scotty bauhs. enough said.
Called it, Ritz is the man at xc.
I was there. Great weather... 60s, sunny, no humidity.
I think Ritz's 6k (half) split was 17:27 so he ran splits of 17:27 and 17:36. At the half way mark, it was Ritz, Hall, Ro, and Torres in a pack of 4, but then the 3 of tehm faded from Ritz. Hall was training through this race and said that he had done a hard 22-miler just on Sunday. Ritz dominated with a cool steady pace.
On the women's side, Shalane dominated. She split 5K in 15:49 and won by over a minute.
and it's on to Jimmy Loves for the celebration...
Gotta love Max King making his 2nd Worlds XC team.
So there are new rules this year right? previously, Bauhs would go to worlds because he would take the 9th spot (hall not going, with 9 going) but now only 6 go? that sucks. Great run by Scotty.
Yes, it was a fun day. The men's junior race was a competitive barnburner; the rest were pretty much displays of overwhelming individual superiority. Hasay looked superb, Flanagan was just untouchable, and Ritz was really impressive. A bit of a suprise that Hall 'only' got 5th, but as he said afterwards, he was basically training through this meet. In a brief interview after his race,Hall said something to the effect that he could have held that pace all day but that he just didn't have the speed to keep up with Ritz. It was a perfect day for spectating, and the overall crowd seemed pretty large.
Nice job by Ryan Bak.
I hadn't seen any results from him in a while. 8th is not to shabby
Hell yeah, Gary Towne, Chico State head coach, 18th place. That's awesome. Congrats G$.
ummm, I'm not sure, but according to this (see below) Scotty should make the team:
Selection Procedures
1. Athletes who meet the eligibility requirements will select themselves onto Team USA for the IAAF World Cross Country Championships via descending order of finish in the relevant event at the 2008 USA Cross Country Championships (hereafter known as the "selection event").
3. If an athlete declines a spot on Team USA (or fails to commit as per #2 above), that spot will be offered to the next finisher in the relevant race at the selection event until the team is filled.
4. Team Size: The IAAF currently permits each nation to enter nine (9) athletes in the senior men's race and six (6) athletes in the senior women's, junior men's, and junior women's races.
1. Team USA will field a full squad as long as all team members finish in the top 12 (top 15 for the senior men) at the selection event.
2. If a particular Team USA squad is not filled by the top 12 (top 15 for the senior men) finishers at the selection event, then athletes will only be added to fill the squad size to one (1) athlete more than the number of scorers in that event at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships (6 senior men; 4 senior women, junior men, and junior women).
How's the post race party? I had to catch a flight home...hopefully no one acted like an idiot and got caught in the women's bathroom, or got tasered...then if it happened in Tijuana, well, you're just $hit out of luck...