Perhaps she is that refreshing athlete that just goes out and runs what she feels? No overthinking. No trying to be cagey and mysterious. I think that she will wind up being great because she races and races hard without all of the bulls**t that lesser athletes employ.
Sure, she could have held back a lot, managed this thing to the second and timed her kick perfectly, but what the hell. She's Jane. If you're a Ferrari, you're meant to go fast and fast is fun. Winning by 19 seconds with gas in the tank sounds like fun to me. Jane is great, she'll be fine.
We saw this type of hard solo effort in XC and, then, front-running in the championship race, with the ultimate victor running, quite frankly, smarter. Hoped it was a lesson. Developing her kick and not giving other, generally more seasoned athletes get a free ride may be the way for her to run smart - and win.
Can someone explain this to me? Does she need a workout to get ready for NCAAs or something??
Today at the Big 12 meet, running in a race where 10 of the 13 entrants would make the final and running in heat 2 of 2 after she saw the first heat was won in 4:49, Jane Hedengren went out and ran 4:31 today at Big 12s, winning her heat by 19 seconds. Why?
Wild.
PS. And can sometime tell me how in a major P4 conferences, there are only 13 entrants in a mile? Is there some ridiculous qualifying standards or has college track been totally hollowed out. If you can't score in a mega conference and make NCAAs, no point in having you on the team.
I will try to explain it, she is faster than them. She is faster today and likely faster tomorrow.
Sure, she could have held back a lot, managed this thing to the second and timed her kick perfectly, but what the hell. She's Jane. If you're a Ferrari, you're meant to go fast and fast is fun. Winning by 19 seconds with gas in the tank sounds like fun to me. Jane is great, she'll be fine.
She wouldn’t have needed to time her kick perfectly to win that heat. Off of 4:50 pace, she could just about run a 400m PR. Rather than fun, running that heat must have been boring for her.
This post was edited 5 minutes after it was posted.
We saw this type of hard solo effort in XC and, then, front-running in the championship race, with the ultimate victor running, quite frankly, smarter. Hoped it was a lesson. Developing her kick and not giving other, generally more seasoned athletes get a free ride may be the way for her to run smart - and win.
Rather than running smarter, for the time being, Lemngole is just better than Hendengren and easily beat her at Millrose. Jane had plenty of time to recover from regionals and running that race hard had no affect on she ran at the championships. Rather than developing a kick, a better finish will come from improved fitness. I’m optimistic that by 2026 XC championships, she will improve to the point where she can gap Lemngole.
She's thinking, "I''m doing what my coach is telling me." So, you need to ask Diljeet what her thinking was.
Diljeet: run this as the first 1609m of a 3000m. I want you to maintain pace, keep your form and finish as smooth/fresh as possible. I want you to finish with the thought of, I will need to accelerate from this pace in the next 400m to 800m. I feel good.
In most cases on and off the track, smart and sensible = boring. Anyone can make a great case against Jane's tactics, or lack thereof, but love or hate what she did in that heat, it was interesting enough to get some of us to pay attention. Jane needs to win races, but she's also building a brand, and to do that well that means doing a few things that get people to follow what she does. Jane's strong enough to do a few things that are a little unsafe, but also not dreadfully boring. I'm glad she did this.
I feel like Allen Iverson all of a sudden: “conference meets? We’re talking about conference meets?!?” For a runner like Jane, a conference championship is just an opportunity to get some speed work in.
A good race by a true freshman against an imported athlete that doesn't have date-of-birth information available. Might be 21 or 22, might be 31 or 32. No one knows, but Jane has a paper trail and a bright future.