December 2008 Track and Field Articles

Wow 364 Days have gone by in 2008 and now its just about time to review all the D3 running happenings of the year, but where do I begin? Well perhaps January 1st is a good starting point, but unfortunately not a whole lot of D3 action was taking place, other than perhaps a Alum or two taking place in the Emerald Nuts 4-miler in Central Park. Machiria Yuot a multi-time national champion at Widener took second overall in a time of 18.33 on yes, his birthday (January 1 not Dec 31st which is when the race is depending on… more »

A New Year’s resolution is a commitment that an individual makes to a project, to reforming a habit, or to a lifestyle change. Most people do not think about these resolutions until about a week before the New Year. “"I haven't thought of one yet!” comments the reigning DII indoor pole vaulting Champion, Minnesota State-Mankato’s Katelin Rains. Don’t worry; there is plenty of time to think of a resolution. You can always go with the old standbys, like saving money, paying off debts, losing weight, getting fit or eating right. But, one should not pick out a resolution haphazardly; a… more »

© Copyright – 2008 – Christopher Kelsall   Some things that exist in this universe we accept and expect just as they are, like the daily ebb and flow of ocean tides, the changing of the seasons and the proverbial pedestals of which we mount our heroes upon.   On that point, we can all agree that Pele is the finest football player in history, Gretzky the greatest in hockey and perhaps Jordan is to basketball what Woods is to golf. In mountain running Jonathan Wyatt is the world’s greatest, there simply is no disputing this fact.     Wyatt owns… more »

It is two days before Christmas and in honor of the Holiday spirit, I am going to treat you to a "new" holiday classic that you can carol at your local track.   The 12 Days of Flotrack (sung to the tune of the 12 Days of Christmas)   On the first day of Flotrackmy true love sent to me:Lots of Track and Field CoverageOn the second day of Flotrackmy true love sent to me:Two DI NCAA XC Championsand Lots of Track and Field CoverageOn the third day of Flotrackmy true love sent to me:Three White Pearl Break-downsTwo NCAA XC Championsand Lots… more »

<!-- @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --> Katie Engel, from the University of Illinois, has placed 64th, 58th and most recently 22th at the NCAA Division I XC Championships. With her stress fracture, she might not race indoors but should certainly rip it up in outdoor track.   Overall, how would you say your XC season went? I'm pretty happy with it. I didn't really know what to expect this XC season at the start of the season. I don't usually try to have too specific goals of myself, I kind of… more »

(C) Copyright - 2008 - Christopher Kelsall ______________________________________________________________________________________ RESULTS December 17, 2008 **Note 14 of the top 20 finishers used craft (micro) brewery beer. *Ice and snow on the track slowed results. ______________________________________________________________________________________ Dave Smart Beer Mile – Victoria, British Columbia  - December 16, 2008 - The fifth annual Dave Smart Beer Mile takes place tonight at the Jack Wallace Memorial Track in Victoria, BC at 6:30 pm PST – 9:30 pm EST. Victoria runner, Jim Finlayson holds the current and official world record for the Beer Mile, which he set in 2007. Jim ran and drank to a blazing time… more »

By David Monti(c) 2008 Race Results Weekly, all rights reservedOn the heels of her successful marathon debut in New York last month where she became the first American woman to make the podium there since 1994, Kara Goucher has committed to next April's Boston Marathon, John Hancock Financial announced today.  Goucher will try to break the 24 year USA drought for victory at America's oldest, continuously contested marathon, founded in 1897."I could not be more excited to participate in the 2009 Boston Marathon on the John Hancock Elite Team," said Goucher, 30, through a news release.  "As an American, Boston… more »

The weather outside is frightful, which can only mean that the 2008-2009 indoor track and field season is upon us. Many DII runners have already earned qualifying marks for the Indoor Championships, which will be hosted by the University of Houston in Texas . Runners only have short four months to earn qualifying marks with the meet being run on March 13-14, 2009. There are sure to be new names, faster times, and plenty of excitement in this upcoming season. Readers are encouraged to post constructive and respectful comments.  (An updated list of those who have qualified can be found… more »

All across the country student-athletes are heading into Winter Break or Holiday Break or whatever it is their school calls it. Since I am no longer in college, I do not have this luxury, however my Flotracking has had a bit of a break since the cross country season came to a close, and so I have missed about 2 weeks of indoor action. This article is less of an actual article and more of me simply reaching out to you the readers. Indoor track is a much different beast than XC in terms of covering the events. While there… more »

Scoring Teams and Points: 1. Midwest 49 (3 5 9 14 18 21 22) 2. Northeast 51 (7 8 11 12 13 16 17) 3. South 60 (2 4 6 23 25 27 28) 4. West 65 (1 10 15 19 20 24 26) Individual Results: 1 Jordan Hasay (12) West Mission College Prep. Arroyo Grande CA 17:22 2 Ashley Brasovan (12) South Wellington H.S. Wellington FL 17:25 3 Megan Goethals (11) Midwest Rochester H.S. Rochester MI 17:30 4 Chelsey Sveinsson (10) South Greenhill School Dallas TX 17:31 5 Allie McLaughlin (12) Midwest Air Academy Colorado Springs CO 17:34 6… more »

<!-- @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } -- Indiana Hoosier Wendi Robinson recently placed 28th at the NCAA Division I XC Championships in her home state. She's got 4:46 mile speed and looks to carry her Hoosier DMR team to the Indoor National Championships. Can you give me a recap of your XC season? The high and low points? To start it had been a while since I'd raced. I had redshirted outdoors. Mostly because we do peak training. We thought our team would be a better team in two years. Plus my… more »

University of Colorado at Colorado Spring’s Shannon Payne ended the 2008 Cross Country season on a high note, finishing third at the 2008 DII Cross Country Championships at Slippery Rock, PA. She has begun her indoor season on the same note. She ran a 5k time of 17:06.8 at the CSM Open at Steinhauer Fieldhouse, which automatically qualifies her for the 2009 Indoor National Championships.. Payne has not always been so fast. In fact, her high school career started rather slow, as she explains, “My first 5k XC time trial took me 32 minutes and change and I barely scraped… more »

(C) Copyright - Christopher Kelsall - 2008 Sir Richard Branson, entrepreneur, adventurer and founder of the Virgin Group of companies, is delighted to be a part of the London Marathon, so-much-so that he signed one of his business ventures, ‘Virgin Money’, to a £17million, five-year commitment to be the title sponsor of the event.Virgin Money is commited from 2010 to 2015, which includes the highly anticipated 30th anniversary race. Branson said, “it's an epic and inspirational event and raises a fantastic amount of money for great causes. It's the single biggest fundraising day on the planet and we want to make… more »

This Virgina Cavalier was one of the top under classmen in the DI NCAA XC Championships. In 2007 Emil placed 26th at the World Junior XC Championships in Scotland. He's ready for his first indoor season after a solid XC season.   How did the XC Championship race play out for you? The race went out pretty quick. Through the first 400 meters, I found myself up in the front...front 20 or so. I kind of checked myself at that point. I thought I'd chill out a bit. From 1k to 3k I just tried to go with the flow… more »

Living The High Life  by Danny Mackey M.S.  Altitude tents have a personal interest to me.  One major reason is because last year, I decide to be a subject with an ongoing study AND help my own running.  So I started using an altitude tent.  The problems began right after I bombed in the trials (unrelated to the tent) and began having sleep issues relating to disappointment from the race, then to make matters worse I bumped up the tent to 12,000 feet.  Combine sleeping 2 hours a night, full-time job, and 12,000 feet air while I’m supposed to be… more »

The U.S.A. Track and Field (USATF) annual meeting officially begins tonight in Reno, Nevada. The meeting takes place at the close of an especially tumultuous year for the organization. In January of 2008, the beginning of an all-important Olympic year, CEO Craig Masback resigned to take a position with Nike. Masback had overseen an impressive organizational turnaround in his tenure with USATF, dating back to the late-90s when the organization was struggling to stay afloat financially and competitively. At the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, Japan, the U.S. track team's 26 medals equaled the highest ever for a world championship.… more »

Many people have suffered plots against them: Kings, Presidents and University of California PA’s Chris Clark.  Clark, the fourth place finisher in this year’s DII Cross Country Championships and fourth indoor in the 5k, began his athletic career as a basketball player. It was during his junior year in high when the scheming of two worthy adversaries began.  He recounts, “When I was a junior in high school (Mrs. Kellar) and my Assistant Basketball coach (Mr. Briggs) became the assistant XC coach as well. I owe those two so much because they got this running adventure started. They began plotting… more »