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LRC's Stanford Invitational Distance Carnival Write-Up

By: LetsRun.com
March 29, 2009

Women's 3000m Steeplechase

Norweigan Silje Fjortoft of Southern Methodist University (2008 NCAA steeplechase runner-up) beat former American record-holder Lisa Galaviz (Nike) with a fast finish in 9:56. Galaviz lead the entire race, setting the pace not only for Fjortoft, but also Sara Hall (Asics) in her debut at the event.

Hall's race was intriguing as the 1500m star stepped up to the hurdle event for the first time. Hall's water jumps and hurdling have a long way to go. She consistently landed basically on two feet in the water pit, losing ground and fighting to make it up. On the regular barriers, the story was the same as Hall sailed relatively high over the barriers, landed without the same momentum, and was forced to make up ground over and over.

After the race, Hall was visibly exhausted after a grueling final 800m where she faded all the way back to 7th place. After she collected herself, Hall graciously gave interviews by the finish line. As she was walking towards the reporters, she said, to noone in particular, "Well, that was interesting!" Soaked, drained, covered in goosebumps, Hall smiled and talked about her first try at the steeple and her preparation. She mentioned practicing the water pit for the first time on Thursday night, and only practicing the hurdles three times in practice (they don't have a track up in Mammoth).

What we found most interesting was Hall's comment about her new attitude towards racing. Hall said that this year she isn't running fearing failure anymore. We were impressed with how well she took what surely was a very humbling experience, finishing well-beaten in a relatively high-profile race. It sounded like she is going to keep giving the steeple a go, possibly in an attempt to make the USA World Championship team in the new event. Surely the addition of Anna Willard to Terrence Mahon's group in Mammoth will help Hall learn the event.

On the boards: How will Sara Hall do in the steeplechase

Event 63  Women 3000 Meter Steeplechase Section 1
================================================================
      D1 Reg: R 10:50.25                                        
    Name                    Year School                  Finals 
================================================================
Finals                                                          
  1 Fjortoft, Silje           So Southern Methodist     9:56.73R
  2 Galaviz, Lisa             NA Nike                   9:58.41R
  3 Bedell, Erin              Jr Baylor                 9:58.46R
  4 Wagner, Angela            Jr Unattached            10:06.34R
  5 Carrizales, Rachel        Sr Nebraska              10:09.69R
  6 Bradley, Danielle         Jr Baylor                10:10.17R
  7 Hall, Sara                NA Asics                 10:10.56R

Men's 3000m Steeplechase

BYU showed that they are "Steeplechase U" right now in the NCAA as Josh McAdams (alum), Kyle Perry, Richard Nelson and Ryan Merriman ran 8:37, 8:47, 8:50 and 9:02, respectively, all excellent early-season clockings.

The pace was brisk from the start, but not overwhelming, especially considering the presence of 2008 Olympian and former NCAA champion from BYU Josh McAdams and former Princeton Tiger Michael Spence. The crowd had the pleasure of witnessing McAdams' ferocious finish as he crushed the final 400m. After the race, a pleased McAdams said he'll run better when he gets rid of some of his "winter weight".

East-coaster Kyle Heath of Syracuse ran the top collegiate time, a stellar 8:40 2nd place finish for the All-American.

Event 13  Men 3000 Meter Steeplechase Section 1
================================================================
      D1 Reg: R 9:07.00                                         
    Name                    Year School                  Finals 
================================================================
Finals                                                          
  1 McAdams, Josh             NA New Balance            8:37.74R
  2 Heath, Kyle               Sr Syracuse               8:40.89R
  3 Spence, Michael           NA Asics                  8:42.57R
  4 Perry, Kyle               Sr Brigham Young          8:47.92R
  5 Adams, David              So Nebraska               8:48.10R
  6 Sisay, Ezkyas             NA Unattached             8:48.53R
  7 Nelson, Richard           Jr Brigham Young          8:50.75R
  8 Winter, Chris             Sr Oregon                 8:52.44R
  9 Ahlbeck, Sam              Jr Washington State       8:53.46R
 10 Houck, Justin             Sr Portland               9:01.47R
 11 Williams, Matt            Sr US Air Force           9:06.72R
                                                

Women's 1500m - Great Finish As Pixler Gets The Win Over Rhines

The women's 1500 heats were pretty interesting. Tennessee coach J.J. Clark had two of his middle-distance stars, Phoebe Wright and Chanelle Price, step up to the 1500m, but he wisely kept them in the second heat. Wright and Price, the 1200m and 800m legs of Tennessee's world record-setting indoor DMR, were surprisingly overmatched in the competitive second heat. Price, a 2:00 800m runner in high school, had an especially tough go of things, as she ran 4:30, or 3 seconds away from the NCAA regional mark.

The fast heat was a thrilling race, both for the times run and the mad dash to the finish. Olympian Jen Rhines had the lead but couldn't hold off Seattle Pacific's Jessica Pixler. The crowd, on their feet for the final 200m, certainly appreciated what was a deep race that saw 7 runners (6 collegiates) break 4:24, including some big names in Christine Babcock and Kailey Campbell from Washington and Alex Kosinski of Oregon.

Event 58  Women 1500 Meter Run Section 1
================================================================
      D1 Reg: R 4:27.80                                         
    Name                    Year School                  Finals 
================================================================
Finals                                                          
  1 Pixler, Jessica           Jr Seattle Pacific        4:18.64R
  2 Rhines, Jennifer          NA Adidas                 4:18.96R
  3 Babcock, Christine        Fr Washington             4:19.13R
  4 Kosinski, Alex            So Oregon                 4:19.84R
  5 Campbell, Kailey          Jr Washington             4:22.38R
  6 Palmer, Katie             So Brigham Young          4:23.21R
  7 Dahl, Heidi               Sr E Tenn St              4:23.70R
  8 Callahan, Natalja         Sr Nebraska               4:27.01R
  9 Arlin Genet, Aeron        NA Running Divas          4:30.79 
 10 June, Kara                NA Asics Aggies           4:38.34 
                                                

Men's 1500m - Solinsky a surprise 5th!

The names in the fast heat of the men's 1500m were impressive: Chris Solinsky, Ian Dobson, Seth Summerside, Evan Jaeger, Matt Lincoln, Andy McClary (Ark), David McNeill (NAU), and a couple of other guys we haven't really heard of. Well, those "couple other guys" didn't seem to conform to the pre-race pecking order, at least not in the final 200m! Austin Abbott (Washington) and Chris Gowell (Baylor) showed absolutely no respect to their highly decorated competitors and went 1-2 with sub-4 equivalents 3:41.62 and 3:41.85.

Again to the delight of the crowd, it was a blanket finish, but the only other piece to the blanket was Evan Jaeger! Solinsky, who barely missed out on an Olympic spot last year in the 5k could only muster a season-opening 3:43 (hey, not too bad, really). 2008 5k Olympian Dobson was out the back in 3:46. Solinsky was in perfect striking distance with 400m to go but couldn't hang with the sharper collegiate boys. Australian 10,000m specialist McNeill of ran a solid 3:42.78 for 4th.

Event 8  Men 1500 Meter Run Section 1
================================================================
      D1 Reg: R 3:47.80                                         
    Name                    Year School                  Finals 
================================================================
Finals                                                          
  1 Abbott, Austin            Sr Washington             3:41.62R
  2 Gowell, Chris             Jr Baylor                 3:41.85R
  3 Jaeger, Evan                 Nike                   3:41.96R
  4 McNeill, David            Jr Northern Arizona       3:42.78R
  5 Solinsky, Chris              Nike                   3:43.36R
  6 Lincoln, Matt             NA Phoenix Athletics      3:44.73R
  7 Summerside, Seth             Adidas                 3:45.08R
  8 McClary, Andy             Sr Arkansas               3:45.42R
  9 Dobson, Ian               NA Adidas                 3:46.28R
                                                

Women's 5000m

A great race, the women's 5000m fast heat made the NCAA regional qualifying standard look like a complete joke. 16:52 will get you to regionals, but 15:52 was only good for 10th in this race.

Former Pitt Panther Maureen McCandless looked fit as a fiddle (and tough as nails) as she powered away from a back of 10 runners to win in 15:34. It's crazy to think that Kim Smith and Shalane Flanagan were running 14:39 and 14:47 indoors this year, or over 2 minutes faster than the NCAA regional qualifying standard and 300m in front of McCandless' time . On the men's side, that's like setting the regional mark at 14:45 or something like that, still less than 2 minutes off the American record.

Great marks were put up by a number of collegiate athletes including Oregon's Nicole Blood (15:42) and Stanford's Laurynne Chetelat (15:43), not to mention two other great Washington runners Follett and Lawrence in 15:48 and 15:50 (what a team they have!). LRC Thread on Chetelat points out that the Stanford freshman's time is the #2 American junior 5k time behind only Molly Huddle.

Two Tennessee runners were in the fast heat, but the most notable Tennessee runner, miler Sarah Bowman, was (we assume) strategically entered in the slower heat. She led from the gun, out in front with her powerful, loping stride. Bowman amassed a big lead, only to lose much of it in the final laps, running 16:20 in a longer event for the distinguished miler.

Event 66  Women 5000 Meter Run Section 1
================================================================
      D1 Reg: R 16:52.00                                        
    Name                    Year School                  Finals 
================================================================
Finals                                                          
  1 McCandless, Maureen       NA New Balance           15:34.31R
  2 Marchand, Racheal         NA Unattached            15:39.96R
  3 Blood, Nicole             Jr Oregon                15:42.13R
  4 Chetelat, Laurynne        Fr Stanford              15:43.31R
  5 Hastings, Amy             NA Adidas                15:45.19R
  6 Maloy, Elizabeth          NA Unattached            15:46.31R
  7 Follett, Katie            Jr Washington            15:48.72R
  8 Allen, Lindsay            NA McMillanElite         15:48.97R
  9 Lawrence, Mel             Fr Washington            15:50.36R
 10 Jesang, Janet             Jr Western Kentucky      15:52.22R
 11 Pohl, Veronica            Jr Northern Arizona      16:06.67R
 12 White, Catherine          So Arkansas              16:08.29R
 13 Kingma, Jenna             Sr Arizona State         16:09.11R
 14 Susa, Mihaela             So Oklahoma State        16:09.83R
 15 Salucci, Toni                Raleigh TC            16:10.24R
 16 Bargiachi, Denise         Sr Arkansas              16:11.56R
 17 Conley, Kim               Sr UC Davis              16:17.51R
 18 Areson, Jackie            Jr Tennessee             16:27.16R
 19 Higgins, Lesley           NA New York AC           16:39.98R
 20 Kalmer, Christine         Sr Arkansas              16:43.17R
 21 Van Horn, Katie           Sr Tennessee             17:03.02 
 -- Centrowitz, Lauren        Sr Stanford                   DNF        

Men's 5000m - Shawn Forrest... Is An Animal!

Sometimes you know you are watching something special.

There WAS a rabbit. But even the rabbit wasn't hanging with Australia's (and Arkansas') Shawn Forrest. Forrest destroyed a highly talented field, including the pace-setter, who dropped out about 2400m into the race as Forrest was already well ahead. All alone on a fairly warm day, Forrest put on a show, running like a man possessed and clocking a superb 13:28 as the announcer made it known that it was one of the top-5 times in the world so far this year.

Forrest went through the mile in about 4:19, and still had some company at that point... but not for long. 8:05 through 3k, Forrest had a big gap and kept opening it up on guys like Jon Riley  (13:19 pb) and Yuichiro Ueno (13:21 pb). We guess it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise considering he ran 13:37 indoors at the Tyson Invite and ran 13:57 7 YEARS AGO (he's 25 now), but the determination and boldness of Forrest - running without the aid of a pace-setter and with a pack of hungry competitors behind him - was, in our minds, the performance of the meet.

Surprise! According to his coach Scott Simmons, DII runner Mike Crouch of Queen's University split 1:30 for his last 600m and passed almost half the field en route to a 13:46. The reigning NCAA DII indoor 5000m champion, Crouch bested his 14:12 previous personal best by a long shot.

Event 17  Men 5000 Meter Run Section 1
================================================================
      D1 Reg: R 14:12.00                                        
    Name                    Year School                  Finals 
================================================================
Finals                                                          
  1 Forrest, Shawn            Sr Arkansas              13:28.81R
  2 Riley, Jonathan              Nike                  13:38.76R
  3 Ueno, Yuichiro               S and B               13:39.42R
  4 Bruce, Ben                NA Unattached            13:40.61R
  5 Heath, Garrett            Sr Stanford              13:42.27R
  6 Heath, Elliott            So Stanford              13:42.59R
  7 Cabada, Fernando          NA Reebok                13:44.28R
  8 Steeds, Mark              Sr Georgia State         13:46.85R
  9 Crouch, Michael           So Queens of Charlotte   13:46.97R
 10 Scott, Derek              NA Brooks Team Indiana   13:47.28R
 11 Estrada, Diego            Fr Northern Arizona      13:47.37R
 12 Rodriguez, Cele           NA Strands               13:47.50R
 13 Wall, Scott               Sr Oregon                13:49.40R
 14 Kibioywo, Felix           Jr Auburn                13:50.87R
 15 Kipchumba, Alfred         So Portland              13:51.09R
 16 Burrell, Ian              NA McMillanElite         13:56.34R
 17 Ashkettle, Ben            So Northern Arizona      13:59.67R
 18 Werts, Jean-Peierre          Auburn                14:26.82 
                                                

Women's 10000m

This race was a one-woman show as 2004 Olympic 10,000m runner and Yale alum Kate O'Neill won from the front in 33:02. Only 2 collegiates hit the NCAA auto mark of 33:30, easterners Andrea Walknonnen of Boston University and Clara Grandt of West Virginia.

From the boards: Why was Zsofia Erdelyi of USC told to take her ball cap off for the Stanford W10K #2 on Friday ?

Event 71  Women 10000 Meter Run Section 1
================================================================
      D1 Reg: R 35:00.00                                        
     D1 Auto: A 33:30.00                                        
    Name                    Year School                  Finals 
================================================================
Finals                                                          
  1 O'Neill, Kate             NA Strands               33:02.31A
  2 Walkonen, Andrea          Sr Boston University     33:13.66A
  3 Grandt, Clara             Jr West Virginia         33:16.96A
  4 White, Melissa            NA Hansons-Brooks        33:32.88R
  5 Nehus, Erin               NA Unattached            33:36.77R
  6 Bridgmon, Mattie          Jr Oregon                33:37.73R
  7 Campbell, Anita           Jr Washington            33:40.22R
  8 Becker, Alex              Jr Tulsa                 33:44.63R
  9 McKaig, Alissa            NA Unattached            33:48.17R
 10 Kielty, Ali               Jr Arizona State         33:56.97R

Men's 10000m - Georgetown's Dan Nunn With The Big Win And Big PR!

What a great race as the top 6 finishers crossed the line between 28:24 and 28:26.92!

Georgetown's Dan Nunn outkicked Big East rival Patrick Smyth of Notre Dame as they bettered their pr's by 27 and 49 seconds, respectively. Not to be outdone, 3rd-placer Mike Sayenko pulled a Wejo and ran 28:25.85 (the same time as Smyth). Coming into the race Sayenko had only run 29:41 for 10000m on the track. 4th went to 2008 USA 15km champion Andrew Carlson though he was only .01 out of 2nd. Overall, 8 collegiates hit the new NCAA auto mark of 28:45, and 13 collegiates broke 29:00, the final one being University of New Mexico's Chris Barnicle (3 more collegiates broke 29:00 in section 2).

The dominance of runners from the eastern timezone was impressive considering the 10km races were being run at around 1 and 2am eastern time.

Surprise! High Point's Jesse Cherry ran 28:59. Coming into 2009, Cherry sported personal bests of 14:44 in the 5k and 31:15 in the 10k. Way to go.

Event 22  Men 10000 Meter Run Section 1
================================================================
      D1 Reg: R 29:30.00                                        
     D1 Auto: A 28:45.00                                        
    Name                    Year School                  Finals 
================================================================
Finals                                                          
  1 Dan Nunn                  Sr Georgetown            28:24.10A
  2 Patrick Smyth             Sr Notre Dame            28:25.85A
  2 Mike Sayenko              NA Strands               28:25.85A
  4 Andrew Carlson            NA Brooks                28:25.86A
  5 Girma Mecheso             Fr Auburn                28:26.09A
  6 Elkanah Kibet             Jr Auburn                28:26.96A
  7 Shadrack Biwott           Sr Oregon                28:28.83A
  8 James Strang              Sr Arkansas              28:29.27A
  9 Yosef Ghebray             Jr California            28:32.27A
 10 Sean Houseworth           Sr US Air Force          28:33.71A
 11 Diego Mercado             So Oregon                28:48.54R
 12 Abraham Kutingala         Sr Alabama               28:52.45R
 13 Danny Mercado             So Oregon                28:53.02R
 14 Jake Schmitt              Jr Washington            28:53.99R
 15 Dylan Wykes               NA Mizuno Canada         28:58.49R
 16 Chris Barnicle            Jr New Mexico            28:58.96R

Event 23  Men 10000 Meter Run Section 2
================================================================
      D1 Reg: R 29:30.00                                        
     D1 Auto: A 28:45.00                                        
    Name                    Year School                  Finals 
================================================================
Finals                                                          
  1 Vegh, Tibor               NA Unattached            28:52.21R
  2 Uhl, Kiel                 Jr Iowa State            28:56.85R
  3 Krisch, Michael           Jr Georgetown            28:58.48R
  4 Cherry, Jesse             Jr High Point            28:59.16R

*Note: we did our best to research PR's and seasonal bests, but if we made a mistake, email us at letsrun@letsrun.com.
                                                
  

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