A Look at the American Men’s Invasion at the 2012 ING New York City Marathon

Sub-28 10,000 Performers Scott Bauhs and Brent Vaughn To Debut

by: LetsRun.com
November 1, 2012 

There is a very strong American men’s contingent running the 2012 ING New York City Marathon.

2009 New York City Marathon Champion, Olympic silver medalist, and 2012 Olympic fourth place finisher Meb Keflezighi leads the American hopes. You can read about Meb’s preparations in a separate article here.

In this piece we look at the next 10 Americans not named Meb. With the race being on ESPN2, New York made a real big push to get as many of the top Americans as possible, as Americans doing well makes for good tv.  Most of the top American marathoners not named Dathan Ritzenhein and Ryan Hall (and he was supposed to be here) are in New York.

#2 Abdi  Abdirahman Tucson    AZ    USA    35    Nike    2:08:56    Chicago, 2006

The 4-time US Olympian is either the fourth fastest or sixth fastest American in history depending on how you look at it. 

Since dropping out of the Olympics, he has one result to his name – a 48:12 14th place showing at the US 10 Mile champs on October 7, where he was beat by four fellow Americans in this year’s New York field (Ritchie, Brent Vaughn, Andrew Carlson and Christo Landry). But he ran 2:09:47 to get third at the Trials in January so he’s clearly not over the hill at age 35.

#3    Gotcher,    Brett    Flagstaff    AZ    USA    28    adidas/McMillan Elite    2:10:36    Houston, 2010

Ran 2:10 in his debut in Houston in 2010 and then 2:11:06 in Houston at the Trials this year – a time that would have made every other US Olympic team except this one (and 1980 when we didn’t send a team but did name Olympians). He ended up fifth.

Leading up to New York, he has a 64:19 half-marathon win to his name in a race that started and ended at AT&T Park the home of the SF Giants. Since then, he’s been getting ready for NY and enjoying in the Giant’s World Series win.

On Wednesday’s media teleconference, Gotcher said this buildup for New York has been different than his other marathons as he’s been preparing at sea level.

“In terms of my training, it’s been going pretty well.  It’s a little different this time around because I’ve never done marathon training at sea level, so this time for the past four weeks I’ve been in California doing my training.  So it’s a lot of unknowns for me, just not having any markers to go off of from previous workouts.  They’ve all been at altitude.”

“It’s been kind of interesting, but I’d like to think that I’m in pretty good shape, but I guess we’ll just have to wait and see when Sunday rolls around.”

As for the Hurricane, it is more personal to Gotcher than many of the other elites as his sister lives in New York.

“I’ve been getting some accounts from my sister who lives there in the city, and she said it’s just like a different world over there now.”

“I hope everyone is starting to pick up the pieces and everyone is doing great.  Like they said, I hope to be able to be a part of something positive on Sunday.”

Ryan Vail in Houston in 2011

#4    Vail,    Ryan    Portland    OR    USA    26    Brooks    2:12:43    Olympic Trials, 2012

On paper, Vail looks like a sub 2:10 guy eventually. Heck, when we were looking at his track PBs (3:42.80, 13:32.10 and 27:51.07), they kind of reminded us of Ryan Hall’s (3:42.7, 13:16.06, 28:07.93 – although that’s not really fair to Vail as we don’t expect him to end up being Ryan Hall).

His marathon debut in Houston at the Trials was fairly successful – 2:12:43. The former Oklahoma State Cowboy ran 62:04 at the Bupa Great north run on Sept. 16th so it seems like he’s likely in good shape. Definitely a guy to keep your eyes on because at the 2016 Trials Meb and Adi will be pretty darn old so someone like Vail might make it to Brazil.

#5    Hartmann,    Jason    Boulder    CO    USA    31    Unattached    2:11:06    Chicago, 2010

The former Oregon Duck has recently enjoyed two of the better marathons of his career. In April, after finishing a disappointing 32nd at the US Olympic Trials, he bounced back for a fourth place finish in the heat of Boston in 2:14:31. (Yes an American not named Hall or Meb or Ritz was fourth at the Boston Marathon). This came after running his marathon pr of 2:11:06 in Chicago last Fall.

Since Boston, Hartmann’s only competitive effort has been pacing friend Dathan Ritzenhein for 12 miles at the Chicago Marathon.

We caught up with Hartmann on Thursday as he was the lone American man at the elite press conference and he sounded confident he could do good things on Sunday.

You can watch an interview we did with Hartmann below. In our mind, it is good the 31-year old is getting some nice publicity as he’s currently surviving as a runner with no sponsorship despite finishing fourth in Boston.

#6    Arciniaga,    Nick    Flagstaff    AZ    USA    29    adidas/McMillan Elite    2:11:30    Houston, 2011

The seasoned marathoner has three 2:11s to his name amongst his nine career marathons including a 2:11:56 which got him 8th at the US Trials. Let’s hope he gets to the start line as he was planning on taking a train from DC (after flying from AZ) but Amtrak isn’t going to New York. Hopefully, he has cab fare from Newark.

The Cal State Fullerton grad got married this summer.

#7    Carlson,    Andrew    Minneapolis    MN    USA    30    Team USA Minnesota    2:11:24    Olympic Trials, 2012

The former Minnesota Gopher had a strong marathon debut at the Trials  – a 2:11:24 sixth place showing.

His fitness seems to be going in the right direction this fall as he was 12th at the US 20k champs in September (61:13) before improving to a 7th place showing at the US 10 miler in October (47:48).

#8    Reyes,    Sergio    Palmdale    CA    USA    31    Asics Aggies    2:14:02    Twin Cities, 2010

The 2010 US marathon national champ ran 2:15:41 (25th place) at the Trials earlier this year before getting 12th in the hot Boston (2:22:06). He must have thought Boston didn’t take much out of him as he came back and won his second title in Cincinnati less than a month later (2:22:04).

At San Jose in early October, he was almost a minute ahead of Scott Bauhs (see below) in 63:31 but it’s hard to predict a big breakthrough for a 31 year old guy after a 63:31 performance (his pb is 61:46).

#9    Bauhs,    Scott    Mammoth Lakes    CA    USA    26    Unattached    1:01:30    Houston, 2012

Weird stat: Bauhs is the youngest American to ever break 4:00 in the mile and 28:00 in the 10,000 as he accomplished the feat one week shy of his 22nd birthday back in 2008 (hat tip to the marathon media guide for that stat). Maybe more impressive is the fact that he did both within the span of a month as he ran 3:59.81 on April 12th and then 27:48.06 on May 4th.

Now a seasoned pro, Bauhs is making his marathon debut in the Big Apple. While everyone else was running the Olympic marathon Trials in Houston, Bauhs was running the half-marathon there in an impressive 61:30.

Bauhs two prep races haven’t been great. He ran in the 64:20s for 13.1 in both Philly in Sept. and San Jose in Oct.

After San Jose, Bauhs talked to flotrack about his prep races.

“(In both), I felt very similar. I didn’t have a lot of spring in my legs but didn’t really die either. I just kind of grinded the whole way through. I’m hoping to taper for New York and (hope) to get a little spring in my step for New York.”

Brent Vaughn en Route To 2011 US XC Title

#9    Vaughn,    Brent    Portland    OR    USA    28    Nike Oregon Track Club    1:02:04    Houston 2010.

This is Brent’s marathon debut and thus we wanted to hype it up a little bit for you. So here’s a stat we came up for you.

13:16 and 27:35

Those were the PRs of Colorado alum Dathan Ritzenhein when he made his mega-hyped six figure appearance fee marathon debut at New York six years ago.

13:18 and 27:40 are the PRs of Colorado alum Brent Vaughn who is making his debut on Sunday to a lot less fanfare. We guess it shows you how much deeper the US is right now in distance running and how far the world of marathoning has progressed.

Vaughn clearly has the track pedigree to be a stud at the 26.2 distance.  The biggest concern is he might be a little bit like Ritz and not made for the 26.2 distance – it’s hard to say as he’s very inexperienced at longer distances as he’s only got three half-marathons to his name.

Like Carlson, he’s shown some good recent fitness which seem to be going in the right direction as he was 9th at the 20k champs in September (60:24) before finishing 5th at the US 10 miler in October in 47:26. That 47:26 clocking was the second fastest of all the New York runners – behind only Tim Ritchie (see below).

#11   Ritchie,    Tim    Brighton    MA    USA    25    Boston Athletic Association    1:03:57    NC Duluth, 2012

The Boston College product is a Boston guy – he’s currently an assistant coach at BC – thus we’re a bit surprised his making his debut in New York and not Boston, but Ritchie comes into New York in the form of his life.

With PRs or 13:53 and 28:37, he might seemed to be a bit out-classed by some of the guys getting the press but New York gave him the 11th highest number for a reason. He ran great at the US 10 Miler on October 7th. It was arguably a career best performance as he was the fastest of the five New York marathoners in 47:25 (he was third at the US 15k in March).

Also earlier this year, he broke 4:00 in the mile for the first time to become the first BC grad to ever go sub-4. Old-school fans will be rooting for this guy who has come a long way from his non-scholarship roots at BC and it’s great to see him doing so well. Moreover, he’s not afraid to race as this is his 17th race of the year.

More: Boston College’s Tim Ritchie keeps all on track (a great article on his unexpected sub-4 mile this year).

The rest of the US or US-based elites competing in the 2012 ING New York City marathon appear below.

Zach Hine sporting the LetsRun singlet at the 2010 NYC Half Marathon

Burrell    Ian    Tucson    AZ    USA    27    adidas    2:14:04    Olympic Trials, 2012
Nelson    Tim    Portland    OR    USA    28    Nike Oregon Track Club    2:15:06    New York, 2010
Hine    Zach    Lakewood    CO    USA    25    Mizuno    2:16:40    Olympic Trials, 2012 – Cornell alum was coached by Rojo in college.
Wagner    Allen    Hilo    HI    USA    32    Brooks    2:17:16    Olympic Trials, 2012
Bairu    Simon    Portland    OR    CAN    29    Nike Oregon Track Club    2:19:52    Houston, 2012 – Canadian national 10,000 record holder at 27:23 deserves some pub for sure. He won the San Jose Half over Bauhs and Reyes in early October in 63:28.
Flogel    Jason    West Des Moines    IA    USA    29    Runablaze Iowa    2:18:21    Duluth, 2011
End    Nick    Pittsburgh    PA    USA    28    Saucony Team Hurricane    2:19:48    Cal Int’l, 2011
Armijo    Jesse    Albuquerque    NM    USA    30    Dukes Track Club    2:17:19    Cal Int’l, 2011
Chavez    Chris    Menlo Park    CA    USA    26    Transports    2:20:18    Olympic Trials, 2012
Landry    Christo    Ann Arbor    MI    USA    26    Mizuno    debut    Grand Rapids, 2012 – was 9th at US 10 miler in October in 47:52.
Tenorio    Franklin    Boulder    CO    ECU    43    North Brooklyn Runners    2:10:22    Roma, 1998
Neal    Tommy    Colorado Springs    CO    USA    29    Boulder RC/adidas    1:05:00    Duluth, 2011
Glaab    Josh    Superior    CO    USA    30    Boulder Track Club    1:05:01    Houston, 2011
Payne    Ben    Fort Walton Beach    FL    USA    31    US Air Force    2:21:01    Boston, 2011
Hensley    Matt    Jacksonville Beach    FL    USA    24    Florida Track Club    2:23:12    Disney, 2012
Dube    Tesfaye Assefa    Bronx    NY    ETH    28    West Side Runners    2:15:22    Baltimore, 2011
Girma    Tesfaye    New York    NY    ETH    30    West Side Runners    2:10:18    Reims, 2010
Nebsi    Mengistu Tabor    New York    NY    ETH    35    West Side Runners    2:15:13    Berlin, 2010

More: Meb Keflezighi Leads the American Hopes at the 2012 ING New York City Marathon
*2012 ING New York City Marathon Men’s Preview
*2012 ING New York City Marathon Women’s Preview