OREGON 16:03 NEW COLLEGIATE RECORD!

It is to bad that Wall had a tweaked calf(?). They would have had an American record for sure. No fault of Biwott, who did not even think he was running until after his morning workout. Gutsy effort to still run 4:05. I am sure that the team is happy about the record considering the situation, but I am sure they thought they could go sub 16 and take it down, and the AR with ease.

Thought they all had to be American boys? Not trying to be prick here, but I really did think Kip could not run this?

Oregon won't run the 4xMile next year so Rupp can retain the record.

How 'bout the 1994 Arkansas team of Bunston, Baker, Hood and Bruton? (That leaves Morin (3:39) at home).

I think that team would have beaten either Michigan 2005 or Oregon 2009.

Record? wrote:

Thought they all had to be American boys? Not trying to be prick here, but I really did think Kip could not run this?

You are right. They did run under the AR (16:08), but did not get it because of the necessity to run Kip.

Go, Oregon Chickens!

Hey EL G. is attending Oregon now as a student. Should have put him in the relay. That would have been wild! Have El G. hand off to Rupp.

"Shaddy actually worked out this morning. That's why his leg was a little slower than I think he wanted it to be. He can run 3:56 or 3:57 on a good day" -Rupp

Now why would Biwott (not a miler) do a workout the morning of this race, which he later ran in? Perhaps he was not expecting to even be in this race, unless Acosta couldn't race for some reason? An injury perhaps? If that were the case, they wouldn't scrap the whole event just because they lose a few seconds, so they put in the next fastest guy they have, even if he did a workout that morning.

Another Arkansas Team wrote:

How 'bout the 1994 Arkansas team of Bunston, Baker, Hood and Bruton? (That leaves Morin (3:39) at home).

I think that team would have beaten either Michigan 2005 or Oregon 2009.

Yeah, Graham Hood was quite the phenom over the mile. Bunston was quite the the stud of the 5000m. The other guys I don't know too much about. Does anyone have any data on what kind of times these guys were running way back in 1994?

In 1994 Graham Hood ran a 1:45.70 800m and a 3:36.52. Hood was on par with all of the runners of the present day, maybe even better.

Bunston peaked out at 3:41.39 in the 1500, not sure what year that was from.

If you want to read some good track articels on Bunston and Greg Anderson(Canadian kid who ran a 8:00 3 km in high school)

here is where Oregon went wrong: All four members of Oregon's relay can run sub-four mile, yes? Yes and three can do easily. So you take four sub-four milers and have each do a 60-second opening lap - doable? of course. Can a sub-four miler do a 2:00 half? Of course so each have done 60-second first lap followed by 60-second second lap. Can a sub-four miler do a 3:00 1200? Of course, though bit harder then a 2:00 half. So each should have done a 60-60-60 for first three laps. Where are we now? We are at 3:00 with one lap to go. They then should have just sprinted at that point. Only 400 meters who can't sprint 400 meters. Depending on how fast they sprinted, I can see maybe a 3:55, a 3:56, maybe a second 3:56 and then maybe a slower 3:58. where are we now? A 15:45!!! Are you kidding me? A world Record!!! Are you kidding me? That would have been a fantastic time if they had just followed my advice.

Thanks,

4 X Mile Relay Expert

Dyestat User wrote:

"Shaddy actually worked out this morning. That's why his leg was a little slower than I think he wanted it to be. He can run 3:56 or 3:57 on a good day" -Rupp

Now why would Biwott (not a miler) do a workout the morning of this race, which he later ran in? Perhaps he was not expecting to even be in this race, unless Acosta couldn't race for some reason? An injury perhaps? If that were the case, they wouldn't scrap the whole event just because they lose a few seconds, so they put in the next fastest guy they have, even if he did a workout that morning.

I think they were intending for Scott Wall to run, but he is suffering from a calf strain or something so they opted to go with Shadrack (post workout) knowing that he wouldn't be 100% but hoping that he could come up with 98% and would definitely be able to finish his leg and help achieve the record. If Wall is nursing injury he can either pull up lame (ruining his season over a relay) or finish and possibly hamper/end his season while the most important meets are just around the corner.

regarding the debates about michigans teams and even arkansas, i think it would be pretty sweet to get them all in there together. obviously in an ideal world you have weathing and rupp come into outdoors earlier and be a little more sharp come race time. wheating has raced much less this outdoors than last (when he hit 3:38 at this meet) and rupp just did his first speed race a week ago. rupp's speed will likely come around just like it did at indoor NCAA's, at the right time.

even without acosta, if shadrack comes into the race fresh and not off of a morning workout your looking at several seconds improvement. he is at least a 4 minute miler, and he outkicked centro over 1500 at the oregon-ucla dual.

i actually think the ducks might have run faster without the crowd on the track. everyone of them went out around :57 and basically had to hang on (and for shadrack and rupp alone) and they said it was really hard to hold back and get a feel for pace with all that noise and people so close. so while it was exciting and may have let them gut out the last lap, at that point it was really about minimizing damage already done on the first lap.

lastly, in relation to the arkansas and michigan fanasy race, the thing that would hurt the ducks the most is lack of experience. long relay running definitely improves with experience and the ducks don't have much of it. most of these guys have done maybe a couple dmrs indoors. with arkansas and michigan putting a lot of emphasis on indoors and penn outdoors by their 3rd or 4th year those runners would have a very good idea of how to run there. so for the years discussed I would say that any of the 3 teams mentioned could win it. if they ducks had all their guys focussed on an ncaa peak (wheating and rupp are currently aiming to mid summer) and had even a couple years of relay experience, and could race a fresh shadrack or acosta or mcnamara or a healthy wall, that record goes under 16:00 and they are the victors. especially if they go X, centro, rupp, wheating. there are actually a lot of ways that the ducks could cut off time, and the scary thing is, next year they probably will.

I can't believe I just read the aforementioned post. I truly need a life.

I don't know why this relay race has received so much attention.

--Oregon has what seems like 20 guys who can run under 4:00. I know that's an exaggeration, but still, it's not like everybody had to be on their A-game to get the record

--there was nothing inspiring or interesting about it. Of course they could get the record. It might have been interesting if they had put together some legitimate opponents, but they didn't. It was just a boring time trial, watching a bunch of guys who have run comfortably under 4 try to run fast by themselves, and not really do it all that well. Who cares?

--isn't anybody else surprised at how slow the time was? I figured anything over 16 would be a disappointment when you have that many top milers on a team. When I read how they were all going nuts after the race, mobbing Rupp and all that crap, I was like, why? They ran OK, but not well

--they completely failed to live up to talk of a world record. Not only did they not come close, but not even one leg was on a pace to beat an old world record that was already soft

--I don't get this whole idea of rooting for these kinds of teams of all-stars. It's like rooting for the Yankees. Of course they're good! If you go out and buy all the best baseball players and put them on one team, you'll probably have a good team! And if just about everyone on a college track team is some kind of high school phenomenon, of course they are going to be a good team. If you want to root for the individuals, I can understand that, but it requires a dull personality to jump on a bandwagon for a team that is basically guaranteed to do well

--next time somebody says Vin is a genius (ie because he picked the Mercados to run nationals after a crappy regionals, and they ran well), remember that he didn't seem like such a genius after this race. Besides, who else even has the opportunity to seem like a genius in that way? Most teams are lucky to have one or two decent back-up guys

I agree, the race was a disappointment.

To start with, Wheating thought they might be able to run a 15:45. I laughed when I read that.

Secondly, the poll on the lets run message board had everyone picking some ridiculous times under 16:00. I personally chose the collegiate record option, but nothing much faster.

What a great disappointment.

On a side note. Does anyone know what Gabe Jennings split?

ok

As previously posted, no matter what these guys are "capable of" going out an doing it after a month of hype, very little competition, the entire american runner internet community expecting and a whole lotta fans at the venue anticipating is a completely different deal.

Wheating went into racer mode after going out fast and slowed down in the middle and had way too much kick. This is not uncommon for him but if Pifer hadn't passed him and slowed up wheating might have hit a second or two faster by just focussing on running fast rather than assuming that Pifer is on sub 4 pace when he wasn't.

What is cool is that these guys had all the hype and expectations on them, and then they have to make a last minute decision on their third leg due to injury and they grab a guy who has already gone and run that day (certainly not ideal) and they still do what they set out to do.

Though I'm sure they wanted to be under 16:00 the WR thing was more of a media and fan set up than internal. Internally it sounds like more of a lets go see how fast we can run by not changing any preparations for NCAA's and USA's.

blink wrote:

I agree, the race was a disappointment.

To start with, Wheating thought they might be able to run a 15:45. I laughed when I read that.

Secondly, the poll on the lets run message board had everyone picking some ridiculous times under 16:00. I personally chose the collegiate record option, but nothing much faster.

What a great disappointment.

On a side note. Does anyone know what Gabe Jennings split?

I think wheating did the math on PR's and stated they had a lot of room to work with, and that if everything clicked things might get interesting. I thought he also made that statement when they assumed more teams were going to be involved.

What happens next year? Wheating, Centro & Acosta have some time left and they are getting 3 (at least) very good 800/mile types.

Centro is back 3:36

Wheating is back 3:38

McNamara is back 3:41 (if healthy, just ran 3:45 and seems to never be healthy and racing).

Acosta is back 3:58(another if healthy)

Then add in high school recruits:

Mac Fleet 4:04 1600, 1:49? 800

Elijiah Greer 1:47, 3:49?

Nathan Methabane 3:50

Plus they have this Travis Thompson kid who was a sprinter in high school and just ran 1:49.2. Mile is probably a stretch for him but who knows.

Wheating has yet to get in a really fast 1500 or mile where he isn't able to just kick and win so his PR's are untested. Maybe USA's this year?