Track season's here. I hope your winter miles bring spring smiles @flotrack

— Matt Schiffbauer ♞ (@mattschiffy) March 20, 2013

Bayer will usually run one more 5000m at the Big 10 Championships, but then it’s all 1500s from there. It’s hard to argue switching events after placing first at NCAAs and fourth at the U.S. Olympic Trials last year, but why not try both?



“This year, the 5000m is after the 1500m so I guess if I had run something very well and the 1500m is looking good I could potentially double, which is something we’ve talked about if I’m feeling good. It’s still tough because the 1500m final is an hour and a half before the 5000m at NCAAs.”

The double would tough, to say the very least. Even if you mention Lawi Lalang’s epic one-two this indoor season, there’s less than an hour between the two finals. But to even consider trying both at Nationals, Bayer says it would take something special this weekend.

“I guess if I run 13:15 this weekend, I’d definitely think about it. It’s so early that it’s hard to tell what we’ll be doing at NCAAs. Obviously, the 1500m is what we’re thinking about right now, but it could be the 5000m.”

One trend that we talked about here at Flotrack HQ is the rise of the 1500/5000m types. We’re starting to see more milers find success at triple the distance rather than drop down to half the distance.

Though there are pure middle-distance runners who can compete near the top at both the 800/1500 like Andrew Wheating, Leo Manzano, and Robby Andrews, more milers are eventually making the step up to the 5k.

Take a look at the Schumacher Clan. In the past, Evan Jager, Andrew Bumbalough, Alan Webb, Lopez Lomong, and German Fernandez were all considered milers. Fernandez was an NCAA champion who ran the 5000m at the U.S. Championships later that season. Webb is the American record holder who doesn’t have the 1:43 speed anymore. Lomong is an anomaly, but is more competitive on the world stage at the 5k than the 800m.



But Bayer isn’t done with the mile, yet. “Potentially, I’ll move up more to the 5000m in the next few years, but I don’t feel like I’ve passed my 1500m potentially at all. I’d like to think that I can be sub-3:35.”

He added, “I’d say right now, I’m going to stick with the 1500m for a while, but we’ll definitely jump in a few 5ks here and there.”

Bayer isn’t the only miler to start off the spring with a 5000m. Other “milers” on the start list include Columbia’s Mark Feigen, Wisconsin’s Rob Finnerty, Stanford’s Tyler Stutzman, and Craig Miller. In the same vein as Bayer, the three collegians have had all considerable success at much longer distances (mainly cross country). The 5000m is a happy medium that could star as their main event in the future.

While those four know what to expect in the 5k (based off cross country fitness), this is unchartered territory for Notre Dame’s Jeremy Rae.

Rae was hurt towards the end of indoors, so it’ll be hard to predict his current fitness. But if his breakout fall (also cut short by injury at the very end of the season)  is any sort of indicator, he could very well be in the mix. A guy who's run 3:40.93 and took 14th at the Wisconsin Invitational could be deadly.

Then there’s Stanford Michael Atchoo. He found a new set of wheels this indoor season, but doesn’t really have the strength for the longer stuff. This’ll be a ride for him. He's run 3:57.14 for the mile, but only took 30th at the West Regional this past fall.

Edit: Forgot to mention Wisconsin's Alex Hatz. This'll be his 5000m debut, too.

The 5000m will make sense for some of this group only if the pace is hot. It could dawdle, but fields at Stanford rarely let the good weather go to waste. We may be caught up in the excitement of these milers, but there are pure 5000m guys in the race. Good ones, too.

via TFRRS.org

Things to Note

• It’s probably a safe bet that Arkansas’ Kemoy Campbell and NAU’s Futsum Zienasellassie are going to set a new PRs. Ever since their arrival in NCAA, the two have been on a roll.

• Speaking of the Lumberjackers, they have four entered in the men’s 5000m. This is just another reminder to not sleep on them this fall (when they return their whole squad).

• Seeing Brian Leung in a Wisconsin jersey is going to be sort of weird. Imagine if they had him for cross country?

• It’ll be interesting to see what Leonard Korir (8:22.44 2-mile and 61:19 Half, both in NYC this winter), Sean Quigley (welcome back to the track), and Robert Cheseret (also welcome back) can do Friday night.