Went thru the first 400m in 63 seconds and 5000m in an AMAZING 14:09 and breaks the favorite Chris Derrick. Sam looked back at 7 kilometer and saw his victory sealed and eased up slightly to savor his victory. He destroyed Galen Rupp last years course record by an amazing 22 seconds.
NEWS: Sam Chelanga wants to become an American Citizen!!!!
Man if that's true and he becomes a U.S. citizen everyone else can hang up a 10000m U.S title for the next 10 years. That young man will take the collegiate 10000m record near 27 flat and probably could place top 5 this year at the World X-Country Championships. He's better now than Galen Rupp was last year.
SammySammy wrote:
He's better now than Galen Rupp was last year.
Galen sat on Chelangas shoulder during the middle of the race last year. He would have run much faster if he had to. He was cruising when he went by me at 7k. Don't know if he would have run 22 seconds faster but you can't compare the two races.
I knew once Letsrun posters voted Chris Derrick the favorite that Sam Chelange would win easily and Stanford wouldn't be the victor. Seriously its just that letsrun posters go with emotions rather than facts and often pick wrongly in such matters.
HOW could anyone think Chris Derrick was THE favorite instead of a slight co-favorite which is what most sane x-country fans thought of his chances.
that was straight up DOMINATION. holy crap.
The women's field is crazy! Jenny and Susan go thru the mile in 5:02 almost 10 seconds faster than Sally Kipyego course record pace and the main field also passing the mile close to Sally Kipyego pace which many thought was insane.
The surprise would have been if Chelanga didn't win. Who else in the race has run 13:19 indoors?
Bill Prefontaine wrote:
The surprise would have been if Chelanga didn't win. Who else in the race has run 13:19 indoors?
You really think it would have been surprising if Derrick had won and Chelanga had gotten 2nd? I mean that's exactly what happened at prenats. Chelanga wasn't the favorite, I think most people who have been following the season expected Derrick to give him a run for his money if not beat him. Turns out that didn't happen and Derrick had a sub-par race, but don't act like this was some super obvious outcome because it was nothing of the sort.
I didn't expect Sam to break Derrick so earlier; however, the outcome is as I expected. So many people forget that Chelange ran 27:28 last year and had a late track season that postpone his x-country training this fall. So while I expected it to be closer I did think Chelanga would win. The young man seems to be on target to approach 27:10 for 10000m next year outdoor track.
No collegiate not even Galen Rupp (last year) would have touched Sam Chelanga (2009) who definitely eased up after he caught a glimpse of his 45 seconds lead at 7km.
Vipam, how would you compare Sam Chelanga xc victory to the Henry Rono over NCAA xc years?
VIPAM wrote:
Went thru the first 400m in 63 seconds and 5000m in an AMAZING 14:09 and breaks the favorite Chris Derrick. Sam looked back at 7 kilometer and saw his victory sealed and eased up slightly to savor his victory. He destroyed Galen Rupp last years course record by an amazing 22 seconds.
NEWS: Sam Chelanga wants to become an American Citizen!!!!
Galen also has gotten better. I believe if he wasn't so focused on medalling in Berlin he would have beaten Ritz and probably have run about 27:15 or so. Then once Ritz went and ran 12:56 we would all be wondering "what could Galen have done"?
Easy... Sam Chelanga definitely could have run 28:20 if he needed to this year. From 6km to 7km he posted 2:48 which is 28:00 pace and then he looked over his shoulder on one of the turns and eased up slightly. This was one of the MOST DOMINANT races in any NCAA X-Country Championship!
I just wished he continued to press his pace instead of easing up so it would have been crystal clear of his great run and the extent of his actual domination.
Sam Chelanga came, he saw, he toyed and destroyed 2009 NCAA X-Country Championships. Now please hurry up and get your U.S. citizenship so you can take the 10000m AR down under 27 minutes.
To the dumb asses out there posting that Rupp would have beat Chelanga this year.
The only thing you can compare is who had a better time while still in college? Rupp had his years of glory, and finished strong his senior year. His best xc time however, in a race he was pushed to run his fastest, was 29:03.
Sam as a redshirt junior just ran the same course in 28:42. All this bullshit of if Rupp was in this race after a year of training he would have been able to keep up. Rupp had his chance in school, now it's Chelangas turn, and he just destroyed Rupp's best time as a junior. And as it has been said, Sam probably could have run closer to 28:20.
When Sam turns pro, he will have PR's significant to that of when Rupp turned pro.
Once they are both pro, then we will have some races to look forward to.
what a joke wrote:
To the dumb asses out there posting that Rupp would have beat Chelanga this year.
The only thing you can compare is who had a better time while still in college? Rupp had his years of glory, and finished strong his senior year. His best xc time however, in a race he was pushed to run his fastest, was 29:03.
Sam as a redshirt junior just ran the same course in 28:42. All this bullshit of if Rupp was in this race after a year of training he would have been able to keep up. Rupp had his chance in school, now it's Chelangas turn, and he just destroyed Rupp's best time as a junior. And as it has been said, Sam probably could have run closer to 28:20.
When Sam turns pro, he will have PR's significant to that of when Rupp turned pro.
Once they are both pro, then we will have some races to look forward to.
Class years mean nothing when Chelanga is actually older than Rupp.
Class isn't the subject. Galen Rupp was towed the first half of the race and pushed til the last 200-300m last year and he ran 29:03.8 this year Sam Chelanga ran solo and at whatever pace he desire even easing up after posting approx 5:36 from 5.5 to 7.5 km after passing 5000m in 14:09.
I'm a fan of Galen Rupp but I know Rupp wouldn't have been able to beat Sam Chelanga if Galen was running against him today! No doubt about it Sam Chelanga could have run 28:20 if he was pushed even slightly instead he ran away from a very talented field and destroyed Galen's strong course record with EASE!
So after running 14:09 at 5000m your say he speed up by running 5:36 for 2000m (28:00 pace). So he did spilt 14:09 and could have run 2nd half in 14:00. So its clear that he eased up on purpose as he was very fresh when he cross the line. Sammy could have run sub 28:10 on the NCAA X course today if he was pushed by Paul Tergat, Kenenisa, Sihine, or Tadese.
VIPAM wrote:
Class isn't the subject. Galen Rupp was towed the first half of the race and pushed til the last 200-300m last year and he ran 29:03.8 this year Sam Chelanga ran solo and at whatever pace he desire even easing up after posting approx 5:36 from 5.5 to 7.5 km after passing 5000m in 14:09.
I'm a fan of Galen Rupp but I know Rupp wouldn't have been able to beat Sam Chelanga if Galen was running against him today! No doubt about it Sam Chelanga could have run 28:20 if he was pushed even slightly instead he ran away from a very talented field and destroyed Galen's strong course record with EASE!
I'm not sure how talented the 2009 field was compared to the last 2 years. There clearly was no twosome out front like in 07 and 08. Also, two of the pre-season favorites, GF and LP did not have strong seasons. Finally, the entire Stanford team, including Derrick, ran flat today. But Derrick wasn't coming within 20 seconds of Chelanga today even if he ran his best race of the year.
Having said that it's hard to compare this year with last year. Rupp ran to win last year. I have no doubt that he could have run 15-30 seconds faster last year if he were running for time rather than place. However, I think this year's Chelanga would have beaten last year's Rupp.
Chelanga was a true beast out there. Last year, he ran scared. this year, he ran with confidence. If he wants it, he will win next year as well. I hope he goes pro and leaves the NCAAs to the college kids.
Both the Div. I and Div. III individual National champions go to school in Lynchburg, VA.
Sam Chelanga-Liberty University Div. I
Ricky Flynn-Lynchburg College Div. III
Maybe we should try training over there!
Sam Chelanga is only 24 years old and is not the first nor will he be the last 24 year junior athlete. Don't demean his dominance because he destroyed the field and showed his run to be one of the best ever in NCAA X-Country Championships history! I do agree with you; however, that I don't think Galen could have beaten Sam this year!