{"id":1197,"date":"2012-05-21T12:56:13","date_gmt":"2012-05-21T19:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=1197"},"modified":"2012-05-21T16:00:45","modified_gmt":"2012-05-21T23:00:45","slug":"farah-sharp-at-hi-performance-meet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=1197","title":{"rendered":"Farah Sharp at “Hi Performance” Meet"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mo<\/a>The year\u2019s best gathering of middle\/long distance runners took place this past weekend in Southern California at the \u201cOxy Hi Performance\u201d meet. But after all the races were run and the results came in, I\u2019m still in the dark as to how things look for American distance running \u2013 and we\u2019re only a month out from the Trials!<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong, there were some solid performances. Best of the bunch was Mo Farah (GBR) who turned in a 3:34.66 \/ 13:12.87 double with less than an hours rest between the two events \u2013 and won both! Farah starts off his season in fine shape \u2013 and I have to think at this point should be at least a co-favorite in the 5000 for London. His speed is sharp, and he continues to race very well. He is going to be tough for anyone to handle. And that includes WR holder Kenenisa Bekele (ETH) who opened up his season with an uncharacteristic 5th place finish in Doha.<\/p>\n

The other outstanding performance was an 8:18.14 steeple win for collegian Donn Cabral (USA) \u2013 setting an \u201cAmerican\u201d collegiate record in the process. A great run and win for Cabral as he beat Dan Huling (8:20.81) and Kyle Alcorn (8:20.86) \u2013 the first and second place finishers at last year\u2019s National Championships. So the rest sets Cabral up nicely heading into next month\u2019s Trials.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure that anyone else did themselves as well in this meet, however, as most marks were good, but not good enough to really separate anyone from the \u201ccrowd\u201d. For example no woman ran under 2:00 in the half \u2013 though Geena Gall (2:00.44) and Alice Schmidt (2:00.77) ran well. Shannon Rowbury ran what was a WL 4:05.92 \u2013 until it was blown out of the water by Genzebe Dibaba\u2019s 3:57.77 hours later, and the trail of finishers behind her.<\/p>\n

But the best 1500\u2019s were turned in by a 5000\/10000 meter runner (Farah); a 10000 runner (Galen Rupp, 3:34.75 PR); and a half miler (Robbie Andrews, 3:34.78 PR). And although Dathan Ritzenhein, was able to ride along with Farah (who was supposed to be the rabbit!) for a 13:14.72 (4th place), I was hoping for something closer to 13:00\/13:05 \u2013 to be in line with the big dogs of the world. But it does look like \u201cRitz\u201d is putting himself in position to make the team, as he was certainly happy with the performance.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure how I feel about a few others, however. Alan Webb ran yet again, and after his 3:37.26, I just don\u2019t see a trip to London in the cards. Same for Will Leer, who only ran 3:39.31 and finished 10th in his heat. Nick Symmonds did run a PR 3:36.04 \u2013 so we know his strength and endurance are up. On the flip side, Andrew Wheating \u201conly\u201d ran 1:46.83 in the 800 \u2013 good but I\u2019m not sure it tells me anything about where he\u2019s at. Though of course just to be competing right now is a good thing for Wheating. I\u2019m just not sure if he\u2019s ready for a top three finish in four weeks.<\/p>\n

Then on the women\u2019s side more mixed results. Molly Beckwith won her heat of the 800, but her 2:01.24 was well off her AL 1:59.51. Shannon Rowbury\u2019s win came against Anna Pierce (4:06.11) and Brenda Martinez (4:06.96 PR). Perhaps a bit of a psychological advantage for Rowbury? Though well off the PR\u2019s of both Rowbury and Pierce. Then in the next heat we get Morgan Uceny\u2019s SB (4:06.52) just losing to Gabreiele Anderson\u2019s PR (4:06.46)!<\/p>\n

So what does it all mean? I\u2019m not sure that after all those races it meant anything. While the sprinters and hurdlers have been \u201cshowing off\u201d a bit, this meet reminded me that this year there are only two meets that matter \u2013 the Trials and the Games. And while I have a fairly good idea of what to expect from several field performers and certainly the sprinters and hurdlers of the world, I suspect that we\u2019re not going to have a clue about who\u2019s going to London in the middle\/long distances until the last minute, when the gun goes off at the Trials.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The year\u2019s best gathering of middle\/long distance runners took place this past weekend in Southern California at the \u201cOxy Hi Performance\u201d meet. But after all the races were run and the results came in, I\u2019m still in the dark as to how things look for American distance running \u2013 and we\u2019re only a month out from the Trials! Don\u2019t get me wrong, there were some solid performances. Best of the bunch was Mo Farah (GBR) who turned in a 3:34.66 \/ 13:12.87 double with less than an hours rest between the two events \u2013 and won both! Farah starts off his season in fine shape \u2013 and I have to think at this point should be at least a co-favorite in the 5000 for London. His speed is sharp, and he continues to race very well. He is going to be tough for anyone to handle. And that includes WR holder Kenenisa Bekele (ETH) who opened up his season with an uncharacteristic 5th place finish in Doha. The other outstanding performance was an 8:18.14 steeple win for collegian Donn Cabral (USA) \u2013 setting an \u201cAmerican\u201d collegiate record in the process. A great run and win for Cabral as he beat Dan Huling (8:20.81) and Kyle Alcorn (8:20.86) \u2013 the first and second place finishers at last year\u2019s National Championships. So the rest sets Cabral up nicely heading into next month\u2019s Trials. I\u2019m not sure that anyone else did themselves as well in this meet, however, as most marks were good, but not good enough to really separate anyone from the \u201ccrowd\u201d. For example no woman ran under 2:00 in the half \u2013 though Geena Gall (2:00.44) and Alice Schmidt (2:00.77) ran well. Shannon Rowbury ran what was a WL 4:05.92 \u2013 until it was blown out of the water by Genzebe Dibaba\u2019s 3:57.77 hours later, and the trail of finishers behind her. But the best 1500\u2019s were turned in by a 5000\/10000 meter runner (Farah); a 10000 runner (Galen Rupp, 3:34.75 PR); and a half miler (Robbie Andrews, 3:34.78 PR). And although Dathan Ritzenhein, was able to ride along with Farah (who was supposed to be the rabbit!) for a 13:14.72 (4th place), I was hoping for something closer to 13:00\/13:05 \u2013 to be in line with the big dogs of the world. But it does look like \u201cRitz\u201d is putting himself in position to make the team, as he was certainly happy with the performance. I\u2019m not sure how I feel about a few others, however. Alan Webb ran yet again, and after his 3:37.26, I just don\u2019t see a trip to London in the cards. Same for Will Leer, who only ran 3:39.31 and finished 10th in his heat. Nick Symmonds did run a PR 3:36.04 \u2013 so we know his strength and endurance are up. On the flip side, Andrew Wheating \u201conly\u201d ran 1:46.83 in the 800 \u2013 good but I\u2019m not sure it tells me anything about where he\u2019s at. Though of course just to be competing right now is a good thing for Wheating. I\u2019m just not sure if he\u2019s ready for a top three finish in four weeks. Then on the women\u2019s side more mixed results. Molly Beckwith won her heat of the 800, but her 2:01.24 was well off her AL 1:59.51. Shannon Rowbury\u2019s win came against Anna Pierce (4:06.11) and Brenda Martinez (4:06.96 PR). Perhaps a bit of a psychological advantage for Rowbury? Though well off the PR\u2019s of both Rowbury and Pierce. Then in the next heat we get Morgan Uceny\u2019s SB (4:06.52) just losing to Gabreiele Anderson\u2019s PR (4:06.46)! So what does it all mean? I\u2019m not sure that after all those races it meant anything. While the sprinters and hurdlers have been \u201cshowing off\u201d a bit, this meet reminded me that this year there are only two meets that matter \u2013 the Trials and the Games. And while I have a fairly good idea of what to expect from several field performers and certainly the sprinters and hurdlers of the world, I suspect that we\u2019re not going to have a clue about who\u2019s going to London in the middle\/long distances until the last minute, when the gun goes off at the Trials.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[135,295,321,17,309,227,190,160,145,126,132,18,38],"class_list":["post-1197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-andrews","tag-beckwith","tag-cabral","tag-farah","tag-gall","tag-martinez","tag-pierce","tag-ritzenhein","tag-rowbury","tag-schmidt","tag-symmonds","tag-uceny","tag-wheating"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa3DCY-jj","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":560,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=560","url_meta":{"origin":1197,"position":0},"title":"World Championships Preview – 5000 Meters","author":"CHill","date":"August 24, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"For me the most exciting of the distance races is the 5000 meters as men and women with 10,000 meter endurance and 1500 meter speed often end up in a mad dash for gold over the final lap. Daegu should produce two very exciting races as both fields have some\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"image","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lh3.ggpht.com\/-xuh-D0ICoxY\/TlT6zqfsCGI\/AAAAAAAAAX8\/tOVtFIn8Pvk\/image_thumb2.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1952,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=1952","url_meta":{"origin":1197,"position":1},"title":"Worlds Preview – Moscow Mid & Long Distance","author":"CHill","date":"August 4, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Time to take a look at the middle and long distances before the starting gun goes off. Right off the bat, I have to say that we'll be minus one of the biggest stars in the sport with the loss of David Rudisha - out due to injury. That won't\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 6 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 6 comments","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=1952#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"Mo Farah ","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/trackchill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Mo-Farah-_thumb.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":825,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=825","url_meta":{"origin":1197,"position":2},"title":"New Balance Indoor GP Preview","author":"CHill","date":"February 2, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The indoor season really got rocking last weekend, and looks to pick up stream with the World Indoor Championships just a tad over a month away (Mar 9-11). One of the next steps towards Istanbul is this weekend\u2019s New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston. This year\u2019s meet is focusing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Brown\"","block_context":{"text":"Brown","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?tag=brown"},"img":{"alt_text":"FHS Track Photos 025","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/trackchill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/FHS-Track-Photos-025_thumb.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1941,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=1941","url_meta":{"origin":1197,"position":3},"title":"The Final Prep for Moscow is Done","author":"CHill","date":"July 28, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The London Diamond League was pretty much what I thought it would be - best meet of the year and perhaps a preview of several events in Moscow. If this weekend was any indication, we've got a Wild West shoot out kind of World Championships coming up, because there just\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Bolt\"","block_context":{"text":"Bolt","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?tag=bolt"},"img":{"alt_text":"Mo Farah ","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/trackchill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Mo-Farah-_thumb.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":447,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=447","url_meta":{"origin":1197,"position":4},"title":"Tamgho WR Highlights Weekend Activity","author":"CHill","date":"February 21, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Teddy Tamgho (FRA) is at it again. Last year he set the World Indoor Record in the triple jump with a leap of 17.90m (58\u2019 8.75\u201d). This weekend in Aubiere, France he went one centimeter better with a new record of 17.91m (58\u2019 9.25\u201d) \u2013 increasing his previous world lead\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"image","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lh3.ggpht.com\/_q69RXDGKhjE\/TWLQ2mBCrfI\/AAAAAAAAAHQ\/nHQpCFLM5tM\/image_thumb.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":595,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=595","url_meta":{"origin":1197,"position":5},"title":"Robert Harting \u2013 My 2011 Male Athlete of the Year","author":"CHill","date":"October 15, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Looking back over 2011, the sport\u2019s top male athletes had some very interesting seasons. Usain Bolt (JAM) was once again undefeated \u2013 though he did false start out of the World Championships 100 meter final. Kirani James (GRN) pulled off an \u201cupset\u201d in Daegu by beating defending champion LaShawn Merritt\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Harting\"","block_context":{"text":"Harting","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?tag=harting"},"img":{"alt_text":"Robert Harting - 13th IAAF World Athletics Championships Daegu 2011 - Day Four","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www2.pictures.zimbio.com\/gi\/Robert%2BHarting%2B13th%2BIAAF%2BWorld%2BAthletics%2BChampionships%2BsgsNw9Jme9bl.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1197"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1198,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1197\/revisions\/1198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}