A second NCAA XC title would vault Mantz into the NCAA XC pantheon, but to win he'll have to beat a loaded field featuring Kiptoo, Adriaan Wildschutt, Cooper Teare, Nico Young, and more.
*MB: NCAA Predicted Men's Individual top 10
Archived Homepage For November 17, 2021
Archived Homepage For November 17, 2021
NCAA XC Is Saturday
It's been 10 years since a woman repeated as NCAA XC champ, but Alabama's Chelangat has a chance to do it and is undefeated in 2021. BYU's Orton might be her biggest threat, while West Virginia's Ceili McCabe is also undefeated.|
*MB: NCAA Predicted Women's Individual top 10
There are around a dozen athletes who will get to run NCAA XC for a 5th time on Saturday. We introduce you to a few of them, plus the 26-year-old ninth-year senior (and mother) who first ran NCAA XC in 2013.
Tell us who will win NCAAs and win some cool RunningWarehouse and Asics prizes.
On The Boards
On The Boards
Our Weekly Recap
After taking a look back at NCAA regionals, we take a look at some great pre-finish line celebrations - some of which worked out quite well and others not so much. This WTW is dedicated to Jimmy Wyner.
Be Inspired
At the age of 38, after 11 straight disappointing marathons, Elkaneh Kibet PRd in marathon #13 in NY where he finished 4th overall and beat the great Kenenisa Bekele.
*MB:The Elkaneh Kibet Interview
Bolt Updates
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- Did You Know Usain Bolt's Shoe Was Untied When He Set The 100m World Record At The 2008 Beijing Olympics “People started talking about it and I started watching the videos, people saying my shoe was untied and I didn’t even notice. It could have gone horribly wrong.”
- Usain Bolt On The Olympics: “I really missed it. I was like, I wish I was there. Because for me, I live for those moments. So it was hard to watch." Bolt also said he thought he'd be fighting for a podium spot if he was in Tokyo: "My coach said something to me at the end of my career. He said, 'People are not getting faster. I was getting slower.' I never looked at it that way."
- Usain Bolt Talks Soccer And Gives His Thoughts On Manchester United's Current Struggles “We are going to struggle. Cristiano [Ronaldo] has saved us every game. One guy has to do all that work. We have not played good football in so long."
Final Rankings Before NCAAs
- NAU Men Stay Ranked #1 As BYU Makes Big Jump From 8th To 2nd In Pre-NCAA XC Champs Rankings OSU and Notre Dame are ranked 3-4.
- No Changes To The Top-6 Teams In Pre-NCAA Champs Women's Rankings As NC State Stays #1 New Mexico, Colorado and BYU are ranked 2-4.
Japan Running News
- Charles Kamau Wanjiku Breaks Japan Collegiate 10,000m Record With 27:18.89 At Nittai Time Trials In A Race Where The Top-13 All Went Sub-28 In the B-heat, there was a high schooler who ran 28:11.96 while the 5000m had six high schoolers sub-14 lead by Daniel Ndiritu (13:18.75). Margaret Akidor won the women's 5000m in 14:55.43
- 18-Year-Old Seira Fuwa Runs 31:29 To Anchor Her Team To East Japan Women's Ekiden Win Fuwa turned heads at an ekiden two weeks ago when she ran a stage time equivalent to about a 30:37 10k.
British News
- Eilish McColgan's Mother Says A Man Followed Her In His Van And Exposed Himself When She Was Training On Country Roads As A Young Pro Liz McColgan-Nuttall, the former 10,000m world champ, also talks about guiding Eilish to her marathon debut next fall.
- How They Train With GB 10.08 Sprinter Harry Aikines-Aryeetey His favorite session is 3x120s with about 10-12 minutes in-between. His least favorite is 250 and 300m repeats.
- GB's Katarina Johnson-Thompson Moving To Florida To Work With A New Coach Her coach in France got a job with the French Athletics Federation so she had to look for a new option.
Non-Distance News
- The Altlanta Journal-Constitution: For Christian Coleman, The Comeback Begins Now Coleman's suspension ends this Sunday. He talks about what he's been up to during his suspension, still getting tested about twice a month and shares his thoughts on the Tokyo 100m final.
- Better A Decade Late Than Never: US's Erik Kynard Officially Confirmed As The 2012 Olympic High Jump Champion After The Doping DQ Of Russian Ivan Ukhov Derek Drouin, Robbie Grabarz and Mutaz Essa Barshim all tied for the bronze medal at those Olympics so they're elevated to silver.
- RIP Britain's 1948 Olympic 100m Silver Medalist Dorothy Manley, 94 She ran 12.2 in the final to take second behind Fanny Blankers-Koen.
- Jamaica Set To Host The 2022 CARIFTA Games After COVID Cancelled The Last Two Years It's scheduled for mid-April.
NCAA XC Regionals
We ran Bo Waggoner's computer program all day long on Friday and gave you the NCAA fields before anyone else.
More NCAA News
- DyeStat Region-By-Region Recap
- Official NCAA DI Qualifiers Announced
- BYU Coach Ed Eyestone Explains Why Conner Mantz Held Off Turning Pro Eyestone says that "the market was saturated" after the Olympics and Mantz "could've signed but wouldn’t have maximized his earning potential." Eyestone added that he didn't think Mantz would still be running track for BYU in the spring.
- Division 3 Regional Recaps
Other XC News
- Michigan XC Runner Who Got Was DQ'd For Profanity After Second Place At State Meet Makes Public Statement Garrett Winter says, "I am sorry I that I put the race officials in the position to have to make this call. ...I said what I said and cannot change that. I will not let this define me."
*MB: "**** yeah!" Michigan HSer runs 22-second pb to finish 2nd at state. Promptly gets DQd for profanity. - One Month To Go Until SPAR European XC Championships In Ireland Can Turkey’s Yasemin Can win her fifth successive title?
NCAA Recruiting News
- Auburn University Signs Bahamas Javelin Thrower Keyshawn Strachan Strachan won the last CARIFTA Games (in 2019) in a meet record and was 7th at World Juniors.
- Baylor Signs Nigerian U20 400H Champ Nathaniel Ezekiel Ezekiel was 4th at World Juniors in 49.89 (a time good enough to be an All-American in the NCAA).
- The Top Five Men's Recruiting Classes Of The NLI Period: UVA #1, Oregon #2, #3 Notre Dame, #4 UT, #5 NAU
*MB: Vin Lananna has it rolling again!! UVA has #1 recruiting class over Oregon, NAU, etc. - Jenna Hutchins officially signs with BYU
Distance News
- Excellent Read: Charlie Spedding recalls what it was like to win bronze in the 1984 Olympic marathon This really is a brilliant piece. Read it now.
- Olympic and NY Marathon champ Peres Jepchirchir gets huge reception at airport upon return to Kenya
- Masters marathon WR holder Mark Kiptoo, 45, says he wants to keep running even "when it no longer puts food on the table"
- Now 49, former NYC marathon champ Hendrick Ramaala has been nominated for coach of the year in South Africa
- Jocelyn Rivas, 25, became the youngest person to run 100 marathons She did it in 5:10 in LA.
What about the sport? How to grow the sport
Broadcasting two live sporting events on the same channel at the same time is very difficult. Robert Johnson offers some ideas on how to make marathon broadcasts better moving forward.
Sprint News of Note
- Gabby Thomas says meditation is key to her success and thinks Flo-Jo's record thinks is doable “If you had asked me over a year ago [if the WR was possible], I probably would have said no, but I think things have changed."
- Yohan Blake and longtime agent Cubie Seegobin have amicably parted ways
- 2017 400h world champ Kori Carter writes that she was diagnosed with type-1 diabetes this year
- Elaine Thompson-Herah goes on radio and says, "I have outgrown the [MVP Track Club] environment pretty much.” The results certainly didn't seem to be off this year.
Distance News
- 2022 worlds marathon course in Eugene revealed There will be three 14km loops and it will start and finish outside of Autzen Stadium. Parts of the 1972 and 76 Trials course will be used.
- Former Canadian NR holder Lanni Marchant went into NY having done half her normal training but still ran 2:32 in her 1st marathon in 5 years It's been a tough half-decade for Marchant as many around her have died from overdoses.
- Defending champs Reuben Kiprop Kipyego (2:03:55) and Vivian Kiplagat (2:22:11) will try to defend Abu Dhabi Marathon titles in 3 weeks
- Court orders Agnes Tirop's husband to undergo mental test to ascertain whether he is fit to stand trial
- Struggling with knee pain? Stretch your hamstrings Recent research suggests inflexible hammies are a strong predictor of knee problems.
Fall Marathon Season Review
With the 2021 World Marathon Majors season in the books, Jonathan Gault analyzes what we learned from a busy fall of marathon racing.
Cool Event Set For Next Week
BTC and NAZ Elite will both have teams with Grant Fisher, Woody Kincaid, Elise Cranny, Courtney Frerichs and Scott Fauble all running. Jake Riley will also be running for Team Boulder.
UK News
- Brit Jake Wightman Talks About Needing More Strength After Disappointing 10th Place Finish In The Olympic 1500m He thinks running through three rounds caught up to him so he did some XC this fall and adds, “The days of finishing with a 51 or 52-second last lap have gone so I need to start moving from being an 800m/1500m runner to more of a 1500m/5000m runner.” Article also has some quotes from Andy Butchart about recently becoming a father and losing his UKA funding.
- Controversial UK Athletics Chief Jo Coates Was Making A Salary Of $303k Before She Resigned Last Month That made her one of the highest paid administrators in British Olympic sport.
HS / NCAA XC News
- NY Times: Athletes In A Louisiana Town Ravaged By Hurricane Ida Try to Run Back To Normalcy The barrier island, Grand Isle, was absolutely pummeled by the hurricane and most of the town's population has yet to return. But the XC team is still planning on competing at next week's state meet even though most of them have been living and training apart in other cities and states.
- Nike Cross Regionals Start This Weekend - Watch For Free Here (Northwest) *Sunday: Heartland *Midwest
- MB: '**** yeah!' Michigan HSer runs 22-second pb to finish 2nd at state. Promptly gets DQd for profanity.
- Lauren Fleshman Writes Letter To Her High School Self Fleshman talks about young girls dealing with puberty and changing bodies.
- NCAA Announces Qualifiers For Div. II Nationals
Your latest American stars share their insights.
American Record Holders
American Record Holders
Keira D'Amato, the new American record holder in the marathon, was joined by Deena Kastor, who held the record for 15 years.
Sisson was the guest on the LetsRun.com Track Talk podcast after she became the first American to go sub 67 in the half marathon on a record-eligible course. Podcast highlights above. Full pod here.
Woody Kincaid joined us after he broke the American record indoors at 5000. He talks above why he left the Bowerman Track Club. Podcast highlights and link to full podcast here.
Coogan's New Balance Boston team had 3 Olympians in 2021 and 2022 could be the biggest year yet for the program with 2 new additions and the TRACK at New Balance coming on March 1st.
Danny Mackey has taken the Brooks Beasts from an unproven club to the Olympic podium in its first decade.
Dathan Ritzenhein is the first of the top pro coaches to sit down and talk about his club heading into the 2022 campaign.
Best of Jon Gault
Best of Jon Gault
Take Your Love of LetsRun to the Next Level
Take Your Love of LetsRun to the Next Level
LetsRun Classics
LetsRun Classics
‒Usain Bolt talking about doing his famous "To Di World" celebration pose in photos with fans.