2010 Mt. Sac Relays Saturday Preview: Olympic Sprint Stars, Bryan Clay, Maggie Vessey and Men's 800

by: LetsRun.com
April 17, 2010

Results: Friday Results: American junior record-holder Molly Huddle runs PR 15:05 to get 2nd behind Sally Kipyego in the women's invitational 5000 and steepler Daniel Huling won the men's 5k in 13:24. The Puma Mile setup was exciting as Derek Scott won over Liam Boylan-Pett, both in 4:00.xx as the men caught women's leader Barbara Parker with 150m to go (Puma coverage with video).

Thursday Results: Bernard Lagat's brother and former NCAA stud Robert Cheseret could only manage 6th in his comeback, as William & Mary's Jon Grey won the 10k. Cheseret did break 29 minutes. Give him 6 weeks and we bet he's sub-28. Olympian Billy Nelson only ran 8:52 in the steeple. A current CU buff - Emma Coburn - won the women's steeple.revious

The Mt. Sac Relays started Thursday and end today Saturday. This meet was one of our favorite meets back when we were competing. But we now realize that the farther you get away from competing that the average track fan has no idea about the meet or who is running what as next to zero is done to promote the individual races. When you can't go to the meet homepage and find out who is competing, we have no idea how our sport is supposed to get more popular.

Thus, we've decided to provide you with a 5 minute guide to the relays so you'll know what to watch or look for. A full meet schedule can be found here or you can find the individual division schedules here.

Watch Mt. Sac Live below.

Watch live streaming video from mtsac_tv at livestream.com

Saturday : Olympic Stars and Maggie Vessey

All Times Pacific

Saturday is the only day they really try and get fans out to watch Mt. Sac as that is the day you usually see a few sprint stars. The big star is Allyson Felix and she'll be running the 4X100 and 4X400 this year. Olympic decathlon champ Bryan Clay is running the 110m hurdles and will do 3 other events according to this article.

Saturday Highlights:

2:15PM	Men's Invite 4X100	HSI Team with Kerron Clement
2:19PM	Women's Invite 4X100	Allyson Felix, Dawn Harper and Ginnie Powell on Kersee All-Stars
2:55PM	Men's Invite 800	2008 Olympian Christian Smith, 2008 Olympian Jonathan Johnson, slew of other equals
3:00PM	Women's Invite 800	Maggie Vessey Returns
3:50 PM	Men's Invite 110 H	Olympic decathlon champ Bryan Clay
4:25 PM	Men's Invite 400	Sub 45 Man and Olympic Finalist Martyn Rooney
4:28 PM	Women's Invite 400	Lashinda Demus vs Nicole Leach
5:50 PM	Womens 4X400	Kersee All Stars (Allyson Felix, Sheena Tosta, Nicole Leach)
5:55 pm	Men's 4X400	HSI vs ASU vs USC

Races Getting a Little More Commentary:

2:55 PM Men's 800: This race has 2 US Olympians in it.  Jonathan Johnson is no longer the surprise Olympic Trials winner from 2004. Now he's a 28 and has not been sub 1:46 since 2007. This is a pivotal year for him. Can he get back to being a 1:44 man or should he consider hanging them up? He'll face 2008 surprise Olympian Christian Smith.  They'll go against some of the usual suspects trying to break to the top of the US 8000m ranks Golden Coachman, 2008 NCAA indoor Champ Tyler Mulder, Duane Solomon and Santa Monica Track Club's Prince Mumba (from Zambia).

3:00PM Women's 800: Maggie Vessey Returns This is the race we'll be most interested in at LetsRun.com as any time Vessey runs it is interesting. In 2009, Vessey went from an unknown to a 1:57.84 world beater. She loves to run from behind and charge late which is always exciting. This is her 2010 debut. Which Vessey will show up? She'll face and surprise 2009 NCAA indoor champ Lacey Cramer who won NCAAs as a freshman and former sub 2:00 runner Diane Cummins of Canada.

4:28  PM Women's 400m: USA 400m hurdle champ and 2009 4x400 World Gold medallist Lashinda Demus is in the 400m facing 2 time NCAA 400m hurdle champ Nicole Leach (formerly of UCLA), and former World Junior Champ Ebony Collins (who used to hold the USATF 11-12 year old 400m record).

Other field action: USATF shot champ Michele Carter and former USATF triple jump champ Erica Mcclain are competing.

What we say: Watch the 800s for sure. The 800 is one of the great equalizers in track and field so the race is almost always interesting to watch.

Previous Reading:
Thursday's Mt. Sac Preview: Former NCAA Champs Square Off in Men's 10k
Friday Mt. Sac Preview: Great 5ks and Puma Mile Highlight

More coverage:
Mt. Sac Preview from Whittier Daily News: Olympic decathlon champ Bryan Clay competing in 4 Events, Allyson Felix
Thursday: Former NCAA Champs Square Off in Men's 10k
Friday: Mt. Sac Preview: Great 5ks and Puma Mile Highlight
Saturday: Mt. Sac Preview: Olympic Sprint Stars, Bryan Clay, Maggie Vessey and Men's 800
*OTC Announce Their Elite Entries In Upcoming Mt SAC Distance Races
*Meet Schedule
*Start Lists
On the LetsRun.com Message Boards: Mt Sac HEAT SHEETS

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