Regional races are nothing more than prelims. Experienced runners like Pamela Kosgei know the goal is to advance with as little effort as possible. Kosgei held back because she was in a secure position and she knew her team was likely to qualify for nattys.
Jane Hedengren made the typical freshman mistake of running hard in a prelim. No reason to run as hard as she did. Completely unnecessary. She will probably pay for this mistake at nattys next weekend.
Don't say I didn't warn you.
I was at the race. They ran three 2k laps so you could see everyone up close. Kosgei got beat and was completely gassed at the end. She most definitely did not “take it easy” she got pummeled by Hedengren who looked calm, relaxed, and fluid the entire race. If anyone was “holding back” it was Hedengren. No way Kosgei was “holding back” or “saving something” for later. As a spectator you could plainly see she was redlined the entire last lap with Hedengren pulling away.
I was there, as well, and agree with byu123 (I'm a NAU fan, by the way). Hedengren looked relaxed the whole time. And for what it's worth, she ran more slowly today than she did either at Gans Creek or Rim Rock. That being said, I hope Kosgei has a better day next week. Looking forward to the race.
I know that some athletes naturally look less tired when they are hurting than others, so we can't say for certain what degree of effort Jane was giving, but it's safe to say that she was running under 96-97%. Probably closer to 90, but again, it's very hard to be specific about this kind of thing.
star takes down defending #NCAATF 5000m and 10,000m champion Pamela Kosgei for the #NCAAXC Mountain title by 42 seconds in 19:06.6!
Regional races are nothing more than prelims. Experienced runners like Pamela Kosgei know the goal is to advance with as little effort as possible. Kosgei held back because she was in a secure position and she knew her team was likely to qualify for nattys.
Jane Hedengren made the typical freshman mistake of running hard in a prelim. No reason to run as hard as she did. Completely unnecessary. She will probably pay for this mistake at nattys next weekend.
Don't say I didn't warn you.
Like how Valby ran too hard at her regional meet in 2023, just to turn around and win nationals?
Oh really? You think running 19:06 in a PRELIM was a good idea?
Did you really need to start your own thread on this topic, as well as derail this thread as well?
I hadn't seen this thread when I created mine. After I created the other thread, I noticed this one had a lot of chatter and mine hadn't gotten any responses, so I decided to abandon my thread and offer my take here. Then after I had started conversing here, someone bumped my thread and it started blowing up. I didn't know that was going to happen.
Jane didn’t run hard at all. I’m not even sure she broke a sweat, in all seriousness. You really had to be there to appreciate just how easy Jane made that look. The margin of victory makes us erroneously think Jane was pushing hard, but that just wasn’t the case.
Kosgei, on the other hand, look like she was struggling there at the end as she was grimacing and looking around down the final stretch. She certainly didn’t look like someone who was holding back, especially with Chamberlin breathing down her neck.
Looks deceive. I've seen plenty of cross country runners look completely fine one moment and then BONK the next.
Remember my warning when you find yourself disappointed by Jane's performance on the 22nd of November.
Oh good lord, she's 19 years old and just ran 6 kilometers. Even if she did run a little harder than she needed to she will be plenty recovered by Nationals; she is obviously incredibly fit right now and a runner in the sweet spot like she is right now will have had little trouble with the effort yesterday. I'm not going to make the mistake of saying she looks invincible right now, but it's 100% clear that anyone who wants to beat her next week is going to have to bring their A+ game for sure.