en-us Copyright 2006-2009 Flocasts Inc Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:05:42 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/assets/portal/simple30/images/logos/flotrack-logo.gif http://www.flotrack.org/photos/album_assoc/229903 Photos from... Flotrack http://www.flotrack.org/photos/album_assoc/229903 Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:05:36 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/videos/coverage/view/235921-university-of-minnesota-2008-2009 08-09 Flotrack College Visits   Minnesota Athletics Site University of Minnesota Site W Head Coach Matt Bingle W XC Coach Gary Wilson M Head Coach Steve Plasencia Contact Minnesota Men | Women   08-09 Coverages: Roy Griak Invite (xc)   Flotrack http://www.flotrack.org/videos/coverage/view/235921-university-of-minnesota-2008-2009 Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:55:35 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/articles/view/1543-little-man-syndrome-by-danny-mackey-ms Little Man SyndromeBy Danny Mackey M.S. A few weeks ago I had the opportunity of meeting the best male marathoner in the world, Sammy Wanjiru.  As a distance running fan, a lot of thoughts went through my head.  The first thought was; how many times will I get the chance to meet someone who is arguably the best in the world at their job?  That is a cool question in itself because you may meet tons of amazing athletes, a colleague gifted with intelligence, that person whom is relentlessly hard working…….but are they the best at what they do?  Who knows. My second thought was; damn this guy is small.  Really small.  I consider myself a small man at 5’9’’ 145lbs.  But, I felt like Shaq standing next to Sammy.  The IAAF lists him at 5’3’’ 112lbs.  That is what I was in 8th grade!  Other than making me not want to eat lunch, meeting him got me thinking on how his height and weight might be an advantage for distance running.We all probably have experienced this weight and performance relationship perceptually.  I struggle with weight as a person with a mesomorph (muscular) body type.  These genetics are beneficial for most sports but not for distance running.  For example, earlier this year I suffered from an achilles injury and spent 17 weeks swimming instead of running.  I was 141 lbs before I got hurt.  After the injury I was 158 lbs and my upper body could barely fit into my running singlet.  Typically someone that is a mesomorph will continually monitor weight training and diet to stay at their competitive weight regardless of how many miles they are running.  On the other hand, ectomorph (skinny) body types usually have a slight advantage for distance running as they may stay lean with less effort.How can body weight effect running?  Well the energetic cost of running is largely independent of running speed and directly proportional to body mass.  According to Dr. Costill, a rule of thumb is 1 kcal/kg of body weight/km of distance ran.  Speed is also important because the rate of metabolic heat production is directly related to how fast you are going.  So putting these two variables together dictates the efficiency at which energy is used.  (Note: there are other variables that I am not mentioning for the sake of simplicity. For instance, muscular strength, lactate threshold, mental fortitude etc etc).  Getting rid of heat is important for sustaining a marathon at a fast pace.  Running imparts a large internal heat load caused by the inefficiency with which our metabolic system converts chemical energy to mechanical work.  According to Dr. Gonzalez-Alonso, even a super efficient runner like Sammy Wanjiru will lose 75% of his energy to heat.  The heat is transferred to our tissues.  At around 40 degrees Celsius our body will want to slow down so we do not do permanent damage.  (Look up some articles on Alberto Salazar in 1978 at Falmouth for what can happen when our core body temperature gets too high).  In an attempt to break these down into numbers I compared athletes with different heights so we could see the possible influence of body weight.   The athletes were:Sammy Wanjiru = 5’3’’ 112 lbsMartin Lel = 5’7’’ 119 lbsRobert Cheruiyot = 6’3’’ 150 lbsmy national class miler friend = 6’2’’ 170 lbs (this is the intentional outlier)my national class marathoner = 5’7’ 134 lbs  Then, I looked at two things, body surface area and heat storage.  Body surface is measured in m2.  The miler = 2.01 m2Cheruiyot =1.93 m2The marathoner =1.70 m2 Lel = 1.62 m2Sammy = 1.53 m2.  Heat is transferred between us and the environment by convection, radiation and evaporation.  When the outside temperature is lower than our body a thermal gradient occurs in our favor using convection and radiation so we can get rid of excess heat.  Plus, when we sweat it evaporates to help cool us.  So look above; which athlete has the best chance of getting rid of heat?  The miler with the highest amount of surface area.  But that is not taking into account his body weight and potential heat storage.  When we look at heat storage the results change drastically.  I did a rough calculation of heat storage measured in metabolic free energy production W.m-2 with an average final temperature of 39 degrees C (normally seen in an elite marathoner).  The miler = 68.7 W.m-2, the The marathoner = 64.6 W.m-2Cheruiyot = 63.7 W.m-2Lel = 60.31 W.m-2Sammy = 56.9 W.m-2.     Mathematically Sammy has the lowest heat storage.  What also is interesting is the half marathon and marathon PR’s of these athletes follow the same pattern.  The miler with the highest heat storage has the slowest (though he is a miler so he should!), followed by the marathoner, then Cheruiyot, Lel and of course Sammy.  Whenever someone does physiological testing we always hear of their VO2 max (interesting that weight is the denominator in VO2), but this variable of heat storage could be considered. Again this is just for conversation sake.  There are countless numbers of variables that influence performance.  This topic was interesting when I started working through various equations.  I am not claiming that we can predict how good a runner will be based solely off their height and weight.  Also, a disclaimer about losing weight is worth mentioning.  Losing weight is not the answer.  You can search online and read countless stories about athletes taking weight loss too far and it costing their careers and even lives.   Every individual person is different.So like a said, Sammy Wanjiru is a little man.  In every other major sport, this would be a disadvantage.  Distance running is unique in that his anthropometrics might be one is his best advantages.  Does it matter much?  I might be completely wrong. Who knows.  What I do know is that shaking a guy’s hand that can run 4:40 mile pace for a few hours is pretty intimidating no matter how big you are. Danny Mackey http://www.flotrack.org/articles/view/1543-little-man-syndrome-by-danny-mackey-ms Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:55:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/videos/coverage/view/235917-university-of-florida-2008-2009 08-09 Flotrack College Visits   University of Florida Website University of Florida Athletics Head Coach Mike Holloway XC Coach Todd Morgan Contact Florida | Email   08-09 Coverage: Florida Relays (outdoor) Flotrack http://www.flotrack.org/videos/coverage/view/235917-university-of-florida-2008-2009 Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:20:50 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/videos/coverage/view/235916-indiana-state-university-2008-2009 08-09 Flotrack College Visits   Indiana State Website Indiana State Athletics Head Coach John McNichols Contact Indiana State   08-09 Coverages: Pre-Nationals (xc) NCAA Championships (xc) Flotrack http://www.flotrack.org/videos/coverage/view/235916-indiana-state-university-2008-2009 Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:19:28 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/videos/coverage/view/235915-iona-college-2008-2009 08-09 Flotrack College Visits   Iona Website Iona Athletics Head Coach Ricardo Santos Contact Iona   08-09 Coverages: Meet of Champions (xc) Flotrack http://www.flotrack.org/videos/coverage/view/235915-iona-college-2008-2009 Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:18:22 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/videos/coverage/view/235914-penn-state-university-2008-2009 08-09 Flotrack College Visits   Penn State Website Penn State Athletics Head Coach Beth Alford-Sullivan Contact Penn State   08-09 Coverages: Penn State Open (indoor) Penn State National (indoor) Flotrack http://www.flotrack.org/videos/coverage/view/235914-penn-state-university-2008-2009 Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:17:03 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/videos/speaker/38-jack-daniels Can happiness affect your running? Jack Daniels gives his thoughts on if a happy runner will make a faster runner. Flotrack http://www.flotrack.org/videos/speaker/38-jack-daniels Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/videos/play/209972 2009 Diablo Foothill Athletic League cross country championship meet at Hidden Valley Park, Martinez CA. All six races featured, as well as award ceremony. Flotrack http://www.flotrack.org/videos/play/209972 Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:30:54 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Christopher Lukezic/9240-retirement-and-life-beyond-the-track I'm stepping away and hanging up my spikes officially. When I entered this sport at the age of 14, because of a girl, I never thought it would take me as far as it did. This has been a grand journey. What I think back on the most are not the great races I had. I think back to all the people and experiences that came as a result of my circumstantial existence in this world. I will truly miss all the friends I've made over the years. Thank you all for your friendship, kindness, and inspiration. Thank you to everyone who has supported me through the years. While I'm sad to leave the people in this sport behind, I'm not leaving on any terms other than my own. There are a lot of people who think I'm forsaking my talent. There are quite of few people who feel like running fast is the only thing that should matter. I'm not one of them. Today I've received a few nasty emails from people telling me I'm weak, that I'm stupid, and that I'm giving up. I have to say that it is painful to hear those things from people. I'm not giving up on anything. Running is a beautiful sport and it means a lot to many people, but it isn't everything to me. I'm not giving up. I'm just not happy being a professional runner any longer. It isn't there for me. The passion it once evoked has faded. It became a very unfulfilling pursuit. I moved to San Francisco, unsure if I was really going to be able to divorce myself from the sport. I moved here and joined AirBnB, a start-up, as the head of marketing. Learn more about it here. And here. I can say that I've probably never been happier. I'm enjoying every minute of my days away from the track. I've poured myself into AirBnB as much I poured myself into running. I can happily say that I trained at the limits of my talent for a number of years, especially this past year in Colorado. I have no regrets. I never wanted to have my grandchildren sitting on my lap with a head full of stories that only stemmed from my time as a runner. It is a small part of who I am, but I am extremely proud of myself for what I did accomplish. Do I think I could have run faster? Absolutely. Was I ready to wait around for it to happen? No. It no longer became something I felt like I needed to prove to myself. If I did run 3:28 it would have been fantastic. However, I know it wouldn't have made me any happier. It wouldn't have made me a better person. Running tended to suck the life from me. It became a very selfish pursuit and one I regret letting take such a hold over my life. You live and you learn. I want my life to be filled with as many amazing and unique opportunities as I can possible manage to fit into my finite time on this earth. I want to live a full life. I knew I wouldn't be living that personal ethos if I had stayed in the sport. Running was a sure thing. I could have continued making a living, traveling the world, and living "the dream." The problem was it was no longer my dream. Continuing to run would have been making a safe bet. Joining a start-up certainly is not the safe bet. I can say that there are very few start-ups I have ever admired this much. What is happening inside the walls of our office, with our rag tag team of brilliant 20-somethings, is amazing. I can't wait to see where we land in the next few years! Thank you again to everyone in the sport. I will miss you all dearly. Over and out. Christopher Lukezic http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Christopher Lukezic/9240-retirement-and-life-beyond-the-track Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:00:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/videos/play/209966 Western Washington University Broadway Park Bellingham, WA 10 x 500 meters Flotrack http://www.flotrack.org/videos/play/209966 Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:40:28 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/videos/play/209965 Sophomore Laura Pandori recently earned Jamba Juice AOW for her performance at WBAL #3. Flotrack http://www.flotrack.org/videos/play/209965 Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:20:07 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/videos/play/209961 With the CIS (Canadian University) Cross Country Championships this weekend, Rollin' With The River sits down with the University of Guelph's Killer Bs, Matt Brunsting, Allan Brett and Kyle Boorsma. After sweeping the podium at the OUA Championships the Killer Bs will look to repeat their performance at the CIS Championships. Flotrack http://www.flotrack.org/videos/play/209961 Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:17:58 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/videos/play/209900 Flotrack http://www.flotrack.org/videos/play/209900 Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:01:16 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Justin Kopunek/9223-ncaa-regional-preview-5-mens-south-central-mountain-and-west Men's South Central Regional – 2009 Ranked Teams: Arkansas #22, Texas Others Receiving Votes 2008 Automatic Qualifying Teams: Texas A&M, Arkansas 2008 At-Large Teams: None 2008 Individual Champion: Shadrack Songok, Texas A&M Team Outlook in 2009: The South Central Region is by far the weakest region for men’s teams this year. Not surprisingly, many teams in this region are strong in track & field, but less scholarship money seems to be focused on distance runners in this region. There is only one top 30 ranked team in the South Central and it is Arkansas at #22. The Razorbacks have qualified for nationals every year from 1974-2008 and this year should not break the 35 year streak. At the SEC Championships, Arkansas placed second, only 5 points behind the NCAA #6 ranked Alabama team. This Arkansas squad is one that could significantly surpass their ranking, especially if Eric Fernandez returns. He was the Razorback’s #2 last fall in his freshman season where he placed 7th at regionals. Texas should pick up the second automatic spot to NCAAs, despite not being ranked in the top 30 nationally. They finished 5th at the Big 12 Champs, one spot ahead of Texas A&M. The Aggies will make a push for a top-2 spot at regionals, because getting an at-large bid will be tough out of this region. Texas A&M did beat Auburn at the Wisconsin adidas Invite, which could provide them a point, but there are a lot of teams in other regions that seem to deserve a spot in Terre Haute more than a third from the South Central. Things could change after this weekend, however. Lamar just won the Southland Conference and appears to be the next best team in the region. Individuals To Expect Up Front: Nine of last year’s top ten graduated, or have not been competing this season. The one who is remaining is Francis Kasagule of Lamar. He is not the individual favorite however, as the region gets World Championship Team USA member Dorian Ulrey. Ulrey did not compete for Arkansas last fall and has been leading his team, most recently with a runner-up finish in the SEC Champs. Kasagule won his conference meet, the Southland Conference, over Joshua Sawe and David Rooney of McNeese State and Mitch Ownbey of Stephen F. Austin. Lane Boyer of Arkansas is also a high returner after last years 11th place finish. He was 8th in the SEC last weekend, one spot ahead of freshman teammate Solomon Haile. Texas had a tight pack of 3 (Rory Tunningley, Habben Berhane, Brian Rhodes-Devey) finish right behind All-Americans Girma Mecheso and Jordan Kyle (who compete in other regions) at Big 12s. The Longhorns top runner earlier in the season, Brock Simmons, was off his usual performance level at the conference meet. Texas A&M’s Joe Sauvageau and Mitch Bible were both top 15 at regionals last year and Andrew Montes led the Aggies at Big 12s. Drew Bean of Lamar beat all the A&M guys at the Wisconsin adidas Invite. What you may expect to see… 1. Arkansas 2. Texas 3. Texas A&M 4. Lamar 5. McNeese State 6. Stephen F. Austin 1. Ulrey (Arkansas) 2. Kasagule (Lamar) 3. Boyer (Arkansas) 4. Haile (Arkansas) 5. Tunningley (Texas) 6. Berhane (Texas) 7. Rhodes-Devey (Texas) 8. Sawe (McNeese) 9. Simmons (Texas) 10. Montes (Texas A&M) 11. Rooney (McNeese) 12. Elliot (Arkansas) <HR> Men's Mountain Regional – 2009 Ranked Teams: NAU #4, Colorado #5, New Mexico #12, BYU #14, UTEP & Utah State Others Receiving Votes 2008 Automatic Qualifying Teams: Colorado, NAU 2008 At-Large Teams: BYU 2008 Individual Champion: David McNeill, NAU Team Outlook in 2009: The Mountain Region has one of the most intriguing team races as these teams have been flip-flopping in the rankings all season. Two teams have set themselves apart as the favorites to get auto-bids, but which will be on topis unknown. NAU and Colorado both competed at Pre-Nats in separate races with Colorado’s 2nd place finish being the more impressive team performance. The results were skewed, however, as NAU’s All-American David McNeill finished way back with a cramp. Colorado’s All-Americans Kenyon Neuman and Jordan Kyle were further back than expected, as well. When McNeill showed he was back at top form, leading his team to a Big Sky Title with an impressive win, NAU jumped back ahead of Colorado in the rankings. Just as good as a race will be between New Mexico and BYU. The latter started off the season beating the defending national champs at home in the Bill Dillinger Invite. They followed that up by beating New Mexico by over 100 points at Pre-Nationals. The Lobos were not finished, though, coming back with their best team performance of the season to upset BYU at the Mountain West Conference Championships. They are both very good teams that should qualify at-large easily, but BYU will want to prove they are still the best team in the conference and New Mexico will want to prove that the MWC results were no fluke. UTEP is also a very good team out of this region. They recently won the Conference USA title by 1 point over Tulsa and they have an outside shot of getting an at-large spot in Terre Haute. If they can put together a great race at regionals and beat one of the top 4 teams, they will have their best chance at making nationals by getting pushed in. The same goes for the strong Utah State team that dominated the Western Athletic Conference Championships. Individuals To Expect Up Front: This is a very competitive region this year individually. As listed above, McNeill, Neuman, and Kyle are each All-Americans. McNeill stuck with Galen Rupp longer than anyone else could in the NCAA 5,000m final last spring. He is also the defending Mountain Region Champ and was 15th in Terre Haute. Kyle finished 1 spot ahead of him in 14th there. Despite that fact, Kyle has not been leading his team this year. Neuman was the first Buffalo at Big 12s and Christian Thompson led them at Pre-Nats. Jordan Chipangama and Diego Estrada paced NAU at Pre-Nats with Ben Ashkettle close behind. New Mexico’s Jacob Kirwa narrowly beat BYU’s Miles Batty for the MWC individual crown. Behind them, their teammates alternated places in the 4-11 spots, with Chris Barnicle as the #2 for New Mexico and Rich Nelson for BYU. The #2 man for BYU during the regular season, Thomas Gruenewald, finished outside the team’s top-5 at WVC, but was 19th at Pre-Nats and will be key in the team’s final two races if he can replicate that performance. Third at WVC was Justin Tyner of Air Force. He will be a major favorite for an individual trip to NCAAs, along with All-American Nicodemus Ng’etich of UTEP. Ng’etich was runner-up at Conference USA with teammate Elkana Rotich six seconds back. Also vying for individual spots will be Summit League Champ Cameron Levins of Southern Utah, WAC Champ Brian McKenna and 3rd place finisher Daniel Howell of Utah State, and Gilbert Limo of Texas Tech. These people should all be up front, but it will be interesting to see if NAU or Colorado rest anyone since their spots at NCAAs are almost guaranteed. What you may expect to see… 1. NAU 2. Colorado 3. BYU 4. New Mexico 5. UTEP 6. Utah State 1. McNeill (NAU) 2. Neuman (Colorado) 3. Chipangama (NAU) 4. Estrada (NAU) 5. Kirwa (New Mexico) 6. Batty (BYU) 7. Thompson (Colorado) 8. Ng’etich (UTEP) 9. Tyner (Air Force) 10. Gruenewald (BYU) 11. Medina (Colorado) 12. Barnicle (New Mexico) <HR> Men's West Regional – 2009 Ranked Teams: Stanford #1, Oregon #3, Portland #7, Arizona State #13, Washington #17, Cal Poly & UCLA Others Receiving Votes 2008 Automatic Qualifying Teams: Oregon, Stanford 2008 At-Large Teams: Portland, Cal, Washington, UCLA, Cal Poly 2008 Individual Champion: Galen Rupp, Oregon Team Outlook in 2009: The men’s West Region is the deepest in the NCAA. Seven teams made it out of the region last year and they will all want a return trip. Stanford is the NCAA #1 and for good reason. The Cardinal won Pre-Nationals with an impressively low 47 points and then stuck all 5 scorers in the top 11 in the most competitive conference in the country. Also winning a race at Pre-Nats, but 17 points back at Pac-10s was two-time defending NCAA Champions Oregon. Both teams are very good and will have no problems qualifying their teams. Because they are so good, either team could rest people at the regional meet. In fact, Stanford is so deep that their 8th man at Pac-10s would have been in every other team’s top-5 with the exception of Oregon. The rest of the Pac-10 is solid and the majority of teams should he in the hunt for at-large bids to nationals. Arizona State leads that group and they should be one of the first non-auto teams to qualify for NCAAs. Just behind them is Washington, who made a statement early in the season by winning Notre Dame (read more about ASU here and UW here). After them, UCLA and Cal Poly have decent shots of making it to Terre Haute. If either can jump past ASU or Washington at regionals, they should be pushed in easily. Cal Poly just won the Big West Conference title rather easily. Washington State beat some good teams at Pre-Nats (including Cal Poly) and has an outside shot at qualifying. They will need to place ahead of some of these other teams at regionals. Outside of the Pac-10 (and Cal Poly), Portland is the only team that seems like a lock to qualify, barring they don’t fall apart this weekend. The Pilots have the advantage of running in the less competitive West Coast Conference and they rested most of their varsity team and still won handily. They should be ready to earn a trip to Terre Haute for the fifth straight year and this seems like the team that has the most realistic shot of grabbing a top-2 spot from Oregon. Individuals To Expect Up Front: There is a ton of individual talent in the West Region. If Stanford and Oregon do not sit out anyone from their varsity squads, you will see a lot of Cardinals and Ducks up front. Stanford sophomore Chris Derrick is undefeated and is a favorite to take the NCAA individual title. He has beaten the NCAA’s best distance runners head-to-head already; Sam Chelanga (Liberty) at Pre-Nats and Brandon Bethke (Arizona State) and Luke Puskedra (Oregon) at Pac-10s. Both Bethke and Puskedra will be contending for top regional honors with Derrick. Stanford’s #2 Elliott Heath has only been beaten at major meats this season by Derrick, Chelanga, and Bethke. If you can only be beaten by sub-13:30 5k runners, you are certainly one of the best in the nation. The rest of the Cardinal's top 7 placed in the top-20 at Pac-10s, Jake Riley (6th), Justin Marpole-Bird (7th), Miles Unterreiner (11th), Brendan Gregg (12th), and Ben Johnson (19th). With no seniors on the team, this may be the start of a Stanford dynasty out west. Behind Puskedra, Oregon has All-American mid-distance guys Matt Centrowitz, Jordan McNamara, and AJ Acosta, as well as Kenny Klotz and twin brothers Danny and Diego Mercado. Bethke is backed-up by ASU junior Ben Engelhardt. Washington is led by Kelly Spady, Colton Tully-Doyle, and Jake Schmitt and UCLA by Marco Anzures and Marlon Patterson. Portland has a solid group of four in veterans Alfred Kipchumba (18th at NCAAs last fall) and Tommy Betterbed and stellar freshmen Joash Osoro and Trevor Dunbar. Cal Poly’s Joe Gatel just won the Big West Championships with teammate Evan Anderson in 3rd. Julian deRubira of UC Santa Barbara and Chad Hall of UC Riverside were 2nd and 4th at that meet. Both will be hoping to grab individual bids to NCAAs. Washington State is led by Mark Moeller, Cal by Steve Sodaro, and Arizona by Mohamud Ige. All three were top-20 at Pac-10s and will also vie for an individual spot on the line in Terre Haute. One of only two individuals to qualify individually out of the West Region last year, Erick Garcia of Fresno State will certainly be looking to make a return trip. What it will come down to for these individuals is just how many teams end up qualifying out of the West. What you may expect to see… 1. Stanford 2. Oregon 3. Portland 4. Arizona State 5. Washington 6. UCLA 1. Derrick (Stanford) 2. Bethke (Arizona St) 3. Puskedra (Oregon) 4. Heath (Stanford) 5. Kipchumba (Portland) 6. Centrowitz (Oregon) 7. Riley (Stanford) 8. Marpole-Bird (Stanford) 9. Mercado (Oregon) 10. Osoro (Portland) 11. Anzures (UCLA) 12. Spady (Washington) Justin Kopunek http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Justin Kopunek/9223-ncaa-regional-preview-5-mens-south-central-mountain-and-west Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:17:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/videos/speaker/118-mark-flotrack In part one of five, Flotrack goes to Under Armour's HQ in Baltimore to find out about their entry into running in early 2009. Over the next five weeks Flotrack will be speaking to Under Armour's designers, running team, CEO, and looking into the future to see what Under Armour's place in running will be. Flotrack http://www.flotrack.org/videos/speaker/118-mark-flotrack Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:05:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/videos/speaker/2026-lauren-holesh The University of North Carolina Tarheels have had some changes this season. With the addition of new coach Pete Watson and the lost of one of the NCAAs best in Brie Felnagle, the season looked to be a tough one in 2009. However, the girls in Chapel Hill have stepped up to the challenge and are now a contender for an NCAA spot. Led by All-American Lauren Holesh (30th last year at NCAAs) and All-ACC performer Ashley Verplank (8th in the conference), the team will go into the Southeast Region with high spirits and one goal in mind. Best of luck to the ladies this weekend in Louisville as they take on the best in the Southeast! Workout: --> 2-mile tempo (moderate), 3 min rest --> 3x1200, 90 sec recovery --> 3x1200 (broken....400-15 sec recovery-400-30 second-recovery-400) Music: Track #1 - Galactic Track #2 - Aceyalone "On The 1" Track #2 - Jet Horns "Free Trick Pony" Flotrack http://www.flotrack.org/videos/speaker/2026-lauren-holesh Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/videos/speaker/1741-peter-watson Flotrack http://www.flotrack.org/videos/speaker/1741-peter-watson Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:30:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Justin Kopunek/9212-ncaa-regional-preview-4-womens-great-lakes-midwest-and-south Women's Great Lakes Regional – 2009 Ranked Teams: Michigan #23, Michigan State #26, Notre Dame & Indiana Others Receiving Votes 2008 Automatic Qualifying Teams: Michigan, Wisconsin 2008 At-Large Teams: Michigan State, Notre Dame 2008 Individual Champion: Nicole Bush, Michigan State Team Outlook in 2009: This region is a little weaker than usual with no teams ranked in the top 20, but there will be a good team battle between four teams that are closely matched. Michigan gets the ‘favorite’ role after edging out Michigan State at the Big Ten Championships by 15 points. The two teams were 4th and 5th at the meet and have certainly felt the effects of graduation this year. Indiana was back another 24 points and will hope to close that gap up at regionals. The Hoosiers are a team that is currently just outside the 31 teams that will run at Terre Haute and will need to run well this weekend and beat some teams ranked ahead of them for a chance. The team just ahead of them is Notre Dame, who was 6th at the Big East Champs. The Fighting Irish ran well at Pre-Nats and their home meet, but they are not guaranteed an at-large bid by any means. They will certainly be making a push for an auto-spot. At Pre-Nats, Notre Dame and Michigan State ran in separate races. If you compare the two teams times as if they ran a dual meet, the Fighting Irish come out with a 27-28 victory. That outcome might change in a larger race, however. Ohio State was only 3 points back from Indiana at the Big Ten meet, so they are more than capable of being in up in the top 4. Wisconsin, who made the trip to NCAAs 16 of the past 20 years including each of the last 4, is experiencing a down year and it does not look like they will be making a repeat trip. Individuals To Expect Up Front: Indiana senior Wendi Robinson is the top returner in the region and is running well this season, but she was beaten by a few steps at Big Tens by Kaitlyn Peale of Michigan. Right behind them was Michigan State’s top runner, Emily MacLeod. All three schools have strong runners in the second spot, as well. Indiana’s Sarah Pease was 8th in the Big Ten, Michigan State’s Carlie Green was 15th, and Michigan’s Kaitlyn Patterson was 19th. Notre Dame senior Lindsey Ferguson has been running well all fall and was most recently 10th at the Big East Champs. Marissa Treece was 14th at regionals last year for Norte Dame, but was way off that performance at Big East where she was the team’s seventh runner. Getting near that performance will be critical to the team’s chance of making NCAAs. Wisconsin’s #1 Caitlin Comfort was also 10th at her conference meet, The Big Ten and Ohio State’s Jordan Jennewine was only two spots back. Freshman Camille Bushcomb of Purdue showed at the Big Ten meet that she can run with the top girls in the region. Ari Fisher of Toledo is fresh off an individual win at the MAC Championship and can certainly be a factor in the individual race this weekend. She finished 12 seconds ahead of the runner-up, Alexandra Lizarribar of Kent State. Lauren McKillop of Butler is also coming off of a conference victory. She took the Horizon League crown with teammate Katie Clark by her side for second. The two are freshmen. What you may expect to see… 1. Michigan 2. Notre Dame 3. Michigan State 4. Indiana 5. Ohio State 6. Miami (Ohio) 1. Peale (Michigan) 2. Robinson (Indiana) 3. MacLeod (Michigan St) 4. Ferguson (Notre Dame) 5. Pease (Indiana) 6. Comfort (Wisconsin) 7. Jennewine (Ohio St) 8. Green (Michigan St) 9. Clark (Butler) 10. Bushcomb (Purdue) 11. Fisher (Toledo) 12. Patterson (Michigan) <HR> Women's Midwest Regional – 2009 Ranked Teams: Illinois #13, Minnesota #17, Iowa State #18, Iowa #30, Nebraska Others Receiving Votes 2008 Automatic Qualifying Teams: Minnesota, Illinois 2008 At-Large Teams: Nebraska, Iowa 2008 Individual Champion: Racheal Marchand, Iowa Team Outlook in 2009: The top two ranked teams in this region were involved in a tightly contested Big Ten team battle last weekend. Finishing in 2nd and 3rd, only 3 points separated Illinois and Minnesota with the former coming out on top. The same happened at Pre-Nats with Illinois beating out Minnesota by a mere 8 points. Either team could end up taking this region. The Illini have a better top 4, but their 5th girl closing the gap is the difference between this being a good team and a great team. Minnesota has a deeper team, getting 9 in front of Illinois’ #5 at Big Tens. The Iowa women were back with a solid 6th place showing at that meet. The other highly ranked teams in the region finished 3-4-5-6 at the Big 12 Championships. Iowa State took third behind very good Texas Tech and Colorado teams. At Pre-Nats, Iowa State placed one spot ahead of Iowa suggesting they are the reasonable pick for third in the Midwest. They ran well at Griak, even beating Minnesota, so they are guaranteed an at-large point if Minnesota beats them out for the second spot this weekend. After Iowa State at Big 12s were Nebraska, Kansas, and Kansas State. These teams finished closely and could easily switch orders at regionals, but it appears the only way they will be making it to Terre Haute is if they come up big and place in the top 4. Individuals To Expect Up Front: This region features quite a few stellar ladies up front. Leading the field is last spring’s NCAA 5,000m Champion Angela Bizzarri of Illinois. Close behind her at Big 12s was Minnesota’s All-American Megan Duwell. Both of these women are very strong runners and will be up near the front in Terre Haute. They will also be racing Iowa State’s Lisa Koll who ran the fastest 10,000m by an American in NCAA history a year and a half ago. Steeplechase All-American Beverly Ramos of Kansas State is one of the best in this region, as well. She beat Koll at Pre-Nats, but 7 seconds back at their conference meet. Close behind Ramos, K-State has a Sydney Messick who was top 20 at both Pre-Nats and Big-12s. The best #2 runner is probably Illinois sophomore Kristin Sutherland who is having a breakthrough season. She placed 7th in a competitive Big Ten Championship. Not far back were Illinois #3 & #4 Elizabeth Boyle and Chantelle Groenewoud in 11th and 13th. Iowa State also had a solid pack of three behind their front runner, Koll, at their conference meet; Betsy Saina (17th), Grace Kemmey (18th) and Aliphine Tuliamuck (20th). Minnesota has the strongest across 5 runners with Duwell, Kayla Wagner, Stephanie Price, Heather Dorniden, and Elizabeth Yetzer all placing in the top 25 in the Big Ten. During the season, Brooke Eilers had been Iowa’s top finisher, placing 29th at Pre-Nats, but she was their 4th girl at Big Ten with Besty Flood taking the reins. Nebraska is led by Lara Crofford and Rachel Carrizales, who were 7-8 at regionals last year. Mihaela Susa of Oklahoma State is also one of the top returners after finishing 11th last year. Last year’s third place finisher Pasca Cheruiyot has transferred to Florida State, Leaving sophomore Terry Phillips to lead Missouri State. She has done a good job this season winning the MVC Champs and placing 12th at the Chili Pepper Festival. One spot ahead of her in that race was Katie Vanatta of Missouri. One place ahead of Vanatta at the Big 12 meet was Lauren Bonds of Kansas in 10th. What you may expect to see… 1. Illinois 2. Minnesota 3. Iowa State 4. Iowa 5. Nebraska 6. Kansas 1. Bizzarri (Illinois) 2. Koll (Iowa St) 3. Duwell (Minnesota) 4. Ramos (Kansas St) 5. Sutherland (Illinois) 6. Bonds (Kansas) 7. Vanatta (Missouri) 8. Phillips (Missouri St) 9. Boyle (Illinois) 10. Messick (Kansas St) 11. Crawford (Nebraska) 12. Groenewoud (Illinois) <HR> Women's South Regional – 2009 Ranked Teams: Florida #3, Florida State #9, Tennessee #29 2008 Automatic Qualifying Teams: Florida State, Florida 2008 At-Large Teams: None 2008 Individual Champion: Hollie Knight, Auburn Team Outlook in 2009: The previous 3 years the Sunshine State has dominated this region and 2009 should continue the trend. There is one difference, however. Now Florida looks primed to take top honors as Florida State is expected to grab the second auto-qualifying spot. Both teams made it back to NCAAs in 2006 after a brief hiatus. FSU quickly jumped to the podium in Terre Haute in both 2007 and 2008, while the Gators could not get out of the teens. This year Florida is ranked 3rd in the nation and will look to get on the podium for the first time in program history (11th is the Florida’s highest finish). It is a very competitive year and it will not be an easy. The truth is they may not even be the best team in the region. They both won their conference meets by a wide margin and each placed second in their race at Pre-Nationals. If you merge their results from their Pre-Nats races into a dual meet, Florida wins by 1 point, 27-28. In a larger meet, however, FSU’s Susan Kuijken should be able to score as low as 2 points which has a much bigger impact than in dual meet type races. Because this regional is really just a formality for these two strong teams, we may not see how these two squads match-up until Terre Haute. Either team could rest girls, or run at a reduced effort and still qualify through. The team that will be fighting to get to nationals at the South Regional is Tennessee. They Lady Vols are right on the cusp of an at-large bid it looks like. They beat Arkansas at the SEC meet and the Razorback’s are picked to qualify automatically out of the South Central region. Tennessee may get lucky and if they run really well they could slip in front of one of the Florida teams if they are resting for NCAAs. It is unlikely, but not out of the question. Georgia, Alabama, Vanderbilt, and Auburn, the next best teams in the South, were all well behind Tennessee at the SEC Champs and do not look to have the fire-power to make a run at an NCAA bid. Individuals To Expect Up Front: Kuijken is hands down the best runner in this region (and one of the best in the country). She was second in Terre Haute last November and has won NCAA titles on the track at 3,000m and 1,5000m. Kuijken may not win this race, however. At last year’s South Regional she ran a controlled race, pacing teammate Pilar McShine and placed third. She did the same thing at Pre-Nationals this fall. In an all out effort, Kuijken, McShine, and transfer Pasca Cheruiyot (mentioned in the Midwest section above) are all capable of placing top 5 in this region. Auburn’s Hollie Knight is a very good runner. She won the region last year and was 11th at NCAAs, but has not shown that form this season. She was 6th at the SEC meet, behind five girls who run in the South Region. Going 1-2 at the SEC meet was Florida’s much improved pair of sophomore Rebecca Lowe and junior Charlotte Browning. Not too far off were teammates Stacey Johnson and Genevieve LaCaze in 5th and 7th. Tennessee’s Jackie Areson was third, while Georgia’s Kristie Krueger was fourth. Areson was an individual qualifier to NCAAs last fall. Auburn has a strong #2 in Stephanie Barnes who recently finished 8th in the SEC. The #2 runners for Georgia (Bridget Lyons) and Tennessee (Brittany Sheffey) were 11-12 in the SEC, respectively. Last year, Alabama freshman Sara Vaughn placed 7th in the South earning an individual NCAA spot, but she has not been at that level during her sophomore campaign. Instead, Alabama has had fellow sophomore Kelsey Johnson up front. Leading their teams this year as top-15 finishers from last year are Vanderbilt’s Rita Jorgensen and Georgia State’s Janel Blancett. What you may expect to see… 1. Florida 2. Florida State 3. Tennessee 4. Georgia 5. Alabama 6. Vanderbilt 1. Kuijken (Florida St) 2. Lowe (Florida) 3. Browning (Florida) 4. Cheruiyot (Florida St) 5. McShine (Florida St) 6. Areson (Tennessee) 7. Krueger (Georgia) 8. Johnson (Florida) 9. Knight (Auburn) 10. LaCaze (Florida) 11. Barnes (Auburn) 12. Northrup (Florida) Justin Kopunek http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Justin Kopunek/9212-ncaa-regional-preview-4-womens-great-lakes-midwest-and-south Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:42:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/videos/speaker/898-ryan-fenton Just a quick note to let you know that the shirts are on their way. They should be there by the end of the week! Flotrack http://www.flotrack.org/videos/speaker/898-ryan-fenton Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:52:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/articles/view/1533-dii-region-recap-2009 The competition for the 2009 DII Cross Country championships is heating up. This past weekend the Region qualifying meets was held. For many the 2009 Cross Country season came to an end but for a handful of hard working individuals and teams, however, there is one last opportunity for sweat and glory: The DII Cross Country National Championships, being held at Evansville, IN on November 21, 2009. Below is a recap of last weekend’s regional championship races.  As usual, I encourage readers to supplement the information below. Atlantic -Edinboro’s Ben Hahn won the 10k men’s race with a course record time of 31:02. He was followed by Lock Haven’s Nick Hilton (31:19), Shippensburg’s Bryan Beegle (31:26), Indiana (PA)’s Hillary Mugan (31:30) and Lock Haven’s Brandon Pomerantz (31:35). All will advance to Nationals. Shippensburg took the team title with 39 points followed by Edinboro with 56 points to advance to Nationals. Lock Haven was third with 62 points. Shippensburg’s Neely Spence won the repeat as the individual champion with a course record time of 20:15 over the 6k distance. Spence finished 26 seconds ahead of runner-up Priscilla Jennings of Millersville (20:41) with Shippensburg’s Mary Dell finishing third (20:45).Slippery Rock’s Jennifer Harpp was fourth (20:58) with Mercyhurst’s Christie Turak (20:58). All will advance to Nationals. Shippensburg took the team title with 86 points followed by Kutztown (100) and Bloomsburg (120). All three teams will advance. Central- The Adam’s State trio of Brian Medigovich (30:57.2), Aaron Braun (30:57.3) and Reuben Mwei (30:57.3) took the top three spots over the 10k course. The top two individuals from non-qualifying teams that also advanced to the National championships were Niciase Kazingo of New Mexico Highlands finishing seventh overall with a time of 31:41 and Tanner Fruit of Nebraska-Kearney 32:28 and 16th place overall. Adams State easily won the team title with 20 points placing their top seven in the top 13. They were followed by Western State of Colorado in second at 47 and Colorado School of Mines in third with 100.  Metro State of Colorado (142 points) and Augustana (S.D.) (143) rounded out the five teams that advance to Nationals. Minnesota-Duluth’s Morgan Place took the individual title with the time of 21:39.0 over the 6k course. She was followed by Adams State’s Kristen McGlynn (21:58.5) and Alicia Nelson (22:02.4). The top two individuals from non-qualifying teams that also advanced to the national championships were Sydney Laws of Colorado Mines, fourth overall at 22:06, and Minnesota State’s Ali Paul, who was sixth at 22:20. Adams State won the team title with 36 points followed by Western State of Colorado in second at 88 and Augustana (SD) in third with 90 and the University of Mary (169 points), Metro State of Colorado (175) and Minnesota Duluth (179) round out the six teams that advance to nationals. East-American International College’s Glarius Rop won the individual title with nearly a 45 second (30:15.9) win over his teammate Victor Kemboi (31:01.0). Both will advance individually. UMass Lowell took the team title with 43 points and placing their top five in the top fifteen. Stonehill was second with 67 points. Both teams will advance. Bentley was third with 130 points. Stonehill’s Erin Carmone took home the individual title with a time of 22:16.5. She was followed by NYIT’s Jeptui Cerutich (22:27.3), Southern Connecticut State’s Laura Brustolon (22:31.4), NYIT’s Jackline Toek (22:50.2), and Philadelphia University’s Sarah Simonetti (22:52.5). They will all advance. Stonehill took the women’s title with 51 points followed by UMass Lowell with 76 points. Both will advance. Adelphi was third with 121 points. Midwest-Grand Valley’s Tyler Emmorey took the individual win covering the 10k course in 32:21.4. He was followed by Drury’s Jaime Villa Zapatera (32:28.5) and Northern Kentucky’s Drew Harris (32:29.5). Zaptera and Harris will qualify individually. Grand Valley took the team win with 38 points followed by Saginaw Valley (88) and Southern Indiana (90) to advance. Ferris State’s Christina Muir won with the time of 21:33.2 over the 6k course. Southern Indiana’s Mary Ballinger was second in 21:44.0 and Grand Valley’s Megan Maceratini was third in 21:52.5. The individual qualifiers were Lewis’s Kathryn Hague who was seventh in 22:28.1 and Hillsdale’s Ashley Quick who was ninth in 22:38.4. Grand Valley took the team title with a low 26 points, placing their top seven in the top 15. Southern Indiana was second with 76 points and Ferris State was third with 103. All three teams will advance. South Central-Abilene Christian’s Amos Sang was over a minute faster than his next competitor winning the individual title in a time of 29:53.23 over the 10k course. Southwest Baptist’s Michael Pierce was second in 30:57.74 and Central Missouri’s Laban Sialo was third in 31:07.74. Sang and Sialo will advance individually. Missouri Southern took the team title with 56 points followed by Southwest Baptist with 81 points and Pittsburg State with 86 points. All three teams will advance. Surprisingly, highly ranked Abilene Christian finished a distant tenth over all. Missouri Southern took the first three spots in the women’s race; Kimi Shank (20:59.05), Ashley Siler (21:18.80) and Ashley Bunch (21:32.61). Truman State’s Dani Dell’Orca and Anne Ratermann were the individual qualifiers. Missouri Southern scored a super low 18 points placing their top five in the top seven. Dallas Baptist was second with 84 points. Both will advance. South- Harding’s Daniel Kirwa won the men’s race in a time of 31:10 over the 10k course. He was followed by teammate Phillip Biwott (31:46) and Flordia Southern’s Ben Martucci (32:12).Gabriel Ghioca and Benedict College’s Dickson Toroitch were the individual qualifiers. Florida Tech’s Sara Trane took the individual title in a time of 21:37 and took one of the individual qualifying spots. She was followed by Tampa’s Jessica Butler (22:00) and Harding’s Katy Grant (22:05). Florida Southern’s Carolyn Kwambai was the other individual qualifier. Tampa took first place with 38 points followed by Harding with 47 points and Florida Tech was third with 143 points. Tampa and Harding will advance. Southeast-The men’s race came down to a lean with Queen’s Oscar Ogwaro outleaning Columbus State’s Meshack Koyiaki both coming through in the time of 31:14. Queen’s Futsum Mebrahtu was third in 31:34.  UNC-Pembroke’s Pardon Ndhlovu and Clayton State’s Fidelis Mustiso advanced to Nationals. Queens took the team title with 28 points, placing their top five in the top ten. Columbus State was second with 70 points and Mars Hill was third with 96 points. All will advance. In the women’s competition, Lenoir Rhyne’s Kate Griewish won with a time of 22:35. She was followed by Anderson’s Whitney Bishoff (22:42). Both will advance individually.  Columbus State took the team title with 68 points barely edging out Queens who had 69 points. Both teams will advance. Lees-McRae was third with 104 points. West- After last year’s West region’s trouble this year went smoothly. Alaska Anchorage’s Marko Cheseto took the individual title with a time of 30:42.5 over Western Washington’s Jordan Welling (30:59.4). Western Oregon’s Chris Reed (eighth, 31:26.1) and Barak Watson (11th, 31:39.8) of Northwest Nazarene will advance individually. Chico State took the team title with 42 points. Western Washington (74points) and Alaska Anchorage (96 points) will advance. Two-time defending national champion Jessica Pixler of Seattle Pacific claimed the individual crown with a winning time of 20:08.9, outdistancing Western Washington’s Sarah Porter, who took second with a 20:42.3 clocking, while the Alaska Anchorage trio of Hallide Wilt (21:11.5), Ruth Keino (21:11.8) and Miriam Kipng’Eno (21:17.9) rounded out the top five. Cal State L.A.’s Vivien Wadeck (10th, 21:34) and Megan Rolland of Humboldt State (11th, 21:41.5) qualified individually.Alaska Anchorage captured the team title with 35 points, followed by Chico State (58 points), Seattle Pacific (89 points) and Western Washington (64 points). All will advance Cara Hawkins http://www.flotrack.org/articles/view/1533-dii-region-recap-2009 Tue, 10 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Justin Kopunek/9197-ncaa-regional-preview-3-mens-great-lakes-midwest-and-south Men's Great Lakes Regional – 2009 Ranked Teams: Wisconsin #10, Butler #26, Ohio State #28, Indiana Others Receiving Votes 2008 Automatic Qualifying Teams: Wisconsin, Michigan 2008 At-Large Teams: Butler, Notre Dame 2008 Individual Champion: Patrick Smyth, Notre Dame Team Outlook in 2009: Last weekend Wisconsin finally put all the pieces together at the Big Ten Champs and ran like a team that has been in the top 5 at NCAAs every year for the past ten years. They scored an impressively low 26 points, sticking all their scorers in the top 8 and their entire top 7 in the top 16. The next closest to them in team scoring was Ohio State with 91 points. Being that the Buckeyes are the third ranked team in the region, the Big Ten meet suggests Wisconsin should be qualifying to nationals relatively easily. The Badgers seem to be well ahead of the second ranked team, Butler, as well. Coming off a perfect 15 score at the Horizon League Championships, Butler will be a good match against Ohio State for the final auto-spot. Butler did not have the best race at Pre-Nationals, so they would have a tough time qualifying through with points. The Great Lakes Region is relatively weak this year with Michigan and Notre Dame having not as strong as they have been in the past and it seems likely will only get two teams in. Indiana may be the best shot for an at-large team from the region. They had a big win at Paul Short, beating Iona and N.C. State, which could earn them 2 much needed points. This Indiana team is good and I would not count them out of the race for an auto-spot either. You can read more about the Indiana team here. Individuals To Expect Up Front: Butler’s Andy Baker is not only the top returner behind last year’s runner-up finish, but he has also been one of the top runners in the NCAA this season. He was 3rd at Notre Dame and 2nd at Pre-Nats. You can expect that all of Wisconsin’s runners will be in the lead pack. At Big Tens they were lead by underclassmen Elliot Krause, Maverick Darling, and Mohammed Ahmed, followed closely by All-Americans Craig Miller and Landon Peacock. Ohio State has an All-American of its own up front in Jeff See with sophomore Taylor Williams heading up the team’s main pack. Indiana is led by two underclassmen, Freshman Zach Mayhew and sophomore Andrew Poore, both of whom were top 10 in the Big Ten. Michigan’s Sean McNamara was 10th in the region last year, but way back in 23rd at the Big Ten Champs. They were led by freshman Brendon Blacklaws led the Wolverines at that meet. Notre Dame is led by senior Jake Walker and Michigan State by sophomore Josh McAlary. Third in the region last year, Chris Lemon of Dayton will be looking to make another trip to Terre Haute this year. He recently won the Atlantic 10 Championships and his brother Matt Lemon also earned an individual NCAA bid last fall. Scott Keeney of Indiana State gave the Sycamores representation on their home course at Terre Haute last November. This year, ISU has 3 other runners Eric Shultz, Jeremiah Vaughan, and Mike Disher, right with Keeney. If they will be able to get any an individual bid may come down to whether more than 2 teams qualify out of this region or not. Kent State’s top runners were right in the mix with Wisconsin’s early in the season at the Iona Meet of Champs. Scott Hilditch was their top runner at that meet and Aiman Scullion was the MAC individual champ for Kent State. Eric Finan of Cincinnati was the top collegiate finisher at the Iona Meet of Champs and could be up towards the front at regionals. What you may expect to see… 1. Wisconsin 2. Butler 3. Ohio State 4. Indiana 5. Michigan 6. Dayton 1. Baker (Butler) 2. Krause (Wisconsin) 3. See (Ohio State) 4. C. Lemon (Dayton) 5. Darling (Wisconsin) 6. Ahmed (Wisconsin) 7. Mayhew (Indiana) 8. Peacock (Wisconsin) 9. Miller (Wisconsin) 10. Poore (Indiana) 11. Finan (Cincinnati) 12. Scullion (Kent State) <HR> Men's Midwest Regional – 2009 Ranked Teams: Oklahoma State #2, Oklahoma #18, Iowa State #27, Minnesota #29, Tulsa Others Receiving Votes 2008 Automatic Qualifying Teams: Oklahoma State, Minnesota 2008 At-Large Teams: Tulsa, Iowa State 2008 Individual Champion: Hassan Mead, Minnesota Team Outlook in 2009: NCAA #2 Oklahoma State should comfortably win this race once again. The only question on this team is if they will run their entire varsity squad, or let a few guys take the day off. Also, will the guys who do race at regionals run as a pack, or go all out. Last year their top 4 ran within a second of each other at the meet and they rested a few members. Oklahoma appears to be the top pick for that second auto-spot. They recently finished a strong 3rd at the Big 12 meet, not far off a very good Colorado team. They also beat Iowa State comfortably, which should give them confidence going in to the regional meet. Iowa State is by no means out of the running for that second spot, this is a very good Iowa State team that could slip into the top two if Oklahoma falters at all. Other teams making the push for Terre Haute are Minnesota and Tulsa. Both of these teams are right on the cusp of an at-large bid right now. If they land in the 3-5 spots, a trip to NCAAs is certainly a possibility. If either team is able to get into that third spot, they will likely be pushed in by the team they finished ahead of (most likely Iowa State). Tulsa recently finished in 2nd by 1 point to UTEP at the Conference USA Championships and Minnesota was 3rd at the Big Ten Champs, only 6 points out of second. Individuals To Expect Up Front: Again, this rests on who from Oklahoma State runs and how hard. In an all out effort, everyone in their top 4 (John Kosgei, Ryan Vail, Colby Lowe, German Fernandez) is capable of winning with their fifth man (Girma Mecheso) not far off. They have mostly run as a pack so far this year making it difficult to tell just how good the Cowboys are individually and where they stack up against each other. We may not find out until NCAAs. All-American Hassan Mead is the defending regional champ and just won the Big Ten title making him the most likely to keep Ok State from going 1-4. Also capable of breaking up the Cowboy’s pack is Tulsa senior John Beattie. Last year he was 29th at Terre Haute and 10th in the 10k at NCAAs on the track. He is fresh off a Conference USA individual win and was top-10 at Notre Dame (5th) and Pre-Nats (7th) this season. Both Iowa State and Oklahoma are lead by strong trios this year. Iowa St by Guar Marial, Hillary Bor, and Yonas Mebrahtu and Oklahoma by Kevin Schwab, Bill Kogel, and Robert Sorrell. Tulsa and Minnesota also have two solid runners behind their stud. Backing up Beattie is Lewis Timmins and Mark Davidson. Timmins was 20th at Pre-Nationals this year and Davidson was 10th at regionals last year. Behind Mead are Matt Barrett and Ben Blakenship. Barrett was 9th at Big Tens and Blankenship was 12th last year at regionals. Southern Illinois senior Jeff Schirmer finally began rounding into form at the MVC Champs after a shaky beginning of the season. He was 25th at NCAAs last fall, but the team had been led by Mohamed Mohamed until the conference championship. Jonah Lagat of Oral Roberts is a returning individual qualifier, as is Jesse Luciano of Iowa. Luciano finished just outside All-American at NCAAs last year in 43rd and was only his team’s second man for most of the season. Iowa freshman Jeff Thode may be one of the best true freshman in the NCAA this year, he just need to qualify individual to the Terre Haute to prove it, his conference meet was not his best effort and the long college season may be taking its toll on the freshman. What you may expect to see… 1. Oklahoma State 2. Oklahoma 3. Iowa State 4. Minnesota 5. Tulsa 6. Southern Illinois 1. Mead (Minnesota) 2. Beattie (Tulsa) 3. Kosgei (Oklahoma St) 4. Vail (Oklahoma St) 5. Fernandez (Oklahoma St) 6. Lowe (Oklahoma St) 7. Marial (Iowa St) 8. Schwab (Oklahoma) 9. Blankenship (Minnesota) 10. Thode (Iowa) 11. Timmins (Tulsa) 12. Bor (Iowa St) <HR> Men's South Regional – 2009 Ranked Teams: Alabama #6, Florida State#21, Auburn #25 2008 Automatic Qualifying Teams: Alabama, Auburn 2008 At-Large Teams: Florida State 2008 Individual Champion: Felix Kibioywo, Auburn Team Outlook in 2009: This Alabama team is very good and is certainly the class of the field in the South Region. They have solid front runners and a great depth. At the SEC Championships they had only a 30 second spread from 1-6 to ensure the team title. They had a similar spread at Pre-Nats to place them a strong 2nd behind the defending NCAA Champion Ducks. Up front, Auburn is a better team than any other team in the region. In fact, they have one of the best top three runners in the country and a very good fourth runner. Like last year, Auburn’s problem is the back end of the scoring being too far back. Imagine is Girma Mecheso had not transferred this year; Auburn would be quite a formidable team. They key to getting an auto-bid is their fifth runner. Standing in their way is Florida State. The Seminoles had their best team race of the year so far at the ACC Champs, finishing 3rd, only 1 point behind Virginia. They are not as strong as Auburn up front, but the back end of their scoring is stronger. Their fifth man is actually Foot Locker Champ Mike Fout who is regaining his fitness and has been closing the gap on the rest of his team throughout the season. The best shot for the South Region to get 3 teams to Terre Haute seems to be for Florida State to beat Auburn at Regionals. This season, Auburn has beaten more teams that are ranked top-2 in their respective regions which would give them at-large points that FSU may be lacking if the finish third this weekend. The nest three teams in the region, Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee showed they were pretty closely matched at the SEC meet, but there is a big gap between these three and the top three South Region teams. Individuals To Expect Up Front: The 2006 South Regional Champ Barnabas Kirui of Ole Miss is back and looks primed to reclaim the title. The 2007 NCAA Steeplechase Champ has not been the most present talent over the past couple of year, but do not overlook this talent who just won the SEC title. Auburn is led by last year’s regional champ Felix Kibioywo, Jean-Pierre Weerts, and Ben Cheruiyot who were 3-4-5 in the SEC. Trying to match them will be Alabama’s top 4; Moses Kiptoo, Tyson David, Fred Samoei, and Julius Bor. They were all top 15 at the SEC Champs and top 30 at Pre-Nats. Florida State is headed up by the contingent of Matt Leeder, Daniel Roberts, and Michigan transfer Ciaran O’Lionaird, fifth, ninth, and tenth respectively in the ACC. Florida is led by Justin Taylor and Anthony Morales. Morales led the team at Pre-Nats, while Taylor was in front at SECs taking 10th. Tennessee’s Michael Spooner was just a few ticks behind Taylor, good enough for 11th in the conference. An individual NCAA qualifier from last year, Micah Tirop of South Alabama is a threat to qualify again. He was 13th at Pre-Nationals and may not even be the top finisher from his team at regionals. Sophomore Zac Edwards led South Alabama at the Sun Belt Conference Championships by taking the individual crown. Middle Tennessee’s Festus Chemaoi was second in that race, but a significant 32 seconds back. What you may expect to see… 1. Alabama 2. Florida State 3. Auburn 4. Florida 5. Georgia 6. Tennessee 1. Kirui (Ole Miss) 2. Kibioywo (Auburn) 3. Weerts (Auburn) 4. Cheruiyot (Auburn) 5. Leeder (Florida St) 6. Kiptoo (Alabama) 7. David (Alabama) 8. Taylor (Florida) 9. Spooner (Tennessee) 10. Edwards (South Alabama) 11. Samoei (Alabama) 12. Roberts (Florida St) Justin Kopunek http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Justin Kopunek/9197-ncaa-regional-preview-3-mens-great-lakes-midwest-and-south Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:19:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/articles/view/1537-wallace-spearmon-jr-on-the-flonetwork The FloNetwork just got a little bit faster. Wallace Spearmon Jr., 100 and 200 meter specialist, and multiple World Champ Medalist, is now on the FloNetwork. Wallace, located just north of the Flotrack HQ in College Station, TX, has been a regular on Flotrack, showing what it takes to be one of the best sprinters in the world. Wallace is an alum of Arkansas and most recently got a bronze in Berlin at the 2009 World Champs in the 200.  Check out Wallace's videos, results, bio, and more on his new site: FloNetwork WallaceSpearmonjr.com   Track and Field Videos on Flotrack Pat Hitchins http://www.flotrack.org/articles/view/1537-wallace-spearmon-jr-on-the-flonetwork Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:08:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Justin Kopunek/9178-ncaa-regional-preview-2-womens-northeast-mid-atlantic-and-southeast Women's Northeast Regional – 2009 Ranked Teams: Syracuse #10, Providence #21 2008 Automatic Qualifying Teams: Providence, Syracuse 2008 At-Large Teams: Boston College, Stony Brook 2008 Individual Champion: Danette Doetzel, Providence Team Outlook in 2009: The Providence women’s team made their first trip to nationals in 1989 and they have not been absent at the championship since. That 20 year streak does not look like it will be broken this year, but they will not be going in to the meet as top dogs. Syracuse has been running great all season and is the favorite in the Northeast. They recently beat Providence head-to-head at the Big East Championships where the Orange had 4 girls in before the second Friar. Going in as the top ranked team is new this year, last year the Syracuse women surprised everyone at regionals to get the second auto-spot and earn the program’s first trip to NCAAs. It was the second year in a row the NE women’s race had such a surprise and both times it allowed for the region to get more that two teams to Terre Haute. It seems this year the only way a third team is making it out of this region is for the same to happen again. Usually strong in the Northeast, Stony Brook and Boston College have not looked as strong as they have in the past. Stony Brook had no seniors run at regionals last year, so they potentially could be a better team than their regular season has shown, but they will have to take a top two spot to get their 3rd consecutive trip to nationals. The Ivy League teams have been strong this year, particularly Harvard and Columbia, but they also have not produced any big wins in the regular season that would give them points for an at-large bid. As it looks, top 2 is a necessity for every team other than Syracuse and Providence. Individuals To Expect Up Front: The top 5 from last year’s race have graduated, leaving this race wide opened. The top returner is Krystal Douglass of Providence, but she does not seem to be in the same form as she was just 47th at the Big East Champs. Freshman Shelby Greany and sophomore Hannah Davidson have been leading the Friars this season. Anyone in their top 5 has a shot at being in the top 15, Providence had 5 in the top 13 last year. The same goes for Syracuse’s scorers chances of being up front this year. They are led by Kathleen Hursey with Maegen Krifchin, Cathrine Desarle, and Rebekah McKay not far behind. The Ivy League has a strong contingent of girls that may monopolize the individual bids. Claire Richardson (Harvard), Ariel Wright (Brown), Jackie Drouin (Columbia) and Stephanie Pancoast (Cornell) each led their team at Heps by finishing in a row behind Princeton’s perfect-15 scoring top 5. Looking to break up that Ivy block will be Boston College’s Jillian King who recently finished 11th in a strong ACC Championship. Her sister and teammate Caroline King should not be counted out either. Another pair of sisters, Holly and Lucy Van Dalen of Stony Brook are two of the top returners from last year and teammate Laure Huet has been running well this year, as well. They went 2-3-4 at the America East Champs, with Maine’s Corey Conner taking the individual title. Iona’s Anna Jorgensen is also coming of an individual conference win at the MAAC Champs. Both Conner and Jorgensen could be factors in the individual race up front. What you may expect to see… 1. Syracuse 2. Providence 3. Harvard 4. Stony Brook 5. Columbia 6. Cornell 1. Hursey (Syracuse) 2. Greany (Providence) 3. J. King (BC) 4. Krifchin (Syracuse) 5. Desarle (Syracuse) 6. Davidson (Providence) 7. Richardson (Harvard) 8. McKay (Syracuse) 9. Wright (Brown) 10. Twohig (Providence) 11. Conner (Maine) 12. H. Van Dalen (Stony Brook) <HR> Women's Mid-Atlantic Regional – 2009 Ranked Teams: Villanova #2, Princeton #4, West Virginia #7, Penn State #12, Georgetown #15 2008 Automatic Qualifying Teams: Princeton, West Virginia 2008 At-Large Teams: Villanova, Georgetown 2008 Individual Champion: Frances Koons, Villanova Team Outlook in 2009: This is the deepest women’s region, by far. They take up 1/3rd of the top 15 ranked teams in the NCAA. This will be a great race between 5 great teams, but the fact remains that with the way these women have run in the regular season, all 5 should be getting in easily, no matter where in the top 5 they fall. Villanova came out of the gate swinging this year, trouncing a highly ranked Oregon team at their home meet. Most recently they handily won an extremely competitive Big East Championships with a meager 30 points. 46 points back was a very good West Virginia team, with Georgetown in 4th. We know how these 3 teams match up against each other, but it will be interesting to see where exactly the other 2 nationally ranked teams fit in. Princeton was perfect at their conference meet going 1-5 and Penn State came up huge to win a close Big Ten Conference title. Penn State was one of the better teams left out of NCAAs last year due to a deficiency in at-large points. By winning the Big Ten meet, they potentially picked up 4 points by beating Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, and Michigan State, who are all ranked in the top 2 in their regions. There is a bit of a drop off to the next best team, Bucknell. The only way another team could squeak in would be by beating one of these five teams, who would have to be having a very off day, at regionals. Individuals To Expect Up Front: Princeton’s Liz Costello, who was 2nd last year, is the top returner and she is coming off her third consecutive Ivy League win in 16:55 (the fastest in Heps history). USA World Team member Bridget Franek of Penn State, however, may be the favorite. Franek just won the Big Ten crown over Angela Bizzarri (Illinois) and Megan Duwell (Minnesota), both of whom beat Costello at Pre-Nationals. The top 25 is going to be filled with runners from the top 5 teams, as it was last year. Villanova’s Sheila Reid won the Big East meet and could contend for the individual title. She was followed closely by Amanda Marino and the rest of the ‘Nova top 5 weren’t far behind (Bogdana Mimic, Brooke Simpson, Ali Smith). After Costello, Princeton has a strong group of Alex Banfich, Sarah Cumming, Ashley Higginson, and Reilly Kiernan. West Virginia is led by the trio of Clara Grandt, Marie Louise Asselin, and Keri Bland and Georgetown by Emily Infeld, Katie McCafferty, and Emily Jones. Bland was 14th at NCAAs last year, one spot ahead of Costello, but she was only 13th at Big East. After Franek, Penn State has two freshmen, Nicole Lord and Brooklyne Ridder, leading the heart of their team. Fronting the group of runners not from these 5 teams looks to be Megan Hogan of George Washington. Hogan was an individual NCAA qualifier last fall and is coming off a large win at the Atlantic 10 Champs. What you may expect to see… 1. Villanova 2. Princeton 3. West Virginia 4. Penn State 5. Georgetown 6. Bucknell 1. Franek (Penn State) 2. Reid (Villanova) 3. Costello (Princeton) 4. Marino (Villanova) 5. Infeld (Georgetown) 6. Cummings (Princeton) 7. Mimic (Villanova) 8. Higginson (Princeton) 9. Grandt (WV) 10. Asselin (WV) 11. Lord (Penn State) 12. Simpson (Villanova) <HR> Women's Southeast Regional – 2009 Ranked Teams: Duke #15, Virginia #19, N.C. State ORV, North Carolina ORV 2008 Automatic Qualifying Teams: Virginia, Kentucky 2008 At-Large Teams: None 2008 Individual Champion: Tasmin Fanning, Virginia Tech Team Outlook in 2009: The top four ranked teams in this region are all in the Atlantic Coast Conference, so we have already seen how they stack up against each other over 6,000m and not much should change at regionals unless there are new additions, or people sit-out. The Duke women put together a nice conference race to cement themselves as the favorites in the Southeast. You can read more about the Blue Devils here. Virginia was not far behind at ACCs and their usual 5th girl did not run. If they have her back, the teams could be reversed at regionals. The next two teams at ACCs were N.C. State and North Carolina. Both teams are right on the cusp of making it in at-large. A lot of their fortune, if they place 3rd and 4th at regionals, will be in the hands of what teams qualify automatically in other regions. UNC’s top runner, All American Lauren Holesh, was their 4th across the line at the conference meet. Had she run how she normally does, the Tar Heels would have been right with N.C. State in team scoring. They will need her to be racing at top form if they want to grab the 3rd spot, which would be important considering how close to that 31st spot both these teams are. William & Mary and James Madison are the next best teams on paper, but they will need to run out of their shoes to grab get past the top four teams. Individuals To Expect Up Front: The top returner from 2008 is Janet Jesang of Western Kentucky who was 3rd in the Southeast last year and 13th at Nationals. She is running well this year, defending her Sun Belt Conference title and placing 5th at Pre-Nationals. Holesh should be a contender up front if she rebounds from her sub-par ACC performance. She will have to deal with new addition to the Southeast Region Catherine White, who transferred to Virginia from Arkansas this year. White was second only to FSU’s Susan Kuijken (who runs in the South Region) at the ACC Champs. Her teammate Morgane Gay has also been running quite well this season, as has Holesh’s teammate Ashley Verplank. Duke is lead by the very good pair of Carly Seymour and Juliet Bottorff and N.C. State is headed by Emily Pritt. All three were in the top 10 at ACCs, as was Kim Ruck of Clemson. Louisville’s Tarah McKay, who was 5th last year at regionals, looks primed to take an individual spot at NCAAs again this season. The same can be said of Charlotte’s Amanda Goetschius, who was 8th last year. Emily Anderson of William & Mary is a dark horse. She did not compete in cross country regionals last fall, but she is a 3 time All American on the track at 5,000m and 1,500m. Nicol Traynor of Richmond qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships at 5,000m last fall, but has missed most of the season. She returned for her conference meet, but it will be a unknown if she can return to full fitness by regionals. Kentucky is lead by freshman Chelsea Oswald who was 14th in?the strong SEC Champs. What you may expect to see… 1. Virginia 2. Duke 3. North Carolina 4. N.C. State 5. William & Mary 6. James Madison 1. Jesang (W. Kentucky) 2. White (Virginia) 3. Holesh (UNC) 4. Gay (Virginia) 5. Seymour (Duke) 6. Anderson (William & Mary) 7. McKay (Louisville) 8. Pritt (N.C. State) 9. Goetschius (Charlotte) 10. Verplank (UNC) 11. Ruck (Clemson) 12. Bottorff (Duke) Justin Kopunek http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Justin Kopunek/9178-ncaa-regional-preview-2-womens-northeast-mid-atlantic-and-southeast Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:15:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/articles/view/1525-erik-van-ingen-kwik-e Binghamton's Erik Van Ingen had a stellar 2009 outdoor track season. The underclassman made it all the way to the USA Championships, where he failed to make the final, but still locked down a 1,500-meter personal-best time of 3 minutes, 43.18 seconds in his sophomore outdoor season. At the America East Cross Country Championships this past weekend, Van Ingen took the individual title. With his eyes set on making it to the NCAA Championships at Terre Haute, let's see if Van Ingen can reach his goal! What are your individual goals for this season? Originally the plan was to get to Terre Haute on the 23rd. That's the biggest plan. I've got to make it there as an individual, which is pretty tough. Pretty much, if I get there, that's the biggest thing. My coach and I have been tossing around the phrase “All-American”. We really don't know 100% what I'm capable of. It's pretty vague what I'm hoping to accomplish this fall. If I can get to the NCAA meet, than that's the priority. It's a lot easier to assess and set your goals as far as track is concerned. That's just solely because of the consistent nature of track. You don't really have that in cross. With me, just with cross, it's tough to tell because I've come such a long way since last January and February to now. I'm pretty much a different runner, so it's hard to gauge how much I'm improving really. That's another thing that's really throwing everything off as to what I'm able to do. That's got to be exciting too! Like you don't know your own bounds. God, it's cool! It's really cool! I like to know things for sure, but it's really good at the same time. ">What are your team goals? We're hoping to get top seven, as strange of a number as that might sound. That's just where we can see ourselves finishing if we run well. For the past couple of years for our team, it's been a huge transition. Two years ago, our program was basically a joke and it was bad. It's come a long way. Now we're a team that, you know, we get some attention on the East Coast. Hopefully we can continue the trend to where we can be a team that can be noticed on a national stage. That's to be determined. We could be one of those obscure teams that's known for cross country, like an American type. Why did you decide to go to college—I just did this on Google Maps—27 miles away from where you went to high school? My whole school-picking process was pretty screwed up. In high school, I was into running, but it wasn't my everything like it is now. In high school, I was a big skier and it was main sport. Originally, I was planning on skipping college to pursue a professional career in skiing. My parents were pretty against that and I wised up. An education will hopefully help me out later on. I ended up going to school at Canisius College out in Buffalo. They offered scholarship money and only had cross country. I was able to get money and only obligated to run during the fall and the summer. As far as trying to ski, that was good. At the end of my senior year was when I really started running well. The next six months after that was a bit of a transition stage in figuring out what I wanted to do. That's when I figured out that running is what I wanted to do. And that's when I transferred. The fact that it's 27 miles away from home is pretty much coincidence. I looked at a couple of schools out west. For schools on the East Coast, it was Binghamton and Syracuse. I ended up coming to Binghamton just because I was a little scared of going to a program where I wasn't the big dog. At my high school program I was a big fish in a small pond. That's what I was comfortable with. Also academics played into the decision a bit. It was a coincidence that it was that close. Actually, at the time, my mom was a graduate student in the nursing program. So, I went to school with my mom for some amount of time. Although I never saw her on campus. You couldn't carpool with her? There's no chance in hell that I'd carpool with my mom to college. Was there a split decision for you where you're like, “OK, here it is. Running or skiing?” A quick decision or a gradual process? It was so long. In high school, my coach couldn't understand why I was so adamant against not running indoor track and skiing. I think it was because he saw I had a lot of talent and wanted to see me succeed. He was always pounding it in my head to give running a try. It was a fragile process. I remember being in Canisius and being on the phone with my high school coach and one thing he said just turned my switch. It was a culmination of a long time of having to make this decision. The light just turned on upstairs. It was like, “this is it!” And ever since then it's been like, “I made my decision.” And I try not to b*tch and complain about it. (Link to Erik's ski promo video) What were doing in high school? Were you a low-mileage guy who was just really talented? I was trained really well. My high school coach knew his stuff for sure. During the summers, I'd go out for runs and during my senior year, I'd peak at 70 miles. But, throughout cross, I'd maintain at about 50. During the summer, I'd just do some cruise intervals, some reps...similar to the Daniels stuff. That was pretty much a frame for a lot of my high school training. I wouldn't run a step from Thanksgiving weekend to the first day of track practice. Then in the spring my coach would just race me into shape and for the first month, month and a half, I'd feel like garbage. All of a sudden, I'd feel good. Since I came to college, my coach here is pretty conservative, I guess, in her approach. I spent the majority of my freshman year and some of my sophomore cross country year kind of butting heads with her. I guess I'm pretty aggressive with my running and my approach with training. I ran into a scenario where I was not listening to her very much and over training and running too hard on my runs and all that junk. Last indoor season is when I finally gave into her advice and started running really well. As far as mileage, last year I was 70-75. This year I'm between 80-85. It's a pretty normal training layout. In the fall, it's 40-minute tempo runs and V02 stuff. It's pretty basic stuff. Interview interrupted by my dog, Maddy, playing with her squeakiest toys right next to me. Do you go by any interesting nicknames or anything like that? Pretty much just, “Van Ingen”. In high school, a couple of guys called me “Sanchez”. That was because I'd come back from skiing trips and have a dirty-a*s ski-goggle tan and it looked like I had a dirty, Mexican beard. They thought it was pretty funny. It stuck through high school and even when I'd go home for break, people still call me it. Other than that, it's just my last name. What do you and your teammates do for fun in Binghamton? Fun things in Binghamton (laughs)? I joke around and say it's a lot like purgatory. It's not bad, but it's not like Miama, Florida. We do pretty normal stuff. I'm pretty low-key during the season. After a workout recently we went apple picking. We play video games...Super Smash Bros and Call of Duty. Last semester I had Xbox Live and it was like, “game over!” My roommates discovered the Nazi zombie and it was just too much fun. Typical college kid stuff. Whatever we can find to do when we're not practicing or studying. You vaguely mentioned not knowing your own bounds. Do you have any long-term goals in mind? Oh, yeah. Everyone's got goals and ambitions and dreams and stuff. I'd like to have a shot at winning an NCAA title on the track before I leave Binghamton. I'll be sticking around through 2012, taking a fifth year. I'd like to run professionally and make a World Championship or Olympic team. As ridiculous as that sounds, I think I have a lot of upside. I've only been training as—I don't want to say a world-class runner— an elite runner for the past year and a half or so. Hopefully that stuff will happen, because honestly I don't want to do much else than run and I sure as hell don't want to get a real job after college. With those types of runners coming out of the bigger programs, do you feel like it's going to be harder for you to accomplish what you want to accomplish? It doesn't phase me. I just think that I don't really give a sh*t about that too much. I have all the contacts and stuff within our school. We just had a pole vaulter sign a contract with Asics about a year and a half ago. Was that Quiller? Yeah, that was Rory. Our coach is familiar with what needs to be done with all that and stuff. It's nice to have someone who's been there to help out with the process. That kind of stuff just motivates me and lights a fire under me. Throughout my running career, a lot of people have underestimated me and that's really gotten me really stoked and got me training so I can run my butt off. It's ideal for me in that aspect. If you could have one meal, prepared by anyone, what would you have and who would make it? I would have my mom make a Shoefly Pie. That's what I'd have. Can you explain that one for us? I sure can. Everyone seems to think I'm making that one up or something. It's like a Pennsylvania-Dutch sort of thing. It's molasses and brown sugar and I don't know what else, but it's just heavy and rich and sweet. My mom will make it every now and then as a treat. Whenever she makes it, it's gone pretty quickly and I kind of regret how quickly it's gone. I'm usually on the couch and in a considerable amount of pain. Can you give a crazy running-related story? When I was at Canisius we were doing one of our normal runs or whatever. And were in this Buffalo suburb to the east of Buffalo called Amherst. We were running down some neighborhood street and taking up the whole road like a bunch of jackasses. A guy driving a big Range Rover or some really big SUV drives up and is honking his horn while screaming at us. As he drives, a bunch of the guys on the team start banging on the car and stuff and he slams on the brakes and starts driving along with us as we're running and talking sh*t. His girlfriend is sitting next to him in the passenger seat, so he's got to act all tough. One of my friends gets up on the back bumper and starts climbing on top of the SUV. Our captain at the time, gets in the guy's face and they exchange some words and ends up spitting in the guy's face. It was bad, I'm surprised he didn't get try to get out and try to take out five or six scrawny runner boys. This guy was tough! He said some choice words and said that he was going to get the police. He drove off all big and bad. We never heard from him again.   Tony Casey http://www.flotrack.org/articles/view/1525-erik-van-ingen-kwik-e Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:00:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/articles/view/1523-kolas-calculator-3-nov-4th-women Nationals Qualifiers by Round QUALIFIER #1 is SYRACUSE (#1 NE) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS) QUALIFIER #1 is VILLANOVA (#1 Md-At) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS) QUALIFIER #1 is DUKE (#1 SE) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS) QUALIFIER #1 is MICHIGAN (#1 Gr-Lk) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS) QUALIFIER #1 is ILLIONIS (#1 Mid-W) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS) QUALIFIER #1 is SOUTHERN METHODIST (#1 S-Cen) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS) QUALIFIER #1 is COLORADO (#1 Mtn) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS) QUALIFIER #1 is WASHINGTON (#1 West) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS) QUALIFIER #1 is FLORIDA (#1 South) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS) QUALIFIER #1 is PROVIDENCE (#2 NE) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS) QUALIFIER #1 is PRINCETON (#2 Md-At) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS) QUALIFIER #1 is VIRGINIA (#2 SE) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS) QUALIFIER #1 is MICHIGAN STATE (#2 Gr-Lk) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS) QUALIFIER #1 is MINNESOTA (#2 Mid-W) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS) QUALIFIER #1 is ARKANSAS (#2 S-Cen) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS) QUALIFIER #1 is TEXAS TECH (#2 Mtn) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS) QUALIFIER #1 is OREGON (#2 West) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS) QUALIFIER #1 is FLORIDA STATE (#2 South) (PLACED TOP 2 AT REGIONALS) QUALIFIER #19 is WEST VIRGINIA (#3 Md-At) (*Pushed in by PENN STATE) (Entered on 3 wins) Wins against qualified listed: PROVIDENCE (PENN STATE NATIONAL) SYRACUSE (BIG EAST) PROVIDENCE (BIG EAST) QUALIFIER #19 is PENN STATE (#4 Md-At) (Entered on 8 wins) Wins against qualified listed: FLORIDA STATE (NOTRE DAME INVITE) SOUTHERN METHODIST (NOTRE DAME INVITE) PROVIDENCE (NOTRE DAME INVITE) PROVIDENCE (PENN STATE NATIONAL) ILLIONIS (BIG TEN) MINNESOTA (BIG TEN) MICHIGAN (BIG TEN) MICHIGAN STATE (BIG TEN) QUALIFIER #21 is NEW MEXICO (#3 Mtn) (*Pushed in by BYU) (Entered on 3 wins) Wins against qualified listed: FLORIDA STATE (NOTRE DAME INVITE) SOUTHERN METHODIST (NOTRE DAME INVITE) PROVIDENCE (NOTRE DAME INVITE) QUALIFIER #21 is BYU (#4 Mtn) (Entered on 4 wins) Wins against qualified listed: MICHIGAN (WISCONSIN INVITE) ARKANSAS (WISCONSIN INVITE) ARKANSAS (CHILE PEPPER INVITE) SOUTHERN METHODIST (CHILE PEPPER INVITE) QUALIFIER #23 is ARIZONA STATE (#3 West) (Entered on 3 wins) *ARIZONA STATE wins common-opponent against IOWA STATE *ARIZONA STATE wins common-opponent against IOWA STATE *ARIZONA STATE wins common-opponent against IOWA STATE Wins against qualified listed: FLORIDA STATE (NOTRE DAME INVITE) SOUTHERN METHODIST (NOTRE DAME INVITE) PROVIDENCE (NOTRE DAME INVITE) QUALIFIER #24 is IOWA STATE (#3 Mid-W) (Entered on 3 wins) Wins against qualified listed: MINNESOTA (ROY GRIAK) MICHIGAN STATE (ROY GRIAK) MICHIGAN STATE (PRE NATIONALS BLUE) QUALIFIER #25 is GEORGETOWN (#5 Md-At) (Entered on 3 wins) Wins against qualified listed: IOWA STATE (PRE NATIONALS BLUE) MICHIGAN STATE (PRE NATIONALS BLUE) PROVIDENCE (BIG EAST) QUALIFIER #26 is STANFORD (#4 West) (Entered on 2 wins) *STANFORD wins head-to-head against IOWA Wins against qualified listed: IOWA STATE (PRE NATIONALS BLUE) MICHIGAN STATE (PRE NATIONALS BLUE) QUALIFIER #27 is CALIFORNIA (#5 West) (*Pushed in by ARIZONA) (Entered on 0 wins) *CALIFORNIA wins head-to-head against IOWA Wins against qualified listed: NO WINS QUALIFIER #27 is ARIZONA (#6 West) (Entered on 2 wins) Wins against qualified listed: IOWA STATE (PRE NATIONALS BLUE) MICHIGAN STATE (PRE NATIONALS BLUE) QUALIFIER #29 is NORTE DAME (#3 Gr-Lk) (Entered on 2 wins) Wins against qualified listed: ARIZONA (NOTRE DAME INVITE) ARIZONA STATE (PRE NATIONALS WHITE) QUALIFIER #29 is IOWA (#4 Mid-W) (Entered on 2 wins) Wins against qualified listed: ARKANSAS (WISCONSIN INVITE) MICHIGAN STATE (PRE NATIONALS BLUE) QUALIFIER #31 is TENNESSEE (#3 South) (Entered on 1 wins) Wins against qualified listed: ARKANSAS (SEC) _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ QUALIFIER #32 is NC STATE (#3 SE) (*Pushed in by NORTH CAROLINA) (Entered on 1 wins) *NC STATE wins head-to-head against TENNESSEE Wins against qualified listed: TENNESSEE (PAUL SHORT) QUALIFIER #32 is NORTH CAROLINA (#4 SE) (Entered on 2 wins) *NORTH CAROLINA wins head-to-head against HARVARD *NORTH CAROLINA wins head-to-head against TENNESSEE Wins against qualified listed: NORTE DAME (PRE NATIONALS WHITE) ARIZONA STATE (PRE NATIONALS WHITE) QUALIFIER #34 is INDIANA (#4 Gr-Lk) (Entered on 1 wins) Wins against qualified listed: TENNESSEE (PAUL SHORT) QUALIFIER #35 is NEBRASKA (#5 Mid-W) (*Pushed in by KANSAS) (Entered on 0 wins) *NEBRASKA wins head-to-head against HARVARD *NEBRASKA wins head-to-head against COLUMBIA *NEBRASKA wins head-to-head against BUCKNELL *NEBRASKA wins head-to-head against WILLIAM AND MARY *NEBRASKA wins head-to-head against OHIO STATE *NEBRASKA wins head-to-head against MIAMI *NEBRASKA wins head-to-head against NEBRASKA *NEBRASKA wins head-to-head against BAYLOR *NEBRASKA wins head-to-head against TEXAS *NEBRASKA wins head-to-head against NORTHERN ARIZONA *NEBRASKA wins head-to-head against UC SANTA BARBRA *NEBRASKA wins head-to-head against GEORGIA *NEBRASKA wins head-to-head against ALABAMA *NEBRASKA wins common-opponent against TENNESSEE Wins against qualified listed: NO WINS QUALIFIER #35 is KANSAS (#6 Mid-W) (Entered on 0 wins) Wins against qualified listed: NO WINS QUALIFIER #37 is OHIO STATE (#5 Gr-Lk) (Entered on 1 wins) *OHIO STATE wins head-to-head against WILLIAM AND MARY *OHIO STATE wins head-to-head against TEXAS *OHIO STATE wins head-to-head against NORTHERN ARIZONA Wins against qualified listed: KANSAS (PRE NATIONALS WHITE) QUALIFIER #38 is BAYLOR (#3 S-Cen) (*Pushed in by TEXAS) (Entered on 0 wins) *BAYLOR wins head-to-head against WILLIAM AND MARY *BAYLOR wins head-to-head against NORTHERN ARIZONA Wins against qualified listed: NO WINS QUALIFIER #38 is TEXAS (#4 S-Cen) (Entered on 1 wins) Wins against qualified listed: KANSAS (PRE NATIONALS WHITE) QUALIFIER #40 is WILLIAM AND MARY (#5 SE) (Entered on 1 wins) *WILLIAM AND MARY wins head-to-head against KANSAS STATE Wins against qualified listed: KANSAS (PRE NATIONALS WHITE) QUALIFIER #40 is NORTHERN ARIZONA (#5 Mtn) (Entered on 1 wins) *NORTHERN ARIZONA wins head-to-head against COLUMBIA *NORTHERN ARIZONA wins head-to-head against STONY BROOK *NORTHERN ARIZONA wins head-to-head against BUCKNELL *NORTHERN ARIZONA wins head-to-head against WESTERN KENTUCKY *NORTHERN ARIZONA wins head-to-head against MIAMI *NORTHERN ARIZONA wins head-to-head against WICHITA STATE *NORTHERN ARIZONA wins head-to-head against BAYLOR *NORTHERN ARIZONA wins head-to-head against TEXAS *NORTHERN ARIZONA wins head-to-head against NORTHERN ARIZONA *NORTHERN ARIZONA wins head-to-head against UC SANTA BARBRA *NORTHERN ARIZONA wins head-to-head against GEORGIA *NORTHERN ARIZONA wins head-to-head against ALABAMA Wins against qualified listed: WILLIAM AND MARY (PRE NATIONALS WHITE) KANSAS (PRE NATIONALS WHITE) QUALIFIER #42 is UTEP (#6 Mtn) (Entered on 1 wins) *UTEP wins head-to-head against JAMES MADISON *UTEP wins head-to-head against KANSAS STATE Wins against qualified listed: MICHIGAN STATE (PRE NATIONALS BLUE) QUALIFIER #43 is KANSAS STATE (#7 Mid-W) (Entered on 1 wins) *KANSAS STATE wins head-to-head against JAMES MADISON *KANSAS STATE wins head-to-head against COLORADO STATE Wins against qualified listed: TEXAS (BIG 12) QUALIFIER #44 is HARVARD (#3 NE) (Entered on 1 wins) *HARVARD wins head-to-head against JAMES MADISON *HARVARD wins head-to-head against WICHITA STATE *HARVARD wins head-to-head against COLUMBIA *HARVARD wins head-to-head against STONY BROOK *HARVARD wins head-to-head against BUCKNELL *HARVARD wins head-to-head against WESTERN KENTUCKY *HARVARD wins head-to-head against PURDUE *HARVARD wins head-to-head against BAYLOR *HARVARD wins head-to-head against UC SANTA BARBRA *HARVARD wins head-to-head against GEORGIA *HARVARD wins head-to-head against ALABAMA Wins against qualified listed: KANSAS STATE (PRE NATIONALS BLUE) QUALIFIER #44 is COLORADO STATE (#7 Mtn) (Entered on 1 wins) Wins against qualified listed: KANSAS (PRE NATIONALS WHITE) QUALIFIER #46 is WICHITA STATE (#8 Mid-W) (Entered on 1 wins) *WICHITA STATE wins common-opponent against JAMES MADISON *WICHITA STATE wins common-opponent against JAMES MADISON Wins against qualified listed: KANSAS (PRE NATIONALS WHITE) QUALIFIER #47 is JAMES MADISON (#6 SE) (Entered on 1 wins) *JAMES MADISON wins common-opponent against MISSOURI *JAMES MADISON wins common-opponent against MISSOURI Wins against qualified listed: TENNESSEE (PAUL SHORT) QUALIFIER #48 is MIAMI (#6 Gr-Lk) (*Pushed in by TOLEDO) (Entered on 0 wins) *MIAMI wins head-to-head against MISSOURI *MIAMI wins head-to-head against SOUTHERN UTAH *MIAMI wins head-to-head against COLUMBIA *MIAMI wins head-to-head against STONY BROOK *MIAMI wins head-to-head against BUCKNELL *MIAMI wins head-to-head against WESTERN KENTUCKY *MIAMI wins head-to-head against PURDUE *MIAMI wins head-to-head against WICHITA STATE *MIAMI wins head-to-head against RICE *MIAMI wins head-to-head against UC SANTA BARBRA *MIAMI wins head-to-head against ALABAMA Wins against qualified listed: NO WINS QUALIFIER #48 is TOLEDO (#7 Gr-Lk) (Entered on 1 wins) Wins against qualified listed: JAMES MADISON (PRE NATIONALS BLUE) QUALIFIER #50 is MISSOURI (#9 Mid-W) (Entered on 1 wins) Wins against qualified listed: SOUTHERN METHODIST (CHILE PEPPER INVITE) QUALIFIER #50 is SOUTHERN UTAH (#8 Mtn) (Entered on 1 wins) Wins against qualified listed: JAMES MADISON (PRE NATIONALS BLUE) QUALIFIER #52 is PURDUE (#8 Gr-Lk) (Entered on 1 wins) Wins against qualified listed: MISSOURI (GREATER LOUISVILLE XC) QUALIFIER #53 is BUTLER (#9 Gr-Lk) (Entered on 1 wins) Wins against qualified listed: SOUTHERN UTAH (NOTRE DAME INVITE) QUALIFIER #54 is GEORGIA (#4 South) (Entered on 0 wins) *GEORGIA wins head-to-head against COLUMBIA *GEORGIA wins head-to-head against STONY BROOK *GEORGIA wins head-to-head against BUCKNELL *GEORGIA wins head-to-head against WESTERN KENTUCKY *GEORGIA wins head-to-head against AKRON *GEORGIA wins head-to-head against TULSA *GEORGIA wins head-to-head against RICE *GEORGIA wins head-to-head against WEBER STATE *GEORGIA wins head-to-head against UC SANTA BARBRA Wins against qualified listed: NO WINS QUALIFIER #55 is WESTERN KENTUCKY (#7 SE) (Entered on 0 wins) *WESTERN KENTUCKY wins head-to-head against COLUMBIA *WESTERN KENTUCKY wins head-to-head against STONY BROOK *WESTERN KENTUCKY wins head-to-head against BUCKNELL *WESTERN KENTUCKY wins head-to-head against AKRON *WESTERN KENTUCKY wins head-to-head against TULSA *WESTERN KENTUCKY wins head-to-head against RICE *WESTERN KENTUCKY wins head-to-head against WEBER STATE *WESTERN KENTUCKY wins head-to-head against UC SANTA BARBRA *WESTERN KENTUCKY wins head-to-head against VANDERBILT Wins against qualified listed: NO WINS QUALIFIER #55 is ALABAMA (#5 South) (Entered on 0 wins) Wins against qualified listed: NO WINS QUALIFIER #57 is KENTUCKY (#8 SE) (Entered on 2 wins) Wins against qualified listed: MISSOURI (GREATER LOUISVILLE XC) WESTERN KENTUCKY (GREATER LOUISVILLE XC) QUALIFIER #58 is LOUISVILLE (#9 SE) (Entered on 2 wins) Wins against qualified listed: MISSOURI (GREATER LOUISVILLE XC) WESTERN KENTUCKY (GREATER LOUISVILLE XC) QUALIFIER #59 is VANDERBILT (#6 South) (*Pushed in by AUBURN) (Entered on 1 wins) Wins against qualified listed: KENTUCKY (SEC) QUALIFIER #59 is AUBURN (#7 South) (Entered on 2 wins) Wins against qualified listed: LOUISVILLE (PRE NATIONALS BLUE) KENTUCKY (SEC) QUALIFIER #61 is RICE (#5 S-Cen) (Entered on 2 wins) Wins against qualified listed: AUBURN (PRE NATIONALS BLUE) LOUISVILLE (PRE NATIONALS BLUE) QUALIFIER #62 is COLUMBIA (#4 NE) (Entered on 1 wins) Wins against qualified listed: ALABAMA (PRE NATIONALS WHITE) QUALIFIER #63 is STONY BROOK (#5 NE) (*Pushed in by CORNELL) (Entered on 0 wins) Wins against qualified listed: NO WINS QUALIFIER #63 is CORNELL (#6 NE) (Entered on 2 wins) Wins against qualified listed: JAMES MADISON (PAUL SHORT) TENNESSEE (PAUL SHORT) Ryan From Flotrack http://www.flotrack.org/articles/view/1523-kolas-calculator-3-nov-4th-women Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:29:00 -0500