Super happy he's finally put things together for long enough to get a great result in. Also in 2nd and only .15 behind Messaoudi, NCAA 3k/DMR champ. Messaoudi seems to have struggled a lot since then, he was 12th and 10th in XC in 2022/23, but 222nd last year, and didn't make it to NCAAs in the 1500 last year. Seems like he's definitely back, so Birnbaum being this close bodes super well. This should get them both into NCAAs too, and I really look forward to seeing what Birnbaum can do there. He barely has any NCAA racing experience, but he was great at it in HS, and clearly coming 2nd here he's doing well.
Also Oregon's Tomas Palfrey winning the 6th (next to fastest) heat by over 1s in 3:54, which is great for him. I did my fair share of Jerry bashing over the past few years, but Elliot Cook did great last year, and now Birnbaum is looking great. He's been running pretty well through XC (74th at nationals), had a couple good indoor races, and now a great one. I'm happy to give Jerry credit where it's due, and it looks like he's got things trending in the right direction. The adjustment to college can take time for athletes (and I've said as much about the top kids coming into Oregon), so it should make sense that it can take time for coaches too, even if they've done it before.
With that said, Burns ran 4:01 (although he was 4th in heat 5 so I think that's probably about where they expected), and Reinhardt Harrison DNFed. Gotta take the good with the bad. He's got some good grace with me since he has some other kids running well, but I hope those two are also trending on the right path.
This post was edited 1 minute after it was posted.
Thanks for that, as usual announcers are clowns, sub 3:50? What are they talking about? That was not close to that and the winner was still back by a lot at that point.
Why is Reuben Raina(1985 FL champ) running for Arkansas still. This is some BYU type eligibility extension. In all seriousness I think that is his son.