Official NCAA 800 Meter Semi/Finals Thread

middle heat was clearly weaker than the first and second

maybe if he had run faster he would have qualified. how many times do you people need to be let down by this guy before you realize? if you're looking for a GWH,go with martin or derrick or symmonds or rupp...not loxom.

"WOW cas loxsom got screwed so hard with his heat assignment! that is ridiculous..."

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What are you talking about? Heat three was the fast heat, with 3 guys faster than the winner of Heat one. Loxsom just ran like Loxsom does in big time races.

Gotta agree Loxsom would have been 7th in the heat where people really got screwed.

Even if Loxsom finished just .01 s out of third, he would not have made the final.

He could only have made the final by beating Martin and knocking Martin out of the final.

Or he could have taken the pace out to run a faster time.

But that's not how you approach championship rounds. You run for place.

In the end, he got screwed by the seeding if he is better that others that made the final.

Jock and Martin are simply better than Loxsom.

2+2 rounds are often about luck when going for the q.

Those that got the q are usually lucky that their heat went at a fast pace.

No one really cares about Loxsom. Ryan Martin and Charles Jock are about to throw down just like Big West. The result is still up in the air. Over under .05 seconds separating the two in the final?

I am really rooting for Jock, but as we all know nothing is ever guaranteed. Good luck in the final Charles Jock, I will be rooting http://www.letsrun.com/forum/TOS.phpfor you.

I will predict right now that Charles Jock will win the final with Elijah Greer seoond. What Jock and Greer have is experience and physical maturity. Martin and the rest of the finals heat are equally fast but don't have the experience of running rounds at such a high level of competition.

Western Roller wrote:

I will predict right now that Charles Jock will win the final with Elijah Greer seoond. What Jock and Greer have is experience and physical maturity. Martin and the rest of the finals heat are equally fast but don't have the experience of running rounds at such a high level of competition.

yeah you're right. this totally isn't Ryan Martin's 3rd trip to nationals.

You are all mistaken. Eric Sowinski FTW

Nah, no matter what, Loxsom didn't deserve it.

The final should look more like this.

1 Erik Sowinski SR Iowa 1:46.09 Q

2 Edward Kemboi SO Iowa State 1:46.20 Q

3 Elijah Greer JR Oregon 1:46.22 q

4 Charles Jock SR UC Irvine 1:46.24 Q

5 Ricky West JR Missouri 1:46.41 q

6 Ryan Martin SR UC Santa Barbara1:46.44 Q

7 David Pachuta SR Minnesota 1:46.62

8 Harun Abda JR Minnesota 1:46.65

And we wonder why our best runners fail when they hit the world stage.

Time and only time should get you to a final.

Being able to run fast when it matters most should get you into a final. Loxsom and the minnesota guys couldn't do it. No final for them! Congratulations to those who did, especially to the heat 2 guys who conserved energy going into the final. Good luck in the final!

Conserving energy for a race that is the next day is by far the most bizarre tactic I've ever seen, especially when people do it for anything 1500 and below, the only reason I see you benefiting from running a *slow* race the day before is so that you avoid any possible injury other than that I say go out and crush the field, if Jock would have ran 1:44.36, everyone would be horrified at what they had to run up against the next day.

Am I looking at this right?

Were the runners with the three fastest times in the nation this year put in the same heat (out of three heats) where top two automatically qualify?

I didn't follow regionals so I don't know how they finished in those prelims.

When you have a 24 man semifinal to determine 8 finalists it is very difficult to have a fair approach for an event like 800m or 1500m.

They key is seeding the top 6 people into three different heats.

The top three should each be in seperate heats and 4-6 should also be in seperate heats.

Like:

Heat 1: seeds 1, 6

Heat 2: seeds 2, 5

Heat 3: seeds 3, 4

Then seeds 7-24 would fill the heats.

I just don't know how they were seeded or if they even had them seeded.

not "official" just because you say so

I believe the seeding was based on Regional results, but I am not sure.

Regardless, qualifying to finals should be based on time. It makes little sense to me to have so many autos in a given heat. Either to it all based on time, or just have heat winners and the rest be next fastest times.

A big Boo to the NCAA for stacking the 1st heat (Jock, Martin, etc.) What a bunch of morons. Jock and Martin have now faced each other 3 times (Yes, they also raced each other in Texas thanks to the braintrust that is the NCAA) in the last month and you have to think that because of this, one of them is headed for a crash in the finals. Probably not gonna be Jock as he is a front-runner and wants it oh so badly. But Martin was also dead last in the final last year and will not let that happen again.

Another thought here is that these guys (Jock and Martin) have a chance at making the Olympic team. Very tough to peak this week, then again for the trials and then yet again for the games if one or both do qualify. A lot on their minds right now that could factor in.

If you want them to qualify on time why not just put the 8 fastest of the year into a final without running a semifinal?

Or have each one run a time trial by himself.

Each race gives a seperate set of conditions based on who is in the race and how they approach it.

They don't run in lanes the whole way.

There is racing involved and they need to race their way to the final. It can;t just be times.

But seeding plays a big part in this.

It was seeded as it was supposed to be seeded - based on Regional results. So, to all of those complaining out there, no one got screwed. They were put in the heats they were supposed to according to the seeding guidelines that have been in place the whole year.