LetsRun.com's Preview Of Day 3 Of The 2011 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships
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By LetsRun.com
June 9, 2011
Day 3 of the 2011 edition of the Outdoor NCAA Track and Field Championships in Des Moines, Iowa will feature a truly special men's 800 that might be one for the ages. The women's 800 also will be full of intrigue. In the men's steeple, history very well could repeat itself, as Matt Hughes goes for a repeat title to give his 33-year-old coach the ultimate retirement gift. The night will end with the first of two clashes between Jordan Hasay and Sheila Reid.
(Editor's update: Please note that all times listed here are for people not in Des Moines and are EST times. Additionally, please note that the men's 10,000, which was originally scheduled for Thursday night, will also be run Friday due to a weather delay).
8:10 PM: Women's 800 Final: Can Price Win Her First NCAA Title?
Heat 1 Preliminaries 1 Lea Wallace SR Sacramento St. 2:04.57Q |
After watching the women's 800 prelims, we have a few thoughts about the final.
Quick Thought #1 - Based on the prelims, one would think that Lea Wallace or Channelle Price would win, as both looked great in winning their heats. Yes, Anne Kesselring is the national leader and she won heat 3, but she wasn't even the top girl from Oregon at PAC-10s or the West regional. However, Wallace looked terrible in the 1,500 semis on Thursday, where she squeaked into the 1,500 final on time. Based on that, it seems as if Price is now the one to beat.
Quick Thought #2 - Yale's Kate Grace defeated Price handily at the East regional. She complained about the heat on Wednesday but the temps on Friday will be significantly lower. Will the East regional Grace show up? Another person who didn't like the heat of day 1 was Natalja Piliusina of Oklahoma State.
8:20 PM: Men's 800 Final: A Race For The Ages
Heat 1 Preliminaries 1 Elijah Greer SO Oregon 1:47.17Q 2 Cory Primm SR UCLA 1:47.43Q Heat 2 Preliminaries 1 Charles Jock JR UC Irvine 1:45.77Q 2 Willie Brown SO Akron 1:45.91Q 3 Edward Kemboi FR Iowa State 1:46.06q 4 Ryan Martin JR UC Santa Barbara 1:46.29q Heat 3 Preliminaries 1 Robby Andrews SO Virginia 1:46.99Q 2 Casimir Loxsom SO Penn State 1:47.34Q |
Quick Thought #1 -What a field!!! 6 of the 8 have PRs under 1:46.06 and the 7th best PR is Edward Kemboi at 1:46.06.
Quick Thought #2 - The best stat of how stacked the men's 800 final is as follows: Penn State's Casimir Loxsom last summer earned the silver medal at World Juniors to become the highest-finishing US junior in history at a mid-d or distance event. His PR of 1:46.45 is the worst of everyone in the men's 800 final. That is hard to believe.
Quick Thought #3 - The heat winners all looked great on Wednesday but we gotta think Robby Andrews is the favorite. The guy thrives on pressure, whereas Elijah Greer in the past hasn't thrived on it.
Quick Thought #4 - As for Charles Jock, he likes to run from the front, whereas Andrews likes to come from the back. It should be an unbelievably exciting race.
8:30 PM: Men's Steeple Final: Will History Repeat Itself?
Heat 1 Preliminaries |
Quick Thought #1 - Could history repeat itself? In last year's final, Matt Hughes got the win and Donn Cabral was the runner-up. Look for Hughes to throw in a surge well before the last lap as in his prelim, he threw down with 2 laps to go and coasted the last lap. Last year, he was the best over the last 800 as well. In our preview, we gave the edge to Cabral but now we think it might go in favor of Hughes.
Quick Thought #2 - Hughes' coach Brice Allen is getting out of the game of coaching at the age of 33 after this meet. Will Hughes give him the ultimate retirement party?
Quick Thought #3 - Former prep phenom Craig Forys, who only made it to Des Moines on time, looked fantastic in winning heat 2 on Wednesday. If he wins on Friday, it will be the ultimate embodiment of the saying "Talent never goes away."
9:10 PM: Women's 5,000 Final: Hasay Vs. Reid, Round 1
Jordan Hasay and Sheila Reid are both dreaming of the 1,500/5,000 double at NCAAs and one of those dreams will die on Friday night. We also may get a preview of what to expect in the women's 1,500 final. Hasay's and Reid's double attempts are made significantly easier by the fact that #1 seed Jessica Pixler was forced out of the West regional with an injury. In fact, only two of the top 5 fastest collegians at 5,000 are in the final at NCAAs this year.
1 Pixler, Jessica SR-4 Colorado 15:25.58
2 Hasay, Jordan SO-2 Oregon 15:37.29
3 Whiting, Paula SR-4 Tulsa 15:46.91
4 Kimaiyo, Risper JR-3 UTEP 15:48.14
5 Senior, Ruth SR-4 New Mexico 15:48.29
In the end though, we think the race will come down to the cross-country champion Reid and the cross-country third-placer Hasay. It's hard to imagine anyone else winning.
Again, as was the case in the 1,500, we guess we'll give the edge to Hasay. She got the best of Reid in the 3,000 indoors, so why not in the 5,000 outdoors as well? That being said, what is most likely to happen from an odds perspective is that one will win the 1,500 and the other will win the 5,000, as the two are very close to each other.
Entrants Based On Regional Times 1 232 Tara Erdmann SR Loyola Marymount 16:08.27 2 312 Kendra Schaaf SO North Carolina 16:15.37 3 492 Rhiannon Johns JR UAB 16:27.04 4 367 Leslie Kovach SO Penn 16:16.16 5 383 Alex Banfich JR Princeton 16:18.64 6 251 Rachel Patterson JR Miami (Ohio) 16:16.95 7 544 Megan Goethals FR Washington 16:02.64 8 255 Emily MacLeod SR Michigan State 15:57.57 9 366 Laura Carlyle JR Oregon State 16:05.04 10 354 Jordan Hasay SO Oregon 16:04.39 11 426 Kathy Kroeger SO Stanford 16:03.96 12 526 Bogdana Mimic SO Villanova 16:17.96 13 111 Abbey D'Agostino FR Dartmouth 15:59.89 14 428 Stephanie Marcy SR Stanford 16:04.12 15 392 Amy VanAlstine SR Richmond 16:15.91 16 191 Brooke Eilers JR Iowa 16:11.86 17 560 Aliphine Tuliamuk SO Wichita State 16:06.05 18 565 Emily Sisson FR Wisconsin 16:09.44 19 193 Betsy Flood JR Iowa 16:04.46 20 527 Sheila Reid JR Villanova 16:17.77 21 15 Jennifer Bergman SO Arizona 16:05.04 22 157 Emily Infeld SO Georgetown 15:55.50 23 128 Lydia Kosgei JR Eastern Kentucky 16:26.42 24 491 Paula Whiting SR Tulsa 16:04.84
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