September 2009 Track and Field Articles

Calling all Austinites,   On Sept 15th, a friend and colleague, Justin Gabriel, had a serious accident that put him into a coma. Justin ran at Adams State and works in my town of Austin at Runtex. He also filmed for the Austin Distance Challenge Website. He is a great guy and a lot of fun. Justin is staying at Cambridge Hospital in Austin, Tx for a couple more days and then the plan is to move him to a rehab center. You can check up on Justin and how he is doing here: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/justingabriel   Runtex, Justin's friends, and the… more »

The first day of fall was officially this past weekend, but this did not mean for cooler temperatures or falling leaves. Instead, many runners were met with adverse weather conditions. There were plenty of key match-ups this past weekend including Pre-Nationals. As usual, I urge you the reader to comment on anything I missed and anything you would like to see in future columns. Citadel Invitational- Lenoir-Rhyne’s Kate Griewisch was third overall and first scorer in the DII division with a time of 18:51.88 over the 5k course. She was followed by the Lees-McRae trio of Kira Shoemaker (19:46.37), Hannah… more »

NCAA Weekly Roundup   Whenever the casual fan looks at the NCAA weekly rankings compiled by the USTFCCCA, they usually just see a school next to a number. My goal with the weekly roundup is to bring a brief analysis of the past weekends results, and upcoming competitions for the teams ranked in NCAA Division I XC. This will be done by looking at the movement within the rankings of certain teams, and looking at which teams may have dropped out or moved into the rankings. In the first edition I have only gone off of the pre-season rankings, and… more »

<!-- @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --> University of North Carolina senior Lauren Holesh and her Tar Heels are looking for another appearance at the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships in November. Holesh took 30th place last year and is looking for a significant individual improvement with the help of new head coach Peter Watson. How did your summer go? How did you spend most of your time? Summer went really well. I took summer school for the first session. And Carolina is actually in pretty early. I got done with… more »

Rees and the boys at NZRUN just went live with their new platform at NZRUN.com. NZRUN is the place to go for New Zealand running info. Now that they are on the Flonetwork they will be able to upload and share videos easier, so look for more videos from the Kiwis coming soon!   Go to www.nzrun.com for your Kiwi running fix!     more »

INDIANAPOLIS - 2008 Olympians Dathan Ritzenhein (Portland, Ore.) and Amy Yoder Begley(Portland, Ore.) will lead a strong U.S. contingent at the 18th IAAF World Half Marathon Championships on October 11, in Birmingham, UK.   Ritzenhein and Begley are both coming off of an impressive track season which saw Ritzenhein finish sixth at the World Championships 10,000 meters, eleven days before going on to set a new American record of 12:56.27 for 5,000 meters.  Begley, the 2009 USA champion at 10,000 meters went on to finish sixth in the women's 10,000 at the Berlin World Championships and won last weekend's USA 5 km Championships in… more »

Conference meets are drawing nearer and before we know it November will be here. Till then most teams are racing across the nation, testing themselves against competitors and eagerly waiting for the weekly poll results. The Pre National DII meet is set for next Saturday in Evansville, Ind. and should be a good look at the course. As usual, I urge my readers to chime in with opinions and anything I have missed. Colorado State Invitational-Adams State’s Kristen McGlynn led her team to a first place finish with 26 points and covering the 5k course in 18:21.8. She also took… more »

<!-- @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --> Georgetown's Levi Miller was 35th at last year's NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships behind teammate Andrew Bumbalough, in 11th place. Miller and the Hoyas have their eyes set on the Big East title then a podium spot at the national championships. Did you get your long run in today? We had that meet at JMU (James Madison University) yesterday. This weekend we stayed out at Shenandoah National Park in a little mountain lodge and did a long run on the Appalachian Trail. We had… more »

INDIANAPOLIS - U.S. Olympians Anthony Famiglietti (Knoxville, Tenn.), Matt Tegenkamp (Portland, Ore.) and Amy Yoder Begley (Beaverton, Ore.) will headline the entries for the 2009 USA 5 km Championships Sunday in Providence, R.I. Defending men's champion Famiglietti will be going for his second U.S. road title of 2009, but will face fierce competition from Tegenkamp who just became the fourth American ever to break 13 minutes for 5,000 meters. Also in the mix for the title will be 2004 Olympian Jonathan Riley (Portland, Ore.) and Bolota Asmerom (Oakland, Calif.), the fourth-place finisher at this year's USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships 5,000 meters. Begley, the 2009 USA Outdoor 10,000 meter… more »

African Runners Versus Caucasians By Danny Mackey M.S.             Other than a few meets outside of Europe, the track season is over.  Between Flotrack and my cable network getting the Universal Sports channel, I have lost interest of my losing Chicago Cubs and been able to watch the best athletes in the world fight it out on a regular basis.  Unlike past track seasons, U.S. distance running fans were excited to cheer on top finishes in major Golden League IAAF meets and championships. America had a number of finalists and top 8 finishes in the Men’s and Women’s 800, 1500,… more »

The FloNetwork just got a little international flavor today! The current and past Irish running history is also quite tasty. Current stars on the world scene include Alistair Cragg, Mary Cullen, Thomas Chamney, Martin Fagan, David Gillick, Paul Hession, and Derval O’Rourke. Former Irish miler Ray Flynn, is also among Ireland’s elite running history and currently serves as an Agent for many of USA and Ireland’s best (See Flynn’s FloNetwork site). David Bradshaw, a Flo Fan in Ireland, came to us with a dream to give Ireland a chance to experience Track and Field like US fans have with Flotrack. David is… more »

NEW ORLEANS (September 15, 2009) – The Washington Huskies are perched at the top of the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Women's Cross Country Top 30 Preseason Coaches’ Poll, the USTFCCCA announced Tuesday. The Huskies received all 12 first-place votes and earned 360 total points in the preseason poll.   Washington, last year’s NCAA Division I Cross Country National Champions, return five of their top seven runners from last year’s championship team, four of which were USTFCCCA Cross Country All-Americans. The Huskies open their 2009 season at home this weekend in the Sundodger Invitational.   Oregon… more »

  NEW ORLEANS (September 15, 2009) – Oregon, last year’s NCAA Division I Men’s Cross Country National Champions, begins the 2009 season as the No. 1 team in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Men's Cross Country Top 30 Preseason Coaches’ Poll, the USTFCCCA announced Tuesday. The Ducks received nine first-place votes and earned 357 total points in the preseason poll.   Oregon will have plenty of ground to make up if they are to repeat as the men’s champions in 2009 as they lose two USTFCCCA All-Americans in Galen Rupp (last year’s NCAA Individual Champion)… more »

Colorado School of the Mine’s Ben Zywicki most recently won UCCS Rust Buster Invite. He finished 22nd last year at XC Nationals on a team that finished 9th overall. He was a member of the indoor distance medley relay team that took first place at Indoor Nationals. He was an All American in the 10k this past spring. DII Weekend Review caught up with after last week’s win.   DII Weekend Review : You had a strong season last year with a 22nd place finish at XC nations and finished high at both the indoor and outdoor track nationals. What… more »

© Copyright – 2009 – Christopher Kelsall Three time Olympian, Kevin (Sully) Sullivan has run 32, sub-4 minute miles. He currently holds the NCAA indoor championship record of 3:55’33. During his varsity career at the University of Michigan he accomplished 14 All-American honours and currently holds the Canadian records for the mile and 1500m distances. Sully was very close to medalling in the Sydney Olympic Games, finishing 5th in the 1500m final. He has competed in at least 10 IAAF World Cross-Country Championships, Commonwealth Games and many other international competitions. At age 35 Kevin, as you will read below, continues… more »

<!-- @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --> Tulsa's John Beattie, a senior originally from Southampton, United Kingdom, has an impressive distance running resume. At last fall's NCAA Cross Country Championship, Beattie finished in 29th place as his Hurricanes finished 13th. This past spring, he ran 28 minutes, 46.27 seconds in the 10,000-meter run at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational. After training at altitude, with Kenyans this summer, we'll see what he can accomplish this fall. What kind of running did you do this summer? I did the NCAAs in June. After that… more »

An old fashion rule is that one is not suppose to wear white after Labor Day and after this past weekend not many DII runners will have to worry about their spikes being white. Many teams took part in their first race of the 2009 season and hope to bust the rust of their legs. There were quite a few meet across the nation though many were merely dual or alumni meets. I will highlight a few of the more heated match-ups.  If there are any results that you think should be highlighted or discussed leave a comment below. I… more »

© Copyright – 2009 – Christopher Kelsall   On June 16th, Black Creek’s Cam Levins finished 2nd over-all in the British Columbia Provincial 5k Road Race Championships on a challenging and hilly, double-looped course. He finished in the time of 14:53. Friday, August 14th he won a local 5000m event in 14:09 - The Black Press 5000. Interestingly, he ran faster during his summer build-up than he did at the end of his NCAA Division 1 track season. Following that August 14th performance in Victoria, B.C. he flew to the other end of the country to Prince Edward Island where… more »

<!-- @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --> North Carolina State senior John Martinez is a steeplechaser at heart. The Stony Point, New York native ran 9 minutes, 6.6 seconds in high school over the hurdled 3,000-meter distance. Martinez has lowered his steeple personal-best time to 8:44.92. Heading into his last cross country season, Martinez looks to better his 49th-place finish from last year. You're back at NC State, right? Yes, sir. Have your classes started again? Yup, class started two weeks ago from tomorrow. I've been here for nearly a month. How… more »

Dathan Ritzenhein teleconference excerpts INDIANAPOlIS - USA Track & Field on Tuesday hosted a media teleconference featuring Dathan Ritzenhein, who set a new American record in the men's 5,000 meters when he crossed the finish line in 12 minutes, 56.27 seconds at last week's Weltklasse meet in Zurich. Ritzenhein's performance bettered the 13-year old standard of 12:58.21 set by Bob Kennedy, and made him the third American ever to break the 13-minute barrier at 5,000 meters. Ritzenhein is coming off of the 2009 World Athletics Championships in Berlin, Germany, where he finished the 10,000 meters in a personal best time of… more »

The FloNetwork keeps rolling. The Austin Distance Challenge is an Austin-based race series comprised of seven events and powered by local Running Store, Runtex. The series is sponsored by local Austin Businesses, Non-Profits, and Charities. By joining the FloNetwork, the race organizers will be able to promote and film the races using Flotrack's custom video platform, to a National Audience. If you are a race organizer contact us (flonetwork@flocasts.org) about how we can get your event on the FloNetwork.    Austin Distance Challenge FloNetwork     The Races: Silicon Labs Marathon Relay IBM 10K Gazelle Foundation Run for the Water 10 Miler… more »

U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association released last week their regional preseason rankings and later their National Rankings. I believe this would be a good jumping off point for some discussion. I will give the top three in each region for both men and women and last year’s National qualifiers. What I would like is if you agree or disagree and why. There were very few meets this past weekend but if you believe there were any worth noting let me know by leaving a comment below about the meet. If there is anything you would like… more »