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Pro Track and Field Buffs (& current Buffs in pro races)- 2021 news and highlights

Dani Jones finished 2nd in the next heat to advance to the semis and Micaela DeGenero finished 9th and will not advance

Ms. Degenero is not officially eliminated, but is the 2nd slowest time qualifier right now. Hope the last heat is SLOW!
 
Ms. Degenero is not officially eliminated, but is the 2nd slowest time qualifier right now. Hope the last heat is SLOW!
You're right, I completely forgot that it's the top 6 from each heat and the next 6 fastest
 
Did want to mention it's often hard for current collegians to put their best efforts in at any U.S. trials/ championships, as they've had a lot of earlier events (including conference and NCAA Championships, both indoor and outdoor) they've had to peak for.



Next up, for 2-3 more #ForeverBuffs, scheduled to start at 6:54 PM MT, is the 1st round of the women's 5000M. (Note- after her solid qualifying effort in the 1500M, I'm GUESSING (???) that Jenny Simpson may scratch the 5000M.?.)
 
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Also wanted to note that, although no Buffs are in these events, NBC is providing streams of the field and multi-events (decathlon and heptathlon).

Link to those streams can be found at https://www.nbcolympics.com/schedule/sport/track-field .

(I was HOPING they might also stream some extra action on the track also. Doesn't look they are, however. Bummer that races like Emma Coburn and company's 1st 2 rounds of the women's steeplechase aren't even being shown live, for example.)
 
Congrats to the 2 #ForeverBuffs in the 1st heat of the 5000M as they both qualify for the finals, with Maddie Alm (3rd) and Carrie Verdon (5th) earning auto-advancing finishes by finishing in the top 5!

 
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Re Buff connections, also wanted to note 2 of the Buff advancers so far this evening, Dani Jones and Maddie Alm, are both coached by #ForeverBuff Joe Bosshard, who also coaches (and is married to) Buff world champion Emma Coburn. Also, Jenny Simpson is coached by CU coaches Wetmore and Burroughs.
 
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It's getting close to the halfway point of the men's 10000M final, and the pack has been pretty close together, but it must be speeding up a little as some runners (Not #ForeverBuff Joe Klecker) are starting to fall off the back of the pack. Mr. Klecker is showing in 7th at the 4800M mark. with the lead pack still consisting of 20 or so runners.
 
Just to extend what I noted about Buff coaching in post #37 above, wanted to highlight (as also noted in the article quoted below) that Mr. Klecker is also coached by a #ForeverBuff great, Dathan Ritzenhein. (As was 1st noted in an a May Allbuff thread, it was recently announced Mr. Ritzenhein is going to be one of this year's class for induction into the University of Colorado Athletic Hall of Fame.)


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Article on yesterday's racing-



Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2021/6/18/track-and-field-klecker-makes-usa-olympic-team.aspx

"
EUGENE – It didn't take long for a Colorado track and field alum to make their way onto the Team USA 2020 Olympic Track and Field team after Joe Klecker finished third in the men's 10,000-meter run finals here Friday evening at the first day of the USATF Olympic Trials.

Klecker had to drop a 54.54 second final quarter-mile in the 6.2 mile long race to earn his spot on the team. After the 4,000-meter mark, Klecker never left the top-10 and was in second to start the final 2,000-meters of the race. He dropped to third with 1,200-meters remaining but covered the final 800-meters in 1:58.36 to secure his spot on his first Olympic team.

Nike's Woody Kincaid, a native of Colorado, won the race in 27:53.62, while Grant Fisher finished second in 27:54.29. Klecker finished right on Fisher's heels, a place he stayed at for most of the race, finishing in 27:54.90.

Klecker becomes the first male Buff to run at the Olympics in the 10,000 since his professional coach and former Buff legend Dathan Ritzenhein did in London in 2012. He becomes the fourth CU alum to run the 10k at the Olympics, joining Ritzenhein's two appearances, Jorge Torres' 2008 appearance and Kara Goucher's 2008 appearance.

The Buffs now own two of the first three Pac-12 Olympic positions this year as Morgan Pearson was the first for the men in the triathlon and Klecker is the third following Fisher's finish .61 seconds ahead of him. Galen Rupp, Jake Riley and Abdi Abdirahman are also conference representatives after qualifying in the marathon in February of 2020 where the Conference of Champions swept the men's spots.

The Buffaloes also favored well in the women's 1,500 first round with Jenny Simpson and Dani Jones advancing to the semifinals. Simpson was the top qualifier in 4:11.34 out of the first heat while Jones ran 4:13.47 to place second in the second heat and advance. Micaela Degenero finished 26th overall in 4:18.33 and will not advance.

Also for the former CU athletes, both Maddie Alm and Carrie Verdon moved on to the finals in the women's 5,000 out of the first heat. Alm ran the third-best time today in 15:31.43 while Verdon finished with the ninth-best mark at 15:32.87.

The women's 5,000 semifinals continue tomorrow at 7:40 p.m. MT while the women's 5,000 finals start Monday at 6:40 p.m. The women's steeplechase will be the next event for the Buffs to join in on the action with the first round starting Sunday at 7:35 p.m. with Emma Coburn, Val Constien, Sara Vaughn and Madie Boreman all competing.
...
"

(Aztecbuff- In the last paragraph quoted above, I believe the 1st sentence is incorrect. It should say "The women's 1,500 semifinals continue tomorrow at 7:40 p.m.".)
 
Less than 5 minutes until the scheduled start of the women's 1500M semi-finals (on NBCSN), with Jenny Simpson looking to be in heat 1 and Dani Jones in 2. (Top 5 finishers in each heat and the next 2 fastest times advance to Monday's final.)
 
#Foreverbuff (and current Buff assistant coach) Jenny Simpson qualifies for tMonday's final with a 2nd place finish in the semis!
 
Around 5 minutes until the 4 Buffs take to the track for the 1st round of the women's steeplechase. (The original cubuffs.com article said the 1st round races won't be televised, but the Trials are on NBC right now, so hopefully the article just got it wrong.)

It looks like 3 Buffs are in heat 1 (Vaughn, Boreman and Constien), while Coburn is in heat 2.

 
Val Constien auto-qualifies for the final out of heat 1 with a solid 4th place finish in a pretty quick heat!

Sara Vaughn finished 9th is in the precarious last of 4 potential time qualifying spots, and with her time (9:51.12) I'd think it unlikely she'll advance. Madie Boreman, at the end of a long collegiate season, ends up in 12th running 9:56.63.
 
Less than an hour before the 1st 2 of 4 #ForeverBuffs determine whether or not they might be going to the Olympics, with Jenny Simpson and Dani Jones scheduled to start their 1500M final at 6:05 PM MT. Relatively soon after that, Maddie Alm and Carrie Verdon are scheduled to run in the 5000M final beginning at 6:40 PM MT.

Note - Jenny Simpson has the Olympic time standard and Dani Jones, I believe I read (???), is high enough ranked internationally so that if either finish in the top 3 of the 1500M, I believe they WILL qualify for the Olympics. (Unless it's a slow technical race, I'd think Ms. Jones would probably need to run the standard (4:04.00) anyways to pull the upset and finish in the top 3.)

The 2 #ForeverBuffs in the 5000M, EVEN IF they pulled BIG upsets and finished in the top 3, I believe would still need to earn the Olympic time standard (15:10) this evening to qualify for Tokyo. (Looks like their current Personal Records (PR's) are both around 15:19.) I've started watching today's broadcast and one potential extra hardship for quick times, especially in the longer 5000M distance, is that it's a HOT day in Eugene. (They said its officially 91 degrees, with track temps even higher (120 degrees).)

Note 2 - Looks like they're televising the 2 races the Buffs are involved in during a one hour block on NBC. Unfortunately, it looks like, at least here in Denver, they're delaying the start of that one hour block by an hour, with the channel 9 broadcast starting tape delayed at 7:00 PM MT (at least per my Locast schedule).
I also sometimes access NBC sports through their app and, right now, anyways, there is a link there so that hopefully I may be able to see the races live through the app.




 
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Neither Buff qualifies for the Olympics in the 1500M, with Dani Jones finishing 9th and Jenny Simpson 10th.

There was some good news from the coaching side, however, as Dani Jones' teammate Cory McGee did advance to the Olympics with a 2nd place finish. Both of them are coached by #ForeverBuff Joe Bosshard.

 
#ForeverBuffs Carrie Verdon and Maddie Alm finish 10th and 12th, respectively, in the 5000M final. Both have shown a LOT of improvement this season, and I'm sure are looking for even more gains ahead. (Edit- missed until I saw the below tweet Ms. Verdon is still scheduled to run the 10000M later this week. Best wishes to her in that race!)

Of local interest, the 5000M race was won by Niwot native Elise Cranny (who attended Stanford and I believe now trains in Portland). Congrats to her!

 
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Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2021/6/21/...ompete-in-finals-at-usatf-olympic-trials.aspx

"
EUGENE – Four former Colorado track and field athletes competed in finals on the fourth day of the USATF 2020 Olympic Trials here Monday evening in the women's 1,500 and women's 5,000-meter runs.

Two former Buffs with four NCAA titles each took to the women's final in the 1,500 in Jenny Simpson and Dani Jones. The pair ended up finishing ninth and 10th overall with Jones finishing in 4:06.46 and Simpson finishing in 4:07.76 to finish out their seasons. Simpson worked through the pack in the first two laps to keep herself in contention, while Jones went out with a strong lead pack all the way to the bell lap.

This will be the first USATF Team USA that won't feature Simpson since she made the World Championship team in 2007 and made her way onto 10-straight teams after that. American-record holder in the mile Elle Purrier St. Pierre took the win in 3:58.03 after leading from the start, followed by Cory McGee and Heather MacLean.

Moving to the women's 5,000 finals, Carrie Verdon and Maddie Alm finished 10th and 12th, respectfully. Verdon ran 15:54.04 while Alm ran 15:58.40. Both women held onto the leaders until the 3,600-meter mark or close to a mile remaining when the leaders began to separate. Elise Cranny, a Colorado-native, won the race in 15:27.81 while Karissa Schweizer finished second and Rachel Schneider finished third.

Verdon will have another shot at Team USA in the women's 10,000 where she will race against former Buffs Laura Thweatt and Makena Morley.

Sunday marked the first round of the women's steeplechase and saw a pair of Buffs advance to finals. Emma Coburn had the top qualifying time in 9:21.32 after winning her heat, while Val Constien finished with the sixth-best mark in 9:28.37 to finish fourth in the first heat. Both women will run the final Thursday evening and both have great chances at a top-three finish. Coburn is the top-ranked American this season while Constien is ranked third this season. Heading into the Trials Constien was the fourth-best athlete based on personal best marks, but Colleen Quigley who was the third-ranked American on best times withdrew from competition before the prelims.

The Buffs also had Sara Vaughn in the race as she finished 18th in 9:51.12 as well as current Buff Madie Boreman who finished 21st in 9:56.63.

Colorado has athletes schedule to race on every day of the trials but will take the next two days off like the rest of the Trials for rest. Action resumes Thursday with Coburn and Constien in the finals of the steeplechase while Sage Hurta begins her first of three rounds in the 800 and Joe Klecker will possibly look to double up in Tokyo in the men's 5,000 alongside current Buff Eduardo Herrera.
...
"
 
After a scheduled 2 rest day hiatus, the Trials begin again today, with 4 Buffs scheduled to be on the track (all times converted to Mountain Time):

8:00 PM Sage Hurta in women's 800M 1st round. Ms, Hurta is in heat 1 of 5. The top 2 finishers of each heat, along with the 6 next fastest among all the heats, advance to tomorrow's semi-final round.

9:04 PM Eduardo Herrera in men's 5000M 1st round. Mr. Herrera is also in the 1st heat (of 2), with the top 5 finishers of each heat, along with the 6 next fastest overall, advancing to Sunday's final.

9:47 PM Emma Coburn and Val Constien in 3000M steeplechase final

Looks like NBCSN has all the coverage today, with the action being shown live from 7:00-10:00 PM MT.

Go Buffs!!!

A couple notes re the Championships:
  • Via social media, a couple #ForeverBuffs have scratched in races:
    • After qualifying for Tokyo in the 10000M, Joe Klecker scratched in today's 5000M so he can begin work to improve his chances in the 10000M.
    • A week or so ago, Laura Thweatt announced she was scratching in the 10000M due to an injury that "popped up". (Believe Ms. Thweatt is mainly a marathoner these days (she finished 5th at last year's Olympic Trials for that race), so will hopefully be able to recover and still be good to go for racing in 1 or 2 of the top marathons held later this year.)
  • It's supposed to be HOT this weekend in Eugene (I just looked it up, and currently highs are forecasted to be 102 and 112 degrees on Saturday and Sunday, respectively), so they've moved up the longest remaining races scheduled for those days to avoid the worst of the heat (although I'm sure it will still be toasty enough.) The women's 10000M final is now scheduled to start Saturday at 10:00 local time (11:00 AM MT), while the men's 5000M final is scheduled to begin the same time on Sunday. (They were originally scheduled for 6:44 Saturday and 4:30 PM Sunday local/ Pacific time.) I HOPE NBC finds a way to either televise and/ or stream the races at their new times.
 
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  • It's supposed to be HOT this weekend in Eugene (I just looked it up, and currently highs are forecasted to be 102 and 112 degrees on Saturday and Sunday, respectively), so they've moved up the longest remaining races scheduled for those days to avoid the worst of the heat (although I'm sure it will still be toasty enough.) The women's 10000M final is now scheduled to start Saturday at 10:00 local time (11:00 AM MT), while the men's 5000M final is scheduled to begin the same time on Sunday. (They were originally scheduled for 6:44 Saturday and 4:30 PM Sunday local/ Pacific time.) I HOPE NBC finds a way to either televise and/ or stream the races at their new times.

Quoting myself, looks like good news re coverage of the women's 10000M and men's 5000M finals on Saturday and Sunday mornings, respectively. Per a coverage schedule page I found (https://olympics.nbcsports.com/2021/06/24/olympic-track-and-field-trials-tv-schedule-live-stream/). looks like both are now scheduled to be shown on NBC's Olympic Channel. With it being shown there, assume it will also be available on the NBC Sports app.
 
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