LetsRun.com's Preview Of Day 3 Of The 2011 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships

*Live Video Here *Live Results

By LetsRun.com
June 9, 2011

Day 3 of the 2011 edition of the Outdoor NCAA Track and Field Championships in Des Moines, Iowa will feature a truly special men's 800 that might be one for the ages. The women's 800 also will be full of intrigue. In the men's steeple, history very well could repeat itself, as Matt Hughes goes for a repeat title to give his 33-year-old coach the ultimate retirement gift. The night will end with the first of two clashes between Jordan Hasay and Sheila Reid.

(Editor's update: Please note that all times listed here are for people not in Des Moines and are EST times. Additionally, please note that the men's 10,000, which was originally scheduled for Thursday night, will also be run Friday due to a weather delay).

8:10 PM: Women's 800 Final: Can Price Win Her First NCAA Title?

Heat  1 Preliminaries  
1 Lea Wallace SR Sacramento St. 2:04.57Q
2 Cydney Ross SO Duke 2:04.79Q
Heat 2 Preliminaries 1 Chanelle Price JR Tennessee 2:02.84Q
2 Kate Grace SR Yale 2:03.48Q
3 Charlene Lipsey SO LSU 2:03.96q
4 Kenyetta Iyevbele FR NC State 2:04.83q
Heat 3 Preliminaries 1 Anne Kesselring SO Oregon 2:04.70Q
2 Natalja Piliusina FR Oklahoma State 2:04.79Q

After watching the women's 800 prelims, we have a few thoughts about the final.

Quick Thought #1 - Based on the prelims, one would think that Lea Wallace or Channelle Price would win, as both looked great in winning their heats. Yes, Anne Kesselring is the national leader and she won heat 3, but she wasn't even the top girl from Oregon at PAC-10s or the West regional. However, Wallace looked terrible in the 1,500 semis on Thursday, where she squeaked into the 1,500 final on time. Based on that, it seems as if Price is now the one to beat.

Quick Thought #2 - Yale's Kate Grace defeated Price handily at the East regional. She complained about the heat on Wednesday but the temps on Friday will be significantly lower. Will the East regional Grace show up? Another person who didn't like the heat of day 1 was Natalja Piliusina of Oklahoma State.

8:20 PM: Men's 800 Final: A Race For The Ages

Heat  1 Preliminaries
  1 Elijah Greer              SO Oregon                 1:47.17Q 
  2 Cory Primm                SR UCLA                   1:47.43Q 
Heat  2 Preliminaries
  1 Charles Jock              JR UC Irvine              1:45.77Q 
  2 Willie Brown              SO Akron                  1:45.91Q 
  3 Edward Kemboi             FR Iowa State             1:46.06q 
  4 Ryan Martin               JR UC Santa Barbara       1:46.29q 
                                                        
Heat  3 Preliminaries
  1 Robby Andrews             SO Virginia               1:46.99Q 
  2 Casimir Loxsom            SO Penn State             1:47.34Q                                                          

Quick Thought #1 -What a field!!! 6 of the 8 have PRs under 1:46.06 and the 7th best PR is Edward Kemboi at 1:46.06.

Quick Thought #2 - The best stat of how stacked the men's 800 final is as follows: Penn State's Casimir Loxsom last summer earned the silver medal at World Juniors to become the highest-finishing US junior in history at a mid-d or distance event. His PR of 1:46.45 is the worst of everyone in the men's 800 final. That is hard to believe.

Quick Thought #3 - The heat winners all looked great on Wednesday but we gotta think Robby Andrews is the favorite. The guy thrives on pressure, whereas Elijah Greer in the past hasn't thrived on it.

Quick Thought #4 - As for Charles Jock, he likes to run from the front, whereas Andrews likes to come from the back. It should be an unbelievably exciting race.

8:30 PM: Men's Steeple Final: Will History Repeat Itself?

Heat  1 Preliminaries
1 Matt Hughes               SR Louisville             8:40.04Q
2 Benjamin Johnson          JR Stanford               8:40.32Q
3 John Sullivan             SR Stanford               8:41.46Q
4 Andrew Poore              JR Indiana                8:44.56Q  
5 Justin Tyner              SR Air Force              8:48.54Q
6 Hillary Bor               SR Iowa State             8:48.95Q
7 Andy Weatherford          JR Indiana                8:49.34q
8 Steve Finley              SR Oregon                 8:50.00q
Heat  2 Preliminaries
1 Craig Forys               JR Michigan               8:41.59Q
2 Donn Cabral               JR Princeton              8:44.56Q
3 Brett Hales               SR Weber State            8:46.52Q
4 Travis Mahoney            JR Temple                 8:47.31Q
5 De'Sean Turner            JR Indiana                8:49.32Q
6 Ryan McDermott            SR Duke                   8:49.84Q

Quick Thought #1 - Could history repeat itself?  In last year's final, Matt Hughes got the win and Donn Cabral was the runner-up. Look for Hughes to throw in a surge well before the last lap as in his prelim, he threw down with 2 laps to go and coasted the last lap. Last year, he was the best over the last 800 as well. In our preview, we gave the edge to Cabral but now we think it might go in favor of Hughes.

Quick Thought #2 - Hughes' coach Brice Allen is getting out of the game of coaching at the age of 33 after this meet. Will Hughes give him the ultimate retirement party?

Quick Thought #3 - Former prep phenom Craig Forys, who only made it to Des Moines on time, looked fantastic in winning heat 2 on Wednesday. If he wins on Friday, it will be the ultimate embodiment of the saying "Talent never goes away."

9:10 PM: Women's 5,000 Final: Hasay Vs. Reid, Round 1

Jordan Hasay and Sheila Reid are both dreaming of the 1,500/5,000 double at NCAAs and one of those dreams will die on Friday night. We also may get a preview of what to expect in the women's 1,500 final. Hasay's and Reid's double attempts are made significantly easier by the fact that #1 seed Jessica Pixler was forced out of the West regional with an injury. In fact, only two of the top 5 fastest collegians at 5,000 are in the final at NCAAs this year.

1   Pixler, Jessica SR-4    Colorado 15:25.58
2   Hasay, Jordan   SO-2    Oregon  15:37.29
3   Whiting, Paula  SR-4    Tulsa   15:46.91
4   Kimaiyo, Risper     JR-3    UTEP    15:48.14
5   Senior, Ruth    SR-4    New Mexico  15:48.29

In the end though, we think the race will come down to the cross-country champion Reid and the cross-country third-placer Hasay. It's hard to imagine anyone else winning.

Again, as was the case in the 1,500, we guess we'll give the edge to Hasay. She got the best of Reid in the 3,000 indoors, so why not in the 5,000 outdoors as well? That being said, what is most likely to happen from an odds perspective is that one will win the 1,500 and the other will win the 5,000, as the two are very close to each other.

Entrants Based On Regional Times
  
  1    232 Tara Erdmann                  SR Loyola Marymount   16:08.27 
  2    312 Kendra Schaaf                 SO North Carolina     16:15.37 
  3    492 Rhiannon Johns                JR UAB                16:27.04 
  4    367 Leslie Kovach                 SO Penn               16:16.16 
  5    383 Alex Banfich                  JR Princeton          16:18.64 
  6    251 Rachel Patterson              JR Miami (Ohio)       16:16.95 
  7    544 Megan Goethals                FR Washington         16:02.64 
  8    255 Emily MacLeod                 SR Michigan State     15:57.57 
  9    366 Laura Carlyle                 JR Oregon State       16:05.04
 10    354 Jordan Hasay                  SO Oregon             16:04.39 
 11    426 Kathy Kroeger                 SO Stanford           16:03.96 
 12    526 Bogdana Mimic                 SO Villanova          16:17.96
 13    111 Abbey D'Agostino              FR Dartmouth          15:59.89 
 14    428 Stephanie Marcy               SR Stanford           16:04.12 
 15    392 Amy VanAlstine                SR Richmond           16:15.91 
 16    191 Brooke Eilers                 JR Iowa               16:11.86 
 17    560 Aliphine Tuliamuk             SO Wichita State      16:06.05 
 18    565 Emily Sisson                  FR Wisconsin          16:09.44 
 19    193 Betsy Flood                   JR Iowa               16:04.46 
 20    527 Sheila Reid                   JR Villanova          16:17.77
 21     15 Jennifer Bergman              SO Arizona            16:05.04
 22    157 Emily Infeld                  SO Georgetown         15:55.50
 23    128 Lydia Kosgei                  JR Eastern Kentucky   16:26.42
 24    491 Paula Whiting                 SR Tulsa              16:04.84

Quantcast



Tell a friend about this article
(Dont worry we won't email your friend(s) again. We send them a 1 time email)
Enter their email address(es), separated by a comma.
Enter your name:

Don't Worry: We
Back to Main Front Page
Questions, comments or suggestions?Please email the LetsRun.com staff at suggestions@LetsRun.com.



Runner's World &
Running Times


Combined Only $22

a Year
Save $87



Running & Track and Field Posters


Search the Web
or LetsRun.com
Google

Web

LRC


Offers of interest: Nike Lunar Glide Discount
Discounting on this shoe not allowed until recently.


Back To Top