Distances Races for Juniors at US Championships

Distances Races for Juniors at US Championship Hayward Field, Eugene, Oregon June 25-28, 2009

The 2009 edition of the US Track Championships is now history & the Junior portion of the meet provided some exemplary races. With the possible exception of the impressive farewell of Jordan Hasay in the Junior Women’s 1500, which is covered separately, the race of greatest note was the Senior Men’s 5K, which featured the exploits of junior runner German Fernandez.

Matt Tegenkamp, Chris Solinsky & Evan Jager took the top three position in the finals of the men’s 5K on Friday. Notable also was the establishment of a new American Junior record of 13:25.46. As in most distance races there were numerous races that took place within the same event. The race started with two different sections: one lined up on the inside part of the track & another further ahead on the outside part. German Fernandez headed the group on the outside which was part way around the first turn & then cut a very quick diagonal to the inside as soon as it was allowed Anthony Famiglietti assumed the lead & the noted steepler cut the pace for the next few laps followed closely by Matt Tegenkamp & Chris Solinsky. By the 3200 meter mark the lead pack of around nine runners separated from the rest leaving Fernandez in the second group about thirty meters behind the leaders.

German, running under instructions from his coach, was trying to run as evenly paced splits as possible but it was then time to make a move to close the gap or be left out of the competition. Over the next few laps he methodically closed the gap on the lead pack picking up about five meters a lap, which soon left him alone in sort of a no-man’s-land well behind the leaders, yet far ahead of the chase pack that included Andrew Bumalough, who was then tenth.

Audio Clip: German Fernandez at USA Nationals

At the 2K Famiglietti still had the lead in a time of 5:18.7 with Teg & Solinsky in tow. Bolata Asmerom at that time held fourth. Evan Jager, Brent Vaughn, Sean Quigley & Jon Riley loomed close behind them. Fernandez, meanwhile, remained alone but was slowly closing the gap. The only change by the half-way point, which was reached in 6:41, was the further reeling-in of the leaders by GF. There would soon be a jockeying for position with Asmerom briefly taking the lead but Famiglietti quickly took it back.

Soon it became a battle of surges with Asmerom, Tegenkamp & Solinsky all asserting themselves. At first it appeared that Fernandez would be unable to keep up as the leaders began to edge ahead but, as Jon Riley pulled even with him & then passed, German seemed to reach back to tap some reserves. Up ahead it was Solinsky & Tegenkamp & then Jager just off their shoulder but soon Jager fell behind and the race was down to two. In the closing meters Teg slipped slightly ahead to claim the victory in a time of 13:20.57 to Solinsky’s 13:20.82. Jager held on to take third in 13:22.2 & Asmerom finished fourth in 13:24. Meanwhile Fernandez had gone into full-flight even closing on Asmerom and finished in 13:25.46: a new American record for juniors. After finishing he fell to the track more due to blistered feet than from exhaustion. It was an impressive performance by a young runner, who has had quite a year.

Chris Solinsky, who finished second, is assured of a ticket to the World Championships in Berlin but Matt Tegenkamp & Evan Jager still have some work to do, as they do not have an “A” qualifier like Solinsky, though they have met the “B” standard.

The women’s 5K did not have a comparable junior performance but it did see Kara Goucher repeat as national champion in a time of 15:20.9. Jen Rhines, who looked just great in placing second ( 15:26.9), scored a victory for the old guard. It is hard to fathom that she ran in the old Kinney (now Footlocker) meet in 1990. Angela Bizzari of Illinois U. took third ahead of Julie Culley & Rebecca Donaghue was firth. Racheal Marchand finished sixth while Nicole Blood of the U. of Oregon was 7th.

Junior Women 5000 Meter Run

Saturday evening saw young Aisling Cuffe of New York run a race that showed great patience & maturity. The race saw Sarah Andrews of Texas take off immediately, as is often the case with her, and she opened a gap by just the 100 meter mark over Aisling Cuffe. The pace was such that no one else made any real attempt to cover the move, so Cuffe was left by herself, so quickly that the race had already seem to have its fate sealed early. For her part Cuffe did not seam to feel comfortable & she even appeared to be over-striding a bit just to keep reasonably close.

Audio Clip: Aisling Cuffe

Andrews was all alone, as she went through the first 400M in 76. Cuffe followed well behind as a distant second, while the rest of the runners were even further back in what could not even be properly called a chase-pack. The 800M mark saw little change in the situation as Cuffe still languished behind & everyone else was bunched much further back. Andrews proceeded to lope along in front and reached the 1200M mark in 3:58 with the one relative change being Heather Stephens’ move into a definite third place position. Andrews held a good 40 meter lead over Cuffe, when she reached the 1600 in 6:35 & Carly Seymour, who led a pack of three, was another 80 meters further back in third.

It was during the next 800 meters that Aisling began to make a move and then she slowly cut into the lead. Her form was smooth & fluid now as she methodically began to cut into the lead. By the time that Andrews had the 2400 meter mark in 9:17 the Empire State runner had knocked twenty meters off of the lead. It was evident by the splits that Andrews was beginning to feel the effects of the ace & the relative heat, as she hit the 2800 meters in 10:40. Still Cuffe had barely cut further into the lead & the question & one had to wonder, if she would be able to main a challenge. An additional 400M in 83 did knock off a good five meters and it was then that Cuffe made a visible move to move-in on the leader. As they reached the 13 minute point the race was even.

The head-to-head battle did not really last all that long but it presented a rather unique sight, for 200 meters back on the opposite side of the track followed the leaders of the chase pack. Cuffe was now pressing the pace, while Andrews attempted to stay with her. They were still together through the 3200 meter mark but then Aisling began to edge ahead. Seymour still held third at this point. For her part Andrews was not conceding anything & she fought to hold on in spite of being obviously tired. There was a definite contrast between the two runners with Andrews being taller, as well as older. Moreover Andrews had decided for some reason to run in the new NTN meet in Portland (sort of like going to Williamsport for a baseball game when you could go to Yankee Stadium), where she had finished 2nd, while Cuffe had competed in the Footlocker National championship, where she had finished 12th in a stellar field. There was also a contrast in styles too. .An 80 second 400M saw Cuffe open of gap of about four meters but from that point onward the young Footlocker runner slowly drew away to claim the victory. Although the time had not been what she had wanted, it was an impressive display of patience for the young sophomore runner, who only last year had been a race-walker. Cuffe finished in 16:43.58 almost a full four seconds ahead of Andrews. Kathryn Matthews of Boston U. made a late run to claim third ahead of Meaghan Nelson of Iowa State, while Carly Seymour of Duke took 5th. Natty Plunkett of Seattle Pacific earned 6th.

Junior Men 10,000 Meter Run

The race for the junior men in this event saw the runners focusing in on their pace & stride early with no one willing to forge a lead on their own. Parker Stinson, Zach Rivers & Anthony Solis were all at or near the front during most of that time. It was only at the 15:11 mark in the race that Stinson decided to pick things up and go for the win. He reached the half-way point in the race at 15:41.35 with Gabe Proctor in pursuit. The leader ran laps of 72 to 75, which opened a gap quickly over the would-be challengers Rivers, Elliott Krause & Solis.

During the next part of the race Stinson settled in comfortably at a pace of either 74 or 75 seconds a lap. He seemed quite comfortable on the lead but Rivers of Syracuse U. finally fell away from the chase pack. It was at this point that Nicholas Ekel moved into the 4th position. In the end Parker won easily with a time of 31:33.06 noting the race had been harder than anticipated. Anthony Solis finished 2nd in a time of 31:33.06 bettering Ekel by three seconds & Elliott Krause placed 4th another 10 seconds back. Patrick Keeley took 5th, Gabe Proctor was 7th and Zach Rivers managed to hang on in spite of fatigue to earn 7th.

Audio Clip: Parker Stinson

Junior Men 1500 Meters

After having watched the senior men saunter around through splits of 61.44 & 2:03.88 it was a distinct pleasure to watch the juniors approximate those times. The field saw a large pack stay together until late in the race as no one really wanted to take out the pace into the wind. Mac Fleet of California was tucked into 4th or 5th until late in the race. He made a move on the far to turn to close the gap & then used his impressive kick to surge to victory in a time of 3:47.44. He overtook the leader Blake Shaw who ran 3:49. Darius Terry of Northern Arizona overcame a nasty fall , which saw him to do atleast a complete flip on he ground with a lap to go, to score an heroic third. Patrick McGregor placed 4th. Fleet noted after the race that he was quite tired after the long campaign & could not wait to take two weeks off from running but he certainly did not look tired near the end of the race.

Junior Men 800 Meters

Joe Abbott from Washington State had run 1:49 to lead the qualifiers and hopes had been high for a high quality time, especially with defending champion Elijah Greer in the race. Greer had run 1:48 earlier in the year against collegians & a stunning 1:47 the previous year but has appeared a bit drained of late. Greer actually moved into the lead with about 300 meters to go, which quite early for him, Abbott took control late to come home in 1:51 for the victory. Zach Mellon was just behind in second & Dylan Ferris of Stanford finished 3rd. Greer took 4th. That of course is running, as one can not always come in first but you have to respect the effort, when one is not at their best.

Junior Women 800 Meters

Chanelle Price of Tennessee ran to victory in this event with a fine time of 2:06.79. Laura Roesler of North Dakota took 2nd in 2:07 and Emily Infeld also ran 2:07 to come home third. Rebecca Anderson finished fourth.

Junior Women 3000 Meter Run

Stephanie Morgan, a former Footlocker finalist from Ohio, & Kayleigh Tyerman of Crater High School in Oregon took an early lead in the 3K & went through the first lap in 82 seconds followed by Elizabeth Hynes. In truth it was Tyerman who led the way slightly ahead of Sisson. Emily Sisson, a three-time Footlocker finalist, moved near the front shortly after the lap was completed & soon went into the lead. Sisson, flanked by Morgan, then led way through 800 meters in around 2:40.

They stayed pretty much the same for the next two laps reaching the 1200M in 3:54 & the 1600M in 5:20 but it was Sisson, who was in control of the pace, as Morgan, Hynes & Tyerman followed. For a time Tyerman seemed to be laboring due to her earlier race in the day in the 1500 & she appeared to be on that proverbial yo-yo moving back & then closing on Morgan. During the next two laps Emily picked up the pace, while Morgan attempted to remain with her.

Shortly after the six minute mark Sisson upped the ante and was followed by Hynes, while Morgan & Tyerman dropped off the pace. Another lap saw no change up front but Morgan had dropped to five meters behind the leaders, while Tyerman was another good 20-25 meters further back. Both Sisson & Hynes looked quite fluid, as they reached the bell lap in 8:42, but it was Hynes who charged and steadily pulled away to win in a time of 9:51. Sisson finished four seconds behind her for second but Tyerman blasted the last two meters closing the gap with seemingly too little yardage to go even with a hundred meters remaining. Somehow she closed shortly before the line & passed the much-taller runner to snatch a podium appearance. For a runner, who had been well under the national radar just a year ago, that too seemed very appropriate. Behind Morgan in fourth was Leslie Kovach, who was in turn followed by Katie Kovach. It was one of those races that so surpassed your early preconceptions, that one has to ask: How can you not love track?

Junior Men 5000 Meter Run

The last race of the day & meet was the junior edition of the 5K for men. It was a mini-meeting of sorts for former Footlocker runners with Colby Lowe, Trevor Dunbar, Jim Walmsley, Griff Graves, Thomas Porter, Kevin Williams, Zach Torres & Joe Whelan all runners, who made it to San Diego & that is not counting some regional aspirants as well. The pace was a reasonable 73 for the first lap with Colby Lowe, Riley Masters & Richard Sniffen at the front & Alaska’s Trevor Dunbar tucked in at fifth. The next lap slowed bit to 76 (2:29 split) as Joe Whelan took the lead followed closely by Masters and a phalanx of runners close behind.

Shortly thereafter Jim Walmsley of Air Force Academy assumed the point with Thomas Porter & Dunbar as well as most of the others in tow. Walmsley’s split was 3:43 and soon after her was joined by Lowe. At 1600 Lowe & Walmsley clocked in at 5:19. The next portion of the race saw a slight change as Lowe, Dunbar & Kevin Williams proceeded in order with a small chase pack not far removed. Walmsley held 7th at that point. Lowe decided about that point to push the pace & assumed a lead over Dunbar. The next split of 9:21 gave Lowe a 15 meter lead over Dunbar. From that point on there was little doubt that Lowe was going for the win and it was going to be difficult to challenge him.

Colby’s effort over the next 400M saw him open a good 40 meter lead over Dunbar, who was now joined in second by Sean Keveren of Virginia. Griff Graves trailed them at the time by another five meters, while Walmsley was showing the strain of his earlier speed. Lowe’s split had been 10:30 and baring a collapse he was home free. From that point onward he ran alone & the Oklahoma State runner cruised in with a final time of 14:31.27. Keveren was able to pull away from Dunbar at that point & was able to follow Lowe to the line five seconds later.

Dunbar finished alone in 14:43.98 well ahead of Griff Graves, who was timed 14:50. In Dunbar’s defense it should be noted that he had raced a number of times over the last few weeks including a national championship two mile the weekend before in South Carolina. Behind Graves followed Kevin Burnett & Thomas Porter. Somewhat surprisingly Conner Peloquin of Gig Harbor, Washington closed well to take 8th. By surprising I do not mean to be disparaging, because early in the race he was as far back as third from last. It appeared that he was going to be having one of those days, but as the race moved along he threaded his way through the pack. After moving to the head of one long pack late in the race he somehow found the strength to bridge a sizable gap separating him from the next two runners. It was an impressive piece of intelligent racing & one of a number of pleasant aspects of the day’s races. Fellow Washingtonian Ryan Prentice, now running for Oklahoma State, finished 9th & Spencer Agnew came home 10th.

Audio Clip: Mac Fleet at USA Junior Nationals