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Pro Track and Field Buffs- 2018 outdoor season news and highlights

Heat 3 does finish off with slow times, so congrats to Dani Jones for joining Jenny Simpson as Buffs in the 1500M final!

Note- Ms. Jones ended up helping herself a lot in this race, as she looked to set the pace early and led at the end of the 1st (short 300M) lap at a pace that was over 4 seconds faster than the last 2 heats ran, setting the 1st heat up with a strong "honest" pace throughout the race that allowed all the time qualifiers to come from that heat. (The "conventional wisdom" is it's better to be part of the last heat, as they know what they need to run to time qualify. That obvously didn't happen in today's 1500M.)

Now, with a relatively- fast qualifier, the concern changes to whether Ms's. Jones and, especially, Simpson didn't use too much energy in the qualifier. (Ms. Simpson is considered by most in the running websites to be the co-favorite to win the final, and her main perceived competitor was able to win heat 3 while running over 7 seconds slower than Ms. Simpson. However, with Ms. Simpson being so experienced and being known as one of if not the best American tactical racers, I won't worry too much about it.)

 
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Jenny was born in Iowa. The people at the Blue Oval at Drake love having her here. I hope she wins the gold.
 
buffgal said:
Jenny was born in Iowa. The people at the Blue Oval at Drake love having her here. I hope she wins the gold.
Click to expand...

Jenny for once isn't the only home favorite for Iowans to root for in this race. The other favorite Shelby Houlihan, who out-kicked Ms. Simpson in her last race, is also from Iowa (Sioux City through high school).

Ms. Houlihan is attempting to be a double champion this year, and is considered the solid favorite (with the effort required for the double the main question mark) in her other race, Sunday's 5000M, where she is the defending U.S. Champion.
 
I have been reading about Shelby also. Sioux City East product now living in Oregon.

The Buffs will be getting an Iowa girl as an incoming freshman in the fall. She runs the 1500 and 3000 meter races.

The Iowa Girls' High School Athletic Union refers to their athletes as Iowa Girls.
 
TV coverage (on NBC) has started for today's U.S. Championships program, with the 1st (steeple) Buffs (Emma Coburn and Shalaya Kipp) around 15 minutes from starting, with the 1500M Buffs (Jenny Simpson and Dani Jones) starting a little after.



 
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Steeple has started.

With it being pretty hot (~80 degrees) and humid, and there being no rabbits and less challengers (compared to Diamond League races), probably won't be a U.S. record (9:02.58) challenging type of race. Looking at the records tab in the Live Results, a couple of lesser records should be in a LOT of danger- the meet record (9:15.59) and Drake stadium (9:29.20).
 


That's 5 national championships in a row for Ms. Coburn, and I believe 7 in 8 years. (I believe the only time she didn't win over that period was when she couldn't race after winning the NCAA's due to a back injury.)
 
Jenny Simpson just gets passed at the end to finish 2nd in the 1500m.
 
Kind of a different race, as Ms's. Simpson and Houlihan spent the 1st half of the race at the back of the field. They worked their way up in the 3rd lap. Then, an 800M specialist took it out hard in the final back stretch and gained a little gap, which might have made Ms. Simpson work harder than she wanted to earlier than she wanted to close the gap (which she did just at the end of the final turn), which gave the younger Ms. Houlihan a little more energy to make the pass in the final straight.

Not to be overlooked, nice 5th place finish for Buff junior Dani Jones.
 
Actually watched both races. Congrats Emma on the win!

The 1500 was strange to watch with the two favorites in the back at the beginning. Houlihan with a well run race. Not bad finishing 2nd for Jenny Simpson.
 
Article after today's races (Sounds like a contented coach who isn't afraid "to tell it like it is".) - https://cubuffs.com/news/2018/6/23/track-and-field-buffs-have-successful-day-in-des-moines.aspx

"
Buffs Have Successful Day in Des Moines

By: Rosie Jeffery, Interim SID Assistant
Release: June 23, 2018

BOULDER – Current and former University of Colorado athletes competed at the USA Track and Field Championships in Des Moines today.

"A very good day to tell you the truth, not totally perfect, but from a coaching perspective but Heather and I are very happy because all three people we had racing today conducted themselves professionally, executed racing plans that we had talked about, they were smart and solved problems along the way," CU head coach Mark Wetmore said.

Professional middle distance runner and former Buff, Emma Coburn, brought home the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase champion title. Coburn ran alongside Shalaya Kipp, former CU athlete.

"In the women's steeplechase, Shalaya Kipp who is a graduate of our program and now a graduate student at CU also ran her plan her race moved up steadily from 8th or 9th all the way up to 4th. It might be her last race for a long time, she is off to a PhD Program, she finished honorably just the way she started. Buffalo fans can be proud," said Wetmore.

Dani Jones earned fifth place in the women's 1,500-meter run, clocking in at 4:09.16.

"Dani was excellent, first time at this level, surrounded by professionals, people much older than her in most cases, she was the only true collegiate in the race. Dani was smart and patient and moved up steadily all the way from 10th to 5th, fasted closing 400 meters ever, 61 seconds, and really put the word out that she is going to be an important factor down the road," Wetmore said.

Jones ran alongside former CU athlete Jenny Simpson who brought home second place, with a time of 4:06.21. Simpson was just behind Shelby Houlihan, an emerging runner with a slightly faster time of 4:05.48.

"These days, Jenny Simpson tells me what she's going to do and today she did exactly everything that she planned and ran the race exactly as she wanted. Shelby Houlihan ran her down at the last 40 meters, but I have zero criticism of anything she did in her race, she did it perfectly, and Houlihan is just a step better at this point in time," Wetmore said.

"Couple of 5,000s tomorrow with four people with interesting conditions so we will see how it goes," Wetmore said.

For more information on this week's competition including event schedule and start lists, visit the USATF website.
"
___________________________________________________________________________

Also, a few related interview videos-




Dani Jones (unfortunately with some static.) - https://www.flotrack.org/events/618...s/videos?sort=recent&limit=27&playing=6215237
 
Supposed to be hotter today, which works against the distance athletes, and still humid.
 
Women's 5K about to start, with TV coverage once again on NBC.. Best wishes to #ForeverBuffs Sara Sutherland and Erin Clark. Men's 5K start (with current Buff Joe Klecker racing only his 2nd race of the year) quite a bit later at 3:30 PM MT.

(In the men's race, there is also another CU Coaches Wetmore and Burroughs runner racing in Riley Masters, who a year or two ago became, I believe I heard, the 1st Non-Buff grad coached by them. He went to school at Maine and Oklahoma.)
 
Sara Sutherland finishes in 8th and Erin Clark 9th in a 19 women 5000M field. Nice result for both. Thanks again to Erin Clark for all her contributions at CU, as the new grad (at least for sports purposes) got to wear the CU uniform one last time in this race.
 
After a weather (thunder and lightning) delay, championships are re-starting. Per the below, the men's 5000M scheduled to start at 6:25 PM MT.



Edit- live results are showing a different start time (6:40 PM) for the 5000M.
 
Looking like Joe Klecker finished in 9th in the 5000M. (The Wetmore - Burroughs' coached Riley Master I mentioned in post #46 finished 4th.)
 
A few track- related things-

1st, congrats to recent grad Erin Clark for signing her 1st pro contract. Best wishes to her in Flagstaff!




Direct link to press release - https://www.nazelite.com/clark-murphy-and-wright-join-hoka-naz-elite/
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Also, a couple Buffs have races in the near future, with alum Emma Coburn racing in the Diamond League Monaco steeplechase on July 20th (toeing the line against the usual TOUGH field in this top period EVER for women's steeple), while next season senior Buff Gabby Scott will be representing Puerto Rico near the end of the month.

Monaco Diamond League program (with list of entries ) - https://monaco.diamondleague.com/en/programme-resultats-monaco-en/?eventId=25a6341d-7db3-465c-8b9b-00755b168c7c&eventStart=2018-07-20T20:35:00+02:00&tx_diamondrace_diamondleaguestatistics[action]=showEntries&tx_diamondrace_diamondleaguestatistics[controller]=DiamondLeagueStatistics&cHash=9e823cc20c922d3e4600eec8737414bb


_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Finally, congrats to former Buff Allie McLaughlin for winning a/ the National Mountain Running Championship -

 
Big weekend for Buff greats Emma Coburn and Jenny Simpson, as both are in BIG Diamond League races, the former racing in the Monaco steeplechase tomorrow, while the later is in London to race the mile on Sunday.
  • Ms. Coburn's race will be on the Olympic Channel tomorrow, with live coverage of the meet from noon-2:00 PM MT, and her race scheduled to start at ~12:35 PM MT. Believe one goal for her this year (among many) is to break her own American Record from last year (9:02.58), with breaking the 9 minute barrier also being a possibility. This race may be one of her best opportunities to accomplish these time goals, as I've read the Monaco track is a springy one, she's competing against a top field, and the race also features pacesetters.
  • Then, on Sunday, Ms. Simpson races in the "Millicent Fawcett Mile", the finale of the big 2 day London Diamond League Stop. She will also be going against an elite field. Live coverage, also on the Olympic Channel, looks to be from 7:00-9:00 AM MT on Sunday, with the mile scheduled to start at 8:49 AM MT.
(I found articles these as being live on the Olympic Channel, but the Xfinity guide show them as "repeats". Hopefully/ assume just an error on Xfinity.)
 
Ms. Coburn gets 4th in a race where a Kenyan shatters the World Record (by ~7-8 seconds) and American Courtney Frerichs gets the new American record (9:00.XX) to finish 2nd. Sure a little more motivation for Ms. Coburn going forward this season, who still ran a season's best (9:05.XX).
 
Jenny Simpson got 4th in a VERY competitive race, with the announcers saying her time was a personal best by 2 seconds or so, as well as being the 2nd fastest time ever for an American in the women's mile (which isn't raced that often anymore)! (The winner evidently ran the 3rd fastest time ever.)

Some random tweets I found via quick search (other than the 1st, won't vouch for accuracy)


 
Wanted to mention it's championship time for the preeminent international professional track series, the Diamond League, with the individual event champions for the season crowned over two days at two meets, with 16 champions crowned each day/ meet- the 1st meet being held tomorrow n Zurich followed by the 2nd meet on Friday in Brussels.

The 2 star #Foreverbuffs, Jenny Simpson and Emma Coburn, have both of their races scheduled for Friday in Brussels, with:
  • Ms. Coburn's 3000M steeplechase scheduled to start at 12:11 PM MT (8:11 PM Brussels time), and
  • Ms. Simpson's 1500M scheduled to start 30 minutes later with a 12:41 PM MT start.
With there not being an official World Championships (held every other year) or Olympics this year, assume these Diamond League final races were THE RACES circled in all the top pros calendars this year.

Live TV - Both of the meets (at least the Diamond league championship events) are scheduled to be shown live on TV from 12:00 noon - 2:00 PM MT tomorrow and Friday on the NBC Sports Network (NBCSN) Channel. (Looks like HD channel #689 in my area of Denver, and at least part of Boulder.)

Schedule, List of Entries and Live Results -
Zurich - https://zurich.diamondleague.com/en/programme-results-zurich/
Brussels - https://brussels.diamondleague.com/en/programme_results_brussels/
 
Just wanted to mention if you like running (or walking) in organized races in beautiful places, Emma Coburn is hosting the 2nd annual edition of her Elk Run 5K on Sept. 29th, to be held in her hometown of Crested Butte. Looks like the early registration deadline is tomorrow. (Note- her tweet below is still linked to another tweet that has the 2017 run date, so the date isn't accurate. Per the website it is 9/29 this year.)

The website (https://www.elkrun5k.com/) still only lists last year's charity beneficiary; which was Living Journeys. Per the website, "Living Journeys is a Gunnison Valley non-profit organization providing support, education and awareness to people living with cancer and their loved ones. ...." (Don't know if it will be the same charity beneficiary this year or not?)

 
The Brussels Diamond League telecast has begun (NBC SN), and about 6 minutes until the start of Emma Coburn's race.
 
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