That was the greatest race ever!! All hail Lopez Lomong!!

I just listened to Torrence on ustream/flotrack. He said he didn't miscount. He was trying to win the race and thought if Lopez was going for it, that he could go with him.

"Lopez to his credit, I can't believe he held on for the win. Id idn't really miscount. I just kind of misjudged the effort. If he made a hard move, I thought I can go with it."

One of the most amazing performances I've ever seen.

Absolutely superb performance, 56 lap into a 59 last lap with a stop and flooded with lactic acid after kicking home early.

First 5k on the track ever too. Definitely runs sub 13 if he continues with the 5k.

So Lomong pulled a "Dobson"? Or did the officials goof?

Either way, I think we can safely blame Ian Dobson (16th in 13:36) - after all, it happened the last time he ran the 5000m at Jordan. What are the chances of that?

Speaking of Dobson, he and Julia Lucas put up a very impressive husband/wife 5k double between his 13:36 and her 15:08. Best ever maybe, certainly for one meet [among Americans]? Admittedly, not that many other elite US distance couples, but still impressive.

That was indeed an astounding 5,000 with a wild, unpredictable and somewhat unfortunate finish.

Keep in mind that this was Torrence's 5,000 debut, and as he said his great racing instincts took over and he went for it to try to stick as close as he could to Lomong.

I was hoping that David would be able to pick up on Lomong's mistake sooner than he did, allowing him to move past Lopez, but that didn't happen.

For a debut 5,000 Torrence's effort has to be one of the best ever, especially if you consider how fast he would have been had Lomong not moved the way he did and had both run say 59 for the penultimate lap and then 56 or 58 for the real final lap. Could Torrence have run 13:11? 13:10? Or perhaps even something like 13:07?

Way to go Torrence, and also hat's off to Lomong for gritting out a tough sub-60 lap even after his celebrations and lactic acid build-up we can only imagine after his hard not-quite-finish.

Torrence has a bright future in the 5,000, and I could see him eventually being able to eye sub-13 someday much in the same way he once did right here on Letsrun all those years ago when he went for and got his now famous midnight downhill sub-4.

Sincerely,

Wino Hobo

rojo wrote:

His 1st 5k ever.

Rojo,

Lomong tripled at Big Sky in 2007.

Math Is Hard Without Oxygen wrote:

So Lomong pulled a "Dobson"? Or did the officials goof?

.

The lap counter was correct the entire time. No offical's goof.

Regardless of the lap counter, did he think he was running a 12:10 5K. Outstanding performance!

Angel Field Ancient wrote:

Math Is Hard Without Oxygen wrote:

So Lomong pulled a "Dobson"? Or did the officials goof?

.

The lap counter was correct the entire time. No offical's goof.

It was Lomong's first 5000, not Torrence's.

regardless, very exciting, hard not to wonder what Lomong and Torrence will do in the 1500 this year, surely both are top contenders for making the us oly team.

Wild stuff indeed. I was wondering if Lomong had gotten confused, as he was absolutely going for broke on that 2nd to last lap. Then he stops and throws his arms up, and EVERYBODY is freaking out. The announcer is yelling at him, he finally turns around and sees the rest of the field showing no signs of slowing and says "Oh crap" and gets back in it.

I don't know if he would have broke it, but he would have been quite close to 13:00 if he didn't screw it up, but still impressive to pull out the win. That had to have been one of the hardest laps of his life.

Two of the wildest races I've ever seen have come at this meet, this one and Solinsky's 10000 a couple years back.

webby wrote:

It was Lomong's first 5000, not Torrence's.

It was Lomong's second 5000m.

So, he thought he was on track to get a low 12 5km time? Dude is trippin'

Lomong Low 12's? wrote:

So, he thought he was on track to get a low 12 5km time? Dude is trippin'

Has it occurred to anybody that Lopez was racing and didn't care about the clock? I'm sure at the professional rank finish order is more important than time.

I don't think he came back with a 59 last lap. I had him as 26.9/26.0/33.7/32.4. So 66-low. Still absolutely stunning to watch.

Here's the race from Flotrack, check the last few minutes. Insane.

http://www.flotrack.org/coverage/248561-2012-Stanford-Payton-Jordan-Cardinal-Invitational/video/632322-M-5k-H01-Lomong-lap-mishap-2012-Payton-Jordan-Invite

ExquisiteCorpse wrote:

I don't think he came back with a 59 last lap. I had him as 26.9/26.0/33.7/32.4. So 66-low. Still absolutely stunning to watch.

I agree. I wasn't taking splits, but I am pretty sure that the lead came through 4200 at about 11:10, which would make the last 800 at 2:01 or so. Lomong finished 4600 at about 12:05, which would make his last 400 66 or 65 high, which is right in line with the splits you took for the last lap. Unfortunately, your splits and my memory do not line up for the second to last lap, so maybe I am off too.

ExquisiteCorpse wrote:

I don't think he came back with a 59 last lap. I had him as 26.9/26.0/33.7/32.4. So 66-low. Still absolutely stunning to watch.

The 59 he was talking about was 4400-4800

54xx, then 65-66

Probably could have run 1:54ish for the last 800 if he'd made a steady, even paced drive, don't you think? He looks just as safe a pick for the 5k squad as Rupp, should he elect to run it.

rojo wrote:If you don't think he can break 13:00 you are a fool. His 1st 5k ever

very hypothetical, but if he had accepted 13'00 ability now & 1'45.58 of '08 ( not really conceivable after 4y ), then

1'45.58 / 13'00 -> 3'30.6 ! , 3'47.2 ! , 4'48.0 , 7'28.0