Track and Field Blogs - Justin Kopunek

Conference Weekend had the entire NCAA running, scattered all over the country. Some races ran to form, while others had some major upsets. A few teams like the Princeton women and Butler men scored a perfect 15, while a number of conferences have NCAA Top 30 teams fighting just to make the top 3-5 at their meet. I’ll get right in to it while you can also check out Part I and Part II for some background on the goal of this series; Finding the Way to Terre Haute.

Teams

Louisville Cardinals: 4th/14 in the Big East Championships

This team has a big gun up front in RS Senior Cory Thorne. Thorne became Louisville’s first Big East Individual Cross Country Champion in history this weekend. The sub-14 minute 5ker from New Hampshire is best known as a steepler. He was 7th in the NCAA 3,000m Steeplechase last spring and set a school record of 8:36. Those were not his first All American Honors; he earned the distinction in 2007 during cross country. The Cardinals have a very strong second man in RS junior Michael Eaton. Eaton is the school record holder at 10,000m with a 28:41. He was also an All American last spring in that event. In XC, Eaton placed 71st at NCAAs as a sophomore and represented the US at World Junior Championships as a senior in high school. The Kentucky native was a two-time Foot Locker Finalist, as was teammate Thorne. The third man for the Cardinals is junior Matt Bruce. A transfer from Clemson, he set personal bests last spring of 14:19 and 30:52. Hailing from Ontario, Bruce competed many times internationally on the track and in cross country on the Canadian Junior team.

Rounding out the team scoring at Big East were senior Scott McClain and sophomore Luke Lovelace. McClain, who is from Kentucky, set a PR of 9:05 in the steeplechase last spring. Lovelace had a solid freshman campaign last year running 14:44 for the 5,000m and is yet another Cardinal who qualified twice for the Foot Locker Finals, he did so while at his South Carolina high school. RS sophomore Matt Hughes, like teammate Matt Bruce, transferred to Louisville from Clemson and comes from Oshawa, Ontario. He also has represented Canada on its Junior National teams and he boasts a steeple best of 8:47. Finishing off the top-7 for the Cardinals was sophomore Chase Violet from Ohio who has been progressing since last year to get onto the varsity roster of a Top-30 Ranked team in the NCAA. Despite being ranked in the top 30, Louisville will have to be on the top of its game at regionals to make it to Terre Haute this year. They will have to face William & Mary, NC State, Virginia, and Duke at the Southeast Regional. Luckily they beat Providence at Big East this weekend which could earn them an at-large point if Providence gets an auto spot again this year. The Cardinal men were a strong 9th at NCAAs in 2007, but failed to qualify last year as they red-shirted many of their studs.

Duke Blue Devils: 2nd/12 in the Atlantic Coast Conference Championships

This young Duke team is lead by sophomore Carly Seymour, who fell into that role as a talented freshman last year. She has a solid freshman campaign, but is best known for her high school accomplishments. As a senior from Pennsylvania, she broke Nicole Blood’s Van Cortlandt Park 4,000m record at the Manhattan Invite and placed in the top 10 at Foot Locker Finals in 2006 and 2007. Garnering the ACC Freshman Runner of the Year Award by virtue of her 10th place finish this weekend, Juliet Bottorff is having a stellar first season with the Blue Devils. The 2009 Gatorade Delaware Runner of the Year as a senior, she lead a strong Tatnall team to NTN/NXN 3 times, placing as high as 12th. On the track she was a Millrose Mile qualifier and ran 4:51 for 1,600m outdoors. Just 1 second back at ACCs was senior Katie van Buskirk. The most experienced member of this Duke squad, she placed 67th at the NCAA XC Champs in 2007 and has run 4:20 in the 1,500m. Van Buskirk has competed internationally for the Canadian Junior National team in track and cross country. In the fourth and fifth spots for Duke are sophomore Mary Carleton Johnston and freshman Sophia Ziemian. Both were Gatorade Runner of the Year selections for their respective states; Carleton Johnston for Alabama track in 2007 and Ziemian for Pennsylvania cross country in 2008. The latter was 4th in the NON 5,000m as a high school junior.

Close behind was #6 runner Kayla Hale, a freshman from Florida. While a prep, Hale qualified for Foot Locker Finals 3 times and set a PR of 10:31 for 2-miles. She earned All American honors for that event twice. The Blue Devils’ 7th and 8th runners at ACCs are better than that race showed. Consistently in the top 5 on the team this season, junior Emily Schwitzer and sophomore Suejin Ahn can be major contributors for Duke. Schwitzer, from Minnesota, ran for Team USA freshman year at the World Junior Cross Country Championships and she was in Duke’s top 2 throughout last fall. Ahn was an All American in the mile at her New York high school and she cemented herself as a scorer for the Blue Devil’s as a freshman last year. The teams second place finish to FSU this past weekend leapfrogged them over Virginia to put them ranked #1 in the Southeast Region heading into the regional meet. This team is very young and many are looking to make their first trip to Terre Haute. Watch out for them in future years as they lose very little and have freshman Madeline Morgan, who won the 2007 NTN race, but did not race at ACCs after some good early season races.

Washington Huskies: 4th/8 in the Pac-10 Championships

Not as well known as their female counterparts, the Washington Men continued their strong season where they are looking to make a name for themselves. The 17th ranked Huskies competing in the toughest men’s xc conference in the NCAA were led by RS senior Kelly Spady. Having a breakthrough senior season, this Washington native was the first Husky across the line in their team wins at the Sundodger Invite (1st) and Notre Dame (9th), as well as this weekend where he was 10th. Last season he was 2nd man for the team earning All-West Region honors and placing 86th at NCAAs. Moving up to consistent top 3 finisher from being 5th man last year is senior Colton Tully-Doyle. The Californian, who set a 3k PR last winter of 8:08, is easily having his best season to date. He was 13th at Notre Dame this fall and 23rd at Pac-10s. After leading the team last year, senior Jake Schmitt provides experience to the team. A transfer from Cal in his home state, Schmitt earned All American honors last winter in the 5,000m and has qualified for NCAAs in the 10,000m twice. He is also a Junior Worlds qualifier in the 10k and holds fast PRs of 8:03, 13:54, and 28:53. Schmitt knows how to run well at Terre Haute, he was the team’s top finisher at Pre-Nats in October and NCAAs last fall in 58th.

As the 4th man this weekend, junior Jordan Swarthout had his best race of the season, as he had been outside the top 5 most of the fall. He was a consistent scorer for the Huskies last fall, however, finishing 36th at regionals and 108th at NCAAs. RS freshman Joey Bywater was right behind at Pac-10s and is having a great rookie season. In track last year he set PRs of 3:44 (1,500m) and 8:16 (3,000m). Both Swarthout and Bywater are from Washington. Coming in the 6, 7, and 8 spots for the Huskies, Cameron Quakenbush, James Cameron, and Rob Webster Jr were only separated by 3 seconds. All three are underclassmen and will be hoping to make their first trips to the Big Dance this year. Quakenbush and Webster are Washington natives, while Cameron is from California (you may know him from his work directing Terminator 2 and Titanic). A team that returns 6 of 7 from its 18th place team from NCAAs last fall and adds valuable freshman, the Huskies look to show the women are not the only cross country squad of note on campus. They will compete in the extremely competitive West Region and likely be looking for one of the 13 at-large spots. A big team win at Notre Dame earlier in the season will be key, as will placing well in the tough regional, for this team getting a spot on the line in Terre Haute.

Individuals

Elliot Krause of Wisconsin: With such big names and All Americans occupying Wisconsin’s roster, it speaks volumes for true sophomore Elliot Krause to be leading them at the Big Ten Championships. Krause had a quiet freshman year for the Badgers, placing 25th at the conference meet last fall. Jumping 23 places this year to take the runner-up spot shows Krause is one to keep an eye on. Last spring he placed 4th in the USA Junior National 10,000m and was a Wisconsin state champ in high school for track and cross country. His performance this weekend, however, is by far his best running we have seen from him yet.

Megan Hogan of George Washington: This RS junior was a basketball player, but has recently shown that running is what she was made for. Last year she had a break through season by qualifying individually for the NCAA Championships in cross country. She placed 96th overall in her first trip to Terre Haute and will certainly look to improve on that this year. After placing 5th at Paul Short earlier this season, Hogan demolished the competition at the Atlantic 10 Championships, winning by almost a minute on the muddy course. She is the first runner to qualify for the NCAA Championship individually and win the A-10 title in the history of GW, a school that has no track program, but does have cross country.

Erik van Ingen of Binghamton: After transferring to Binghamton from Canisius College before sophomore year, van Ingen saw incredible improvements. A solid middle distance runner in high school (4:19/1:52), he ran a phenomenal 4:01 NCAA provisional qualifier last winter in the mile. Taking that improvement into cross country, van Ingen led the Bearcats to their first America East team title, as he claimed the individual honors. Although he is certainly a stronger middle distance runner, look for this junior to keep improving out on the cross country course as well over the next 2 years.