Let's analyze Jane Hedengren's race

....

Jane ran a phenomenal race and was fatigued from her last race. Doris Lemngole is just that good, Doris could have approached sub 18:10 if needed today. Lemngole is one of the best in the world and Jane will need another year to close the gap. Jane will improve drastically in the next 2 years whereas Lemngole is nearing her limits/potential at NCAA X. By 2027 Jane will be Doris' equal or better at 5000m and X Country❗

MADE A CORRECTION: from was to WASN'T in the first sentence.

How old and experienced is Lemngole? And if rumors about Lemngole rarely attending class and being barely able to read are true (hope not) then what is going on?

Jane did an amazing job, she is a 1 in a million athlete, and so good at such a young age.
Katelyn Tuohy was 25th as a freshman, and Parker Valby was 27th as a sophomore. Jane took 2nd as a freshmen to a world class East African runner and she pushed that runner to a course record. Jane was incredible and as a 19 year old she kept pushing, and she went out hella fast, sub 5 min opening mile. She is already probably the best American distance runner. A 4:23 miler as a high schooler, she will demolish that time this year, and I predict she will be in the top 5 in times as a American in every distance from the mile to the 10k. Her track season will definitely be something to behold.

Doris is also four years older (maybe more considering she’s from Kenya)

Lemngole ran well and is simply better.

Might be the last ncaa XC race Jane ever loses though

Lemngole was 5th at Worlds in the steeple WITH a fall. Likely medalist without the fall. She’s also way older than Jane and training as a pro for a long time.
We need to put in to perspective just how fantastic a run from Jane that was. She’s competitive with one of the best in the world. Amazing. Would not be surprised to see her go sub 8.30 indoor for the 3000m and 14.30 for the 5000m in outdoor. I think Lemngole is easily a 14.20 runner right now, and Jane isn’t that far behind her. Considering the best in the world are around 14 mins in the 5k now, maybe Lemngole is even faster. So, Jane did nothing short of an incredible job today as a true freshman.

Agree. She’s probably at least late 20s, let’s face it. Like Habtom Samuel (wearing the baseball cap backwards to conceal his receding hairline..) is definitely not the age he’s stated to be. They’re pretty much all far older, so it’s something to consider for young American kids in their first year or two.

If someone started a thread with the same title except inserted Doris Lemngole's name, the flow of the thread would be much different.

Agree. These are at minimum, 25 year olds, but one could actually presume they are 27-28 years old.

You say that, but they will be world class 10 years from now.

Don't forget that Jane will also eliminate COVID and make Palestine great again......unless someone from Kenya beats her to it.

Jane is 19, turned 19 Sep. 23, so she was on the "older" end of the HS age spectrum last year. Now she's on the other end, running against more mature runners. She is used to running away from the field and needs to develop a finish. In any case, this is collegiate competition, not age-group, so there's a considerable range of ages and nationalities.

Cheers,

Alan Shank

Jane and her coach have decided not to try out for the US team for World Cross, but rather to run the 5000 on the Boston hyper-fast indoor track, where Hocker and Fisher will race two miles. She ran her 14:57 back in April last year, presumably not at her peak, so it will be interesting to see how fast she can go.

Cheers,

Alan Shank

Saying her opening K was the problem is a way over implication. She ran a 3:14 the last K because Doris completely broke her on the final climb and she crawled in to the finish. Championship races are not time trials with perfect even splits. Her last K was ugly because she cracked trying to stay with Doris.

On another day perhaps the result could have been different. Doris is a world class runner / defending XC champion and also several years older.

I agree with Jane's comments NOT to try to run world cross in senior division. She is not ready to be a factor in a high level pro meet. Of course we can say the same for pretty much all current Americans. Best for them to bypass for indoor meets instead.

Looks like we will find in two weeks at BU when we see them in a do-over.

Jane will be racing the 5000.

Doris won the BU Opener 5000 last year in 14:52.

And the BU Opener (Sharon Colyear-Danville meet) is on AL's schedule.

That makes no sense. At no point before or during the race did Hedengren think she was going to "gap Lemngole."