Benninger

[AlmostSilver]

What happened?

Event 5 Men 1500 Meter Run
================================================================
2 Heats. Advance top 4 from each heat plus next 4 best times.
American: 3:29.77 8/25/1985 Sydney Maree, Puma
College Best: 3:30.56 8/11/1999 Bernard Lagat, Washington S
NCAA Meet: 3:35.30 6/6/1981 Sydney Maree, Villanova
Stadium: 3:43.32 2001 Clyde Colenso, Unattached
Meet Qualifying: 3:48.21
Name Year School Prelims
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Heat 1
1 Rob Myers SR Ohio State 3:46.58Q
2 Scott McGowan SR Montana 3:46.71Q
3 Donald Sage JR Stanford 3:46.84Q
4 Brendon Mahoney SR Georgia Tech 3:47.02Q
5 Adam Davis SR Rice 3:47.31q
6 Bryan Lindsay JR Brigham Young 3:47.37q
7 Tom Lancashire FR Florida State 3:47.39q
8 Martin Robeck SR Minnesota 3:48.81
9 Goran Nava SR Radford 3:48.85
10 Sam Vazquez FR Arkansas 3:52.86
11 Kurt Benninger FR Notre Dame 3:55.13
12 Sean Jefferson SO Indiana 3:57.48
-- Grant Robison SR Stanford DNS
Heat 2
1 Chris Mulvaney SR Arkansas 3:46.39Q
2 Said Ahmed JR Arkansas 3:46.64Q
3 Nathan Robison JR Brigham Young 3:46.81Q
4 Josh Spiker JR Wisconsin 3:46.82Q
5 Tom Parlapiano SR Villanova 3:47.06q
6 Jon Rankin JR UCLA 3:47.75
7 Jonas Hamm SR Texas 3:47.83
8 Chris Lukezic SO Georgetown 3:47.91
9 Ben Aragon JR UCLA 3:48.10
10 Simon Ngata JR Georgia 3:48.83
11 Hunter Spencer SR Kentucky 3:49.27
12 Sean Duffy JR American 3:49.54
13 Kevin Somok SR Notre Dame 3:50.94
14 Christian Smith SO Kansas State 3:52.78
================================================================
Name Year School Prelims
================================================================
Preliminaries
1 Chris Mulvaney SR Arkansas 3:46.39Q
2 Rob Myers SR Ohio State 3:46.58Q
3 Said Ahmed JR Arkansas 3:46.64Q
4 Scott McGowan SR Montana 3:46.71Q
5 Nathan Robison JR Brigham Young 3:46.81Q
6 Donald Sage JR Stanford 3:46.84Q
7 Josh Spiker JR Wisconsin 3:46.82Q
8 Brendon Mahoney SR Georgia Tech 3:47.02Q
9 Tom Parlapiano SR Villanova 3:47.06q
10 Adam Davis SR Rice 3:47.31q
11 Bryan Lindsay JR Brigham Young 3:47.37q
12 Tom Lancashire FR Florida State 3:47.39q
13 Jon Rankin JR UCLA 3:47.75
14 Jonas Hamm SR Texas 3:47.83
15 Chris Lukezic SO Georgetown 3:47.91
16 Ben Aragon JR UCLA 3:48.10
17 Martin Robeck SR Minnesota 3:48.81
18 Simon Ngata JR Georgia 3:48.83
19 Goran Nava SR Radford 3:48.85
20 Hunter Spencer SR Kentucky 3:49.27
21 Sean Duffy JR American 3:49.54
22 Kevin Somok SR Notre Dame 3:50.94
23 Christian Smith SO Kansas State 3:52.78
24 Sam Vazquez FR Arkansas 3:52.86
25 Kurt Benninger FR Notre Dame 3:55.13
26 Sean Jefferson SO Indiana 3:57.48
-- Grant Robison SR Stanford DNS

[GreekMystique]

Man it was his first NCAA's. Sometimes you don't put your best race on the track on the right day. However his 3:41 is crazy fast for his age... if he gets his chance (maybe people out there will volunteer to rabbit) I could see Greg Anderson's 8:00 3000m junior record maybe fall.

Good Luck this summer Kurt!

[Neillo]

Hey...

I don't know for sure, but one of the guys from my school (jefferson) didn't run well either. He's ran 3:40 this year and was the NCAA indoor champ last year. I'd imagine the two of them fell together....

Either that or Burdon came out of the stands and pushed them both into the infield

Neill O.

[Neillo]

nevermind my post from above...

Just heard from IU that jefferson is injured, obviously he didn't get tripped up with Benninger.

[Max]

I just read an update on NC's from Ian Fallas who was in Houston yesterday for the heats, here's what happened in Kurt's race:

Kurt led the first 900m, then the pack picked up the pace and he fell back. I think Kurt took a chance and went for it.

I admire his determination, not many rookies would step up and take the lead in an NCAA 1500m heat.

[Steller]

Sorry, I've been crap on reporting, as I've been down here since yesterday morning as well.

Both men's 1500m heats were 'classic' men's 1500m...jog through 1100m and crank the last lap. Kurt lead for almost 1000m (I think through 800m in around 2:06) and then with about 400m to go the guys started kicking like crazy. You can be strong as hell (ie. be in strength shape to run a 3:40) but if you can't drop a 53-53 second last 400m you probably won't make the final. ie. In the next heat, Josh Spiker was dead freakn' last with 400m to go and ran around 53 flat to get up into the top-4 to quailfy automatically.

All in all, Kurt has run very fast for his age, and the experience he got at his first NCAA"s will certainly serve him well in the future.

Women's 1500m
Tiffany took it out hard and Lambie (sp? Standford freshman) went with her in like a 65 and around 2:15. There was a pack of girls like 20m back, that included Hilary Edmondson (sarnia ON- Wisconsin) in the back of the pack. Hilary swept to the front during the 3rd lap and then took control of the chase pack, which swept up Lambie. With 250m to go Hilary put in a nice surge and broke away to finsih a solid 2nd in her heat, shutting it down with 50m to go. McWilliams looks tough as ever.

In the second women's heat, the Polish girl (Iryena from USC) who has run 4:11 didn't loook sharp at all and only moved into a qualify position with a very big push in the last lap. Gallo from Michigan looked solid. At this point its very tough to say who would be likey to be silver and bronze, behind probably winner McWilliams. Of course though, McWilliams did loose to Gallo 2 weeks ago at the regionals, btu I have feeling she won't leave it to a slower pace like she did at the regionals.

Carol Henry was a solid 4th in her steeple-chase prelim (top 5 qualify) and looked like there was more in the tank for the final tomorrow.

Ellerton looked decent in his 800m qualify, which was top-2. He admittedly said he was a touch flat, but that it was good to blow some of the rust off and he'll be ready for the final. This kid looks good and if he runs smart can definietly be in the hunt for a medal.

WOmen's 10000m was kinda boring through 5000m, until Alicia Craig broke away. Kroshius ran VERY tough to reel in the top-3 girls over about 4 laps from 5000m-~7000m. Craig basically ran a last mile in around 5 minutes to win.

The men's 10000m was boring as well, with the first mile going SLOWER than the women's last mile in around 5:05ish. They went through 5000m in 15:10ish, and then around 5400m Cragg dropped a 61 second circuit to blow it wide open, with only Cherest (Benard Lagat's younger brother) from Arizona going directly with him. Simon Bariu also made around a 61 second move when Cragg went, but was back in around 10th when he made it and got caught in no mans land between Cragg and Cherest and the chasers. Cragg went back to running 70's until the last 600m when he dropped a 1:31. Simon ran a very tough last 400m to hold onto 3rd.

I'll try and update after tomorrows final if I have time...

Cheers,

TRENT