2011 Penn: USA vs The World Distance Medley, Lagat Shines and Brown Loses It

There are some things people have to understand about this event.

It is in April.

The pros are coming here for the fun and to support the sport and to start to get into a little racing.

Lagat probably felt like he wanted to run a 1200 right now. He is best guy in field and he gets to do what he wants.

Torrence and Manzano train together so they team up.

Brown has been pretty sharp lately so he was a good pick to anchor Lagat's team.

Also, for Manzano to chase and Brown to run from the front sets up different tactics which lead to different splits (there was only a two second difference in their splits).

I bet if they switched teams and Manzano led while Brown chased, Brown would likely have had the faster split.

Manzano may not have held off Laalou and Risely either.

I was there and couldn't figure out the order either. The only thing I could think of was that they made the USA teams such that there would be the closest race possible. Clearly, they were not attempting to put together the single best USA squad (Manzano, either of our 400m guys, Symmonds, Lagat).

VIPAM wrote:

The 400m leg certainly could have been faster; however, that's not what lost USA the race. Here are the leaders and difference between the top 3 after the first three legs:

USA vs World Distance Medley

1200m

1. USA

2. Morocco -.24

3. Australia -.36

400m

1. USA

2. Australia -.19

3. Morocco -.37

800m

1. USA

2. Australia -.17

3. Morocco -2.57

so Bernard Lagat 1st leg and Duane Solomon 3rd leg actually ran spectular legs for USA and Russell Brown while he should have been capable of easily running a 3:56 flat to 3:56.5 for the win, could only manage a 3:57.3 to be run down by Australia and Morocco.

No way Bernard would have lost a two and half second lead, to Morocco's Laalou, if he was in the same position as Russell Brown on the anchor.

So your math is wrong - Austrlaia beat the USA in both the 400 and the 800.

Does that make your prognostications in error? Do you want to change your view?

Lagat just scraped in front of Austrlaia, and should have been way up.

Brown ran faster than he looked on TV, and I can say that I thought the Moroccan was red hot.

The runner who ran below himself was Lagat. I could argu that he kept a second to himself in that race.

Though I do think Australia should have won it. They were the fastes in the 400 and 800, seoond in the 1200 and the 1600. But first in tactical ineptitude - though USAA were close in that category.

mybestguess wrote:

Clearly, they were not attempting to put together the single best USA squad (Manzano, either of our 400m guys, Symmonds, Lagat).

Well Manzano and Symmonds WERE on the same team and Torrence handed off very close to Lagat.

The issue was that Solomon ran way faster than Symmonds and that put Manzano far back.

ausdog/fool

Your comments are overflowing with stupidity! Did you have to think long and hard to come up with Lagat ran below himself. He's a 5000m runner who just rattled of a 2:48 1200m and handed off in first place.

Tool go clean up your room.

- Laalou ran 3:29.5 and 1:43.7 last year and this was his first race of the year

- Russell PR'd with a 3:35.7 at Mt. SAC a few weeks ago

- Leo ran 3:32.4 last year, but hasn't done much this year, and got outkicked by some college guys at Texas

So if Leo was in peak shape then they should have picked him, but Russell was the best pick for April 30th. And from watching the race it seemed that Laalou is very sharp, so really it was a tall order for either of the Americans to beat him, even with a two second lead. As far as Russell's tactics, his kick has served him well, and it looked like even if he had pushed the pace alone, Laalou still could have run low 3:30's, caught him, and beat him. What I was hoping for was that Symmonds would run an international caliber 800 so we could put two milers in the top pack. This would have increased our chances but it still might not have been enough to beat the Moroccan.

no one wrote:

I continue to be impressed with Ryan Gregson - 2:48, just behind Lagat

True. He really makes the American wonderkids (Derrick, Fernandez...) look like, well, kids.

You're so stupid you mother is ashamed of you. Leo got outkicked because he came from over 3 secs back to catch the leaders and didn't have enough to sustain his drive like Laalou.

What sickens me about most U.S elite runners and readers on this site. They always think the best tactic is to reserve as much as you can for a kick. When the lead pack is down to two people and the trailing runners are almost 3 secs back, you don't go out kamikaze but you go out hard enough to keep the trailing group from catching you and try to reserve enough to outkick the one person on your tail. That's what Russell should have done and what more Americans beside Christian Wurth-Thomas need to start doing- because 98% Americans elite, college, hs, or even recreational aren't great kickers against foreigners!

After watching Shalane Flanagan's interview I so hope Lineth, Sally, and Molly all beat her tonight in the 10000m. "It takes magic to break the 10000m record and um..."- whatever lady the Africans run sub 30:22 whenever they get 2 or 3 elites together and want a super fast race. It doesn't take magic- it takes good weather, fitness, alittle pacing, and- the GUTS to go for it. Shalane needs to be shown she's still a medium size fish and not THE BIG fish in the international pond.

Lagat notices a changing of the guard is nigh and requests one of the young turks take the splotlight leg.

You entire comment is foolishness. Yes there is a changing of the guard in the 1500m but it's only because Lagat decide to stop training for it and move up to the 5000m. The last few years Lagat has had some type of injury that curtailed his training and still remained competitive in the 1500m and the USA best in the 5000m every year.

He just ran 2:48 1200m leg pulled the OTHERS to that time. Russell Brown darn sure couldn't run a 2:48 1200m and it was a mistake to put the Russell "Sir Chokealot" Brown on the anchor. So grab a spoon and eat your bowl of I don't have a clue cereal.

stickit wrote:

ausdog/fool

Your comments are overflowing with stupidity! Did you have to think long and hard to come up with Lagat ran below himself. He's a 5000m runner who just rattled of a 2:48 1200m and handed off in first place.

Tool go clean up your room.

Cut the crap short memory guy.

Lagat has been runing shorter stuff indoors this season, and you must be a baby to not remember this pedigree in 1500.

Running a 1200 for him should be a doddle.

What short term memory you have.