Stanford Invitational

I already know the fastest high school 3200m of the day contains the notables:

Westin Brown

Olaf Dietz

Eli Fitchen-Young

Evan Noonan

Jason Parra

Grant Morgenfield

And maybe more I missed (I'm just a high school kid looking at friend's heat sheet post)

All these people are in low to sub 9 3200m shape this early season and we get to see a cross-division CIF state winner (or close podium I guess for D4) matchup with Jason, Evan, and Eli.

I have to say I'm rooting for Olaf after watching his inspiring tactical runs and strength in the kick, and it would be interesting to see how he holds up against Evan who runs the same way. Their cross country accolades aren't even close, though, so not too sure if they will be close in this race. Olaf is still quite the wild card.

Women's 10k has some interesting names - Taylor Roe, Mollie Born, Hilda Olemomoi, Paityn Noe, Rosina Machu. Last year Roe ran a slow 10k qualifier but she is running more aggressively this year. Curious how fast she and Olemomoi make this (or not).

W 5000 A few runners we haven't seen in a while

Alyson Churchill
Greta Karinauskaite
Paityn Noe (5/10)

Olemomoi & Roe in the 10k

M 5000 A duke's mixture

Habtom Samuel
Rocky Hansen
Luke Houser
Denis Kipngetich
Alex Maier
Ky Robinson
Kenneth Rooks
Jackson Sharp
Said Mechaal (Adel’s younger bro?)
Leo & Lex
Colin Sahlman
Centro
Engel

No one cares about high school kid, and this meet is NOTHING LIKE IT USED TO BE IN TERMS OF QUAILTY.

Has to be some motivation for former Newbury Park boys to beat each other. Curious to see how Houser moves up to the 5k and first race from Rocky Hansen since Nuttycombe?

Also Samuel coming off his 26:53, with good weather we could see sub 13:05 from the winner here, as I believe Ky will be hungry for the standard too. Do we have any pacers? Can they get Aaron Sahlman to pace 1600-2000?

This, and the meet last year were one of the highest quality meets in a while. People from all over the state are coming to this meet. Long Beach Poly came up to Stanford last year.

Also, I think sub 13:10 will be in the cards depending on the weather. Samuel is obviously in monster shape right now.

Also noticed:

Centro: 800 (as he mentioned at The TEN) and 5000 (5k Friday night, 800 Saturday afternoon)

Nico: 1500 -- unattached -- does this mean he's redshirting outdoors & will be back with NAU in 2025 -- or, has/is planning on turning pro?

Ky: 5k & 10k -- rabbiting and/or racing?

Cole Sprout: 5k & 10k -- unattached -- again, redshirting -- or converting his NIL deal w/ON to a pro contract?

Joe Waskom: Steeple -- interesting strength race for a 1500 guy -- or changing events?

Maru and Gorze also in the 10k.

Waskom and Ky Robinson both ran steeple as freshmen in 2021. Waskom's 8:35 from that year is still his pb. Not to get too optimistic, but 8:2x-low would put him about where Beamish was four months before Budapest 23 (where Beamish placed 5th in the final).

Kind of weird that they bother running unattached if their goal is to go pro. Is there some rule against them running in their school kit and then leaving the school early to go pro? Genuinely don't know.

In addition, both are still eligible anyway to run anyway in all the 2024-2025 seasons. So no point to redshirt this season unless they want to sit out the 2025-2026 XC season and indoors and then run 2026 Outdoors?

Are we sure that the guy listed in the 1500m is "the" Nico Young? I thought I saw his full name printed somewhere, and it was spelled Nicolas. Young isn't an uncommon last name, and Nicholas isn't an uncommon first name. It could just be a coincidence that there's another runner with the same-ish name.

I know Nico mentioned wanting to run a 1500 this spring, but I'd be a little surprised if he was doing it this early. I expected him to take a longer period off from racing after The Ten.

I thought the same thing. I've never seen his name spelled "Nicholas". I know Nico wants to run some 1500's but I don't think this is him. and there's no way he'd run unattached at this point.

it might be him..

plus it will be great to see how fast he can run it now that he's very fit before he closes shop and starts getting ready for outdoors.

another way to look at this is seeing his twin brothers full names.

Lex young= Alexio

Leo young= Emilio

Nico young= Nicholas?

I don’t think he has an extra season of outdoor. My understanding is 2020 athletes only get XC and indoor seasons added. Outdoor isn’t given an extra season

Checked wikipedia and it lists his full name as Nicolas not Nicholas.

Usatf requires full legal names on entry for their events (I think). 2020 olympic trials is the only time he's entered one of their events. His full name "Nicolas Young" is listed on the 5000m entries.

usatf.org

USA Track & Field | Status of Entries

Link:www.usatf.org/events/2021/2020-u-s-oly...

Centro is running the 800.

Tom Brady competing too.

A long-term rule-of-thumb for 5000 to 10,000 comparisons is to add 30 seconds to the 5000 mark to get a 10,000; of course it works in reverse. So 26:53/2=13:27, minus 30 yields 12:57. The rule is a bit old but even if times are a good deal faster, using 10% still gives 27 so 13:00. What shape he is in compared to his 10,000 and what the conditions and racing group also have an effect, but Olympic qualifier seems feasible. I am not saying he is solid but would be interested to hear comments on this "estimate".