Where Your Dreams Become
Reality
Where Your Dreams Become
Reality
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A Fan's Guide To The 2009 Tyson Invitational *Meet Website Here Below you will find our in-depth breakdowns of the men's and women's distance events. But we wanted to talk briefly about the other events. The meet also has some great sprint action, particular in the men's 60m which has Michael Rodgers, Terrence Trammell, Travis Padgett and Shawn Crawford among others. That race is largely a rematch of last week's Boston race which Rodgers won with Trammell thrown in the mix where Rodgers got the win. Rodgers beat Trammell at Millrose so expect him to get the win. In the men's 400, there is a great showdown between 2006 world youth champ Rennie Quow and arguably the most talented man in track and field (except for Usain Bolt), Xavier Carter, who will be making his 2009 debut. Is the Xman back after a terrible 2008? We'll see. In the women's sprints, Bianca Knight has made it her goal to get the American record at 200 at this meet. The record is 22.18 by Michelle Collins. Last year, Knight set a world junior record on the same track to capture the NCAA meet in 22.40. There also is a good women's 60, a good men's shot put featuring Adam Nelson and Reese Hoffa, and another Dragila-Stuczynski mismatch in the pole vault. Full entry lists can be found here: To read the IAAF preview of the meet preview, click here. Men's Mile: How Will Ulrey Stack Up Against The Big Boys? Can Ulrey Get Collegiate Record? Will Webb Look Better In His 2nd Race? Entrants This is a race that should have track and field fans in America pumped. You get a rematch of Alan Webb and Nick Willis - plus we get to see how the college phenom Dorian Ulrey stacks up against the big boys. Throw in a resurgent Chris Lukezic and a rare step up to the mile for 800 Olympian (and former NCAA indoor mile champ) Christian Smith, and you've got quite a compelling race. Any time Nick Willis and Alan Webb are in the same race, it gets fans a little extra excited given their common past at Michigan. Last week, the two raced and it was no contest. The Olympic bronze medallist Willis ended up crushing the early leader Webb and got the win 3:53.54 to 3:57.64. There are two ways to view Webb's race. It's certainly easy for one to think, "3:57 for a 3:46 miler, that's not very good." But a true aficionado of the sport might think, "3:57 in your first real race? That's pretty good." The more positive outlook on the race was the one that both Willis and Webb had of Webb's race. Willis himself noted that he went from 3:59 at Millrose (admittedly on a very tight track) to 3:53 in the next race. Is it possible Webb could make such a jump? Alan Webb certainly thought so as after the race he was very upbeat. He said, "Going into the 1,000, I was like, 'Oh man it feels surprisingly decent.' But it caught up to me, I haven't done much at that pace. I was just not quite ready for that pace yet. It was one step in the right direction." We'll find out on Friday night if Webb's optimism is warranted or not. In addition to see how Webb runs, we're very eager to see how Ulrey looks against the big boys. Track and field is a weird sport as it's a sport built around potential. On a given weekend, a pro might run a 3:51 mile and blow away the field as Bernard Lagat did, and a high schooler might run 2:22 for the 1k, an inferior mark on an absolute scale for sure, and the message board chatter will focus on the high schooler. Ulrey is the real deal. The NCAA runner-up at 1,500 as a true sophomore last year, he got the track world abuzz by pushing German Fernandez and running 3:57.60 a few weeks ago in Arkansas. While a lot of buzz was created by that run, we'll point out that Webb ran 3:57.64 last weekend and that run probably created more negative comments than positive. Running against the big boys, Ulrey has some very easy goals to go after. The Arkansas school record is 3:55.40 by Niall O'Shaugnessy from way back in 1977. The collegiate record is Tony Waldrop's 3:55.0 from even farther back (1974), although in our minds Nate Brannen's 3:55.11 FAT should be the collegiate record, as Waldrop's equates to 3:55.24 with the standard hand-to-FAT conversion. Those are both very realistic goals in our mind. We're certain that Ulrey will be stoked as Arkansas' greatest mile hope since Seneca Lassiter will have the hometown support behind him. Maybe we shouldn't have called Ulrey the best American mile hope since Lassiter, as the race also features fellow Arkansas Razorback Andy McClary, who ran 3:36.91 last year. McClary has a tendency to be inconsistent and it will be interesting to see how he performs. A 3:36.91 is equal to about a 3:54.3 mile - yet McClary somehow didn't make the NCAA meet last year. The other guys in the field - Max Smith, John Richardson and Rob Myers - all failed to break 4:00 last weekend, so they'll need to improve a lot to contend. Editor's Note: We realize we forgot to do two things when we initially put this up. One was mention that Webb initially said he'd be running the 800 at Tyson (see the video on the left). People are speculating what it means that he's running the mile. We assume it means he wants to find out where he really stands. We also think it's a true sign he's optimistic about how things have been going because if he wanted to hide, he could hide in the 800. We also forgot to make our predictions. Picking 2nd-4th in this race is very tough. Lukezic, Ulrey or Webb? As we think about this, maybe the reason why we didn't predict is we didn't want to anger someone as a stud is going to be picked 4th. In our mind, Ulrey will either run really good and get the collegiate record or run something like 3:59-4:00. LRC Picks: 1) Willis 2) Webb 3) Lukezic 4) Ulrey We wimped out. Originally we had Ulrey 2nd in 3:54.4 but got cold feet. Either way, as fans, we want to see either Webb or Ulrey run really well in 2nd. Screw it, we're not going to wimp out and re going with the LRC fans who have voted Ulrey as #2. 1) Willis 2) Ulrey 3:54.4 3) Lukezic 4) Webb Men's 5,000: Any Chance Of A Collegiate Record Or Rupp Victory? Entrants Last week in Boston, there was buzz that the 5k in Arkansas would feature a collegiate record attempt by Galen Rupp and Sam Chelanga of Liberty. The buzz about this race - which is a rematch of the 2008 NCAA Cross Country Championships, where Rupp defeated Chelanga - is justified, but we must admit we think the collegiate record of 13:20.40 by UTEP's Suleiman Nyambui is pretty safe. Rupp's running great and is very fit as shown by his 7:44.69 3k last week in Boston but his 5k PR outdoors is 13:30.49. To expect him to whack 10 seconds off of that indoors is a bit much. However, Rupp consistently does more than we think he's going to do, so maybe we shouldn't underestimate him. A more realistic goal would be the facility record of 13:28.93 that Alistair Cragg set in 2003.
Rupp very well may run faster than 13:28.93 but he likely won't get the facility record. How is that possible? Because we are very confident that the winner of this race is going to be 20-year-old Ethiopian Bekana Daba. Chelanga only ran 8:00 last week for 3k but he didn't have much pacing help, so maybe he'll be able to challenge as well. Arkansas' Shawn Forrest ran 7:51 at UW a few weeks ago and will be the hometown favorite although he'll have his hands full with the SEC cross-country champ Girma Mecheso of Auburn. LetsRun.com Prediction: 1) Daba 2) Rupp 3) Geneti 4) Chelanga 5) Forrest Men's 800: Robinson vs. Symmonds Renewed Entrants The story of this race is the renewal of the rivalry between the two best US 800-meter runners of recent years, Nick Symmonds and Khadevis Robinson. 2008 Olympic Trials champion Nick Symmonds is the man to beat here, as he looked good last week in Boston, where he won the 1k. 7-time US champ Khadevis Robinson is making his 2009 debut here, so it's hard to judge his fitness. Last year, Robinson got the better of Symmonds last year in Boston and then again in an epic race at indoor USAs. Former world indoor champ David Krummenacker ran well last week in Boston, running 2:21.98, and will be looking to prove that his best days aren't behind him. 2008 NCAA indoor champ Tyler Mulder, who has won 1:48 both times so far this year and gotten wins, will be looking to mix it up with the pros on Friday. Moise Joseph tried to steal the win at last week's Reebok meet as the rabbit. Not sure if he's racing this week, but he can't be overlooked as he's run 1:45 before. LetsRun.com Prediction: It's hard to bet against Symmonds since we know he's fit and aren't sure about Robinson. 1) Symmonds 2) Who knows? Women's Mile: A Fascinating Race - Good Luck Picking The Winner In This One Entrants This is a fascinating race as it's such an interesting cast of characters. Leading the way in terms of public relations are 2008 US Olympians Christin Wurth-Thomas (1,500), Anna Willard (steeple) and Alice Schmidt (800). Wurth-Thomas got lapped last week in the 3k in Boston and didn’t look good. Willard isn't known as a miler, but we watched her run 4:06 for 1,500 last year. Schmidt also isn't really a 1,500 person either but she did run 4:08 in 2007 and she is in good form having won the 800 in Boston last week in 2:03.05. Then there are a slew of top American collegians, led by Brie Felnagle and Sarah Bowman. Bowman, who ran 4:07 last year, anchored Tennessee's DMR to the #2 time ever last week and is running great this year, having already run 2:04, 4:35 and 9:11. Felnagle ran 9:04 last week, so she's very fit as well. Then there is the greatest women collegian in history in Texas Tech's Sally Kipyego. Kipyego doesn't run the mile much either but she's in great shape, having run 8:48 last week for 3k. While we think she'll be hard pressed to kick for the win her given her 2:08 800 PR, she did run 4:06 last year at NCAAs. Then there is the most accomplished miler in the race in 3-time US outdoor champ at 1,500, Treniere Clement. After a disastrous 2008, Clement looked better last week in getting 4th in the 800 at Reebok in 2:05. Is she on her way back? Friday's race will tell us a lot more. Marina Muncan was the Millrose runner-up in 4:37, so she could challenge. LetsRun.com Prediction: This is a very, very, very hard race to predict. Lots of good runners but we either have to go with a collegian for the win or someone who isn't known as being a miler. Impossible really. Total stab in the dark on these picks. 1) Felnagle 2) Bowman (she was always 2nd at Penn last year and we almost picked her to exorcise her demons) 3) Muncan 4) Willard Women's 3k LetsRun.com Prediction: Delilah was 4th at USA cross-country last week. We guess we'll go with her. 1) Delilah 2) Kimaiyo Full list of Entrants: Delilah DiCrescenzo Puma, Catherine White University of Arkansas, Christine Kalmer University of Arkansas, Denise Bargiachi University of Arkansas, Holly Knight University of Auburn, Alex Becker University of Tulsa, Lillian Badaru Texas Tech University, Genevieve LaCaze Univerity of Florida, Sarah Medeback University of Georgia, Wendi Robinson Indiana University, Irene Kimaiyo Puma
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Runner's World &
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