This weekend, Ryan Hall will be returning to competition at the Houston Half Marathon since his coaching change. In 2007, Hall ran the American record for the half marathon in Houston with a 59:43 (check out the record here). Hall, will face a talented men's field including last year's runner-up Patrick Smyth and third place finisher Brent Vaughn, who ran their debut half-marathons here in 1:02:01 and 1:02:04, respectively. In addition, three-time Olympian and multi-national champion Abdi Abdirahman and 2010 USA 15 km champion Mo Trafeh, who ran the fastest U.S. half-marathon in 2010 with his 1:00:39 (#4 U.S. all-time) will also be in the field.
For the U.S. women, Serena Burla , is the top returnee, and she will face a race a field including three-time Olympian Jen Rhines, 2008 Olympic marathoner and 2009 USA Half Marathon champion Magdalena Lewy Boulet and seven-time national champio and 2010 USA Running Circuit champion Katie McGregor.
In the men's marathon look for Brett Gotcher to return, he debuted here last year with a 2:10 and will be looking to better that time. Catch the interview from last year here. We will have coverage so check back Sunday!
This year, the Texas A&M Challenge will feature schools from the Big 12 and SEC Conferences, which will include: Texas A&M, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Florida, Georgia, Ole Miss, and South Carolina.
In our 4th year at the BU Terrier Invite there will be just as much action as in the past. Erin Donahue ran a 2:03 in the 800m last year and there are always some great northeast milers looking to shine!
RUNNING RECAP (JAN 21-23)
At the New Balance games, all eyes were onJenny Simpson's return to the mile. Simpson followed pacemaker Lesley Higgins for the first four laps, hitting halfway in 2:16.3. Simpson held her leading postition to the end to win in a world-leading 4:28.60.
In the women's 800 meters, Phoebe Wright held off Heidi Dahl in the final meters to run a USA-leading 2:00.39 .Dahl (2:01.80) and LaTavia Thomas (2:01.81) finished second and third.While,Maggie Vessey finished fourth in 2:03.40
The men's invitational mile had four go under four. Craig Miller won the men's invitational mile in 3:59.10, this season's first sub-four effort.Taylor Milne finished second in 3:59.34,Garrett Heath got third in 3:59.58, and fourth place Rob Novak finished in 3:59.70.
The invitational 400m races were won by Natasha Hastings in a world-leading 52.29, and Michael Courtney in 47.19.
At the Texas A&M v LSU duel, the No. 2 Texas A&M women pulled away from No. 3 LSU for a 91-67 victory and the No. 3 Aggie men took with win with a score 84-75.Jessica Beard completed a sprint double. In the 400m, she won with 52.97 with freshman teammate Ibukun Mayungbe (54.54) in tow for second as Andrea Sutherland (54.67) completed an A&M sweep of the top three spots. Beard then won the 200m as she ran a career best of 22.95 seconds to better the 22.98 posted by A&M's Jeneba Tarmoh (22.975) and LSU's Samoy Hackett (22.980). See all the coverage here.
The Jack Johnson Classic saw some action in the middle distances. Minnesota's Nick Hutton won the 800-meter run with a Jack Johnson record of 1:51.04. On the women's side, Minnesota's Nikki Swenson won the title in the mile run in one of the most exciting races of the day. Swenson passed Iowa’s Betsy Flood on the final lap then held on to win in a time of 4:46.62.
PR STORY In our third Brooks PR Story episode, Fawn Dorr explains that not all PRs have to be set in races and championships .Watch to hear her story.
THE UNFAIR AXE The Delaware men's XC and Track & Field programs were cut after 100 years. Read a first hand account and then leave your thoughts here.
