October 2008 Track and Field Articles

NCAA D1 Women's Nationals Qualifiers As of 10/29/08   QUALIFIER #1 is STONY BROOK (#1 NE) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS)   QUALIFIER #1 is PRINCETON (#1 Md-At) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS)   QUALIFIER #1 is WAKE FOREST (#1 SE) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS)   QUALIFIER #1 is MICHIGAN STATE (#1 Gr-Lk) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS)   QUALIFIER #1 is MINNESOTA (#1 Mid-W) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS)   QUALIFIER #1 is ARKANSAS (#1 S-Cen) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS)   QUALIFIER #1 is TEXAS TECH (#1 Mtn) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS) text-autospace: none;">  QUALIFIER #1… more »

NCAA D1 Men National Qualifiers  (as of 10/29/08) QUALIFIER #1 is IONA (#1 NE) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS)   QUALIFIER #1 is GEORGETOWN (#1 Md-At) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS)   QUALIFIER #1 is VIRGINIA (#1 SE) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS)   QUALIFIER #1 is WISONSIN (#1 Gr-Lk) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS)   QUALIFIER #1 is OK STATE (#1 Mid-W) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS)   QUALIFIER #1 is TEXAS AM (#1 S-Cen) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS)   QUALIFIER #1 is NORTHERN ARIZONA (#1 Mtn) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS)   QUALIFIER #1 is OREGON (#1… more »

Happy Halloween, Flotrackers! David McCarthy, an Irishman and Providence Friar Sophomore, ran a great Pre-Nats race with a sixth place finish in the blue race. He's going into championship part of the XC with momentum on his side. Follow along with Flotrack to see how he does this season! How's your training going right now? The last few weeks have been really consistent. Keeping the mileage at a constant level. Not increasing it, just keeping it consistent. I came back this year, I had a few niggles in the leg after the summer. I redshirted indoor season and outdoor season… more »

Here are the complete invited fields for Sunday's ING New York City Marathon, courtesy of the New York Road Runners:MEN - 2, Goumri, Abderrahim, M, MAR, 21-May-1976, 32, 2:05:30, London, 2008, Nike 3, Ramaala, Hendrick, M, Johannesburg, RSA, 02-Feb-1972, 36, 2:06:55, London, 2006, adidas 4, Gomes dos Santos, Marilson, M, BRA, 06-Aug-1977, 31, 2:08:37, London, 2007, Pão de Açucar / Nike 5, Tergat, Paul, M, Nairobi, KEN, 17-Jun-1969, 39, 2:04:55, Berlin, 2003, Nike 6, Abdiraham, Abdi, M, Tucson, AZ, USA, 01-Jan-1977, 31, 2:08:56, Chicago, 2006, Nike 7, Rono, Daniel, M, KEN, 12-Jul-1978, 30, 2:06:58, Rotterdam, 2008, adidas? 8, Kirui, Abel, M, KEN, 04-Jun-1982, 26, 2:06:51, Berlin, 2007, 9,… more »

(C) Copright - 2008 - Christopher Kelsall Constantina Dita (previously Tomescu-Dita) grew up on a farm surrounded by hills and the Romanian Carpathian Mountains. She would spend much time outside running for fun, chasing livestock, being free during the Nicolae Ceausescu communist dictatorship. At the age of 19, she was too busy in sport to notice her hero, middle-distance runner Maricica Puica, speak out on television, in favor of the revolutionaries in their attempt to overthrow the government of the day. Constantina had Olympic dreams. As it turns out, Constantina Dita, is the first European woman to win the Olympic marathon… more »

  The season for most runners leads up to conference weekend. Conference is where bragging rights are won and where post season dreams are realized. Conference does not determine rather a team or individual moves on to the Regional meet. The Conference meet can give a confidence boost or a reality check before the Regional meet. As usual, I encourage readers to supplement my article by contributing their knowledge about various individuals, teams, and conferences. CCAA - The Chico State men’s and women’s both captured the conference team title at the Glen Helen Regional Park on Saturday. The men’s cross country… more »

Mary and the NYRR have done quite a bit for our sport. I was in Cali this weekend talking to Jorge Torres and he mentioned how Mary and the NYRR donate funds to their group in Boulder and how appreciative he was for their help. Athletes need coaches but coaches need to get paid and a lot of the times our runners have a hard time surviving it is hard for the coaches. That is why a lot of the coaches need to be coaching on the college level bc they need some form of income. The NYRR not only do great things like… more »

For those of you expecting an interview this week, I decided to switch back to my old time schedule for these, so that means no interview this week, but I should have one for you in my post conference meet article. I do how ever want to introduce some commentary into my article, about things that are more or less on my mind right now, most are related to running, but some are not. If most of you guys are not fans, well then I will not include it in next week's edition.  So here goes, while I will not… more »

Liz Costello, a Princeton Tiger junior, had a disappointing finish to a great cross country campaign last season after getting sick and struggling to a 209th place finish. This year she and her Lady Tigers look for a strong finish to the 2008 XC season. Great job at Pre-Nats. What were your thoughts about your race? Very happy. Just because the season hasn't really been going as I envisioned it during my training over the summer, for various reasons, and the first few meets. But the race at Pre-Nats, I don't know, the race felt very rhythmic and composed. I… more »

Well, it's about that time again. Here's (a belated) Part 2 to the 2008 FloAwards & Rankings list. For this go around we've added a new number to all those names. They refer to how many 1st place votes an individual or team received from our pundits.There was quite a contrast to our first published preseason list and this second edition we're posting today. Despite many changes a few athletes have firmly planted their name (and picture) on top of the charts.  On the Men's Individual side, I'm sure everyone can now agree that Sam Chelanga is for real. This… more »

 Specific Genes Altered (Continued from Gene Doping series part 2) by Danny Mackey M.S. We are still looking the topic of Gene Doping.  As I’m writing this (and listening to The Carps featuring The Cool Kids and the new Saul Williams album) I think it might be a 4 part series.  But, we will see what happens.        I always end up in a bad mood talking about cheating, so before we go on… how about Pre Nats!?  I was lucky enough to watch it live from LA (I went down there to race myself but got sick, let me tell… more »

(C) Copyright - 2008 - Christopher Kelsall The British Columbia Athletics, Provincial Cross Country Championships take place this Saturday October 25th in Vancouver, BC. The BCs have been run every year since 1949. For 2008 Vancouver Island’s, Prairie Inn Harriers are sending some of the province’s top male athletes to contest the men's open division. The Athletes: Jon Brown Jon Brown has a solid history racing cross country at a world class level. Recently he ran well on the roads, in the UK, competing in the BUPA Great North Run, Half Marathon, finishing with a time of 1:03:36. Jon’s half… more »

The post season is now upon us, with most conference races being run this upcoming weekend. While conference races do not determine if a team or individual moves on to regional or national races, rivalries between conference teams is often fierce; winning these races give teams conference bragging rights. There will be many hard fought races and exciting action this upcoming weekend. As usual, I encourage readers to supplement my article by contributing their knowledge about various individuals, teams, and conferences.   California Collegiate Athletic Association- Last year, Chico State’s men captured the California Collegiate Athletic Association team title with… more »

Courtesy of Letsrun.com message board...... http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=2719905&page=0 Use at you own risk. 1) Stanford 1452) Alabama 1873) Iona 2274) NAU 2365) BYU 2966) Michigan 3097) Auburn 3738) UCLA 3749) Virginia 39510) Tulsa 4071 White Samuel Chelanga Liberty 5:29 14:12 22:51.32 Blue Tyson David Alabama 5:49 14:53 23:30.13 Blue David McNeill Northern Arizona 5:53 14:53 23:30.74 Blue Hassan Mead Minnesota 5:52 14:54 23:33.15 White Felix Kibioywo Auburn 5:48 14:50 23:35.56 White Garrett Heath Stanford 5:45 14:50 23:36.47 White Chris Derrick Stanford 5:45 14:50 23:37.08 White Girma Mesecho Auburn 5:48 14:50 23:37.59 Blue Patrick Smyth Notre Dame 5:48 14:52 23:38.310 White Jeremy Criscione Florida… more »

So this week was another great week for D3 XC, in fact it caught me a bit by surprise. I knew the Oshkosh meet would be fast, it always is, but some of the other meets around the country featured some big time faceoffs that should mix up the rankings a bit. New rankings came out again this week, with only a few changes in the overall picture of who will and will not make nationals. On the women's side, the Northeast and Central regions each has 7 teams crack the top 35, however since only 5 teams per region… more »

2008 ISU Pre-Nationals Race Assignments:      11:00 a.m.  Women’s 6,000 Meter Blue Race:  Air Force, Arizona, Auburn,  BYU, Central Michigan, Charlotte, Cornell, East Carolina, Florida, Georgia Tech,  Georgia, Illinois State, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kansas State, Louisville, Marquette,  Miami/Ohio, Michigan State, Minnesota, Mississippi State, Missouri, North Carolina,  NC State, New Mexico, Oakland, Ohio, Oklahoma State, Penn, Providence, Rice, South  Carolina, Stanford, UC-Santa Barbara, Utah State, Villanova, Washington State,  Washington, Weber State, Wisconsin. (41)    11:35 a.m.  Women’s 6,000 Meter White Race:  Akron, Arizona State, Ball  State, Baylor, California, Cincinnati, Colorado State, Colorado, Columbia, Dayton,  Eastern Michigan, Florida State, Georgetown, Harvard,… more »

Portland Pilot junior Tommy Betterbed has a unique opportunity. He, along with his team, have to ability to make vast improvements. After Portland took 14th last year and Betterbed 194th, both have the chance to comeback with vengeance on November 24 at the NCAA DI XC Championships at Terre Haute. The Portland guys looked great at the Bill Dellinger Meet, keeping it really close with Oregon. Were you guys surprised of that kind of performance? We weren't that shocked. Our coach kind of played us down because we haven't been doing any fast workouts or anything. We've been doing a… more »

  Women's Nationals Qualifiers by Round (Men's List - http://www.flotrack.org/articles/view/592)   QUALIFIER #1 is STONY BROOK (#1 NE) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS)   QUALIFIER #1 is PRINCETON (#1 Md-At) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS)   QUALIFIER #1 is NC STATE (#1 SE) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS)   QUALIFIER #1 is MICHIGAN STATE (#1 Gr-Lk) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS)   QUALIFIER #1 is MINNESOTA (#1 Mid-W) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS)   QUALIFIER #1 is ARKANSAS (#1 S-Cen) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS)   QUALIFIER #1 is BYU (#1 Mtn) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS)   QUALIFIER #1… more »

Men's Nationals Qualifiers by Round (Women's List - http://www.flotrack.org/articles/view/593)   QUALIFIER #1 is IONA (#1 NE) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS)   QUALIFIER #1 is GEORGETOWN (#1 Md-At) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS)   QUALIFIER #1 is VIRGINIA (#1 SE) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS)   QUALIFIER #1 is WISONSIN (#1 Gr-Lk) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS)   QUALIFIER #1 is OK STATE (#1 Mid-W) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS)   QUALIFIER #1 is TEXAS AM (#1 S-Cen) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS)   QUALIFIER #1 is COLORADO (#1 Mtn) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS)   QUALIFIER #1 is OREGON (#1… more »

For many teams, this past weekend was the last regular season meet, with conference races only two weeks away.  Most teams ended the weekend with a good sense of their strengths and weakness going into the championship phase of the season.  There were many meets last weekend and I have highlighted a few. I encourage to you to add any results you might have. And, get your conference predictions ready for next week’s preview. Michigan Intercollegiate- In the women’s 5k, Grand Valley’s Megan MacEratini won the race covering the course in 18:33 and leading her team to a first place… more »

(C) Copyright - 2008 - Christopher Kelsall  Victoria, BC – Royal Victoria Marathon - Sunday, October 12, 2008 - The 29th Annual Royal Victoria Marathon (RVM) was run in perfect weather conditions while Victorians got to see Steve Osaduik of Langley, BC take his third consecutive title on this course. Osaduik is the course record holder with a 2:16:49 from 2006. He was racing Sunday after a lengthy break with injury and managed a 2:25:31 off of a 1:11:08 first half split. Steve continues to look for an IAAF World Championships in Athletics 'Berlin 2009' qualifying time. Jason Terauchi-Loutitt from nearby Shawnigan Lake, BC… more »

Before I get started I have to say one thing...MAINE IS THE GREATEST STATE IN AMERICA, IT IS CERTAINLY BETTER THAN DELAWARE. For those of you wondering what this has to do with D3 running, the answer is nothing. So why am I writing this at the top of my article...I lost a bet. Since most of you would have no way of knowing this, While I went to school outside of Boston, I was born and raised in Delaware, while Ryan Fenton grew up in Maine (went to Clemson). Maine played Delaware in football this weekend, and if Maine… more »

Last year, Brent Vaughn led his Colorado Buffaloes to their second team championship in the past three years. This year, he and the Buff`s look to pick up where they left off. Is it hard to maintain having a family and being a nationally ranked Division I athlete? No, I don`t think it`s too tough at all. I have my wife around all the time and that makes things easy. It`s got to be a little more difficult than it would be for someone without a family. We make it work just fine. We just arrange our schedules opposite of… more »

  Sam Chelanga, a Liberty Flame, has already placed 16th at the 2006 NCAA XC Championships with Fairleigh Dickinson as the top freshman in the field. After a year away, running blazing unattached track times of 13:24 and 28:15, Chelanga looks to make 2008 his year to use his killer talent and win an individual championship. You obviously won Paul Short by a substantial amount of time, something like 40 seconds, what did that do for your personal confidence? Well, that just tells me that my training has been going well. It gives me some confidence. Do you like being… more »

This Weekend Flotrack will be in NYC to cover the biggest XC meet in the Northeast, the Manhattan College XC Invite (Manhattan Meet Website). ArmoryTrack.com and Flotrack will work together to bring you race footage, interviews, analysis and more. Armorytrack.com has done a great job of previewing the boys and girls race. Tim Fulton of ArmoryTrack.com explains that this is the first year that Manhattan has one boys race for the best teams of the Northeast and one team from California (Where was I in high school when my team flew over 3000 miles to a xc meet?). The lgirls race is… more »

How Fast Are We? by Danny Mackey M.S.              Regina Jacobs, Marian Jones, Tim Montgomery, the 7 Russian athletes this year, Brahim Boulami, Justin Gatlin etc etc.  I could add another 100 etc etc.  It is no wonder why people look at the recent amazing performances of Kenenisa Bekele, Usian Bolt or Haile Gebreselassie with a pessimistic (or realistic?) eye.              We all know the people that think everyone cheats, I probably sit somewhere in the middle and think (or know) athletes cheat but not all.  Call me a hopeless ignorant guy who still believes we… more »

(C) Copyright - 2008 - Christopher Kelsall BUPA Great North Run – October 6, 2008 – Newcastle, UK – Canadians Jon Brown and David Jackson raced the BUPA Great North Run, half marathon Sunday, October 6, 2008 under sunny skies, leading the largest half marathon field in the world with 52, 000 participants. Brown of Victoria, BC finished 11th over-all with a time of 1:03:36, splitting 10k in 29:59 and 20k in 1:00:27. Brown is preparing to race the 62nd annual Fukuoka International Open Marathon Championships, which takes place Sunday, December 7, 2008 in Fukuoka, Japan. Jon Brown owns a… more »

            Neely Spence has a long list of running accomplishments including: Nike Outdoor National two-mile champion, 4th at XC Footlocker, and many Pennsylvania state titles.  Neely is adding to these many accomplishments as a standout freshman at Shippensburg University. Last weekend, she finished 2nd at the prestigious Brooks Paul Short Run covering the 6k in 19:57.  Such a high level of achievement in running is par for the course for the Spence family: Neely’s father, Steve Spence, was a world-class marathoner, participating in the 1992 Olympics and winning a bronze medal at the 1991 World Championships.  Her mother holds the… more »

From USATF.ORG MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - Fernando Cabada (Boulder, Colo.) topped a competitive men's field to win the USA Men's Marathon Championship in 2:16:32 at the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon Sunday in Minneapolis, Minn. The weekend's events also included the USA Women's 10 Mile Championship where 2008 Olympian and 2007 World Outdoor 10,000m bronze medalist Kara Goucher (Portland, Ore.) cruised to her first USA road title in 53:16. The weather turned out to be a major factor in the race for Cabada and the field as light showers turned to a driving rain at eight miles to combine with light winds and 48 degree temperatures… more »

So another big week in XC across all divisions...those that did not participate in Griak last weekend, were at some of the nations other big meets this weekend with Paul Short, Notre Dame, Pre Nationals, Cowboy Jamboree and more. Upsets were a plenty this weekend and so the National Rankings should see some large adjustments once again this week. This week I conducted my third interview, and as promised I have kept moving around the country, this time a female from the West region, scroll down past the recap to skip to the interview. Speaking of the recap, here goes.… more »

<!-- @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --> <!-- @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --> Iona Gael Mohamed Khadraoui has placed 23rd and 46th at the NCAA Division I XC Championships in the past few years and looks for a high place finish. The Gaels will also be looking for a top-five finish in the team standings. What kind of preparation did you do for this season? I stayed in New Rochelle. I got a lot of training in July and August. I took two… more »

Flotrack is heading up to the Cowboy Jamboree this weekend at Oklahoma State University because all eyes are on Stillwater and Dave Smith's Cowboy Cross country team. Smith and the boys surprised people last year by finishing third in the nation and then shocked everyon with the monster recruiting class of Colby Lowe, Ryan Prentice and the 2 mile high school american record holder, German Fernandez. Add this recruiting class to the third place team from last year that included All-Americans, Ryan Vail and David Chirchir and Dave Smith's Cowboys team should be contending in Terre Haute. While the number one team in the… more »

Kari Hardt, an Arizona Sun Devil junior, has placed well at the NCAA Championships. She and her Sun Devil women look to find the podium this season.   You placed 88th and 50th at the NCAA Championships and recently won the Roy Griak Invitational. What are your individual goals this season? I'd love to be an All-American at NCAAs. Now what are your team goals? Our goal is to win PAC-10s. We think if we did that we'd have a really good shot at winning nationals. Our team's really talented, we're just trying to get everyone healthy right now. Do… more »