Graham Blanks headed to Paris

I forgot there was a third Olympic qualifying race at BU this winter, at the Terrier DMR Challenge. Grant Fisher ran 12:51, and several others went 13:04-13:06. But Wolfe was running Alex Wilson instead that weekend, helping qualify a DMR team that he wasn't even going to run on at Nationals. They ended up being six seconds under the minimum time, so could have easily done it without Wolfe.

Yes. They were loaded in the mile.

I'm counting four missed opportunities for Wolfe's coach to help him get the standard:

1. BU Terrier - This was eight weeks after the BU Season Opener, probably a long enough wait to make another attempt.

2. BU DMR challenge - could have brought the DMR team here instead to knock out a qualifier with professional pacers, then have them cheer on Wolfe in the 5000

3. Wake Forest Invite - Cole Hocker, Cooper Teare & pro pacers? But it sounds like some college coaches didn't want their kids racing pros and so Hocker, Teare and their pacers ran all by themselves. Wolfe's coach should have been apoplectic and got him in the fast heat.

4. LA Grand Prix - timing would have probably worked well as Wolfe was coming into peak form. Could have run easily won the 5k at ACCs the week before then easily gotten through the NCAA regional the week after. But his coach had him double the 5 and 10 in a failed effort to win ACCs.

You expecting a North Carolina coach to match wits and chess with a HARVARD coach? Come on, bro.

Aren't the rankings calculated by means of a formula that is based upon the athlete's time and place in certain races? It is not as if people are voting who is ranked higher.

I really hope people didn't actually write, "it should of been Wolfe"

THIS

Harvard guy studied to the test, NC guy didn’t.

I don't wish it was Parker, because Graham has run 7 seconds faster than him, and has the Olympic Standard. If you didn't have the trials standard, you wouldn't be going to the trials. Same goes for the Olympics. Graham was the next guy with the standard, Parker beat him on the day, but doesn't have the standard. If Parker wanted to go to Paris, he would have realized the pace was a touch slow of 13:05 and went with Grant and Nur, but it wasn't in the cards for him that day, nor his fitness. I think heading into Paris, Graham is a better choice.

Did we see any college guy’s redshirt this outdoor season to position themselves better to hit the standard, earn the points and peak for trials ?

I wonder how that conversation went with Parker's coach.

Like he could of ran the standard probably after indoors or prior to NCAA finals. Really a shame.

This sadly is probably correct. Coach kinda screwed up here

Unless the sport has completely changed, running fast times is the point. That often carries a bit of risk.

Bob Liking

:50 - Parker did (jokingly) say that his coach said to blame him if he can't go:

That 3rd one is so dumb to see even though it's the truth. If your athletes cannot handle running in a fast heat without blowing up, then they are poorly coached or the coach thinks they have no discipline. You should be able to tell them to run XX second laps to try to get whatever standard they need to run and they follow your direction.

I don't go into my local 5K and try to keep up with the guys running 5 minute miles just because I see them in front of me. I run my own race like I've practiced and planned for.

It feels like I've liked more Rojo posts in the last 2 months than I have over the past 2 decades (even before the voting). It's becoming quite disconcerting, and I'm not sure if this is just an aberration. Regardless, continued props and gratitude to him for this flawed yet spectacularly glorious website.

Most countries do not have trials. Committee picks team from the list of athletes with standard, or sufficient world ranking. World athletics works for all 150+ countries.

The US trials system is our choice.

Blaming NC coach is silly. The chance of Wolfe making team was pretty slim prior to the NCAA meet. He can also take personal responsibility, as I'm sure the plan could have been adjusted if he had pushed for it. He also probably assumed his chance was remote.

Bob liking, 13:09 LA Grand Prix