Week in Review: Fast final kilo keys victory
Week in Review: Fast final kilo keys victory
Samuel crushes course record while defeating Blanks for Pre-Nationals title
Habtom Samuel of the University of New Mexico, the runner-up in the men’s race of last year’s NCAA cross country championships, stormed to a convincing victory in the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals meet last Saturday.
Competing against a field of 251 runners on the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course, Samuel made a big move with a kilometer left in the 8,000-meter race while on his way to a time of 22 minutes 33.8 seconds.
Graham Blanks of Harvard, who had broken away from Samuel during the final kilometer of the NCAA title meet last November, placed second in 22:40.5. He was followed by Justin Kipkoech of Eastern Kentucky in 22:41.8, Patrick Kiprop of Arkansas in 22:43.0, and Robin Kwemo Bera of Iowa State in 22:45.9.
Running in conditions that Blanks described as perfect, the top nine finishers bettered the previous course record of 23:04.0 that Parker Wolfe of North Carolina had set in winning the Nuttycombe Invitational on Sept. 27.
“It started out fast and kept going fast,” Blanks said in an interview posted on flotrack.com.
Arkansas, the No. 3-ranked men’s squad in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll, won the team title with 89 points after placing three runners among the top eight finishers.
The Razorbacks were followed by No. 4 Iowa State with 128 points, No. 9 Stanford with 142, No. 4 New Mexico with 166, No. 6 Northern Arizona with 178, No. 10 Wisconsin with 199, and No. 5 Notre Dame with 200 in the race that included 32 teams.
Kiprop, who placed seventh in the NCAA championships last year, led the field through two kilometers in 5:33.7 before teammate — and fellow senior — Kirami Yego was at the front of a 10-runner lead pack when he went through four kilometers in 11:23.0.
Kiprop was back in front when he led a seven-runner lead group through six kilometers in 17:01.7.
Samuel, a sophomore from Eritrea, and Blanks were running in second and third place at that point in the race. But Samuel broke up a five-runner lead pack at the 20-minute mark with a surge that immediately dropped everyone but Blanks during the ensuing 20 seconds of the contest.
Blanks, a senior, had finished ninth in the 5,000 in the Olympic Games in Paris in August after a stress fracture wiped out almost all of his indoor track season. But Samuel had opened up a two-second lead on him by the 20:40 mark and that gap was five seconds a minute later.
Samuel said in a flotrack.com interview that he wanted to “stay calm and patient” at the back of the lead group during the early part of the race before running “very hard on the last mile or [kilometer].”
He then added that he “decided today to go like fast from far. I did it. I’m happy. It was a good race.”
It was the second strong performance of the season for Samuel, who won the 10,000 meters in the NCAA track and field championships Eugene, Oregon, in June after running the second-fastest collegiate time in history in the event when he clocked 26:53.84 while finishing fifth in The TEN meet in San Juan Capistrano, California, in March.
He had previously finished second to Brian Musau of host Oklahoma State in the Cowboy Jamboree on Sept. 28, but he said his No. 1 priority is to win the individual title when the NCAA championship race is contested over a 10,000-meter layout on the Zimmer course on Nov. 23.
“In Oklahoma, that was a good race and that was the first race of the season,” he said. “I don’t worry too much about that.”
Razorbacks impress: Paced by the senior trio of Patrick Kiprop, Kirami Yego and Yaseen Abdalla, Arkansas rolled to an 89-128 victory over second-place Iowa State in the men’s race of the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals meet last Saturday.
Stanford placed third with 142 points, followed by New Mexico with 166 and Northern Arizona with 178.
After Kiprop placed fourth in the 8,000-meter race at Zimmer Championship Course with a time of 22:43.0, Yego finished seventh in 22:59.4 and Abdalla was eighth in 23:01.5 for Arkansas, the No. 3-ranked team in the USTFCCCA poll behind defending NCAA champion Oklahoma State and BYU.
The Razorbacks’ Nos. 4 and 5 finishers were junior Ben Shearer and sophomore Timothy Chesondin, who placed 18th in 23:10.5 and 52nd in 23:31.6, respectively.
“That was a really tough field and I’m just really happy with the way our guys approached everything from the time they reported up until now,” Arkansas coach Chris Bucknam said in an arkansasrazorbacks.com post. “They’re doing all the right things training-wise. They’re a great group of guys to work with. I really think this is just the tip of the iceberg for us. So, I’m really pleased with all the things around the race. We’ve got a lot more in us.”
Closing well: Iowa State, paced by fifth-place Robin Kwemo Bera, finished second to Arkansas in the men’s race of the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals after finding itself in seventh place after the first two kilometers of the race and in third at the midway point.
Based on the positions of its top five runners, Iowa State had a team score of 258 points after the first two kilometers of the race before totaling 166 at four kilometers, 148 at six, and 128 at the conclusion of the eight-kilometer contest.
Two for two: Like Habtom Samuel on the men’s side, a runner from the University of New Mexico won the women’s individual title in the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals meet.
Running in the first race of the day at the Zimmer Championship Course, freshman Pamela Kosgei became the first woman to ever break 19 minutes over the 6,000-meter layout when she clocked 18:59.1 after overtaking pre-race favorite — and fellow Kenyan — Hilda Olemomoi of Florida during the final uphill ascent of the contest.
Olemomoi, a junior who had placed fourth for Alabama in last year’s NCAA championships, finished second in 19:02.9. She was followed by freshman — and compatriot — Caroline Jeptanui of Tulane in 19:05.4, and seniors Celi McCabe of West Virginia in 19:10.8 and Chloe Thomas of Connecticut in 19:11.8.
Running in mild and dry conditions, the first six finishers bettered the course record of 19:17.2 that had been set by Parky Valby of Florida when she won last year’s Nuttycombe Invitational on a cool, wet, and breezy day.
BYU, the No. 2 ranked-team in the USTFCCCA poll, won the team title with a total of 105 points, followed by No. 3 Washington with 157, top-ranked Northern Arizona with 165, No. 28 West Virginia with 204, and No. 5 Notre Dame with 213.
North Carolina State, the winner of the past three NCAA titles, placed seventh with 290 points. The No. 5-ranked Wolfpack was paced by juniors Grace Hartman and Hannah Gapes, who placed sixth in 19:15.2 and eighth in 19:31.0, respectively. However, its next finisher was freshman Angelina Napoleon, who placed 81st in 20:29.4.
Kosgei, a younger sister of Kenyan Brigid Kosgei, the former world record-holder in the women’s marathon at 2:14:04, led the field through the first two kilometers in 6:22.9.
Olemomoi, who had transferred to Florida to be reunited with the husband-and-wife coaching duo of Will and Samantha Palmer after they had guided her during her freshman year at Alabama, was in the lead when she came through four kilometers in 12:49.0.
Kosgei and Jeptanui were just behind her at that point in the race, but Olemomoi had a three-second lead with about 500 meters left in the race. But she could not extend her advantage during the next 200 meters and Kosgei began to close in on her.
She pulled even with Olemomoi around the 18:15 mark and had a clear lead on her 20 seconds later.
The victory was the second in two races this season for Kosgei, who had won the Cowboy Jamboree by nearly 45 seconds when she ran 19:50.0 over the 6,000-meter course at the Greiner Family Cross Country Course in Stillwater, Oklahoma, on Sept. 28.
Turning the tables: The BYU women are the top-ranked team in the nation in the latest USTFCCCA poll that was released on Tuesday after defeating a high-quality field in the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals on Saturday.
The Cougars entered the meet with a No. 2 ranking, but their 105-point total gave them a sizeable margin of victory over No. 3 Washington, which finished second with 157 points, and top-ranked Northern Arizona, which placed third with 165. West Virginia, which was 28th in the rankings, surprised many when it finished fourth with 204 points and No. 4 Notre Dame placed fifth with 213 in the race that was comprised of 33 teams.
Northern Arizona had defeated BYU, 52-65, for the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational title on Oct. 4, but BYU had four finishers ahead of NAU’s No. 3 runner on Saturday, as well as seven in front of the Lumberjacks’ No. 5 scorer.
Senior Lexy Halladay-Lowe paced BYU when she finished ninth with a time of 19:33.4 over the 6,000-meter layout on the Zimmer Championships Course and junior Carmen Alder placed 14th in 19:48.6 for the Cougars. The team’s Nos. 3-5 runners were sophomore Jenna Hutchins, who finished 20th in 19:54.7, junior Riley Chamberlain, who placed 27th in 20:00.1, and freshman Nelah Roberts, who was 35th in 20:06.0.
Washington’s top performer was junior Chloe Foerster, who finished 16th in 19:50.6, and Northern Arizona was paced by senior Ali Upshaw, who placed 19th in 19:53.5.
Senior Elise Stearns, who had finished 20th for NAU in last year’s NCAA meet and fourth in 2022, did not run.
“I am really proud of how we are coming together at this point in the season,” BYU coach Diljeet Taylor said in a post on heraldextra.com. “The team culture is probably the thing that I am most proud of. We are just going to continue to work and build. We are definitely not at our best quite yet, but there are some things that we are taking away from this course and how it played out.”
Favorites roll: Wake Forest and Virginia won the men’s and women’s team titles, respectively, in the Panorama Farms Invitational cross country meet in Earlysville, Virginia, last Saturday.
Wake Forest, the No. 7-ranked squad in the USTFCCCA poll, had five runners among the top 13 finishers in defeating No. 21 Virginia, 38-47, for the men’s title. Virginia Tech placed third with 62 points, followed by Wingate with 110.
Junior Gary Martin of host Virginia won the race with a time of 22:58.9 over the 8,000-meter course at Panorama Farms and junior teammate Will Anthony placed fourth in 23:19.6 for the Cavaliers, but Wake Forest countered with a 2-5-8-10-13 finish.
Senior Luke Tewalt placed second behind Martin with a time of 23:12.1 and sophomore teammates Aidan Ross, Hunter Jones, and Charlie Sprott posted times of 23:27.8, 23:31.8, and 23:32.3 while finishing fifth, eighth, and 10th for Wake Forest.
After leading a large lead pack through the first two kilometers in 5:39.8 and four kilometers in 11:39.7, Martin paced a front group of 10 through five kilometers in 14:37.8. But he was more than four seconds ahead of second-place Tewalt when he came through seven kilometers in 21:15.0 and his lead had nearly tripled when he crossed the finish line.
In the women’s race, No. 20 Virginia had six of the top nine finishers while posting a 17-70 victory over second-place Virginia Tech. William & Mary finished third with 103 points, followed by High Point with 115.
Junior Jenny Schilling of Virginia won the individual title with a time of 20:09.7 over the 6,000-meter course and senior teammate Sophie Atkinson placed second in 20:27.9.
Jette Beermann, running unattached, finished third in 20:28.7, and she was followed by the Virginia tandem of sophomore Tatum David in fourth place in 20:38.2 and senior Camryn Menninger in fifth in 20:44.5.
Schilling, Atkinson, and Beermann were five seconds ahead of fourth-place Sharon Chepchirchir of Virginia Tech after the first three kilometers of the race, but Schilling had opened up a lead of more than seven seconds over second-place Atkinson when she came through five kilometers in 16:57.1.
Burundian sweep: Rodrigue Kwizera and Francine Niyomukunzi of Burundi won the men’s and women’s races of the 70th Cross Internacional Zornotza in Amorebieta, Spain, on Sunday.
The meet was the first of 17 gold level events of the World Athletics Cross Country Tour for the 2024-25 season.
Kwizera clocked 25:29 over the 8.7-kilometer course and he was followed across the finish line by the Ugandan duo of Oscar Chelimo in second place in 25:41 and Dan Kibet in third in 25:49.
Niyomukunzi covered the same course in 30:07 in the women’s race to finish more than a minute in front of Majida Maayouf of Spain, who placed second in 31:11. Spanish compatriot Carolina Robles finished third in 31:19.
Kwizera, 25, ran in a lead pack that was also comprised of Chelimo, Kibet, and 19-year-old Ugandan Keneth Kiprop for the first 14 minutes of the race before he picked up the pace.
That acceleration dropped Kiprop, but the front three were still together at the start of the fourth — and final — loop before Kwizera began to pull away from Chelimo and Kibet.
“It was a tough race for me because it was hot,” Kwizera said in a World Athletics post. “The first kilometres were quite fast and I preferred to stay at the back of the leading pack; then I moved to the front to asses my rivals’ energy and at the bell I decided to push hard, not to wait to the later stages. It’s important for me to accumulate points for the Cross Country Tour as I have been the winner for the last two seasons.”
Niyomukunzi, who had run a personal best of 31:17.02 in finishing 14th in the 10,000 meters in the Olympic Games in Paris, pushed the pace from the start of the women’s race in Amorebieta.
By 3,000 meters, the 25-year-old runner was four seconds ahead of Maayouf, the Spanish record-holder in the marathon at 2:21:27, and her lead had grown to 44 seconds by the start of the final loop of the four-lap race.
“I decided to push from the start, but Maayouf joined me in the lead so I kept on increasing the pace and fortunately I broke away from her,” Niyomukunzi said. “I felt quite strong throughout the race.”
Contrasting victories: Ethiopians Yalemzerf Yehualaw and Tsegaye Getachew won the women’s and men’s titles, respectively, in the Amsterdam Marathon on Sunday.
Yehualaw set a course record — and personal best — of 2:16:52 in the women’s race while finishing well ahead of compatriot Haven Hailu, who finished second in a personal best of 2:19:29. Third place went to Winfridah Moseti of Kenya in 2:20:27.
In contrast, Getachew won the men’s contest in 2:05:38 while finishing two seconds ahead of compatriot Boki Asefa in 2:05:40 and four seconds up on Maru Teferi of Israel in 2:05:42.
Asefa and Teferi, the silver medalist in last year’s World Championships, each set personal bests.
Yehualaw’s time bettered the course record of 2:17:20 set by Almaz Ayana of Ethiopia in 2022 and it made her the 10th woman to have run under 2:17 in the marathon this year. The highest previous figure had been seven from last year.
Yehualaw also moved to 16th on the all-time performer list while winning her third marathon title in six races at the 42.195-kilometer (26-mile 385-yard) distance.
Her last victory had come in the 2022 London Marathon.
The 25-year-old Yehualaw, running with her own pacesetter, came through the first 10 kilometers in 32:23 and she was 14 seconds ahead of second-place Desi Jisa of Bahrain when she passed the halfway mark in 1:08:00.
She had a lead of a little more than a minute over Hailu when she came through 30 kilometers in 1:36:23, which projected to a final time of 2:15:33.
Although she was unable to maintain that pace during the remainder of the race, her final time trimmed 31 seconds off her previous best of 2:17:23 that she had run in winning her debut marathon in Hamburg, Germany, in 2022.
“I’m so happy to have achieved a personal best and set the course record in Amsterdam,” Yehualaw was quoted as saying in an Athletics Weekly post. “I struggled in the last 3km, but that’s part of the marathon!”
In the men’s race, Getachew was part of a 15-runner pack that went through 10 kilometers in 29:27 and he was one of a group of 14 who passed the halfway mark in 1:02:31.
The lead pack had gradually been reduced during the second half of the race and Getachew, Asefa, and Teferi were running within a stride or two of one another when they entered the Olympic Stadium that had hosted the 1928 Olympic Games.
But as he had done two years ago in winning in Amsterdam, the 27-year-old Getachew was able to break away from his closest competitors while posting his third marathon victory in his last six races at the distance.
Contrasting victories II: Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda and Alemaddis Eyayu of Ethiopia won the men’s and women’s titles, respectively, in the Vedanta Deli Half Marathon in New Delhi on Sunday.
Cheptegei, who won the men’s 10,000 meters in the Olympic Games in Paris, clocked 59:46 to finish seven seconds in front of Kenyan Alex Mutata. Nicholas Kipkorir, another Kenyan, placed third in 59:59.
Muktar Edris of Ethiopia, the gold medalist in the 5,000 meters in the 2017 and ’19 World Athletics Championships, placed fifth in 1:00:52.
Mutata was the one who forced the pace for much of the race, but he could not drop Cheptegei and the three-time World champion in the 10,000 used his trademark kick to pull away from the Kenyan in the final stages of the race that ended on the track in Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium.
The 28-year-old Cheptegei, who is starting to focus his attention on road racing after a brilliant track career that saw him set still-standing world records of 12:35.36 in the 5,000 meters and 26:11.00 in the 10,000 in 2020, previously ran 45:18 to win the 10-mile Dam tot Damloop race in Amsterdam on Sept. 22.
“This win is special to me because it’s my first ever half marathon victory,” Cheptegei said in a World Athletics post. “I felt good throughout the race, despite the slow start. I felt some problems in my feet around 16-17km, but I decided to push and catch up with Nicholas, and then we pushed each other for about two kilometres.”
In contrast to Cheptegei in the men’s race, Eyayu was not favored in the women’s contest. But she placed first in 1:08:17 after pulling away from Kenyan Cynthia Limo during the second half of the contest.
Limo, who won a silver medal in the 2016 World Athletics Half Marathon Championships, placed second in 1:08:27. She was followed by Tiruye Mesfin of Ethiopia in 1:09:42 and Eilish McColgan of Great Britain in 1:09:55.
And the men’s nominees are. . . : Ryan Crouser of the U.S., Jordan Alejandro Diaz Fortun of Spain, Mondo Duplantis of Sweden, Ethan Katzberg of Canada, and Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece have been nominated for World Athletics’ men’s field athlete of the year for 2024.
Crouser, 31, won the shot put in the Olympic Games in Paris in August and in the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Birmingham, England, in March.
He won eight of 11 meets during the year, and although his season best of 22.93 (75-2¾) ranked third on the yearly world performer list, he produced the three longest puts in the Olympic final while winning the competition by nearly two and a half feet.
Diaz Fortun, a 23-year-old Cuban native who became eligible to represent Spain in early June, was undefeated in six meets in the triple jump this season — four of which occurred outdoors.
He won the Olympic title in Paris and his 18.18 (59-7¾) effort in the European Athletics Championships in Rome in June moved him to third on the all-time performer list.
Duplantis, 24, had the best year of his career in the pole vault as he won the Olympic and World indoor titles, raised the world record three times, and was unbeaten in 15 meets — including 11 outdoors.
His first world record came in April when he cleared 6.24 (20-5½) in a Diamond League meet in Xiamen, China. His second occurred in the Olympic Games when he made 6.25 (20-6) and his third came 20 days later when he cleared 6.26 (20-6½) in a Diamond League meet in Chorzow, Poland.
The 22-year-old Katzberg, the youngest of the five nominees, won 11 of 12 meets in the hammer throw during the year.
His 84.38 (276-10) effort in Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi in April moved him to ninth on the all-time performer list and was the farthest throw in the world since 2008.
In addition, his winning effort of 84.12 (276-0) in the Olympic Games gave him a margin of victory of more than four meters.
Like Duplantis and Crouser, Tentoglou won Olympic and World indoor titles.
He was undefeated in four meets indoors and won eight of 11 competitions outdoors, and his personal best of 8.65 (28-4½) in the European Championships was the lonest jump in the world this year. That effort also moved him into a tie for 14th on the all-time performer list.
And the women’s nominees are. . . : Valarie Allman and Tara Davis-Woodhall of the U.S., Nina Kennedy of Australia, Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine, and Nafi Thiam of Belgium have been nominated for World Athletics’ women’s field athlete of the year for 2024.
Allman, 29, was undefeated in 11 meets in the discus, winning the Olympic title in Paris and going 5-0 in Diamond League competitions.
Although her season best of 70.89 (232-7) ranked second on the yearly world list behind the 73.09 (239-9) effort that Yaime Perez of Cuba produced while competing in ideal wind conditions in Ramona, Oklahoma, in April, Allman had the next six longest meets of the year.
She had the four longest throws of the competition in the Olympics, and her best of 69.50 (228-0) was nearly two meters farther that the 67.51 (221-6) best of silver medalist Bin Feng of China.
The 25-year-old Davis-Woodhall was victorious in the long jump in both the Olympic Games in August and the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Birmingham, England, in March.
She was undefeated in nine meets, including five outdoors, and she raised her indoor personal best to 7.18 (23-6¾) and her top outdoor mark to 7.16 (23-6).
She also leaped 7.00 (22-11¾) or farther in her final seven meets of the year.
Kennedy, 27, was beaten in her third meet of the year in the pole vault, but she won her last eighth competitions, and cleared a season best of 4.90 (16-0¾) in winning the Olympic title.
Although Molly Caudery of Great Britain topped the yearly world list at 4.92 (16-1¾), Kennedy had four of the next five highest meets.
Mahuchikh, the youngest of the women’s nominees at 23, was unbeaten in seven meets outdoors in the high jump during a year in which she raised the world record to 2.10 (6-10¾) in the Meeting de Paris in July and won the Olympic title in August.
She won two of three meets during a short indoor season that was capped by a silver-medal winning performance in the World Championships.
Thiam, 30, won the heptathlon in the European Athletics Championships in Rome in June with a score of 6,848 points before winning the Olympic Games with a total of 6,880.
Those are the top two scores in the world this year, as well as the third and fourth best scores of her career.
Twenty and counting: Ronald Kwemoi of Kenya and Grant Fisher of the U.S. top the list of five athletes who were announced last week as signees with Grand Slam Track.
Kwemoi was the silver medalist in the men’s 5,000 meters in the Olympic Games in Paris and Fisher won bronze medals in both the 5,000 and 10,000.
The other signees were Nikki Hiltz of the U.S. and Jamaicans Ackera Nugent and Roshawn Clarke.
Hiltz placed seventh in the women’s 1,500 in the Olympics, but Nugent and Clarke did not finish their respective races in the finals of the women’s 100 hurdles and the men’s 400 intermediate hurdles, respectively.
Nugent was done in when she hit the seventh hurdle hard and the impact caused her to careen to the right and well out of her lane.
However, she did run a yearly world-leading time of 12.24 seconds three weeks later to move to fourth on the all-time performer list.
Twenty athletes, topped by 400 hurdles superstar Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone of the U.S., had been announced as signees of Grand Slam Track at the end of last week. The new professional track league, which is the brain-child of four-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Johnson.
The 20 GST signees combined to win four gold medals, five silver, and eight bronze in individual events in the Olympic Games in Paris in August.
Grand Slam Track is designed to pit the top track performers in the world against one another in four meets — referred to as slams — each season.
The inaugural slam is scheduled to take place in April of next year, with the other three competitions expected to be held during the summer. The dates and sites have yet to be announced, but GST has stated one of the meets will be in Los Angeles, one will be in another American city, and the other two will be staged in “international” cities.
Grand Slam Track meets will consist strictly of selected track events and will pit performers against one other in the following men’s and women’s categories: short sprints (100/200), long sprints (200/400), short hurdles (100 or 110 hurdles/100), long hurdles (400 hurdles/400), short distances (800/1,500), and long distances (3,000/5,000).
Each slam will be held over the course of a weekend, with each competitor running in the two events in their designated category to determine an overall champion for that meet. The winner will be awarded $100,000 in prize money, with the runner-up receiving $50,000 and the third-place finisher winning $30,000.
The remaining prize money for the fourth- through eighth-place finishers will be awarded on a $25,000-$20,000-$15,000-$12,500-$10,000 basis.
You can click here for more details about Grand Slam Track.
Contract news: Parker Valby has signed a professional contract to run for New Balance.
The company made that announcement last week, stating that the six-time NCAA champion for the University of Florida will live in Boston and train at New Balance’s campus under the tutelage of coach Mark Coogan.
After capping her sophomore year at Florida with a victory in the 5,000 meters in the NCAA track and field championships in 2023, Valby won five NCAA titles during the 2023-24 academic year.
Her first championship came in November when she won the individual title in the NCAA cross country meet in Earlysville, Virginia. Then came a 3,000-5,000 double in the indoor track and field championships in Boston in March. That was followed by victories in the 5,000 and 10,00 in the outdoor championships in Eugene, Oregon, in early June.
Although Valby still had a year of athletic eligibility left at the end of the collegiate season, she made it clear at the NCAA championships that her college career was over. She then proceeded to finish fourth in the 5,000 and second in the 10,000 in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in late June and 11th in the 10,000 in the Olympic Games in Paris.
She lowered the collegiate record to 14:52.79 in the indoor 5,000 in the NCAA meet on March 8 before turning her attention to the outdoor season, during which she lowered the college 10,000 best to 30:50.43 in early April and the 5,000 mark to 14:52.18 in her final race as a collegian.
Looking ahead: A new course layout will make its debut at the high school level when the final weekend of the 76th Mt. San Antonio College Cross Country Invitational in Walnut, California, starts on Friday at 10 a.m., Pacific Daylight Time.
The three-mile length of the course will not be much different from the 2.93-mile layout that had been in use for years. But aptly-named “Poop-Out Hill,” which had been the second of three major inclines on the previous course, will no longer be part of the layout and the final 350 or so meters of the race will be run on the track at Hilmer Lodge Stadium, which annually hosts the Mt. SAC Relays in April.
It will be the first major change to the course in 46 years and though the meet organizers realize it will alter a layout that has come to be regarded as one of the benchmark high school courses in the U.S., they feel the alterations will better align with the state of cross country running in the country.
Brian Yokoyama, director, athletic special events at Mt. SAC, said on Wednesday that in recent years running faster times over flatter courses has taken precedence over running slower times over more-challenging layouts.
He also said there was an overwhelming positive response from fans last November when races finished on the track in Hilmer Lodge Stadium in the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Southern Section Finals that were contested on an alternate “rain course” due to a forecast for substantial precipitation on the day of the meet.
While many cross country courses can contest races on a wet and sloppy layout, the steepness of the hills at Mt. SAC, as well as the predominantly dirt terrain, would make it very difficult, as well as dangerous, for runners to compete there in muddy conditions.
“There’s always a chance we could go back to the old course,” Yokoyama said. “But we want to give this new layout a try and see how things go.”
The Mt. SAC Invitational bills itself as the largest cross country meet in the world and Yokoyama said more than 19,000 runners have entered this year’s meet, which began with races at the community college, middle school, and elementary school level last Friday.
The high school portion of the meet, which had 14,509 registrants as of Wednesday, was scheduled to be comprised of 45 races at the Division 3, 4, and 5 levels on Friday and 51 races at the Division I and II level on Saturday.
The first race on Friday was scheduled to start at 10 a.m., PDT, and the first race on Saturday was scheduled to begin at 7:30.
The boys’ and girls’ team and individual sweepstakes races at the Division 3-5 level will start at 4:55 p.m. on Friday, with the individual and team sweepstakes races at the Division 1-2 level beginning at 9:02 a.m. on Saturday.
RunnerSpace.com will livestream the meet on Friday and Saturday, although a paid subscription will be required to have access to the broadcast.