.01).
I have no idea what her day included---if she started at a lower height---how many bars she cleared before the 5.01---or how many attempts she was allowed at each height.
In an exhibition, rules are made to be broken!
List-making or not, it was still an astounding performance for the recently (VERY) sickly Suhr!
BTW, the bar jiggled some, but stayed on!

Finally, an interesting picture appeared on Twitter.
It showed HS Mile star Kate Murphy winning her XC race in record time.
Holding one end of the finish line tape was---Mary Cain!
Mile Split called it the "Photo of the Year".
My first thought was---if Cain had RUN that race, Murphy would have cleaned her CLOCK!!!

See you soon.