Leachman ran the first 2k at 16:01 pace on a cold, muddy day. Of course she was going to run out of gas at the end of the race. It had nothing at all to do with quitting. There is no high school girl in history that can keep that pace up on a course like that.
Bad day to roll out Coach Taylor's BYU race plan for the 2023 NCAA women's meet.🥴
Yes! She goes to Niwott, which is right by Boulder/where OAC trains. I think Elise Cranny went there too a long time ago.
She's only a sophomore, and she was 27 seconds up on 3rd place. I don't wanna make any crazy predictions, but also, what would Dathan have run if he'd been training at altitude all of HS? Plus, what would Dathan have run if he'd been at one of the top programs in the nation, and have a dad that was coaching the best group in the country?
Dathan was running for one of the best programs in the nation and wasn’t even the top guy on his team until his junior year. Agree that the altitude would’ve been cool though.
There's a big difference between 2000 top programs and 2023. Niwot has recent Olympic alumni (Cranny) and multiple offspring of Olympians in the program (Nelson, Culpeppers, and now Ritzenhein). They attract talent from all around the Boulder area, which itself attracts talent from around the world. Niwot is loaded with talent and focused in a way that I don't think any high school team was 25 years ago.
Heck--all those coffee club athlete YouTube videos on the track? You know where those are filmed? Niwot high school. It's a magnet school for potential professional runners.
That is crazy! A father-daughter National Champion Pair. It's fun to see all these children of former pros, Sophia Kennedy, Kiki Vaughn, etc rising through the ranks.
Definitely fun to see another Ritz at the top of the high school ranks after all these years, and as a soph, she'll have a chance to go one better than him on high school xc national championships.
Yes, well. The bigger question is what happened to Leachman? Leads through 4k and is the one setting the pace for a respectable time in those course conditions. Someone gets close and gives up the ghost and quits out on the course and loses 43 seconds. That's a quit in my book. I feel like I see this in elite HS girls races more than boys. You do see it in boys, but I feel like girls have this grand plan and the second it goes awry, they get out the towel. Anyone else see this. It happened at our state meet this year. Leading girl runner just stepped off the course when she felt the heat after 3k? Thoughts?
It happened in Ohio. Kid who got 7th at NXR in Terre Haute - just a few seconds from making NXN - quit at the state meet with about 300 meters to go. Did the same last year. Some kids crumble under the brightest lights, regardless of sex.
Yes, well. The bigger question is what happened to Leachman? Leads through 4k and is the one setting the pace for a respectable time in those course conditions. Someone gets close and gives up the ghost and quits out on the course and loses 43 seconds. That's a quit in my book. I feel like I see this in elite HS girls races more than boys. You do see it in boys, but I feel like girls have this grand plan and the second it goes awry, they get out the towel. Anyone else see this. It happened at our state meet this year. Leading girl runner just stepped off the course when she felt the heat after 3k? Thoughts?
Look at her splits. Her first K was 3:10(15:50 pace). 2nd K was 3:14. That pace is suicidal on such a swampy wet course.
She went out way too hard. Simple as that. When I saw that 2nd split I knew it was over for her. Ritz ran a patient race and slowly chipped away.
This race was billed as a Leachman, Foresyth, Englehart battle but that quickly fell apart. Leachman and Foresyth have both been demolishing fields left and right this season but underestimated the course/conditions. Once I saw the 1k split someone was bound to blow up, surprised Foresyth was even able to hold onto fifth while Leachman and Englehart were not so lucky. I guess this is what the former two have been doing all season but was confused by how much they were hammering it early.
Addison Ritzenhein, a freshman at Niwot (CO) High School, won the mile at Colorado's unofficial state indoor championships on Feb. 18 in 5:06.78. At 5,994 fe...
Yes, well. The bigger question is what happened to Leachman? Leads through 4k and is the one setting the pace for a respectable time in those course conditions. Someone gets close and gives up the ghost and quits out on the course and loses 43 seconds. That's a quit in my book. I feel like I see this in elite HS girls races more than boys. You do see it in boys, but I feel like girls have this grand plan and the second it goes awry, they get out the towel. Anyone else see this. It happened at our state meet this year. Leading girl runner just stepped off the course when she felt the heat after 3k? Thoughts?
Look at her splits. Her first K was 3:10(15:50 pace). 2nd K was 3:14. That pace is suicidal on such a swampy wet course.
She went out way too hard. Simple as that. When I saw that 2nd split I knew it was over for her. Ritz ran a patient race and slowly chipped away.
She probably got lulled into thinking it was easy since the first K is pretty flat and the second K also flat other than 2 downhill pieces so net dowhill. The 2 uphills on the 3rd K killed her and I coudl see approaching 3K she was done.
Addy Ritzenhein of Niwot, Colorado after running 17:10 to become the 2023 Nike Cross Country Nationals 5K champion. FOLLOW CITIUS MAG▶ Subscribe to the podca...
I just watched a replay of the race. What jumped out at me about Ritzenhein is her smooth, relaxed form. Biomechanics are very important. Of course her connection with her dad is important but she has an excellent foundation to build on.
Some say she runs in Nike. Some say On. Does anyone actually know, like any of you that were there? Clothes are covered in Swoosh logos, so my assumption is that, like all high school runners, she's Nike-loyal. Weigh in if you actually saw the shoes.
Leachman went out too fast and was legitimately dying. She is not a quitter, just had a poor race plan today. Tactics matter in these muddy, slow, and wet conditions.
Wasn't their a thread where many "famous coaches" claimed this never happens to good runners?