June 9, 2015 | LetsRun.com

2015 NCAA Outdoors Start Wednesday Schedule TV / Streaming

M Long Distance Preview LRC Edward Cheserek And Eric Jenkins Will Dominate – The Question Is Will They Battle Each Other To The Line Or Cross Holding Hands? Oregon’s Edward Cheserek and Eric Jenkins are the favorites to go 1-2 in the 5,000 and 10,000 at NCAAs. But will they race all-out against each other? And can anyone like Jason Witt, Kemoy Campbell, Justyn Knight, Patrick Tiernan or Thomas Awad possibly break them up?

M Mid-D/Steeple Preview LRC Cristian Soratos And Jordan Williamsz Lead A Wide-Open 1,500; Anthony Rotich & Stanley Kebenei To Duel In Steeple; Will NCAA Champs Brandon McBride Or Edward Kemboi Emerge In A Loaded Men’s 800? We’re not sure if there will be drama in the 5 and 10 but these races should more than make it up for it. The 800, where NCAA champs Brandon McBride and Edward Kemboi lead the way, is the deepest 800 in years at the NCAA level. Cristian Soratos vs. Jordan Williamsz is must-watch drama in the 1,500 as is the Stanley Kebenei vs. Anthony Rotich battle in the steeple.

W Long Distance Preview LRC NCAA Champs Emma Bates & Dominique Scott To Battle In 10,000; 5 NCAA Champs Including Emily Sisson And Kate Avery To Battle In 5,000 With 5 NCAA champs battling in a single race, the women’s 5,000 promises to be a great way to end the distance action at the 2015 NCAA champs.

W Mid-D/Steepl Preview LRC Shelby Houlihan & Leah O’Connor Eye Repeats; Natoya Goule Goes For NCAA Title #4 In Stacked Women’s 800 Leah O’Connor will look to be the first woman to repeat in the steeple since Jenny Barringer in 2009. Shelby Houlihan will look to be just the third woman in history to win back-to-back NCAA titles in the 1,500. Natoya Goule has won 3 NCAA titles but she faces a LOADED field.

Diamond League Sprint News

For Your Reading Pleasure

TrackTown USA Keeps Pushing Envelope – Fans Can Get Radio Receivers With Commentators For NCAAs Good idea. We think they should have commentators for the track events too.

Video Of Sally Pearson Breaking Her Wrist

Mid-Week Excitement In The USA *Adrian Martinez Recap

LRC Grant Fisher Breaks 4:00 – Runs 3:59.38 To Become 6th American High Schooler To Break 4 In Mile Fisher, who is more than a year younger than Matthew Maton, is now officially a total stud. Two-time Foot Locker champ and a sub-4 miler at 18 and 44 days.

LRC Abbey D’Agostino Takes Down Desi Linden In 5k, Robby Andrews Crushes The Mile Field – Full Recap Of 2015 Adrian Martinez Classic Plus, have you ever heard of Hannah Fields? Jonathan Gault has gone above and beyond the call of duty with this 3,600-word recap.
*MB: ROBBY ANDREWS IS BACK, BABY!! Crushes the field at the 20125 Adrian Martinez Classic
*LRC: Post-Race Interviews With Kyle Merber, Desi Linden, McKayla Fricker, Nicole Tully, Ryan Martin, Reed Connor, Hannah Fields, and Robby A and Abbey D

Twitter Reaction

LRCRunning Pros Respond On Twitter To Nike Oregon Project Doping Allegations

Matt Centrowitz thought it was a yawning matter, but no one else did, including Paula Radcliffe, Dai Greene, Nick Willis, Lornah Kiplagat and many others.

The World Reacts

WADA Issues Statement

US Reaction: NY Times Covers Salazar Allegations
*Allegations Get Front Page Treatment In Eugene Register-Guard
*Toni Reavis Reacts: “Bad news on this National Running Day 2015.” Reavis is a long-time friend of Salazar.

European Reaction: The Guardian: Five Uncomfortable Questions For Olympic Champion Mo Farah #5: Will he sever his ties with the coach who helped deliver an Olympic double?
*Jo Pavey Says If She Was Farah She Would “Run A Mile” Away From Salazar
*Independent: “Mo Farah’s training partner Galen Rupp has been doping since the age of 16.”
*Telegraph: Let’s Just Be Honest And Allow Drugs In Sport Not a good idea unless you want to kiss women’s athletics bye bye as women would be forced to roid up and become men.
*UK Athletics Issues Statement

Sprints, Jumps And Throws

David Oliver Fires His Longtime Coach Brooks Johnson Over Profanity-Filled Text Message He Sent After Pre Classic Johnson has been a legend in the sport for decades, but Oliver explains why the disrespectful text message was the last straw.
*MB: DAVID OLIVER FIRES HIS COACH RESPECTFULLY!!!!!!
Bruce Jenner Reveals How He Chose Caitlyn As His New Name One way she attempted to come up with ideas was by watching the Miss America pageant.
IAAF Inside Athletics Interview With Trinidad And Tobago 400H World Champ Jehue Gordon Gordon talks about competing at the 2009 World Championships as a 17-year-old and not wanting to show “any fear” even though he was up against his idols.
IAAF Personal Bests Q&A With Olympic LJ Silver Medalist Will Claye He says Tony McQuay and Erik Kynard are like his brothers and Christian Taylor is his greatest rival.
Cool Video: Maine State Record Holder Dan Guiliani Combines Shot Put And Gymnastics
Sprinter Dina Asher-Smith Leads Team GB & NI For European Team Championships Later This Month NCAA XC champ Kate Avery is on the team in the 3,000.

Sad News

RIP: Former US Marathon Record Holder Pat Petersen Dies From Cancer At Age 55 Petersen had a PR of 2:10:04 (a loop-course AR at the time) and finished top 5 in the NYC Marathon three times.
*MB: R.I.P. Pat Petersen Petersen left behind a wife and four children who are in a difficult financial situation. You can help them by contributing here.
MB: Sad News: Missing UPenn track runner Timothy Hamlett’s remains found in the Hudson River

Prefontaine Photo Gallery (300+ Photos)

The Search For A Better Running Shoe

LRC The Most Popular Running Shoe On LetsRun.com Is … Not Made Anymore … The Nike Pegasus+ 30 Thousands of you filled out our detailed running shoe survey in the fall and more of you ran in the Nike Pegasus+30 than any other shoe. Only problem is all of you need to find a new shoe, help us out below:

LRC The Improved LRC Running Shoe Survey Is Back – Three Minutes To A Better Running Shoe The running shoe buying process sucks and we want to improve it with data. We took your reviews from the fall, made a running shoe beta site, and have improved our survey to ask you what shoe your previously ran in. We now need more reviews from you on the latest shoes.

3 World XC Getty Images Photo Galleries:
1) Pro Photos From Getty Images
2) New Rojo’s Women’s Photos
3) New Rojo’s Men’s Race Photos

Salazar Responds; Farah’s Blood Being Analyzed

Alberto Salazar Says His Accusers Are “Knowingly Making False Statements” And That He Will “Document And Present The Facts” “I have said all along that I believe in a clean sport, hard work and I deny all allegations of doping … The BBC and ProPublica have engaged in inaccurate and unfounded journalism …”
Mo Farah’s Blood Record To Be Examined By UK Athletics To Check For Any Signs Of Doping UKA head Ed Warner said that even if nothing is proven, they might still end their relationship with Salazar.
UK Athletics Chairman Ed Warner Warns Mo Farah Should Part From Alberto Salazar Seb Coe: “I’m not supporting [Salazar]. I’m just saying that I have no way of knowing the veracity of what’s been said.”
GB Teammate Christine Ohuruogu Defends Mo Farah Saying He’s Been “Unfairly Dragged Into A Very Difficult Position” She points out how they are just “accusations” and Farah is being “overly scrutinized”.
Columnist: “UK Athletics Has Questions To Answer After Alberto Salazar Allegations” Salazar also acts as a UK distance coach/adviser. Did he recommend other athletes take anything to boost performance?
Ohuruogu Concerned Doping Accusations Will Distract Mo Farah And Hinder His Preparation For World Champs

Two Assistants – Two Totally Different Views

Former NOP Coach John Cook Is “Not Surprised” By Alberto Salazar Doping Allegations
Former NOP Assistant Coach Bob Williams Defends Salazar And Rupp Williams, who helped Salazar in 2004 and 2005, says he was “privy to everything” and that there “absolutely” was no doping.

Mid-D Stuff

Good Read: 2014 US Marathon Champ Tyler Pennel Blogs About Going Sub-4 For The First Time In The Same Race As Grant Fisher Pennel finished 2nd behind Jordan MacNamara, but ahead of Fisher.
IAAF Personal Bests Q&A With Nijel Amos Amos says the best piece of advice he ever got was from Olympic 1,500 champ Taoufik Makhloufi, who told him “no one will give you anything for free in this world … So each day wake up and know you have to go out and work hard for what you want.”
Sifan Hassan Is The Early Season Diamond League 1,500 Point Leader And Says The Best Is Still To Come Hassan is formerly of Ethiopia, but moved to the Netherlands in 2008. “Since I came [to the Netherlands] seven years ago, I’ve had no contact with the Ethiopian people … I feel more Dutch … it feels like my home.”

IAAF President Diack Awards IAAF Silver Order Of Merit To JAAF Honorary President Yohei Kono

Not Farah Certified – Mo Farah Flies Home To Portland Without Competing – Fans Get Screwed

“Emotionally And Physically Drained” Mo Farah Pulls Out Of Birmingham Meet – Apologizes To Fans Who Bought Tickets To Watch Him Discuss here.
British Pros Slam Farah For No-Show Kilty: “I’d have shown up on one leg. It’s a shame for the fans. I think a lot of people have paid to watch him today.”
Fans Are Irate As Well: “You don’t go to a rugby match and see one of the teams pull out, for this event you’re coming to see individuals compete.”
Paula Radcliffe And Steve Cram Criticize Farah For No-Show
Press Irate That UK Athletics Officials Won’t Answer Questions
The Telegraph Reveals Farah Wasn’t Entirely Truthful At Press Conference: Mo Farah Said At Press Conference He Was Told Of Salazar Allegations “Three To Four Days Ago” When In Reality He Was Sent A Letter On May 6th – Coe Calls On Salazar To Defend Himself
Daily Mail: Mo Farah Should Have Run The Race, Not Run For Home
Not Everyone Is Negative: Jenny Meadows Offers Some Support: “None of us think he’s done anything wrong.” But she did add a disclaimer: “Obviously, we want it (his 2012 golds) to be true. We really hope it is.

Birmingham DL Sunday *Results

Live Birmingham Thread

LRC Recap: Javelin And 200 Highlight As Hassan And Amos Get First DL Wins Of Year And Lagat Masters 1,500 WR The biggest news was Mo Farah pulling out of the meet before hand, but on the track there was a thrilling women’s 200m, in the infield one of the best javelins ever, and in the distancesHassan and Amos picked up their first DL wins of the year and Bernard Lagat another masters WR in one of his least impressive runs of the year.

LRC Fair Or Foul? Should Julius Yego’s 91.39m Monster Javelin Throw Have Counted In Birmingham? Our analysis using a free online photo editor shows it should be a foul, but Jesse Squire tells you why it counted.

Mo Farah Spoke At Saturday’s Press Conference And We Learned A Lot *Discuss

Angry Mo Farah Wants Answers Over Alberto Salazar’s Doping Allegations And Reveals A Lot He said he has never been on thyroid medication, will sit down with Alberto face-to-face, speak with Steve Magness and others in the documentary, and also make his blood values public to show he has nothing to hide. We’d also like him and the entire NOP to release the list of supplements they admit to taking when they are drug tested. The sports “grey area” may need to change.

More Nike Doping Allegations: Alberto Salazar Told Mo Farah He Wasn’t Coaching Mary Slaney When She Tested Positive
Ken Goe Gets A Text Of A Liturgical Reading From Alberto And Shares His Thoughts On Doping Allegations Alberto Salazar texted Ken Goe: “An evil report he shall not fear; his heart is firm, trusting in the LORD. His heart is steadfast; he shall not fear till he looks down upon his foes.”
Steph Twell Says Many Had Heard NOP Rumors
Nick Symmonds On Twitter: Coach overnighted a good read to get me ready for tonight’s race! #OvalOffice #ChewRunGum #CleanSport
Editorials: Ben Bloom Editorial: Alberto Salazar Scandal Casts Shadow Over Second-Biggest British Athletics Meeting Of Year – Telegraph Bloom says, “No matter how much the powers protest, Britain is heavily involved in this episode.” It’s a great point.
Amby Burfoot Editorial: No Rush To Judgment On Alberto Amby is one who realizes Nike has a big role to play in this.
Sticking With Alberto: “It’s the wrong decision for the right reasons.”
Editorial: Farah’s Smile Remains But He Must Ask Salazar Some Difficult Questions How can Salazar prove to Farah he wasn’t doping Rupp?
Video Clip:

2015 Rome Golden Gala *Full Results

LRCSub-Four Win For Jenny Simpson, The Steeple Is For The Taking For The Americans, Crazy Fall In Women's Hurdles - 2015 Rome Women's Recap

Jenny Simpson left it late but got her fifth straight win in a 1,500 at a DL meet. Super impressive.

LRCRome Men's Recap: Gatlin 9.75, Aman Over Amos Again, Kejelcha Is The Real Deal

The Justin Gatlin, Mo Aman and Yomif Kejelcha trains kept rolling.

Justin Gatlin Refuses To Focus On Usain Bolt After Beating Bolt’s MR In Rome “The key thing to keep winning is to not think about it.”
SAFP Scratches From 200 With Minor Injury She got to the warmup track 2 hours early to try to get loose and scratched as a precaution.

Full Coverage In Our Rome Special Section

Asian Champs

Super-Fast Teenagers

The Person Formerly Known As Bruce Jenner

ESPN To Honor Caitlyn Jenner With Arthur Ashe Courage Award Not everyone is happy. Tom Cruise’s son and Rojo disagree:
MB: What has the world come to? ESPN to honor Caitlyn Jenner with the Arthur Ashes courage award.
MB: PED’s Turned Bruce into Caitlin
IOC Rejects Petition To Strip Bruce Jenner Of Olympic Gold

US – Non-NOP News

The Week That Was – Our Weekly Recap

WTWMo Farah Earns Our Respect, Big 1,500 PRs For Kyle Merber And Stephanie Garcia, Mo Aman's Big Rebound, Meb's Masters Debut And Gallowalking To Comrades Glory

What a week. We give you "10 People That Had A Good Week" and the list includes Jeff Galloway, Meb Keflezighi, Ben True, Stephanie Garcia, Mo Aman, Anastasiya Bazdyreva, Kyle Merber, Mo Farah, Emily Chebet and Mary Cain. Yes, Mary Cain. Plus we break down the winners and losers from the NCAA Regionals, mourn the loss of "blue-collar" running legend Pat Petersen, and explain to you why Alexa Efraimson has zero shot at the World Junior record.

LRCVin, Mo, Galen, Alberto, Alexa And Justin: Six Thoughts On Prefontaine

Wejo wraps up his thoughts from Eugene about Pre.

Distance News

Jordan Hasay Has Been Working Out Hard In The Pool And The Alter-G While Dealing With Plantar Fasciitis “This injury is the first time I’ve had to take more than five days in a row off for an injury in seven years. That was the year of the Olympic trials when I was 16.”
Iceland’s Anita Hinriksdottir Hoping To Finally Break The 2-Minute 800 Barrier Today At The Games Of Small States Meet The 19-year-old has a PR of 2:00.49 which she ran 2 years ago.
Q&A With Track Writer Jack Welch About The State Of US Running And What It Was Like Interviewing And Reporting On The All-Time Greats In The Sport Welch is the author of “When Running Was Young And So Were We” and co-founded “Running” magazine.
Jo Pavey To Return To Glasgow For Great Scottish Run Half Marathon

Controversial News

Oscar Pistorius To Be Released From Prison On August 21st He will go under house arrest after serving just 10-months in prison, but could go back to prison depending on the outcome of the appeal by prosecutors which will be in September.
Race Volunteer’s Lawsuit Against Competitor Group Will Go Forward The issue is over for-profit companies using volunteers without paying them.

Weekend Action

California: Michael Norman, Only A HS Junior, Blasts 45.19 (National Record For HS-Only Race), 20.30, 44.9 Relay Triple At California State Meet California state meet results here.
*Top 10 Moments At Record-Setting 2015 California State Track And Field Meet
TN: Music City Distance Carnival Results: Molly Ludlow 1:59.81 800, Nick Symmonds Runs 3:59 But Gets Beaten Symmonds got beaten by Brandon Lasater, a Georgia Tech senior who did not qualify for next week’s NCAA meet in the 800, but bounced back nicely with his first sub-4:00. *Message Board Thread On Race Here
No One Gets IAAF “A” At 19th European Cup 10,000m – Polat Kemboi Arikan Wins In 28:09.47
Asian Champs: Mutaz Essa Barshim Suffers Shock Loss At Asian Champs He couldn’t get over 2.24m in rainy conditions.
*China Adds Four Golds On Final Day To Finish On Top At Asian Championships Qatari Femi Ogunode won the 200 in 20.32 as the Chinese women won the 4 x 400 in a time that would have placed them 17th at the NCAA East regional (3:33.40).
China’s Liu Hong Breaks Women’s 20k Walk World Record
France: Marseille Results: Asafa Powell 10.09 Into Headwind, David Verburg 44.83 More: Video Of Asafa Powell’s 10.05 In Marseille
Kenya: Vivian Cheruiyot Wins Police Champs 1,500m Over Former World Junior Champ Irene Jelagat In 4:14.7 Her comeback from maternity leave continues. She ran 14:46 at Pre and was pleased. Her big focus she said is on Rio gold.

Good Read: Garry Hill: “The best part about going to a track meet is visiting with your like-minded friends.” “Being a hard-core track fan, after all, makes you a part of a very small fraternity. (Maybe we should develop a secret handshake!)”

Young Guns Making News

CU Buffs’ Erin Clark May Be Next Big Thing In Steeplechase “We think of it (the steeplechase) as a beautiful event in its own that requires special athleticism, and it’s not a second event. It’s a primary event.” – Mark Wetmore
What Fisher’s Sub-4 Means – by Jeff Hollobaugh
Marcus Chambers Could Be Oregon’s NCAA Championships Trump Card After His 45.21 400

The World Reacts To The Accusations By 7 Former Nike Oregon Project Members That Coach Alberto Salazar Is A Cheat

Might The Feds Get Involved? WADA Head Would Welcome An FBI Probe Of Coach Alberto Salazar
WADA Head Sir Craig Reedie Says Double Olympic Champion Should “Think Carefully” About Staying With Nike Oregon Project
Brendan Foster Says Mo Farah Should Distance Himself From Salazar – Also Says Incident Is Reason Why Seb Coe Should Be IAAF President “Seb’s number one priority is the credibility of athletics. He recognises there is a trust problem born of the way drugs cheats have been treated over the years.”
Independent: Mo Farah: What will he do now? Speak out, stay quiet or even ditch coach Alberto Salazar?
Telegraph: Farah’s association with Alberto Salazar raises awkward questions Farah will face the press on Saturday before the Birmingham meet.
Alan Wells Doping Scandal: 1980 Olympic 100 Champ Says He Had Injection Before Olympics But It Was For A MOSQUITO BITE

Nike Doping Scandal On The Message Board:

Big Doping News *Miss The Broadcast? Here’s How To Watch The BBC In The US

Have drugs been instrumental to the success of the Nike Oregon Project?

LRC Everything You Want To Know About The BBC Nike Oregon Project Doping Documentary If You Didn’t See It The show had multiple anti-doping allegations against Alberto Salazar and Galen Rupp, and that the Nike lab advocated for or was aware of testosterone usage by Nike athletes.
*MB: Former American Record Holder George Malley corroborates John Stiner’s allegation that androgel was in the NOP training camp Malley says Salazar admitted it to him in 2013.
*Shoot The Messenger: Alberto Salazar And Galen Rupp Issue Statements Saying They Believe in Clean Sport And Criticize The Journalism Of The “Reporters” Salazar’s response was especially cheeky as he referred to David Epstein and Mark Daly as “reporters.” ProPublica and the BBC are about as respected as it gets in the journalism world. David Epstein is definitely a reporter – his past work helped expose A-Rod and Lance. *Message Board Poster Analyzes Statements Of Rupp And Salazar

Must Read: ProPublica Investigation Alleges Anti-Doping Violations By Alberto Salazar David Epstein, author of Sports Gene, has been working on this piece for a few years. A great read alleging possible anti-doping violations by Alberto Salazar and even Galen Rupp. Epstein teamed up with BBC reporter Mark Daly to take a look inside the NOP. Steve Magness, Kara Goucher and Adam Goucher all speak on the record – other former NOP athletes speak without using their names. The BBC aired a one hour show on doping last night as well. Miss The Broadcast? Here’s How To Watch The BBC In The US

LRC Rojo’s Five Quick Thoughts On David Epstein’s Nike Oregon Project Investigation David Epstein‘s piece is a great read, this could be just the beginning as it is time for more people to speak on the record and for Nike to investigate its own house. Plus Matt Centrowitz‘s tweet on this is embarrassing.