 
Custom Search              ARTICLESU.S CHAMPIONSHIPS PREVIEW: FOCUS ON TENNESSEEANS (PART 2)by Dave Milner And here is TR's men's preview. WOMEN | MEN 800m World Championships “A” Standard: 1:45.40 With last year's 6th placer, Jebreh Harris, taking a year off from training and competing this year, Tennessee is represented by former UT runner, Andrew Dawson. Dawson only qualified for the meet by the thickness of his singlet, so it would be a surprise if he advanced from his preliminary heat, but anything can happen in an 800. By a desperate dive for the line, Christian Smith earned his ticket to Beijing in front of a hometown crowd and veteran Khadevis Robinson was left behind. Which way will the tables turn this year? From the left in this picture, Duane Solomon, Andrew Wheating, and winner Nick Symmonds are all in the field again as well. The 800m ended up being one arguably the most exciting race in last year's Olympic trials, with Christian Smith's face plant dive at the line for the final qualifying spot and local kid Andrew Wheating's improbable rise through the heats to take second to another local kid, Nick Symmonds. The Eugene crowd will undoubtedly get excited about Wheating and Symmonds again, who are the two runners in the field with the world champs “A” standard, but Smith has yet to show any of his 2008 form so far this year. Khadevis Robinson, who considered retirement after he just missed making the team for Beijing last year, is back and has shown good form so far this year, and Duane Solomon, a former NCAA standout from USC who showed promise at the trials last year, is another one to watch. World 1500m and 5000m champion, Bernard Lagat, has an automatic bid to the world meet in the those events, but must compete in this qualifying meet to use those automatic entries. He has entered the 800m here with no qualifying time (don't even get me started on this). His PR, a relatively modest 1:46:00, dates back to 2003. While he has stated that he probably won't take part in the final, he should give his prelim and semi-final a good shake-up. But will USATF bump somebody up form the semis to replace Lagat, knowing he is planning on scratching. Let's hope so.
1500m No Tennesseans in this one, and this race is about as wide open as races at national championships come, in part because 2007 world champ Bernard Lagat has an automatic entry to Berlin and won’t be contesting this event in Eugene, and Alan Webb is running slower than he did in high school. Of the 50-plus declared athletes in the 1500m, only two—Leo Manzano and Alan Webb (from last year)—have the worlds “A” standard . Manzano should be golden, as he has set two PRs already this year (3:34.14 for 1500m and 3:55.29 for the mile, both in May) and has a long history of running well in championship races. Webb, though, is hard to think of as anything other than a long shot. After his sub-par season in 2008 and well-publicized failure to make the Olympic team, the 2007 world leader has been at least as underwhelming this year. So, “A” standard or not, it is doubtful that Webb will be much of a factor in this race. Webb could still run in Berlin, however, if Manzano is a top finisher and nobody else gets the "A" standard by the end of July. Interesting names further down the list who may be in a position to take advantage of the situation include Rob Myers, who has proven himself by twice winning indoor mile titles, and Lopez Lomong, who has a great story and all the guts necessary to do what he needs to do on any given day. About those 51 declared: With just one qualifying round for the final, the heats could be crazy sit-and-kick affairs, which always increase the odds that someone who “should” be in the final doesn’t make it. That's especially likely because there are four sections in the qualifying round, with only the first two in each guaranteed a spot in the final. This event could be one of the major casualties of the admirable wish to shorten what has traditionally been a too-long meet. But moving forward, either the qualifying standard needs to be tightened, or the schedule should mimic that of the world meet and have three rounds over four days. (Contrast a qualifying heat with the final three days later in this event with the twice-as-long men's steeple, which has a qualifying round followed by the final two days later.)
3,000m Steeplechase World Championships “A” Standard: 8:23.00 The U.S. men's steeple lost its iconic star when Knoxville's Anthony Famiglietti decided he's done (at least for the time The field that remains will have a hard time matching Fam's personality and unpredictable racing tactics. However, a large pack of guys running quick times would be a great change of pace for an event that the U.S essentially runs at a JV level compared to the world's best. McAdams was the first American at the Prefontaine Classic, but was 14 seconds down on the winner. He and his teammate from Beijing, Billy Nelson, will likely be challenged by Dan Huling and Kyle Alcorn, who both ran big steeple PRs in Europe last summer, but who have yet to do anyting of note in 2009 (Huling was 8th at Prefontaine). All four are under the worlds “A” standard and have a good shot at making the team for Berlin, as does Ben Bruce, who has the fastest time in the U.S so far this year (he was 5th at Prefontaine). McAdam's former BYU teammate, Kyle Perry returned to the steeple this year after not running one since 2006. He ran an enormous PR to win the NCAA title earlier this month, and may be the race's biggest, and tallest, dark horse.
5,000m World Championships “A” Standard: 13:20.00 Tennessee will be represented in the 5000 by Knoxville's Anthony Famiglietti and Brentwood's Andrew Bumbalough. If the race is run at an honest pace, this is likely to be a 3-way battle between Matt Tegenkamp, who was 4th in the world championships 5000 in 2007, Chris Solinsky, and Knoxville's Anthony Famiglietti. Fam scratched from the steeplechase and 10,000m to focus soley on this event. Fam is second on the U.S. list after Bernard Lagat, who has no reason to contest this distance in Eugene, and Galen Rupp is next, but he has said he won’t run the 5,000m if he makes the 10,000m team the night before. Tegenkamp’s training partner Chris Solinsky is the only other one in the race with the world standard. Tegenkamp will probably have help if he decides to set out at sub-13:20. Brandon Bethke used to train with him as a Bumbalough is not likely to be in the hunt for a Berlin berth, but he's only 22, and has plenty of time. He's in great form, though, having clocked a 3:38.23 1500 PR at the Reebok meet in New York City, and clocking a 3:58.77 mile at the Music City Distance Carnival despite a heavy training load that week. Look for the former Brentwood Academy star to mix ut up, breach the top 10 and take some nice scalps. If the pace is sluggish, look for him to finish even higher; maybe top 6. The race could be a little wacky because, at this point, it's scheduled to be run as a final with two sections. Only if at least 10 of the currently declared 34 entrants scratch will it be run as a normal final. Some scratches from men who will run Thursday's 10,000m final are inevitable, but looking at the list it's hard to find 10 likely scratches. If the 5,000m final does get run in sections, look for some post-race bitching about how the heats were seeded. Vaughn, for example, is in the faster heat, although his seed time for the meet is slower than that of five men stuck in the slower first heat.
10,000m World Championships “A” Standard: 27:47.00 This race should mark a changing of the guard. Last year’s Olympic trials winner, Abdi Abdirahman, has shown little of that fitness this year. Another Beijing Olympian, Jorge Torres, hasn’t inspired much confidence yet, either. Other long-timers in the event, such as Meb Keflezighi and James Carney, have been even quieter. Double NCAA champ Galen Rupp, second in the trials last year at home, will likely lead the youth charge. The American leader for the year, Tim Nelson, is also in his early 20s, as is last year’s surprise, Scott Bauhs. Bauhs has had an uneven first season as a pro, and his qualifying mark of 27:48 is just outside the "A' standard. Nelson has raced just three times this year but run fabulously each time. Abdi, Rupp, Torres and Nelson are the only ones in the field with the worlds “A” standard. Although it would seem logical that men like Bauhs, Josh Rohatinsky, Dathan Ritzenhein, Ed Moran and Carney who need the qualifying mark would set out at that pace from the gun, this almost never seems to happen in championship races.
Junior 5,000m Final: Sunday, June 28 The U.S Junior Championships are being held in conjunction, and Tennessee's sole representative in the distance events (for either gender) is Brentwood's Sean Keveren (right), who goes in the 5000 on Sunday afternoon. After a stellar prep career while at Brentwood High, in which he won 6 individual state titles, the University of Virginia freshman, has been struggling to shake himself free of the hip and knee issues that plagued him in his senior year. After not racing for 50 weeks, he surprised many with a 14:19.33 clocking in his first ever 5000 on the track at the Music City Distance Carnival. Keveren, who only just turned 19, will not be intimidated being on this big a stage. He ran in the 2007 U.S Junior Championships in 2007, just days after his 17th birthday, and made it to the 1500m final, going at it with Oregon stand-outs Matt Centrowitz and A.J Acosta. That experience should be invaluable on Sunday as he tries to nab one of the two Team USA berths for the Pan-Am Junior Championships in Trinidad. The biggest obstacles to his week in the Caribbean are likely to be Oklahoma State frosh Colby Lowe (who has run 13:57 this year) and Alaskan high school star, Trevor Dunbar, who clocked a 8:49.79 2-miler -- despite gusting winds and oppressive heat, humidity -- at the Nike Outdoor Nationals high school meet in North Carolina last week to win in convincing fashion. Keveren, having only raced once in 2009, will be nothing if not rested. Everyone is expecting this to be a 2-horse race between Lowe and Dunbar, but if the pace lags, he has the finishing speed to surprise everyone.
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TR Editor DAVE MILNER was Sean Keveren's high school coach. He expects to be glued to his computer monitor watching Flotrack's live coverage of all the distance action in Eugene.
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being) with the barriers. He is entered in only the 5,000m. But what is exciting is that Tennessee may still be in a position to boast the 2009 U.S Champion. Josh McAdams (
University of Wisconsin runner, and Evan Jager trains with him now in Portland, Ore. Both are young and rapidly improving, with 13:27 and 13:29 PRs, respectively, this year. Brent Vaughn has shown little of the fitness that netted him a 13:18 PR as a collegiate last year, while Tegenkamp’s Beijing teammate Ian Dobson isn’t even entered. An intriguing prospect is freshman superstar German Fernandez. He would need to take a big chunk out of his 13:31 PR to qualify for Berlin, but that’s certainly possible given his prowess at shorter races this year. 
