sp2 wrote:
A couple of random notes from a guy who went out to the Bronx to catch the meet today:
...
7. Tactical bent of the men's race led to a really exciting mass finish down the home straight. Really impressive how Thomas managed to hold off the charging Princeton trio.
There was also, however, an amazing drama in the finish that no one here has mentioned.
Watching the boys come down the home-stretch, it was clear it was all Princeton and Columbia, and it looked like it was very close.
Princeton, of course, had 3 right up front, but then Columbia followed right up with 5, 7, & 8, which gave them 4 in the top 8,... so I naturally craned my neck to scan down the cinders for the Lions' #5.
And I saw him, right there, except for two things: 2 more orange jerseys were right with him --making this a desperately tight battle-- and as soon as I saw him, I saw him slow, stutter-step, stagger, weave, and then drop to the track, as the two Tigers drove away from him to the finish. He struggled up, staggered again, went down again, hard, and that was it. He collapsed at the side of the track, and almost immediately got medical attention from multiple parties.
I think that must've been Spencer Haik, who was listed near the leaders for the first half of the race, but for some reason doesn't show a 7K split. He must've come out of the woods right with, or very close behind, his teammates at 7 and 8, before totally imploding with 150 or 200 to go.
If he'd been able to hang with those guys for the last 200, and keep in front of the Princeton pair ten seconds back, this race would've been tied, 30-30.
The Princeton guys ran brilliantly, but so did the Lions. They made this really, really close. (Even closer than the scores look.)
You can see some of that falling Lion drama on Bill Shearn's photos, starting around photo #587 (look in the background of the Lion trying to get back on his feet), but I couldn't see it in any of the Sideline photos.