Does Colin Sahlman Make The Olympic Team? How Many NAU Alumni Make It?

And how many Newbury Park alumni will make it?

After, as Luis was recalling his 5k race w/Abdi then his 1500 race the next day at BC.

Their belief in Colin was surprising -- they must feel he will beat Kessler who's only a year older.

And, Theo must believe he can get the 13:05 Oly Q -- cause he won't make it on rankings.

Enjoyed Luis' thorough description of his (career first) injury which forced him into the swimming pool this winter -- and has turned him into a swimming cross-trainer vs. gym work.

Most revealing, though, was their reflection on their days at NAU -- and how the team vibe has changed from a typical college team with some invested, some not, to what Luis stated is now essentially a professional team with everyone all-in on training to be great.

More than high elevation or Mike Smith's coaching, likely the reason why NAU has become the juggernaut that it is

Nico and Colin are not alumni so they won't count.

I agree. Reminded me of that interview recently where Smith said Nico came in with the mindset of a pro and raised the bar for the whole team. Makes me think the success at UW is probably due to the same phenomenon, particularly because of how those guys talk about each other. In every interview they talk about how happy they are when their teammates do well (Waskom was overjoyed when he lost to Green last year), and when Waskom made the team last year, he seemed bewildered at the idea that he would go pro and leave the team.

Grijalva also talks about freshman kids coming in are much more serious about running. I've been saying for a while now that I think that's a big part of the reason so many HS kids are running so fast. I think it's the real reason Newbury Park was so stupidly successful, and why Nico and Colin are running so well right now. They've each got 6-7 years of training like pros, and now Colin is .2s away from NAU holding the NCAA 1500/3000/5000/10000m records concurrently. For as crazy talented as Colin seems, imagine what Hocker or Nuguse could've run if they were all-in like Colin. For reference, Nuguse went from like 3:33 in the 1500 to 3:43 in the mile a year after going all in and moving to altitude.

"said they thought they'd have 6-7 NAU current students/alumni at the Olympics, with"

they also mentioned Brooke Anderson, an NAU alum who throws the hammer and according to them has been crushing it this year.

I honestly think 6-7 is a possibility, but you never know what can happen at the trials. I don't know enough about New Zealand and Spain runners but on the surface if Quax and Las Heras are healthy they have just as good a chance as anyone else to make the team.

Would love to see Colin Sahlman make the team but his inexperience (watch indoor mile where it really showed) might cost him in an olympic trial with much more experienced runners. will be fun to watch and rooting for him but I have a feeling the 2028 LA Olympics are more realistic.

Where would we be without you?

Thought only Oklahoma State recruited non-u.s. athletes?

Yea I took a look at Brooke's results and I think there was only 1 result this year and it was pretty far off from last year. I also don't know anything about any field events.

I feel like Quax and Las Heras were in close to 13:05 shape indoors. I put Las Heras' splits (65.7 63.9 63.8 64.6 65.1 65.1 64.7 64.5 65.2 64.4 61.2 59.9 28.2) into this calculator and it says it's worth 13:06 with optimized splits. Idk how accurate it is but I'm sure they were at least close. Quax sounded like his training was going great, and that 13:16 was in January. If he gets into a 13:00 race, I think he can get the standard, and NZ isn't gonna have anyone else to send in the 5k, so he should make it.

Katir is MUCH better than Las Heras

Not this year :)

matt mcelroy will most likely make it in tri

I don't think Colin Sahlman will make it, but that's not really a knock on him at all. Right now he's pretty slight and could get pushed around in a physical race. He's also going to be peaking for NCAAs pretty hard, which is an advantage for someone like Kessler or Teare if he goes 1500. The big issue is just that Hocker and Nuguse leave only 1 spot if they're on, so you're looking at the 2 pros I mentioned and a host of NCAA challengers like Green, Waskom, Houser, Murphy, Martin, Strand and Wolfe maybe. Tough to bet on any one guy.

As far as other guys, Las Heras and Quax need to hit the times. I'd say that 25-75? But I'd make it more like 50-50, if they get into a DL which seems like the plan. Luis and Geordie are in. Nico has a great chance of making it, Klecker is just back to running again. You gotta give the edge to Nico for that 10K team. For the 5K, I'm a little down on Abdi. Sure he has a chance, but a few guys seem to be running as well/ better thus far (Beadlescomb, Hacker, Teare, Hunter). Parker Wolfe is a dark horse for sure. And you'll have Nico, Woody and Grant potentially coming back. Maybe he'll be back to a top level at USAs, but right now he's in a crowded pack from what we've seen.

For the record, the "team vibe" is largely a product of the coach, and I would guess the culture shift has been more due to Mike Smith's coaching than any other factor. More accurate would be to say "Mike Smith's training".

76.91 is a fantastic opener, it's literally the world lead. Brooke is the most likely to make it of all of them tbh. I think she was injured at the WC last year, but besides that one blip she's been comfortably the best hammer thrower in the world for the last two years. She's won three DLs, 2 USA championships, and a world championship in that period. Also had the world lead both of the last 2 years, and she is #3 all-time in the event.

Quax please is it April 1st? 13.16 in Boston is well over 13.20 outdoors. New Zealand have already over selected their team meaning when the Olympic Committee give them minimal spots so they can take more Rugby Sevens player’s athletes selected will be culled if they don’t meet the top 8/16 criteria. I think Theo is believing he is his father.

But also remember at the end of that conversation they laughed saying, watch how this prediction may look so ridiculous if only Geordie and Luis will be there.

bump

Las Heras Olympics hopes take a hit after getting 10th in the 1500 and 7th in the 5000