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The Week That Was June 1 - June 7, 2009

June 8, 2009

By LetsRun.com
To read last week's LRC Week That Was, click Here.
To read any 2009
LRC Week That Was, click Here.

Everyone loves teenagers, so this week we do an exhaustive analysis of teen sprint phenoms and tell you how we think the next Usain Bolt likely isn't in Jamaica but rather Texas. We also look at a slew of great performances from some teen distance phenoms and tell you who apparently benefits the most from NCAA Regionals, before telling Nike to get rid of having everyone in the race wear the same uniform and tell you how to get rid of your Prozac. We also wonder why Asbel Kiprop wasn't DQed.

At journalism school, we're sure they would tell a writer to start with the most interesting stuff first to draw readers into the story. But it's almost 2:00 am and we are tired as hell after a long day of travel to Arkansas for the NCAA championships and we certainly didn't go to journalism school, only to Ivy League schools that dont teech you how too spell. So we'll start with two quick Thumbs Up before getting into the bigger events from last week.

A Quick Thumbs Up To Kaki & Burla
Props to American Serena Burla, who got 2nd at the NYRR New York Mini 10K. Burla wasn't even given a pre-race bio on the NYRR site and the NYRR put on the race! Thankfully, Runnersworld has done a nice interview of the former Missouri Tiger so we and the NYRR no longer have to ask "Who the hell is Serena Burla?"

Thumbs up to 19-year-old Abubaker Kaki, whose sensational 2009 season continued last week as he picked up two wins - one in Hengelo in 1:43.10 on Monday - and then one in Torino on Thursday in 1:44.25. For the year, Kaki has run 7 races and he's won them all. The breakdown:

Feb 7, Stuttgart - 2:16.23 indoor 1k
Feb 18, Stockholm - 2:17.56 indoor 1k
Feby 26, Prague - 2:17.22 indoor 1k
May 8, Doha - 1:43.09
May 23, Rabat - 1:44.82
June 1, Hengelo - 1:43.10
June 4, Torino - 1:44.25

Interesting to note that Kaki's fastest races of the year have been both his indoor and outdoor season openers. He hopes to change that after a month of training. After Torino, he told the IAAF, "Today I was a bit tired after Hengelo. The pacemaker was too fast (he passed in 48.90 at 400 metres). Now I will train for one month in Cairo before my next race in Oslo on 3 July where I hope to run 1:42 and possibly break my PB (1:42.69)." More: .Doha, Rabat, Hengelo ... Now Turin - "Cocky" Kaki's Win Streak Continues *Photos

Depressed? Screw Prozac - Go For A Run!
We certainly found interesting a study that came out last week from the University of Vermont that shows that exercise can elevate one's mood for up to 12 hours. We had two questions after reading the report on the study: 1) Does this mean that if you are only going to run once that you should definitely do it in the morning? Clearly you wouldn't want to waste 8 of your 12 hours of "elevated mood" on sleep. 2) Should everyone double twice a day so they can be in a good mood 24/7?

A Closer Look At Some Young Sprint Sensations
A ton of Jamaican press went last week to the fact that Reebok took a chance on double junior sprint champ Dexter Lee by signing him to a pro contract. We certainly aren't fans of guys skipping the college circuit (or even those that go pro early) but understand that it will happen. While we are far from sprint experts, we're not sure why Reebok would sign Lee. Sure, he's the double world junior champ but his PR is only 10.31. The guy ran a 10.48 last week at Reebok. Does Reebok realize that 78 guys in college have run 10.47 or faster this year? Hell, 22 collegians have run faster than his 10.31 PR. Auburn's Marcus Rowland is less than a year older than Lee and he's run 10.13 this year. Mississippi State's Deangelo Cherry is 18 like Lee and has run 10.21. Eastern Illinois even has a freshman sprinter, Zye Boey, who has a better PR than Lee, as Boey has run 10.30 this year.

We know that companies like Nike, Reebok, etc. can be wrong a lot of times and still come out way ahead if they get one Usain Bolt locked up but we certainly don't think Lee is the guy we'd sign. To us, the most troubling thing is his lack of improvement. His PR in 2007 was 10.33. In 2008, he ran a wind-aided 10.32 and now he's run 10.31. So he's coming down .01 per year. So in 65 years, he'll be ready to break Bolt's record.


Prezel Hardy's 10.08!!

The shoe companies should hire us as their consultants. The guy we'd sign is Texas high schooler Prezel Hardy. The guy at the start of last week was just 16 years old (his birthday is 6/1/92 compared to Lee's 1/18/91). He is 500 days younger than Lee and he just ran a wind aided (wind was just 2.2 mps) 10.08 at the Texas State meet!!! Unbelievable.

And the best part about it? Look at his improvement. Last year he ran 10.95 wind legal/10.53wind aided and now 10.41 wind legal/10.08 wind aided.

But all in all, we'd say let the kids be kids.

Speaking of going pro early, Rend Lake junior college has produced another stud for the 2nd straight year. Last year the JUCO produced Kenyan Olympic 800 runner Boaz Lalang. This year, their 100/200 man Ryan Bailey, whom T&FN ranks in the top 10 in the 100 and 200, has gone pro early. The Oregon native has PRs of 10.05 and 20.45, both set on the same day (May 22nd) at the JUCO nationals. Bailey, who is 20 years old, ran 10.18 at Pre.

More: *Rend Lake Produces Again: Sprinter Ryan Bailey Goes Pro After Frosh Year And Is Running Pre Classic The article says someone like him might make $200,000 per year. We say no way. *Dexter Lee's Agent Upbeat For His Client's Potential

Some Great High School Action: Hasay's Golden Career Comes To An End As Robby Andrews Continues To Impress
With all of the sprint talk about teen prodigies, it's only natural that we now should spend some time recapping some great HS action from last week.

Where to begin? Individually, things were led by Cal's Reggie Wyatt, who set a new national 300 hurdles record of 35.02 in the state meet prelims. In the final, he got the win in both the 300h (36.17) and open 400 (46.13).


8 Sub 9:00s
& 19 Sub 9:10s!

But this is a distance-focused site and there is a lot to talk about on that front. It seems as if the amazing depth that is now found in the college ranks is starting to take place at the HS level. At the NJ Meet of Champs, we were momentarily stunned that 7 boys ran 4:11 or better in the 1600.

Stunned only until the California state meet results punched us in the face and made us overcome a case of East coast bias. In California, 8 boys broke 9:00 in the 3,200 and a staggering 19 of them broke 9:10. All in the same race! Special congrats to 10th grader Heyden Wooff, who ran 8:55.16.

Individually, the big media news was that Jordan Hasay ended her HS career as a champ as she captured the CA state 3,200 meter title in 10:05.29, significantly slower than the 9:52.13 she ran there last year.

While it appears that a big pacing mistake (67 first lap as Hasay is unwilling to let anyone else lead) cost her any chance of the national record of 9:48.59, we're not sure if we'd want to be Hasay going into college. It just seems to us that the expecations are totally unrealistic.

After reading that Hasay had her own police escort at the CA state meet (not making this up), we called a CA high school coach to get his take on Hasay. He said, "I feel sorry for her as the future scares me. Out here, anything short of an Olympic gold medal and she'll be viewed as a failure."

Our take: Calm down, people, and appreciate Hasay for what she is - one of the greatest female high schoolers in history. That doesn't mean she is going to be a big-time pro or even a dominant collegian. If we were betting, we'd have to say the odds are way, way less than 50% she ever makes an Olympic team. Former national record holder Melody Fairchild made a Worlds team but never the Olympics and current national record holder Kim Mortensen didn't even have much of a college career at UCLA due to problems associated with anorexia. 10:05.29 is very fast for a HSer, but to put it in perspective, it's 15:45 5k pace. Stanford frosh Laurynne Chetelat, who pushed Hasay to the limit last year while in HS, has already run 15:43 this year.

Distance-wise, with all due respect to Oregon's Elijah Greer, who ran 1:49 this week in the Pre Classic after running 1:47 last year, the prep with the most upside in our minds is New Jersey's Robby Andrews, who ran a 1:48.66 this week at the NJ Moc (video race highlights here). The guy's kick is unreal. We've been wondering what he could do in a mile all year and this week he will go for sub-4 on Saturday at the Portland Track Festival. Could he be the #5 HSer to go sub-4? We aren't counting him out, but it's awfully tough in a HS-only race. If someone can get him to 1,209m in 3:03 or under, he's got the wheels. God bless him if he does it.

More: *1:48.66 For Robby Andrews At NJ Meet Of Champs - Full Results A LRC reader wrote to us saying the NJ MOC was sick and he was right. *Recap Of Kenyan HS Champs *Jordan Hasay Goes Out A Champ *7 Boys Run 4:11 Or Better At NJ State MOC *3 At 8:55 Or Better In Texas *26' LJ In Texas *Texas Girl Wins 2nd Straight State Team Title All By Herself *New Boys 300h National Record Mboard: Does Greer have a shot at the national high school record?

Getting Ready For NCAAs - We Look at The Outcome Of NCAA Regionals
The big meet this week will be the NCAA champs in Fayetteville, Arkansas. To get everyone ready, we thought we'd take a look at the marks that it took to get into the meet. Without spending an eternity on it, we also thought we'd take a closer look at the regional system which we support but which the big schools are trying to get rid of out of supposed concern because of cost, but in reality it's just because they want to keep everyone else out of the dance.

For the men, the following marks were the last at-large time/distance based marks to get into the meet. Everyone else was top five in their region.

Running events: Men's 100 (13.92), 110h (13.92), 200 (20.76), 400 (46.04), 400h (50.90), 800 (1:48.58), 1500 (3:42.13), steeple (8:50.30), 5k (13:57.06), 10k (28:57.06).

Field events: HJ (2.16), PV (5.30), LJ (7.73), TJ (15.89), SP (18.17), DT (57.43), HT (64.12), Javelin (67.08).

In that light, we'd like to send our condolences to Cal Poly's Daniel Gonia, Georgetown's Michael Krisch and High Point's Jesse Cherry. All three of them ran sub-29:00 minute 10ks and didn't make the show. We believe they are the first sub-29:00 guys to not get to compete at NCAAs (if it's happened before, please email us). It wasn't too long ago that 29:00 was still the NCAA auto mark.

The good news is all three are juniors and can give it a crack next year.

And as for regionals, we can just say that we were very pleased to see the Oregonian's Ken Goe wrote a great piece in defense of regionals. Chasing marks favors the big money schools and it rewards those that peak at the wrong part of the season - at the first or second Stanford meet. We also are for regionals because time trials are boring as hell and regional meets teach guys how to race.

Looking at the 2009 regionals themselves, we really don't have time to do a great statistical analysis of anything, so what we did was look on the men's side at what region had the most automatic qualifiers who were slower than the last at-large, mark-based qualifier. The verdict? The West region benefited the most in a big way. The West led the way with 29, the East had 17, the Mideast and Miwest had 16 each (Note: That's not counting relays, which we didn't do, and we apologize in advance if it's not 100% accurate).

Our analysis certainly isn't pefect but it's the easiest thing we could think of doing. PAC-10 schools, you guys had better think twice about ending regionals.

What event played the most according to form? It might not be wat you think. The men's 110 hurdles was 100% totally unaffected by guys with slow times getting automatic qualifiers at regionals. The top 26 guys on the stopwatch all got in the top 12 in their regions and made the show.

Which events went least according to form and had the most AQ qualifiers below the last at-large time? Not a surprise in that one of the events was the 800, where 11 guys that ran slower than the last time qualifier of 1:48.58 got in.

The other event with 11 in a similar fashion was a surprise - the long jump. Clearly the top jumpers didn't jump well at regionals.

More: Oregonian's Ken Goe Says It's Not Fair For Pac 10 To Advocate Cutting Regionals "Doing away with the regional meets would cut costs, but at the expense of fairness. Bryan Green On Why NCAA Regionals Are A Good Thing

A Few Thoughts About The 2009 Pre Classic
Another great Pre Classic is in the books. Rather than complain about a few things that we didn't like about the meet (once again mainly television-related), we thought we'd say the meet was great as usual and direct you to an article in the LA Times that summed up things pretty well: "This is track as it should be."

Now on to a few observations.

Stat Of The Week #1 - How Fast Was Symmonds' Last 200?


Nick Symmonds Getting the W

Video of Symmonds' Race

 


How about Nick Symmonds' 2nd Pre-Classic victory over one of the greatest fields assembled on US soil? Crazy that the field was so strong but the opening splits so slow. Almost as if everyone was too worried about each other to go with the rabbit.

Symmonds' last 200 was sensational and it allowed him to do something that is very rare in 800 meter running. His last 200 was his fastest of the race. He covered his last 200 in 25.77 compared to his first 200 of 25.91. Interesting to note that the last 200 of 5th-placer Khadevis Robinson, a known front-runner, also was his fastest of the race (25.99 to 26.20).

But to us, the meet was really all about two things - Barringer in the 1,500 and Kiprop in the mile (and Phillips in the LJ if you are talking about non-track events). From an American perspective, Barringer's run in the 1,500 was very special. The best part was she ran aggressively from the start. Far from being a little timid at the relatively short (for her) distance of 1,500, she was up front all race. Then she closed in 62.05. Sensational.

That being said, we think it would be a shame if the performances of the other Americans were lost in the shuffle. Anna Willard had the 2nd-best close of anyone in the field (62.52, which is better than the race winner Burka's 63.02), but she was just a little too tentative early on. Willard finished fourth with a huge 4.82-second PR of 4:01.44. The Barringer-Willard steeple clash at USAs is going to be a real treat.

In 5th, Christin Wurth-Thomas had set a PR by 2.24 seconds in 4:01.72. So in two weeks, Wurth-Thomas, a 2008 Olympian, has knocked down her PR by a total of 3.16 seconds and yet she's only the third American in the race and probably only the 4th-best American 1,500 runner once Shannon Rowbury gets going.

Speaking of Rowbury, Prefontaine was her outdoor debut and while she probably was disappointed with her 4:03.92 time, we don't think she should be. We were very impressed by how aggressive she was from the gun as she was up front all along and still in 2nd at the bell. It was clear that despite the fact that it was her opener, she was going for sub-4. To run 4:03.92 with a total disaster of a last lap (66.62) is pretty impressive. Lacking a finish is the norm, not the exception, in one's first 1,500 of the year. How do you get over the tie-up? By running more 1,500s.

Stat Of The Week #2 - How Does Barringer's Improvement Compare To Rowbury's Last Year
Interesting to note that while are amazed at just how well Barringer is running right now at the shorter distances, her 1,500 PR has actually come down less this year than Rowbury's did last year:

11.46 seconds - the amount that Barringer's PR has come down this year (from 4:11.36 to 3:59.90)
11.98 seconds - the amount that Rowbury's PR came down last year  (from 4:12.31 to 4:00.33)


Asbel Kiprop
Is He Unbeatable?

Kiprop Is Special
As for Kiprop, we're all out of trying to come up with words to describe how special this guy is. You can read our Bowerman race recap here but for the Week That Was, we want your eyes to do all the work for us. Please take a look at the still photo of Kiprop on the right and try to tell us that he's not a totally different type of 1,500 meter runner than what we've ever seen before. Like Usain Bolt, he just covers ground totally differently like anyone else - he runs like a gazelle.

If a still photo isn't enough for you, please watch the race video here/read our full article on the race .

And oh yeah, one more thing, we loved his mid-race celebration. That being said, we're still waiting for the meet referee to DQ him for pulling a Jimmy Wyner. DQ him and half the Prefontaine winners who were all celebrating early as shown by this celebration photo gallery.

Shocker Of The Day
Admittedly, Barringer's 3:59.90 was a big shock (recap and video here)- such a shock that a former US national team member gave us a call and said, "I missed the Pre 1,500 on TV and went to the message board and saw 'Barringer 3:59.90' and thought people were playing a joke."

That being said, the biggest shock of the meet had to belong to Maggie Vessey, who won the women's 800 despite having the slowest PR of anyone in the field. A 2:02.01 performer last year, Vessey ran 2:00.18 and earned the right to became the 2nd person on the planet who can say, "I won an 800 that Pamela Jelimo was in."

Vessey was next-to-last with 200 to go, but her 29.74 got her the win. Looking at the individual splits once again reminded us that Jelimo was still way up at 600 meters. She had nearly 2 seconds on Vessey. 1:28.58 to 1:30.45. But a 36.99 final 200 won't win a HS race.

We're honestly fascinated to see what Jelimo does the rest of the year. Her tactics were so poor (her first 200 was 27.19 compared to Vessey's 29.24) that it reminded us just how raw she is. We certainly aren't writing her off for 2009. She's not in great shape but she's not helping herself by just running with zero tactical awareness. But we guess it's not a surprise that she is doing this, as last year, she won everything by just running as hard as she could. She can't get away with that this year.

Video of Women's 800

Parting Comments/Ok We Have To Go Negative
American Dwight Phillips is back. Last year's Olympic disappointment has seemingly lit a fire under himself as he won the long jump with a remarkable 28 feet 8 1/4 inches - the best since Mike Powell's world record of 29-4 1/2 in 1991. Too bad that NBC had to show the jump from a terrible front angle. Thank God he didn't break the world record with this coverage.

And one last thing - Nike, please, please, please promise that never again will you make virtually the entire women's 1,500 field and entire men's mile field wear the same hideous yellow jerseys. The fact that all of the races are rabbitted makes it hard to remember that people are actually supposed to be competing against each other, but when they are all dressed the same, it's virtually impossible to tell who is who on the NBC telecast (particulary when NBC pans out to keep the entire field in the picture).

Are Bekele & Dibaba Vulnerable? Will An Ethiopian Or Kenyan Step Up If They Falter?
Hengelo
was last week and it was strange to see Kenenisa Bekele dropping out of the 1,500. Not a good start to the year for either of Ethiopia's double Olympic champs. Bekele gets injured and then drops out of his first race back. Dibaba gets beaten in the 5k at Reebok. Certainly this will make things more intersting in 2009. Dominance in sports is extremely compelling but normally only when the outcome is in doubt. A great boxer needs a rival. Bekele and Dibaba certainly look like they will be challenged this year.

If Bekele isn't a winner at the World Champs in Berlin, it will drive the Kenyans absolutely crazy if another Ethiopian wins, as Kenya is still very much a male-dominated society and they desperately want gold in the men's distance events. But the winner of the 5k in Hengelo and the first sub-13 guy of the year? None other than Ethiopia's Ali Abdosh. The Kenyans had better not just assume like they did in cross-country that just because Bekele is down that the title is theirs for the taking.

Hengelo Meet Sizzles *LRC Recap *LRC Thread *Hengelo Results There were some unexpected results in Hengelo including Kenenisa Bekele dropping out of the 1500, and some super performances including another impressive win by the man to the left (Abubaker Kaki) and a sub-4:00 run by Gelete Burka. Americans Reese Hoffa and Dwight Phillips had tight contests with international stars Thomasz Majewski and Irving Saladino plus all 3 steeplechase medal winners from Beijing squared off. Find out more in our recap including who became the first man under 13:00 in 2009 (you will be surprised).
*
IAAF Recap
*Canada's Lopes-Schliep Third, Bekele Drops Out Their is a brief mention of Bekele appearing injured but we haven't heard anything more on that yet. *Ohuruogu Gets 200m PR In Good Meet For Female British Runners *Athletics Weekly Gives British Rundown From Hengelo Their mid-d women, led by 2008 NCAA champion Hannah England were great. *Reports Trickling In: *Geb Fails To Get 1-Hour Record

Recommended Reads From Last Week
1) Absolutely Inspiring: Iraq Marathon Honors Fallen Soldiers David Ungrady did a great job reporting on a race that clearly meant the world to the soldiers who were able to run it in 100 degree weather ... and then work a full day on the base.
2) Oregonian's Ken Goe Says It's Not Fair For Pac 10 To Advocate Cutting Regionals "Doing away with the regional meets would cut costs, but at the expense of fairness.
3) Bryan Green On Why NCAA Regionals Are A Good Thing

Remembering The Last Week With The Quotes Of The Day - Day-By-Day:

Monday: 3:59.90!!!!!
- time ran by Colorado's Jenny Barringer at the Prefontaine Classic to shatter the NCAA record. She becomes only the 4th American to break 4:00 (and 2nd non drug cheat to do so).


Sunday:
"He is going to come back with a vengeance and really wants to win this race."
- Asafa Powell's agent, Paul Doyle, talking big about Asafa's chances in the 100 at Sunday's Pre Classic now that his ankle injury isn't bothering him.

Saturday:"I love running so much, but at the same time I'm realistic. If I can't make it as a pro, then I'll go into coaching or business."

"You see, I want to become a better runner than my father. But I'm determined to become a better man."
- US sub-4:00 miler Darren Brown in a must-read article from John Brant and Runner's World. Darren is running the mile tonight in the Music City Distance Carnival.


Friday:
"I'm definitely one of a kind out here. I'm the only one that's actually on this field everyday training while everybody else is running circles around me. I'm not necessarily saying that I'm trying to make this Field Town, USA, but maybe a little more emphasis on track and field, for sure."
- Eugene high jumper Jesse Williams on being the odd man on the infield in "Track Town USA." Williams, currently in possession of the #2 jump in the world behind American Andre Manson, will have his hands full Sunday at the Prefontaine Classic (2-4 PM Eastern, NBC) with most of the world's best high jumpers, including Russian Olympic champ Andrey Silnov in attendance

Thursday:
"Man-to-man challenge is the way, not football ... Our job is to bring our sport back to the schools. We have to give it to a new generation; if not to our children, give it to our grandchildren."
- Sengalese IAAF Head Lamine Diack on bringing track back to the top of the world of sports. We agree and hope more of you can coach a team, start a club, and get kids training and racing to win.

Wednesday:
"Running may temporarily relieve our stress, but it's sure to take its toll on our knees and hips and the fatigue of constant training can have a depressant effect.
Yet imagine the runner, alone on the road, his footfalls on gravel in sync with his breathing. He is swift and fast and focused. His arms pump in steady cadence. His knees rise in regular rhythm.
There is nothing on his mind but how his fingers feel as they brush his palm, his toes as they kiss the edge of his shoes, his calves as they whisper against each other with every stride. He is man, machine, spirit. Watch him fly."

- Cameron Stracher writing for the Wall Street Journal about running in the lean times of a recession.

Tuesday:
“I haven't really touched it yet. I may have done a couple 60ms in practice, and some starts, that's considered speed-work, but I haven't really turned my body on. I've been doing 400m and longer distances."
- Tyson Gay in his post-race interview after what was undoubtedly the performance of the weekend. A season-opening, wind-legal 19.58 at Reebok that leaves him behind only Michael Johnson and Usain Bolt on the all-time performance list at 200m.

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