Nike Outdoor Nationals 06

Lots-O-News at Nike Outdoor Nationals (NON). The boy’s 2-mile (not 3200) was stacked and resulted in a dense race and fast times. AJ Acosta lead the entire race, seemed to run pretty far off the rail, and wins handedly with a long kick 300-400m out. Acosta's time was a blaziing 8:46.32. Finishing a very strong race for 2nd was junior 8:46.32 Tebo in 8:47.29. He closed a scary amount of ground on Acosta in the final 200m.

The girl’s mile was a nail bitter. It came down to the final 200 and put me on the edge of my seat. The undefeated freshmen phonon from CA Jordan Hasay ran tough. If you’ve followed her progress and seen her race it was actually strange to watch her get run down at the end. She ran a 4:42 for third in a close race. She has not lost a race since mid XC season, 2005. The girl has wheels. She recently missed Mary Decker Slaney’s long standing frosh record in the same event by about 0.2 seconds. The eventual winner, and proud owner of a killer kick, was Danielle Tauro from the East Coast. Her last 200m was brutal and brought her home in 3:39.25 to win. St. Geme was third with a steady and strong 4:41. 57.

New York made a strong showing in the much discussed DMR. There were many other fantastic performances. See the official results for more details. At dyestat you can get videos of every race.

State Meet Results – June 10th

NY State Meet: The 1600 was especially impressive. Owen Kimple won with a blazing 4:07.71. A junior (Brian Rhodes-Devey) was second in 4:11. The 3200 on Friday night saw junior Tommy Gruenewald to victory in 9:01. He’ll be one to watch next year. Dan Busby of New Paltz was runner up in 9:12. Dan Cartica of Arlington H.S., where I attended through my sophomore year, gets 4^th with a 9:14. After Arlington I attended Pine Bush H.S. so of course I scan the results for athletes from PB. A Pine Bush girl named Emily Moore placed 6^th in the 800 with a speedy 2:13.62. She is only a sophomore.

Notice Joe Whelan of Hamburg 3k steeple (11th). This guy is a frosh and just missed John Troutmann’s freshmen state record of 9:44.2 by 0.38. Pretty amazing. Apparently Trout fell down a couple times during that race. He rarely, if ever, ran it again. [See Full Results]

NJ State Meet: Junior Craig Forys runs an 8:56 for 3200 at the Meet of Champions for what appears to be an easy win. [More Results]

NCAA T&F Championships 06'

Florida State University wins the overall track & field men’s team title for the first time with great performances across events. The CBS coverage was horrible but they did interview the head coach - Bob Braman. I have not seen that guy in many years. When I transferred from U. of Maryland to the University of Connecticut Braman flew my two roommates and myself down to the U. of South Florida for a visit. I probably considered about 4-5 places but it was only UCONN and USF that I took seriously. Coach Braman was an energetic, charismatic, and blunt guy who, in his thirties at the time, was in great shape! I think he was running in the neighborhood of 14:15 for 5k. I am not surprised at his success. I did however, choose UCONN. While that decision may partially explain my pedestrian PRs, I absolutely loved UCONN and the education I received there. Congratulations to Braman and the Florida State team. Somebody is getting a raise. More NCAA info soon.

Reebok Grand Prix

I love this time of year! Every weekend there are results galore to digest. At the Reebok Grand Prix there were some fantastic performances. For starters Rob Meyers, a former student of mine at OSU, ran a 3:57.47 mile. I’m glad to see he’s still running so well. He's a nice guy and always came to class! Willis is a tough runner and pulled a second place finish. Sullivan and Brannen also ran well. I have seen Sullivan run a number of times over the years. He’s as strong as an ox.

Men's 1 Mile Run
1 Rashid Ramzi MAR 3:53.55
2 Nick Willis NZL 3:55.56
3 Anthony Famiglietti USA 3:55.71
4 Kevin Sullivan CAN 3:55.89
5 Nate Brannen CAN 3:56.27
6 Steve Slattery USA 3:56.75
7 Rob Myers USA 3:57.47 (right, seen in another race)
8 Jason Lunn USA 3:58.18
9 Said Ahmed USA 3:58.42
10 Gu Ming CHN 3:59.75
11 Tang Baojun CHN 4:01.39
12 Aucencio Martinez USA 4:01.58
13 Chris Lukezic USA 4:02.64

In the 5k the first non-Kenyan was Alistair Cragg in fifth place with a strong 13:08.97. I’ve seen the Irishman run a few times. I also know a guy who was punched in the face by Cragg. It’s not what you think. The guy who got punched used to enjoy asking the big name runners to smack his cranial vault and Gragg was a reluctant participant, as the story goes. Anyway, Abraham Chebii wins in 13:04. This puts five guys within four seconds of the win. Man, I would have liked to seen this race.

The woman’s 5k resulted in a new world record. Meseret Defar of Ethiopia ran a 14:24.53. Wow! [Read More]

State Track & Field Results

OH: The local guys made strong showings at the D2 Ohio State Meet in Columbus. We were going to make the trip down to watch but canceled at the last minute. It was nice when we were able to jog over to the OSU track but now it’s a 3 hour drive. Anyway, Chris Sinick of Mogadore Field won the 1600m for the 2^nd year in a row with a 4:16.37. Aiman Scullion of Salem finished 3^rd with 4:20.25. A junior (Scott Hilditch) was second with a 4:17. The 3200 was easily won by Chad Balyo in 9:05. See all results here.

CA: CA is one of the most competitive states in the country if not at the top of the list. On June 3^rd the long awaited showdown between Michael Coe and A.J. Acosta did not disappoint. Acosta ran a 4:04.95 for the win. The last 300/200 was very impressive. Acosta doubled (w/ only 2 hrs rest) and got 2^nd in the 3200. Don’t miss the results and the video. While you’re there make sure to check out Jordan Hasay’s performances. This freshman is an amazing talent, easily winning the state meet 3200 in 10:13. See all results here.

PA: The PA phenom Craig Miller is out for his senior season due to injury [read more].

NY: This weekend is the NY State Championships. With recent performances in the 4x800 this will be an exciting event. Near my old stomping grounds the Suffern girls now lead the US with an 8:50.8 4x800, also a #2 all-time! At the Big Purple Fast Times Relays in Warwick NY host Warwick Valley boys are currently #1 in the same event with a 7:38.3. See the results and video.

CT: At the collegiate level there is nothing to report from my alma Mata. NCAAs are next weekend.