Nowhere near!!
Apologies for the PUN-nishing title, but it's accurate!!
The past 10 days post-Thanksgiving have been incredible!
From HS Cross Country courses leading to NXN & Footlocker, to the NXN Championships, to the first really serious weekend of the 2017-2018 INdoor Track & Field season, the results were the best I've seen through this early early date!
Which gives this blog the chance to do what this blog does best--report the results in detail!
Hang on to your hats!!
The Manchester Road Race, that 4.748 Mile Road race where last we saw Mary Cain compete (She DNF'ed with an injury last year at about 2.5 miles, and didn't run it this year!), leads things off!
Chris Thompson led most of the way, but it was the hard kick of Paul Chelimo that won the race, time of 21:32.
Kirubel Erassa was 2 seconds back, with Thompson another pair back in 3rd!
Hassan Mead ended 4th in 21:42, one second ahead of Jamaica's Kemoy Campbell!
For the Women, it was another elbows-entwining sprint finish for Molly Huddle--except this time she came out on the short end!!
Buze Diriba was given a time one second faster than Huddle--23:57 to 23:58--but let me tell you--it was a virtual TIE!!
Further back in 3rd came newbie Pro Molly Seidel.
Her 24:14 finished 2 seconds in front of Eilish McColgan, with Des Linden far removed in 5th, time of 24:58.
Speaking of turkeys, the best Turkey Trot race was the one in Silicon Valley near San Francisco!
And King Ches--Edward Cheserek, the newly sponsored Pro--used his standard kick to take his first Professional race, time of 13:38 on the 5K course!
His margin was 4 seconds over another uniquely-spelled (!!) name--Awet Ghebrezghiabher (!!!!), with Emmanuel Bor next in 13:43.
Gotytom Gebrelase nailed the Women's race in 15:38.
Monicah Ngije ran 15:44 in 2nd, with Emily Lipari (16:04) and Sarah Pagano (16:09) next!
There were several Regional races leading up to the NXN--and next week's Footlocker meet!
The NXN New York race saw Katelyn Tuohy display her SuperStar creds in full blossom, as she destroyed the field by 62.9 seconds!!!
Her time was 17:01, but it was the MARGIN of victory that showed why she's the prime candidate to dominate HS distance running in the coming season(s)!!
Garrett Brennan's 15:54 easily beat Tyler Berg's 16:00 for the Men's title!
The Northeast races went to Julia Robitaille in 18:25 over Maggie Donahue's 18:35--and to Chris Romero's 15:56 prevailing over Liam Conway's 16:02.
The Southeast Men's race went to the dominant figure (both in talent and hair!!) of Brodey Hasty.
His 14:36 won by 22 seconds over Sam Affolder's 14:58.
Lydia Olwere won the Women's race, 17:21 to Sasha Neglia's 17:27!
The other HS Regionals were all for Footlocker!
The Midwest races went to Olivia Theis and Daniel Kilrea.
Theis's 17:13 won over Katelynne Hart's 17:17.1 and Emily Covert's 17:17.4!!
Kilrea's 14:53 had an easier time of it, as Zach Kraft finished 12 seconds back!
The Northeast wins went to Marli Starliper and Tristan Shelgren.
Starliper's 17:47 beat Katherine Lee's 17:50, and Jacqueline Gaughan's 17:54.
Shelgren's 15:33 beat Damien Dilcher by 4 seconds.
The South FL Regional saw Rebecca Story run 17:24 to beat Victoria Starcher by 4 seconds, with Ana Wallace running the same 17:28 time in 3rd.
John Tatter took the Men's division in 14:55, beating Michael Phillips by 4 seconds, with Graydon Morris another 6 seconds back in 3rd.
The California State meet had several races.
Rylee Bowen took one of them in 18:17.9--even though she was just 37th when all the races were combined!
Justin Hazell won the main Men's race in 15:03.8.
Colin Fitzgerald was 2nd in 15:10.1.
But it was the featured Women's race where Claudia Lane made distance fans drool at the prospect of a Claudia Lane & Katelyn Tuohy showdown!!
Won't happen this year, however, as Tuohy ran the NXN, while Lane will run Footlocker!
(Showing the need for a ONE RACE National Championship!!)
Anyway, Lane's 16:30.3 won by a whopping 79.3 seconds!!!
At the Footlocker West Regional, Lane again was--err--dominant!
Her 16:59.6 won by a piddly SEVENTY TWO seconds!!!
It was a Course Record by 15 seconds!!
(Kashan Harris took the Men's race in 15:38.4!)
NXN itself was One for the Ages!!
(Rather, TWO for the Ages!!)
The Men went first--and it was livestreamed FREE!!!--and what a race it was!!
One guy went out fast, leading by 20-30 meters after a mile.
But he was soon gathered in by a flock of chasers.
That didn't last long, as a triad made up of James Mwaura, Liam Anderson, and favored Brodey Hasty opened a 10 meter gap at halfway.
They exchanged tiny leads, but all appeared to be running hard.
Aidan Troutner was another 15 meters off pace.
At the 800-to-go "bell", Hasty tried to move, but was contained by his rivals.
He wasn't looking like the sure winner prognosticators were saying he was!
Then, with a strong kick reminiscent of Alexa Efraimson's when she went past Elise Cranny and Sarah Baxter in the 2013 NXN--Aidan Troutner whipped Hasty by 2 seconds at the tape--15:03.83 to 15:05.88.
Anderson took 3rd in 15:07.54, while Mwaura faded to 15:12 in 4th!
Danny Kilrea was 5th in 15:14.5, with a 7 second gap back to Dustin Horter.
Other "names" included Khalid Hussein in 10th, Alex Maier in 14th, Sam Affolder in 23rd, and Carlos Carvajal in 32nd!
Purcellville--aka Loudoun Valley--Drew Hunter's old school!--won the team title with 89 points, beating Manlius's 159.
The WomEn's race was actually a WomAn race--and it wasn't even a race!!
It was The Katelyn Tuohy Show in all its startling glory!!
She was already in the lead before 400 meters went past!
And that lead grew like the fast-growing plant in the 1960 horror-comedy "The Little Shop of Horrors"!!
While the livestream showed more of the battle for second, it was the Sophomore Tuohy who made this a Historic and thrilling display of power, strength, elegant form, and a Prefontaine-style determination to make herself one of the All-Time Greats!
(Hint--She already IS!!)
Her 16:44.7 winner beat Katie Rainsberger's Course Record by 10 seconds!!
Rainsberger ran her time as a Senior!!
The margin over 2nd was a phenomenal 40 seconds!!
When you see who followed, you'll be even MORE astounded by Tuohy!!
Kelsey Chmiel--who ran 9:18.04 over 3000 meters for the OUTdoor Soph Class record last spring!!--did battle with Katelynne Hart for a good portion of the distance.
While Chmiel won that little war--time of 17:25--it wasn't Hart finishing 3rd!!
From a far back 4th, Californian Mariah Castillo sprinted into 3rd, time of 17:37!!
Hart's 17:41 was 4th, with Claire Walters and Brooke Rauber another 14 or 15 seconds back in 5th & 6th!
(Rauber was the top Frosh finisher!)
Other notables included---
SEVENTH GRADER Lauren Ping in 11th, time of 17:58.9!
(Sister Grace didn't make it here, as she fell ill before her Regional!)
Taylor Ewart (the Walker???) in 18th
London Culbreath in 31st
Lexy Halladay 40th
Emily Covert 77th
And in 107th & 108th came the OTHER 7th Graders (in a race of all HS'ers!!)--Sheridan and McKinley Wheeler--who just happen to be TWINS!!
BTW, Manlius took their 10th of 11 team titles (or was it 11th of 12??), with the same points total as the Men's winner--89.
North Naperville was a close 2nd--with 94 points!!
Footlocker has to really step up to match THIS!!
The December segment of this INdoor T&F season began with a----MEET CANCELLATION!!
The Dunamis meet--set MONTHS ago for December 1st & 2nd in Dallas--was SUPPOSED to open a glorious future of top-level Texas INdoor meets--to have maybe 2000 athletes at every level of the sport--from youth to HS to Collegiate to the Pro's!!
But on the very morning of the 1st day--HOURS before the 1st event--Fire Marshalls forced them to cancel, due to the track being too close to the seats--like right up against them!!
One maybe stupid--but very simple question---
WHY the FUCK did Dunamis's planners/organizers not KNOW there wasn't enough room for the track---AND know the Fire LAWS that subsequently shut down the entire operation??!!
Huh??
I can't HEAR you, you dumb idiots!!!
Okay, let Dunamis handle all the refunds (& hopefully lawsuits!!) & other detritus from their FAILURE!!
We have some VERY good T&F results to talk about!!
Karissa Schweizer had said she wanted to run a fast 5000 in Boston--IF she recovered from her 11th place finish at NCAA Cross Country!
And run fast she did!!
Her 15:17.31 was a PR, but more importantly, it beat the NCAA XC winner--Ednah Kurgat---who, while about 5 years older than Schweizer--also ran fast!!
In fact, I believe Schweizer now has run the fastest-EVER INdoor 5000 in the month of December!!
It doesn't change her place standings on my DDD's, as she remains 5th A-T Collegiate, and 9th A-T US!!
Kurgat's 15:19.03 makes her 6th A-T Collegiate!
(Schweizer sprinted past her on the last lap!!)
Weini Kelati was 3rd in 15:37.03, making her 15th A-T Collegiate, tied with 1 other!
Sharon Lokedi also makes my list, as her 15:39.05 makes her 19th A-T Collegiate!!
Four others ran good times--
Grayson Murphy (15:44.45)
Alice Wright (15:46.85)
Elly Henes (15:49.29)
Lauren LaRocco (15:50.25)
The Men's race went to Julian Oakley's 13:49.55.
Emmanuel Rotich was 2nd in 13:52.15.
The BU meet saw a fast Women's 3000 also!
Elinor Purrier won with ease in 8:55.68!!
This makes her 10th A-T Collegiate!!
And it misses the US list by just 2.13 seconds!!
Heather MacLean was a good 2nd in 9:03.03.
It misses my Collegiate DDD by 1.87 seconds!
In 3rd came Millie Paladino--time of 9:05.10.
Cut OFF the Collegiate list was Wesley Frazier's 9:01.26 from last year!
Harvard's Gabrielle Thomas had a good meet at BU.
She led off with a 7.46 win in the 60.
Then she won the 300 in 37.47.
She misses the US list by 0.05 seconds.
But it makes her 10th A-T Collegiate on my abbreviated 300 list!
Grace Claxton was 2nd in 37.64, with Leah Fowlkes's 37.89 making that short 300 list as 17th A-T Collegiate!
The Men's 300 went to Myles Banfield in 33.62, with Cameron Nurse next in 33.71.
This post is fairly long, so I'm going to run the rest of the results by you in condensed form--by event group.
Sprints & Hurdles
Chad Zallow whipped through a 7.65 in the 60H!!
That's just 0.05 seconds removed from the Collegiate DDD!
At the JDL College Kick-Off Classic, Jaylen Mitchell (of NC A&T), sped a flat 60 in 6.65.
500-800
At the Fast Track meet in the Ocean Breeze, Byron Robinson ran 500 meters in 1:01.62.
Yonique Haye-Smith took the Women's race in 1:10.98.
Haig Rickerby ran a 600 in 1:19.03.
Cory McGee easily took an 800 in 2:05.51.
Marc Runes won the Men's 800 in 1:48.85.
In a good early season 1000 race, Charlene Lipsey beat Angel Piccirillo, 2:46.38 to 2:46.77.
Distances
Nicole Hutchinson ran 3000 meters in 9:19.23, beating Bella Burda's 9:28.24.
Both attend Villanova!
Field Events (& Multi's)
At the Wichita State meet, Hunter Veith scored 5998 points in the Heptathlon.
In an OUTdoor meet in Australia, Aussie (Sic!!) Celeste Mucci scored 5870 points, breaking the record of the best by an Australian teen!!
Brittany Crew SP'ed 59-7 for the National Record (INdoors) of Canada!
Nick Vena hit 65-7.50 in the SP.
At Vanderbilt, Joe Frye threw the WT 71-10.75!
Josh Davis hit a big one--76-3 for 20th A-T Collegiate!!
He misses the US list by just 0.75 inches!!
Maddie Gardner PV'ed 13-7.25.
She's a Junior at West Virginia.
Scott Houston went over 18-1 in the PV.
Alina McDonald's 14-5.25 beat Carolina Carmichael's 13-11.25!
In the HJ, two Men went over 7-2, with Jenn (??) Allen prevailing over Javon Reeves.
To the Roads!
Norway's Sondre Moen became the 2nd fastest non-African (Ryan Hall's 2:04:58 at Boston being Number One!) to run a sub-2:06 in the Marathon, winning Fukuoka in 2:05:48.
This of course is the National Record of Norway, and the fastest-ever by a European!!
Stephen Kiprotich was 2nd in 2:07:10, while Suguru Osako finished 3rd in 2:07:19.
Moen's splits were 63:19 and 62:29!
He has a Half PR of 59:47 from earlier this year!!
And in the Sacramento Marathon, held a few hours ago, Sara Hall led the whole way--in her 2nd Marathon in 5 weeks!!--winning in 2:28:10!!
(With her 2:27:21 in Frankfurt, she's taken down the myth that you can't run 2 fast Marathons in a short period of time--that you need to space them 6 months apart!!)
But this race also saw a decent gaggle of Women finish in the low-2:30's!!
Roberta Groner (2:30:37)
Carrie Dimoff (2:30:52)
Samantha Bluske (2:31:55)
Kaitlin Goodman (2:32:08)
Plus Janet Bowcom--2:35:19 in 7th--and Katie Matthews--2:38:39 in 17th (her 1st race at 26.2!!)
Parker Stinson--in HIS first Marathon, was 300 meters in front after a Half in 64:41!
He was on pace for a time just two seconds slower than what Galen Rupp ran to win Chicago!!
He continued to lead through at least 22 miles--but he was slowing--and the chase pack was gaining!
At mile 23 (or thereabouts), he had to stop for a bit--before finishing in a 7-plus minute per mile shuffle!
But he DID finish--in 30th (!!!), time of 2:18:07!
In first was Tim Ritchie, whose 2:11:53 was a 2+ minute PR!!
Tyler McCandless was 2nd in 2:12:28.
FINALLY--it's been announced that Yomif Kejelcha--one of the World's best at Age 20--has joined the Alberto Salazar-led Nike Oregon Project!!
Enough??
Thanks for your endurance!!
LOL
See you soon!!
Thanks, as always, for the great early season report.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it would be best if there was only one HS XC national championship (though it's nice to see both Nike and Footlocker supporting HS XC). It's a shame we won't see a Katelyn Tuohy/Claudia Lane showdown. That would be the race of the year in HS XC. Both have been breaking course records set by some of the biggest names ever in HS distance running! Tuohy, with her long blonde hair, bears a resemblance to Jordan Hasay at the same age -- both in appearance and in their prodigious achievements. I wonder if Tuohy and Lane will meet in a race while still in HS?
Nice to see that Sarah Hall seems to have found her niche in the marathon, after so many years running shorter distances. In this respect, her career seems to be somewhat parallel to Hasay's. Maybe we'll see some good marathon match-ups between them.
Oops again, that's Sara.
ReplyDeleteThanks again for your ongoing support & love!
ReplyDeleteMy Previews spoke of the WEALTH of women in the HS distances!
Tuohy & Lane may be in front right now---and prime candidates to at least seriously challenge Mary's 4 INdoor HSR's---but you can NOT ignore some others--who perhaps didn't show as well at NXN, or in XC in general.
Lexy Halladay is the fastest returning Miler (OUT) at 4:41.
You have Chmiel with her Class Records, and she's just a Junior.
There's Katelynne Hart, Katherine Lee, London Culbreath, and , and, and....!!
IF they don't meet before (at least SOME of them!), it would be yet another lost opportunity if they don't race each other over 2 Miles and 5000 at NBIN!!
Remember my rue-ing the NON-race between Efraimson & Cranny a few years ago at NBIN??
Or the 2016 OUT season when the fOUR girls who had 1500 PR's between 4:07 & 4:14 did NOT go for the HSR in the Mile!!
The slowest of them had the 1500 equivalent of a 4:31 or 4:32 Mile! The hSR is 4:35!
IF---IF this group (especially Tuohy, Lane & Chmiel) fails to race the 5K at NBIN, I'll cry!
They can ALL break Oakley's HSR of 15:55---and I'm now saying that Tuohy can run 5000 in SUB-15:30!!
She is AS GOOD as Cain---maybe better!!
This is going to be one heck of an INdoor season!!
A few typos above---all corrected---in my head!!
ReplyDeleteToo lazy to do it here!
LOL
not to mention Grace Ping...
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, nature has a lot to say about how these girls develop -- as distance runners and physically -- over the next few years. Some body types handle the changes better than others (e.g. Molly Huddle - good; Mary Cain - not so good). They have to retain those slim hips and light bodies. If the bottom spreads out too much -- a common female configuration -- much success as an elite distance runner is pretty much ruled out.
We speak of "only a sophomore" or "only a junior" with hopes that there is still time for more improvement while still in high school. But it doesn't always work out that way. In the race that Tuohy just won, there was only one senior in the top six (along with one junior, THREE sophomores(!), and one freshman). And only seven seniors in the top 25. Sometimes the advantage seems to be with the younger athletes in girls distance running.
You're right, of course.
ReplyDeleteLook at any yearly girls HS list--IN or OUT--and in pretty much EVERY event---and those lists will be dominated by the UNDERclass men (women!).
Sometime a Top 40 HS list will have more than half being non-Seniors! And you'll see Middle Schoolers listed too---7th & 8th graders!!
Compare to the Men!
It's RARE to see even Freshmen ANYwhere in the Top 40--let alone in the Top 20 or even Top 10!!
The top Frosh guy at NXN was something like 15th.
And there were VERY few Sophs or Frosh in the entire field!
So yes, I know that many of those lower class (NOT talking socio-economics here!! LOL) girls won't improve---or at least not until their bodies (& personalities, etc) have matured away from the bombardment of their puberty rites---and that my not be until they're 24 or 25! (That's why there's still hope for Cain!)
But sometimes, there are those rare talents that just BYPASS all the typical teenage problems---and become the Record holders & Medal winners---until they retire at 35--or later!!
I just can't NOT be excited about the possibilities I see for THIS gang of HS Women!!
I think this is similar to other years---when we saw so many of them---in so many events---that it was EXTREMELY difficult to narrow down our choices for a Top 10 or AOY rankings!!
It happened in 2013.
I think 2018 will be one of those years!!
that may not be
ReplyDelete"I just can't NOT be excited about the possibilities I see for THIS gang of HS Women!!"
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with this! Right now, Tuohy is a superstar. Did you see her interviews? She is very composed and self-assured. She's not just the best this year, but certainly one of the best ever -- maybe the best HS distance runner ever. I tend to agree with your assessment that she might be capable of a 15:30 5K even this year. That would be a stunning achievement for a 15-year old.
However, at her age things can change quickly. In 2015 and 2016 Chmiel had an 8-0 record against Tuohy. This year Tuohy is 4-0 against Chmiel. What we need is a big match race with Tuohy, Lane, Chmiel, and a few others this year! But it seems that the powers that be in track and field always miss these great opportunities to spotlight the very best that the sport has to offer.
"But sometimes, there are those rare talents that just BYPASS all the typical teenage problems---and become the Record holders & Medal winners---until they retire at 35--or later!!"
ReplyDeleteRare, as you say, but Mary Decker comes to mind as one who fit this pattern exactly. Not too many others that I can think of right off (among distance runners). But there are more examples in other events -- e.g. Allyson Felix. More common in field events -- Vashti Cunningham, and quite a few others.