Sunday, September 24, 2017

Berlin, XC & other stuff

First, let me apologize for the delay in posting my Collegiate AOY etc picks!
Should be today!
That said, this post includes some additions & corrections to my High School AOY post!
Scanning the T&FN website's lists, I found a few marks I missed during the year that make my DDD lists!
However, while my HS lists needed revision, none of the changes affected my choices for the various awards!
But I'll begin this post with those new marks!

There is some confusion regarding Sydney McLaughlin's 22.96 in the 200!
Originally listed as wind-legal, T&FN now has it in their windy column!
But someone on their MB says that there was "NWI"---or no wind info on it.
Thus it remains unclear whether it's legit, despite T&FN saying it was wind-aided!
So I've decided---for now---to keep her mark on my list!!
If Jack Shepard's HS Track book for 2018 says it was windy, THEN I'll erase it from my list!!

Clare Martin's 3000SC best is 10:25.80, not the time I listed in my AOY post!
This makes her 6th A-T HS!

Annie Hill ran 3000 meters in 9:16.80.
This makes her 13th A-T HS!
Also, the count of 2017 marks for the 3K rises to 2!

The Women's DT adds 2 marks!
This gives that event 3 marks from 2017, but doesn't change my Event of the Year selection!
The new marks are---
Ashley Anumba's 177-8, which makes her 22nd A-T HS
Obi Annaechi's 177-0, which makes her 24th A-T HS!

The Women's HT also adds a pair of marks, bringing that event's total to 4, but also not changing my EOY!!
Mahenli Forrest threw the ball & chain 188-0, making her 18th A-T HS!
Molly Leppelmaier reached 185-0, giving her 24th A-T HS!

The Men's HT added a foot to Jacob Slate's PR.
His new mark of 232-1 gives him 20th A-T HS!
The event still has 3 marks from 2017!

The Women's JT adds Kaelyn Shipley's 163-6, making her 22nd A-T HS!
And Jonathan Ply scored 7111 in the Decathlon!
He's 10th A-T HS, tied with 1 other!
This moves Kyle Garland to 18th A-T, tied with 1 other!
But the event's 2017 total of 2 doesn't change anything!

I'll save my Berlin report for the end, so next up are some Cross Country results of note!

An oldie (one week old?) comes from a Seattle race, where Amy Eloise-Neale won with a time of 20:30 over the 6K route!

A Virginia race found Amon Kemboi winning over 8K in a quick 23:31, with Lawrence Kipkoech a hair or 2 back!
Caroline Sang took the Women's 5K in 17:05!

The Roy Griak meet's main races went to Jerrell Mock (24:52 over 8K).
He beat Grant Reynolds, who ran 25:03.
Weronika Pyzik---Yes, the spelling is correct!!!---beat Charlotte Taylor, 21:09 to 21:11.
Both run for San Francisco State, with Pyzik being a Junior!

An upset of sorts in the Women's HS race!
Grace Ping finished second!!
Emily Covert's 18:13 finished 8 seconds in front of the now-9th Grade phenom!!
Her sister Lauren was 5th in 18:49.
Another Frosh--Anna Fenske--ended third, 10 seconds back of Ping!

The Men's HS race saw a quick 15:49 run by David Peters!
Matt Carmody was 23 seconds behind, while Carlos Carvajal ended in 3rd, another 11 seconds back!

The meet at Texas A&M gave some fast times!
Brian Barraza ran 23:51 over the 8K course, beating Alex Riba's 23:58!
For the Women, it was Susannah Lynch's 20:23 beating Brenley Goertzen's 20:36 over 6K!

The Beantown meet saw Elinor Purrier winning in 16:48, while Jesse Reiser took the Men's race in 24:12!

Loudoun County is famous for being where Drew Hunter went to HS!
Their XC meet saw Peter Morris winning in 15:11.
He beat the better known Sam Affolder's 15:19.

The Women's race had Natalie Morris running 17:49.
I mention her because she also attends Loudoun Valley HS, and is a Grade lower than Peter, so I'm wondering if they're brother and sister!

Speaking of familiar names---
When someone asks my name, and I say it's Aaron, some folks think I said ERIN!!
Well, the Tabor College Invite's Women's winner was one ERIN Krohn!!
NO, she is NOT related to me---as far as I know!!
(Her winning time was 19:30, and she's a Soph at Mid-American Nazarene Community College!  This meet was apparently a CC meet, held in Kansas!)
In 17th came Elizabeth Krohn!
She's a Freshman at the same school as Erin, so they've gotta be sisters!!

This same meet's Men's winner was a guy named Benard Langat!
This Northwest Kansas Frosh's name sounds awfully similar to some dude named Bernard Lagat!!
(Gotta reread George Carlin's hilarious bit on funny names from his Braindroppings book!!  LOL)

BERLIN!!!
No World Record, but some amazing & shocking results nonetheless!!

Eliud Kipchoge--he of the infamous 2:00:25 helped-in-every-way-imaginable Marathon earlier this year--won the race, but NOT easily!!

After an initial kilometer of 2:50, a group of 5 (not counting the 3 pacers) hit 5000 in 14:28.
But that was their fastest 5K split of the day!!
They ran 14:36 (29:04), 14:40 (43:44), and 14:34, bringing them to 20K in 58:18!
They hit the Half in 1:01:29, faster than Dennis Kimetto ran in his 2:02:57, but forcing them to run a negative split race if they wanted a World Record!!

Their next two splits were 14:32 and 14:34---fast, but not enough to keep them on Kimetto's pace!
And then Wilson Kipsang suddenly DNF'ed!!
Right after taking water, he and one of the pacers stopped suddenly!
There was no sign of injury, or even fatigue, so WHY he dropped out is unknown at this time!!

Also apparently DNF'ing was Ken Bekele--although his came later!
He'd fallen behind, and then kept falling back, until his name suddenly disappeared from the leaderboard!

So, did this leave the race open to a guaranteed Kipchoge victory?
Not quite!

Ever hear of  Guye Adola of Ethiopia?
Good, because neither had I!!
My 2017 Athletics Annual (Had to look it up during the race!) says his track 10K PR is 27:09 and change!
A decent time---if you're an American!
But not so if you're from Ethiopia or Kenya!!

So Kipchoge's "clear" road to a W became somewhat foggy when--after the other Super Studs had ended their run---he shockingly found Adola right there with him!!

Then, shock of shocks, Adola skipped AHEAD!!
And spread the gap!!
Could he win??
Would he beat the legendary Eliud Kipchoge??

Sorry, but no, as Eliud passed him in the final stretch leading to the Brandenburg Gate and the finish line!
Kipchoge's time was 2:03:32---a 15:04 split between 35 & 40K sent them way south of any WR possibilities!!
He gets the Age 32 record!

Adola ran 2:03:46, looking strong to the end!
He's 26, but didn't get the Age record!
He didn't run faster than Bekele's NR of 2:03:03 either!
However, his time IS faster than Haile Gebrselassie ever ran!!
It makes him 9th A-T World!!
(Again, I include times from Boston on my lists!!)
Oh, did I mention that this was Adola's FIRST race over the 26.2 mile distance??
Some said his was the fastest-ever debut Marathon!
It was, IF you leave out results from Boston!!
But Moses Mosop's 2:03:06 from Boston was faster!

Ryan Vail ran 2:12:40 as apparently the lone American in the race!

The Women saw a pack of six run the Half in 1:09:40, all on sub-2:20 pace!
But as the race passed the 30K point, splits slowed to 16:41 (1 second slower than the first 5K), then 17:07, putting paid to a sub-2:20!
By 40K, it was down to 3 Women, with Gladys Cherono among them!

Then she pulled ahead, even though running slugglishly, appearing to just be hanging on, rather than driving to a victory!!
In fact, the sprint finishes by Ruti Aga and Valary Ayebei threatened to overtake Cherono---if another 500 meters were tacked on!!
The gaps were wide---Aga was 20 seconds back, while Ayabei was 32---but Cherono was DEAD at the end.
She stopped immediately at the line, and had to be assisted to walk!!

Cherono's winner was 2:20:21, with Aga's 2:20:41 missing my DDD by 11 seconds!
Ayabei's time was 2:20:53.
Helen Tola was 4th in 2:22:51.

Two news items to report---
There's a new Track Club (Running Club??)!!
The Saucony-sponsored Freedom Track Club opened its doors recently, with Molly Seidel a key name among its listed members!
The coach is also a known entity!
Tim Broe's PR's include 7:39.45 (23rd A-T US), and 13:11.77 (ties with 1 other for 18th A-T US) for 5000, both OUTdoor marks!

And Phoebe Wright---who wrote a couple of hilarious & insightful blogs about "dating Profeshes"--got married!!
Yesterday!!
I'd heard she had a boyfriend, but had no idea a marriage was planned!
(Maybe neither did she!!  LOL)
She's now doing some coaching, but not with a school or club!
Congratulations, Phoebe!!

I'll try to get my Collegiate AOY post up soon!!

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