No records set but still another outstanding Payton Jordan Invitational
Lubieniecki lowers school record in 1500, Gray and Eicholtz run PRs

Sunday, May 1, 2011
Comments by Gary Towne/Chico State Distance Coach, Tom Cushman
photos by Tom Cushman and PhotoRun

I have to start this note by apologizing for my lack of timely communication this track season. For whatever reason, I’ve returned from most of our recent meets feeling under the weather for several days, which has caused me to fall behind on my usual updates. Stanford’s Sunday night schedule for the recent Payton Jordan Invitational didn’t help matters, nor did the 3:30am arrival home on Monday morning. In any event I’ll do my best in this note to both quickly re-cap a solid day in Palo Alto, while concluding with a quick preview of the upcoming CCAA Championships to be held in Turlock this weekend. Payton Jordan Highlights:

Women’s 1500m Section 4: Women’s 1500m School Record!!! Senior Kara Lubieniecki Pr’d this weekend in the 1500m, which means the school record was lowered, since Kara was already our fastest metric miler coming into this season. The 5th place NCAA finisher from the ’10 NCAA Championships employed a very savvy racing plan, sticking close to the rail for the early laps, and hammering out a 2:21 final 800m split.

Video Link to Kara’s School Record: http://www.flotrack.org/coverage/238232-2011-Stanford-Payton-Jordan-Cardinal-Invitational/video/488082-W-1500-H04

Women’s 1500m Section 5: More Fast 1500m Running… Senior Anna Eicholtz a product of nearby Red Bluff High enjoyed a fine outing as well on Sunday. Having run a huge 2:12 800m PR the week before at the CAL meet, Anna set out for a hopeful sub 4:35 run (Her PR was 4:37 before Sunday’s race). Anna hung tough for 1200m, crossing the 3 lap point at 3:38 (4:33 pace!!), before succumbing to the quick early pace over the final meters. Despite running her slowest 200m of the race to the finish line, Anna still stopped the clock at 4:35 with a nice 2 second personal best mark. The time also places Anna as the #7 ‘Cat on the All Time Best Marks list and is an NCAA provisional qualifier.

Video Footage of Anna’s Race: http://www.flotrack.org/coverage/238232-2011-Stanford-Payton-Jordan-Cardinal-Invitational/video/488078-W-1500-H05

Men’s 800m Section 4: Senior Clinton Hayes and first year frosh Daniel Parker took to the line on Sunday knowing that their field wasn’t quite what we’d hoped, with respect to depth of quality runners. For Hayes, this would be a good opportunity to run to win, and for the frosh Parker, we’d hoped there might be the chance of dipping under 1:52 to give him the chance at making the NCAA championships next month. Both Parker and Hayes ran solid tactical races. Hayes burst to the lead putting a full second on the field over the final 200m, while Parker (who was among the top 3 most of the race) just didn’t have the closing gear today to drop his PR. For Hayes it was a small seasonal best and for Parker-his second best 2-lapper ever.

Men’s 1500m Section 4: Senior Manny Mejia had hoped to lower his 3:50 PR, set a year ago at the Payton Jordan event. Running in a Very fast heat Mejia settled to the back of the pack with early splits in the 60/2:00 range. Looking almost a bit shell shocked by the quick early pace Mejia fell from the pack during the third lap and ran alone the remainder of the race.

Women 5000m Section 2: A mixed result here for our two women’s 5k runners. Senior Tori Tyler, who’s missed a fair amount of training this school year due to injuries, was in a heat that was in hindsight, just too fast for her current fitness. Tori ran strong through a 5:12-1600 and 10:34-3200m, but couldn’t hold on over the final 2k. Her 17:01 was a disappointing outing for the 16:29 performer, but she had played her cards as well as they could be played, and just didn’t have the gas to stay with the pack.

Women 5000m Section 3: Junior Alia Gray had tried her hand at breaking the 17 minute barrier at the Mt Sac meet several weeks ago, before losing the pack by 2k and holding on with a “so-so” 17:16 finish time (still a PR). On Sunday Alia gave the 17 minute a good scare while she scored 3 PR’s en-route to an eventual 17:04 finish. Hitting early splits of 5:16, 10:05 (3k) and 10:47 (the latter splits being PR’s) sub 17 appeared to be on tap, but the afternoon heat and the hot early pace took their toll, and a few too many 84 second laps were had. The end result wasn’t the 16-something that the Junior from Santa Rosa had wanted, but it was still a nice PR, and the school’s 6th fastest 5k all time.

Men’s 5,000m: A tough race all around for the ‘Cats, as Isaac Chavez and teammate Brent Handa struggled in this one. Running in warmer-than -ideal temps (6pm start time) an impromptu rabbit pulled the lead pack through in aggressive early splits that included a 4:29 initial 1600, followed by a 65 fifth lap! Handa’s 5:35 split with 3k remaining was at 13:57 pace.. Chavez, who’s struggled with allergy related issues since his Stanford 10k, stepped off the track by 2k. Handa forged on, but the lap splits turned ugly with 70/69 and 71 second revolutions to the 3200m mark (9:07). The rest was pretty rough to watch as the senior fell well short of what would be needed to qualify for the NCAA Championships later this month. Even with a near 5 minute final mile, Handa stopped the clock at 14:49-the hard way. Hopefully CCAA’s will be a better finish to this great athlete’s collegiate running career.

Kim McDonald Men’s 10,000m: Chico Alum Scotty Bauhs and Charlie Serrano post US’ #4 and #11 best 10k’s of 2011!! NCAA Champs and Chico State Alum Scotty Bauhs and Charlie Serrano secured their spots on the line of the upcoming USATF Championships in Eugene, Oregon this June. Scott ran through 5k in around 13:48 with a huge pack of talented runners from around the globe. The DII 10k record holder battled among the lead pack through 8k before he fell off the wicked pace. Damage control, and a tough 62 second closer preserved a nice 27:51 finish time (his second best ever over the 10k distance). Unfortunately for Scott the mark was just shy of the World Championships “A” standard that it will take to make the US Championship team this summer. The good news is that he did hit the USATF “A” standard and will run in the U.S. Champs trying to score a top spot And the time in Eugene.

Charlie was in the second section of the 10K. While not nearly as fast as the Kim McDonald section (19 finished under 28 minutes), it was still plenty fast. Serrano, running at a pace he rarely ran in a college 5K, was one of the race leaders through the 25 lap affair. He was still in the hunt with a lap to go, but his finish came up a little short of what was necessary to win. Still Serrano took fourth with a well earned 28:24 PR.

Notes from meet: Other notable races from the meet were the women's 1500m where an explosive final kick gave former UW runner Kate Follett the win, to blow by Morgan Urceny (who faded to 6th in the talented field) and Malindi Elmore (who wore one of the uglist uniform in recent memory). Collegians Jordan Hasay and Sac State's Lea Wallace, finishing 5th and 7th respectively, claimed nice PRs in the race. The men's steeplechase saw two runners under 8:25, where Billy Nelson punishing final 200 took the race's shortest runner around the race leader Kyle Alcorn. Finally, the womens 10,000m where the race was weeded down to Shalane Flanagan, Sally Kipyego and Kayoko Fukushi. The three traded point until the pace proved a little too much for the Japanese runner. The final lap saw Flanagan make a couple attempts to pass Kipyego that were successfully rebuffed by the race winner. Still all three broke 31 minutes.