Posted: April 30, 2004

Athletics: RRW Letter From Palo Alto

From David Monti

(c) 2004 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

April 30, 2004

It's not even on the radar screen of the vast majority of sports editors in the U.S., but tonight's Cardinal Invitational Meeting at Stanford University is likely to have as big an impact on the U.S. Olympic team as the Olympic Team Trials themselves in July, at least where the middle and long distance events are concerned.

The focus here at the Creekside Inn, where many of the athletes, coaches and managers are staying, are the Kim McDonald Memorial 10,000m events which will cap the evening. The fields are large and strong, especially on the men's side.

Sitting in the courtyard of the Creekside earlier this afternoon, Meb Keflezighi confirmed that the lead pacemakers will take the field --or at least him-- through the halfway point in 13:30. When I questioned whether or not that was too fast, Keflezighi said, "You gotta go for it."

There will also be pacers for the Olympic Games "A" standard of 27:49.00 which Abdi Abdirahman thinks only a handful of athletes can attain. "Meb, me, Bob (Kennedy), Dan (Browne)," said Abdirahman. "And you never know about Nick (Rogers)," he added.

It was at that moment when Bernard Lagat, Abdirahman's roommate at the Creekside, stepped into the courtyard and said that he's running tonight's 10,000m too! "For training," said Lagat who cautioned that he probably won't finish. Abdirahman, who does some of his training with with Lagat, spoke of 28 minute training runs the pair had done at high altitude in Flagstaff. "It's a two mile loop," explained Abdirahman. "We'd come through at 9:40 for the first loop," he said. "That guy's tough."

Lagat is not listed on any of the entry lists for the meet. As an Olympic medalist, he can probably get a number on short notice.

Abdirahman also confirmed that his back is feeling fine. He dropped out of the U.S. Men's 8-K Championships in New York on 27-May when his back tightened up.

There is also jockeying amongst the athletes for who will get into the top section of the men's 10-K, instead of running the "B" race which is expected to produce a 28:30 winner. Justin Young wants to get into the top section, but won't know until a special meeting down at the track at 7:00 p.m. "It's a numbers thing," said Young's manager, Bobby Gordon, noting that 32 men are already entered in the top section of the race.

Keflezighi and Abdirahman also talked about the entry of Dathan Ritzenhein, of the University of Colorado, who will be making his 10,000m debut tonight. "He's the talk of the town," said Keflezighi. "How do you think he'll do?" asked Abdirahman. "Your guess is as good as mine," I responded.

The women's top section of the 10,000m has 27 confirmed entrants. The talk yesterday was of a leading pace of 31:10 for the benefit of Sally Barsosio, but that has been relaxed a bit to 5:04 miles (approx. 76 second laps/31:40 finish) to get the top athletes under the 31:45.00 Olympic "A" standard. Elva Dryer already has the standard, but Katie McGregor, Kate O'Neill, Natalie Harvey, Kathy Butler, and Alicia Craig are amongst the top runners who are looking to get it.

The startlists are listed at www.gostanford.com. I'll be writing a post-meet story which I plan to transmit tonight, very late.

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