Sam Chelanga 13:41 5k 1/28

Pretty good for a 26 year old college student.

What Else wrote:The biggest news is Liberty has an Indoor track?

One of the most interested spectators in attendance Friday evening was former Liberty standout Josh McDougal, who had set the 5K facility record of 13:45.16 on Dec. 1, 2007. Chelanga finished second to McDougal in that race, but cut more than three seconds off of his former teammate's standard this time around.

From the article posted in the second post.

It also looks like TFRRS converted Chelenga's time to 13:37.55 for track size.

Most people I think don't care. We'd rather watch athletes succeed who we've been following since they were in high school. I have nothing against Chelenga, he seems like a great guy, I just can't get all that excited about him.

What Else wrote:

Looks like he soloed the race, which isn't out of the ordinary for him. The biggest news is Liberty has an Indoor track?

Not exactly a solo effort. Only alone the last 2k. Paced through 3k by assistant coach Derek Scott.

Good job Chelanga! Give 'em hell! I think I like Chelanga a lot more because of all the people on here who b*tch about him being 26!

Only seven seconds off of his 10000 pace.

As far as "oversized or nothing", name one event for which a track greater than 200m has a D-1 men's leading time right now.

I'll save you the time: zero.

Reality Bath wrote:

Only seven seconds off of his 10000 pace.

That's exactly what I thought. Hard to get excited over that.

Guppy wrote:

Reality Bath wrote:

Only seven seconds off of his 10000 pace.

That's exactly what I thought. Hard to get excited over that.

Yet somehow I found a way! Against all odds!

Anyone predicting a sub 13 before he graduates?

I'd be surprised if he didn't.

The Waterboy wrote:

Anyone predicting a sub 13 before he graduates?

Not before, but maybe shortly after.

My take on it wrote:

Most people I think don't care. We'd rather watch athletes succeed who we've been following since they were in high school. I have nothing against Chelenga, he seems like a great guy, I just can't get all that excited about him.

So you've been following Mottram since high school?

No, and I don't follow him now.

You got excited enough to enter this thread. You know you care!

What Else wrote:

picture, it actually looks like a really nice facility. 13:41 on a flat track. That's unheard of today in our "Oversized or nothing" collegiate track world. Lots of respect to Sammy and his coach for not flying across the country, but instead racing right at home on a real flat 200m track.

Hyperbole alert.

Chelanga is 25 years old, almost 26. He has run 13:19 and 27:08. 13:41 is unheard of? WTF? 35 years ago we had a guy on my team run 13:46 on a flat 200 track. He wasn't 25, and he didn't have 13:19/27:08 credentials. Even then we didn't think it was anything special other than being a school record.

Reality check.

What Else wrote:

The biggest news is Liberty has an Indoor track?

They have had that for quite a few years (5+ I think). I have not run on it but I understand it is quite nice from people who have.

I was talking about today's collegiate indoor track world. I thought I had originally typed that, but I guess I accidentally deleted it after going over it a few times.

and yes, 35 years ago flat 200 meter indoor tracks were the norm. Not in 2011.

Sam's coach Derek Scott paced him through 4k. I wish my coach would do that!