September 04, 2014 Homepage Archive

Where Your Dreams Become Reality

Archived Homepage For September 04, 2014

Quote Of The Day

“Running was just a way for me to get in shape for soccer. It wasn’t like I actually wanted to run track.”

– US HS sensation Grant Fisher, one of five underclassmen winners of the Foot Locker HS XC champs, talking about his beginnings in the sport. Fisher still plays soccer year round but does come from great running stock – his grandpa was fourth in the NCAA 5k for Wash. State.

Week That Was

LRC No DQ In Zürich, Alexa Goes Pro, Taoufik PRs, Amazing Japanese Stamina And High Praise For Taco BellJenny Simpson won the DL in dramatic fashion, Alexa Efraimson went pro, Makhloufi PRed, a XC skier made running news, and the most amazing endurance feat of the week was in Japanese high school baseball.

2014 NCAA XC Individual Race

LRC Top 10 Women’s Individual Preview: Abbey’s Gone So Who Takes Over? The top returner is Emma Bates but she will be challenged by Aisling Cuffe, Kate Avery and Shelby Houlihan up front. Can Cuffe break the Foot Locker curse? Can a freshman (Elise Cranny or Sarah Baxter) crack the top five for the first time since 2009? We sort through a wide-open women’s field as just 6 of the top 16 from NCAAs last year are back in 2014.

LRCTop 10 Men’s Individual Preview: King Ches And Then Who?Edward Cheserek is the heavy favorite but who can pull off the big upset like he did last year? Remember in recent years, people thought Lawi Lalang and Kennedy Kithuka would never lose a college XC race. Our top 10 has 5 Americans and 5 foreigners in it. Could Stanford really have three in the top 10?

Distance News: Nick Symmonds Update, Meb Looks Back, Alexi Pappas’ Movie

symmonds brooks

LRC Nick Symmonds Update: 100% Healthy, Back Training And LiftingFriday was the one year anniversary of Nick’s Zurich 800m win, and Brooks Beasts TC coach Danny Mackey wrote in with an update on Nick.
Great Read:Meb Looks Back On 10 Year Anniversary Of Athens Marathon Silver
Sounds Cool: Ken Goe Shares Some Info About Alexi Pappas’ New Film, “Tracktown,” In Which He Will Be An Extra The story centers on a fictional distance runner (played by Pappas) at the Olympic Trials. The film is currently shooting and sounds legit as it includes actors Andy Buckley(David Wallace from “The Office”) and Rachel Dratch (of “Saturday Night Live”).
Mary Cain plans to run in next week’s Fifth Avenue Mile Cain didn’t run Stockholm or Zurich as planned but Salazar says her workouts are going great.
RIP: RIP Former US Marathon Champion (Five-Time Olympic Marathon Trials Qualifier) Jane Welzel Welzel ran in the historic 1984 Olympic Marathon Trials, which was the first for women.
Hilarious Photo From New Haven 20K: Non-Athletic Spectator In Flip-Flops Runs With Men’s Lead Pack

Pure Entertainment

LRCRunning In The Real World: How Damn Expensive The Sport Is And "You Put A Running Store Somewhere - Let Me Tell You Something - You're Whitening It Up"

2014 Memorial van Damme – Brussels DL Is Fri Schedule / Start ListsTV / Streaming (2pm ET) *LRCFan Poll Results

LRC PreviewWhat A Way To End The DL Season: Drama And Grudge Matches Galore Brussels will be special as there is a winner-take-all 1,500 with Kiplagat, Kiprop and Souleiman,plus an American grudge match between Rupp and Leo. There’s another American grudge match in the 3,000 between Rowbury and Simpson which also features Dibaba, Cherono and Ayana. Plus Jager, Birech and MMB in the steeple. In non-distance action, the men’s high jump (Bohdan Bondarenko, Mutaz Essa Barshim) and 100 (Justin Gatlin, Kemar Bailey-Cole) should also be exciting.

Update On Diamond League Standings
US Long Jump Champ Jeff Henderson Has To Call It A Season Due To Bruised Heel, Still Proud Of Fantastic Season He started of 9-for-9 and could win the DL title on Friday but is unable to compete. He wants to go sub-10 in the 100 in 2015.

US Distance News

Good Read:Meet Foot Locker Champ Grant Fisher: The Two-Sport Star Is Having A Ball Balancing Soccer And Running Only the fifth boy to ever win the US HS champs as a junior, Fisher is a BIG-time talent who still plays soccer year round. You can read our profile of Grant Fisher from June here. MB: Canadians rejoice – Grant Fisher is Canadian born – (Very good Running Times Profile)
America’s Team For IAAF Continental Cup Announced The Americans on the lucrative team in the mid-d/distance ranks include Duane and Ajee (800), Leo and Rowbury (1,500), Bernard and Grunewald (3k), Coburn and Jager (St.), and Bumby and Mackey (5k) – No Rupp or Centro.
Elite Fields For Sunday’s Minnesota Mile Are Released

News From The Commonwealth

Chris O’Hare Has “Fracture On The Sesamoid Bone” Looks like he’s enjoying his time off, however.
After Getting Sent Home From Worlds After Spat With Sally Pearson, Athletics Australia Coach Eric Hollingsworth Resigns His contract was set to end soon anyway.
Jessica Judd’s Coach And 1994 CG Gold Medalist And 13:10 Man Rob Denmark Has Joined The British Athletics Endurance Program As A National Institute Coach Apparently he’s a good biker nowadays.
Trinidad And Tobago Delivers On Promise To Give Javelin Gold Medalist Keshorn Walcott A New House The house is worth $393,000 and he got $157,000 in cash.

Sprint Stuff

Usain Bolt Says It Was His Dad Who Convinced Him To Be A Sprinter Instead Of A Cricket Player “My dad said because of the system in Jamaica, it would be better to take up athletics. He said, ‘You just have to run fast in athletics while it’s tougher to get into the national (cricket) team.'”
Interesting Interactive Graphic Which Shows Sprinters’ 2014 Season Bests Against Their Pre-Season PRsTori Bowie tops the chart, going from 23.99 to 22.18 in the 200 (a 7.54% improvement), while Allyson Felix is on bottom (3.00% slower than her PR). The list is only the top 10 ranked sprinters in 2014, but if Usain Bolt was on it he’d be on the bottom (4.18% slower than his PR).
IAAF Inside Athletics: Ato Boldon Interviews Jamaica’s World 200 Silver Medalist Warren Weir

Jenny Simpson Talks After Her DL Win

LRC Exclusive Q&A With DL Champion Jenny Simpson After Her Win In Zürich: “I pulled off what seemed at times was impossible odds.” Over the weekend, LetsRun.com caught up with Simpson as she prepares to race the 3,000 at the second Diamond League Final in Brussels on Friday. Simpson talked about the contact at the finish line with Shannon Rowbury in Zurich, why she’s been so successful on the circuit this year and how she’s been inspired by runners such as Deena Kastor, Kara Goucher and Shalane Flanagan.

Tuesday Action In Europe

Croatia: Zagreb World Challenge Results: Brenda Martinez Wins 1,500 Brenda’s fine running at the end of 2014 continued with the win in 4:05 as Gabrielle Grunewald was 4th, Brie Felnagle was 8th, and Treniere Moser 11th.
IAAF Report: Local Star Sandra Perkovic Highlights Winning Discus In 65.09m Two Days After Sudden Death Of Her Coach Russia’s Sergey Shubenkov wins competitive 110H in 13.39 over Orlando Ortega; US’s Nia Ali wins 100H; Blanka Vlasic loses on countback to her countrywoman Ana Simic in HJ.
Kemar Bailey-Cole Barely Beats Asafa Powell And Mike Rodgers To Win Zagreb 100 In 10.07
Italy: IAAF Recap Of Roverto Meet: Italian 19-Year-Old Federica Del Buono Wins 1,500 In 4:05.32 Her PR at the start of the year was only 4:16. Kenya’s Cornelius Kangogo won the 5,000 (13:24.01), beating world leader Muktar Edris. Justin Gatlin won the 100 (10.07) as Barbara Pierre won the women’s (11.16). Dayron Robles won the 110H (13.29).

NCAA XC Team Previews

LRC Notes On The Team Races: Great Lakes Women And PAC-12 Men Lead The Way We’re done counting down the top 10 men’s and women’s teams in America, but we’ve still got some thoughts on the team races at NCAAs this year that didn’t make it into our previews. We re-score 2013 NCAAs minus seniors, tell you why the PAC-12 (men) and Great Lakes (women) are loaded and explain how women’s collegiate running is deeper than it’s ever been.