Joyciline Jepkosgei has run SEVEN World Records!
She didn't break any records enroute--as she did when she ran her 64:52 WR in Prague a few months ago--but her 64:51 clipped one second off her astounding WR!
Using a 3 minute per Half slowdown rate, this indicates a potential Marathon time of 2:15:42---just 17 seconds off Paula Radcliffe's WR!
And SOME athletes are capable of sustaining a 2:30-per-Half slowdown rate, which would give Jepkosgei WR potential time of 2:14:42!!
But what can Tirunesh Dibaba--or Almaz Ayana--run?
Jepkosgei's time breaks her own National Record of Kenya, her own Age 23 record, besides her own WR!!
She of course remains 1st A-T World!
Fancy Chemutai was 2nd in a 65:38 PR.
She moves from 9th A-T World, tied with 1 other, to 6th!
Abraham Cheroben won the Men's race in a non-PR of 59:11.
Leul Gebresilase was 2nd in 59:17, four seconds ahead of Fikadu Haftu!
But in 4th came Norway's Sondre Moen!!
His 59:47 is the 3rd fastest non-African Half!!
And it's Norway's National Record, obviously!
The Amsterdam Marathon was won in Course Record time by Lawrence Cherono.
His 2:05:09 was also a PR!
Nobert Kigen was a close 2nd in 2:05:13, with Abraham Kiptum's 2:05:26 taking 3rd.
Tadelech Bekele won the Women's race in 2:21:54.
In today's Toronto Marathon, Philomen Rono's 2:06:52 took 2 seconds off the Canadian Soil record, and was a slight PR!
Early leader Dickson Chumba faded to a shuffle over the last few K's, but still took second!
Well, friends, the Collegiate and High School Championship season is looming into view!
Less than 4 weeks to the NCAA's, and another 2 to 3 weeks for the NXN and Footlocker races!
So let's see what this (and last) weekend has brought us!
The Crimson Classic 8K saw an-all-Kenyan podium finish!
Jacob Choge's 23:22 led Vincent Kiprop's 23:26 and Gil Kigen's 23:34--fast times all!
Marta Freitas ran unattached, and won the Women's 6K by 30 seconds!
Her 19:53 was well clear of Brenda Kigen's 20:23.
But maybe the best result came way back in 262nd place!
(There were 280 finishers!)
Kayla Montgomery has returned to competition after a long lay-off following a serious relapse of her Multiple Sclerosis in the fall of 2015!
Her time of 26:16 (close to 7:00 per Mile pace!) is NOT impressive, UNTIL you remember that many MS victims can't even walk without use of a walker--and many need a wheelchair!
I hope this marks just the beginning of a huge comeback for this incredible woman!!
The Penn State races found Hassan Abdi's 25:12 and Bella Burda's 20:20 leading the way!
The Nuttycombe "B" races were won by Luis Vargas in 23:41 and Vallery Korir in 20:37!
Vargas was 57 seconds ahead of the runner-up!!
As for the "A" races---
Ednah Kurgat continued her strong season, her 19:23 winning by 16 seconds ahead of Grayson Murphy---who is unknown to me---or was!!
GB's Charlotte Taylor finished 3rd in 19:40, with Alice Wright's 19:45 edging Weronika Pyzik's 19:46 for 4th!
Pyzik is another "find" of this Collegiate XC season!!
Some big names finished further back--
Bethan Knights was 8th in 19:55
Allie Ostrander was 9th in 20:00, but seemed okay with that!
Fiona O'Keefe ended 12th.
Amy Eloise-Neale and Weini Kelati were 14th & 15th in 20:06 and 20:08!
Brie Oakley ran 20:19 in 26th.
Sarah Disanza was just 94th, time of 21:16!
Justyn Knight and Grant Fisher might be THIS close at the NCAA's too!!
They ended a sizzling sprint finish well less than a second apart, Knight edging Fisher, both around 23:39!
But Andy Trouard---another "unknown"!!--was just 2 seconds back, his 23:41 taking 3rd!
As with the Women, several "names" followed---
Aidan Tooker was 10th in 23:53.
Alex Ostberg was 12th, one second back of Tooker!
Jerell Mock was 16th in 23:58.
But Josh Kerr's 24:57 found him in 132nd!
And Noah Affolder's 26:05 was a bit further back--in 217th!!
The other "big" meet from a week ago was the Pre-Nationals!
The "B" races were won by Emmanuel Rotich and Hanna Christiansen.
Rotich's 23:47 was 16 seconds ahead of Austin Tamagno's 2nd place time.
Christiansen ran 20:49.
I mentioned awhile back (a year or two?) that I was impressed by Morgan Coonfield's performances in HS---as she was from McKinleyville (CA), just one town up from my former home in Arcata!
So I'm happy to report that she's running well--as her 7th place time of 21:15 indicates!
The main races produced an upset---of sorts!
Karissa Schweizer has all but been handed the Winner's Trophy for the NCAA's!
But Steeplechaser Elinor Purrier maybe has other ideas!
Schweizer took the lead about halfway through, and held it until Purrier's Miler's kick---um, kicked in!!
She beat the vaunted Schweizer by 1 second--19:28 to 19:29!!
Two others expected to finish high at NCAA's are Dani Jones and Katie Rainsberger.
They were 3rd & 4th here--times of 19:33 and 19:40!
Other top name finishers were---
Charlotte Imer in 5th (19:48)
Caroline Sang 6th (19:57)
Lilli Burdon and Sharon Lokedi--both 20:00 in 7th and 8th
The Drop Sisters of Georgia--Samantha and Jessica, in 13th & 14th (20:06 & 20:07)!!
And in 75th came Destiny Collins, time of 20:59!
The Men's race found Rory Linkletter continuing a strong season--as he won in 23:08!
Peter Seufer was 2nd in 23:10.
It was a tight finish, as Aman Kemboi and Azaria Kirwa were 3rd & 4th in basically the same time--23:11.
Dillon Maggard was next in 23:12, one second ahead of Conner McMillan!
Three stud (former) HS'ers performed well--
Casey Clinger's 23:17 took 7th.
Cooper Teare ran 23:45 in 30th, one second ahead of Reed Brown, who ended 32nd!!
Several HUGE names in Women's HS distance running have graduated, and are now in College!
But have no fear---as there's a slough of "replacements" to excite we rabid fans!!
In fact, some of these young ladies may even make us FORGET such HS greats as Mary Cain, Alexa Efraimson, Sarah Baxter, etc etc!
(Okay, maybe "forget" is a bit hyperbolic!! LOL)
But let's begin with last week's Manhatten Invite in historic Van Cortland Park!
Katelyn Tuohy merely SHATTERED the 2.5 Mile Course Record (13:53 by Jess Lawson in 2015) by 32 seconds!!
Her 13:21 finished ahead of 2nd place by a mere---95 seconds!!!
Not sure where, but Jacqueline Gaughan ran the fastest 5K time of the season--16:48.
(She's another name I'm not familiar with!)
Have any of you watched the full race video (with a SHOUTING announcer blaring out Sarah Baxter's progress toward her (then-) record-shattering run!) from the 2012 Mt SAC Invite??
Please google it.
Makes you wonder what has happened to Ms Baxter these past few years!!
Anyway, you now have Claudia Lane's astounding 15:49 to behold!
Run on a VERY slightly different course (only the very end was changed, due to the Mt SAC track construction--and people have said that the altered course makes maybe a 1 second difference---if any!), Lane broke Baxter's time by 11 seconds!!
And just like Baxter in 2012, she won by a HUGE margin---53 seconds!
(Baxter's margin was about a full minute!)
The Men's race was fast too.
A mouthful of a name--Meika Beaudoin-Rousseau (!!)--won in 14:33.
Colin Fitzgerald was 2nd in 14:40, with Carlos Carvajal's 14:43 taking Bronze.
Back to Katelyn Tuohy again!!
This time--in the Bowdoin race--her 17:28.6 finished 91 seconds ahead of Silver!!
But maybe more interesting is that this was the 3rd fastest time ever run on this course---and that it broke one Mary Cain's Soph Class Course Record!!
With Tuohy and Lane, add London Culbreath, Kelsey Chmeil, and even Grace Ping--and you have the nucleus of another HS Elite Class that might see the HSR's (INdoors & OUTdoors) of Cain, Efraimson, and several others of recent vintage, broken during the 2018 seasons!
(I could probably add 5 or 10 more names to the above list!!)
Call this the "Comebackers Race"!!
Today's Mayor's Cup XC meet in Boston produced not one, but two comeback stories of some note---maybe three!!
Molly Seidel--injured the past year or more--won the 5K race in 16:18.
While 30 seconds back, it was a happy sight seeing Rio's "Fair Play" award winner (Co-winner--with Nikki Hamblin!), Abbey D'Agostino return to action after some SERIOUS surgery in a big way!!
She edged out Chelsea Blaase, whose 16:49 was 3rd, two seconds ahead of Violah Lagat!
Marathon specialist Des Linden ran 16:53 in 5th!
Another "comeback" story is that of Sarah Brown!
If you recall, she had an unexpected pregnancy to deal with prior to Rio, but despite giving birth in March, she ran in the Trials just 3 months later!
But a tweet today (by husband Darren) stated she'd ALSO had a bout with osteoporosis, plus 1 or 2 other problems!!
So her 17:20 time in 13th place bodes well for a possible strong return in 2018!!
The Men's 8K race (WHY this discrepancy in distances run in XC by Men & Women??) saw Ryan Mahalsky's 23:37 beat Tommy Curtin's 23:50!
Julian Oakley was 3rd in 23:57, while former Division III star Ian Lemere was 4th in 24:10.
Speaking of former Div III studs, "retired" Nick Symmonds won a small Half on the Oregon Coast (Newport).
His time of 1:24:17 in his first Half won't exactly scare anybody--but Old St Nick was impressed!
Isn't that what counts??
LOL
Okay, here's MORE "Society" news for you---
Two more "Athlete Babies" arrived--
Lauren Fleshman gave birth to daughter Zadie on October 8th!
And Valerie Adams had daughter Kimoana Josephine Adams-Price (KJAP---sort of the next generation SAFP??? LOL) on October 11th.
New training partners and groups were announced recently--
Kaela Edwards will train in Colorado with Emma Coburn and Aisha Praught-Leer, under the guidance of Coburn's new husband (as of their October 14th wedding in Hawaii!!), Joe Bosshard!!
I don't believe this indicates a switch to the SC, however!!
And Kendra Chambers now has Ajee Wilson and Charlene Lipsey as her new training partners!!
Chambers is represented by Oiselle!
Wilson Kipsang has said he's running the NYC Marathon--after he DNF'ed in Berlin!!
Finally, the venerable Ruth Beitia--Age Records icon--has retired!!
So this means the Age 39 and Age 40 HJ records are safe---unless she changes her mind!!
Most likely, my next post will be immediately following the NYC Marathon!
But next weekend, most of the major Conferences will be having their XC meets!
If results warrant, I MIGHT have a brief report!
See you soon!!
Thanks for the great report, as always. No, I won't be "forgetting" Mary Cain anytime soon. She seems to have disappeared now, but 2013 was unforgettable. And I even remember saying at the time -- when it was still expected that she would have a long, successful career ahead of her -- that no matter what happened in the future, 2013 will always be a great memory for her -- a major highlight of her life. What was not expected at the time (and may still change) is that it would be the MAIN (or practically only!) highlight of her track career.
ReplyDeleteBut the reason I'm commenting here today is that I want to offer you a special "thank you" and appreciation for keeping up on Kayla Montgomery. Your comments about her are always very sensitive and much appreciated. This is a young woman who has been given a very challenging life situation and she's handled it magnificently. I admire her very much. Given the nature of her illness, I imagine her prognosis is not very positive, though, like you, I hope for the very best for her. But for now, I will just appreciate, and greatly respect, her for what she has been able to do, and is still doing.
And best regards to you, Aaron. I hope all is well with you.
Thanks for your comments--and praise!
DeleteCain ran the Mayor's Cup in 2016---finishing 3rd!
But I saw the Top 30 or so finishers list---and no Cain this time!
So--until further notice--I'd consider her "retired"!
But while 2013 was HER year, she did crush Hasay's 1500 HSR in 2012 in Barcelona---by 3.49 seconds---a HUGE margin for that event!
And she had a quality Freshman year too--in 2011.
It was only after the 2014 INdoor season that she began her "fall".
But Cain's not the only one---I still wonder what happened to Sarah Baxter & Wesley Frazier.
They've raced some, but nothing to match what they did in HS!
As I suggested in this post, watch that 2012 Mt SAC race where Baxter ran 16:00!
She was incredible!
Also watch the BEST "showdown" XC race---IMHO---the 2013 NXN Women's race---when Efraimson went against Cranny & Baxter!
I watched it again the other day---as well as that '12 Mt SAC race---and came away just puzzled as to what happened to Baxter!
Was it her 1st-ever XC loss?
She was 3rd to Alexa & Elise!
Did she mentally come apart because of that?
As for me, I'm doing okay---with lots of duct tape and glue!
LOL
I saw the Efraimson, Cranny, Baxter XC showdown live streamed on the internet. I only regretted that Mary Cain (still in HS) was not in that race. Going in, I thought Sarah had the slight edge. But after Alexa won, I figured she was likely to be the next star from that group -- and she has been!
ReplyDeleteMaybe the next generation of distance stars will be headed up by the Ping sisters? -- Ping and Pong!