Home » Wire » Articles » The Week Ahead- (May 5-11)

The Week Ahead- (May 5-11)


Nathan Haskins
May 7, 2008

This Olympic year has been chock full of too many amazing accomplishments to mention them all right now. However, credit needs to be given to this past weekend's Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational where Scott Bauhs got the Olympic "A" standard in the 10k, Sally Kipyego ran an amazing 31:25.45 10k collegiate record, and Shalane Flanagan proved she is on top by winning the Kim McDonald 10k in an American record time of 30:34.49. That just so happened to be the first time that Shalane has ever run the 10k and breaking the women's AR by 17 seconds, I do believe is amazing. If these amazing performances stay true you better believe that America's chances of getting on the podium at this year's Olympics are just as good as any. After an amazing two weekends of competition this weekend might not get as much hype, but rest assured that there will be some fast times, long jumps, and far throws posted.

Although those fast times, long jumps, and far throws will be happening mostly in the college rankings this weekend there will still be a few other interesting races of note. The IAAF will host the World Race Walking Cup this weekend from May 10-11 in Cheboksary and lets not forget about the 2008 USA 25 km Championships. The USA 25 km Championships will take place on May 10 at the Fifth Third River Bank course in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The Hanson Brooks team will be there with Brian Sell being the races headliner as he prepares for the Olympic Marathon (usatf.org). The top fun run this weekend will be the Medtronic TC 1 mile race in Minnesota. The fourth running of this event will feature its greatest field as of yet with names like Steve Sherer, Luke Watson, Tiffany McWilliams, and hopefully Carrie Tollefson. It has become one of the the largest one mile race purses with athletes competing for a total of $25,000 dollars plus time bonuses for the first man to break 4:00 and the first woman to break 4:28 (letsrun.com). Now too the ever quickly ending collegiate outdoor track season.

College athletes know that their season is coming to an end fast! For the Division I guys and girls most of them have this weekend to get their qualifing time (if they haven't already) and then its conference. They are almost exactly a month away from their championships, but first they have to get to and then through those tough regional meets. However, for those Division II and III student-athletes their championships are a little more than two weeks away. Man has this season flown by! The college meets of highlight this weekend are the Clemson Orange and Purple Classic, Florida State Seminole Twilight, Georgia Invitational, Heptagonal Championships, Indiana Billy Hayes Invitational, Michigan Len Paddock Invitational, NCC Championships, Oklahoma Sooner Twilight, Oregon Twilight, Villanova Last Chance, and the Washington Ken Shannon Invitationals.

Good luck to all the teams/individuals competing this weekend be safe and run fast! Always make sure to check out the News and Results on the Flotrack Website for any extra information!


Nathan Haskins

“News and Results Guy”



(Picture thanks in part to the turkishpress.com)

Post a Comment

Enter Your Name

or Login Here
Please enter this code to post comment. Login to skip Captcha.
captcha img


No Tags Yet.


Rate this Article

1.0/5 (2 votes cast)