LRC 8 Takeaways From The Pre-Meet Press Conference At NCAAs The leading coaches tell you why the NCAA meet is special, Oregon’s Robert Johnson tells you why the Ducks had to disappoint the Oregon faithful and not running super-frosh Edward Cheserek much at home, and Pat Henry tries not to think too much about last year’s 4 x 400: “You drop the ball in the end zone, you have to let it go and get back into the game.”
LRC Men’s Long Distance Preview: Cheserek Aims For NCAA Titles #4 And #5; Can Seniors Kithuka And Lalang Stop Him? Edward Cheserek has never lost at an NCAA championship, but if the frosh phenom wants two more NCAA titles, he will have to take down two titans in Kennedy Kithuka and the fastest man in NCAA history, Lawi Lalang.
LRC Men’s Mid-D/Steeple Preview: Mac Fleet And Anthony Rotich Look To Repeat; Indoor Champ Brandon McBride Favored In 800 Oregon’s Mac Fleet is looking to become the first NCAA 1,500 repeat champ since Seneca Lassiter in 1998 but last year’s 10,000 champ Lawi Lalang wants to end his storied NCAA career with yet a 1,500 crown. In the steeple and 800, Anthony Rotich and Brandon McBride want to continue winning.
3 Great Distance Athlete Profiles:
*Register-Guard: Edward Chesrek Anchors Oregon’s NCAA Title Hopes Profile piece that follows Cheserek from when he was a boy in Kenya who had to once run 60 miles to take his final exams to get a scholarship to go to school in the US.
*Shelby Houlihan Aiming To Become First ASU 1,500 Champ Houlihan deals with a hereditary blood disorder and says having constant trips to the hospital when she was younger gave her her mental strength and “toughness” now.
*Idaho Statesman: Emma Bates’ Coach, Cory Ihmels, Says She’s “Starting To Believe She’s Really Good” Bates has been putting in 80-90 mile weeks and her “big goal” is to win the 10K.
*Mac Fleet Eying 1,500 Repeat At NCAAs “I’m definitely not going out to get second or third.”
*Providence Sophomore Julian Oakley, Who Just Ran 3:58 Last Week And Beat Manzano, Only Started Running At Age 16 Somehow he was only 33rd in the East regional and isn’t at NCAA finals.