UNC's Brie Felnagle is an American Record Holder in the DMR and a multiple NCAA Champion. She's looking to peak at the Olympic Trials in the final of the 1500 meter race.

What's going on with your training right now?
I am pretty much moving away from base stuff and strength stuff from indoor and getting into aerobic training for outdoor.

What will your schedule look like for outdoors?
I'm looking to have my ultimate peak at the Trials. I'm kind of trying to extend my season longer than usual.

I read on the UNC website that your middle name is “Mumm”. That's a pretty interesting middle name, where did it come from?
(Laughs) Yeah, that's my middle name. It's my mom's maiden name. It's original.

You took 11th at NCAA XC, 2nd in the 3k indoors and you said you're looking to peak at the Trials. What are your goals for the NCAA season?
I'm definitely going to race NCAAs as hard as possible. I'm going to be fit for it. I'm just not going to be dropping off my mileage quite as much for it. I just want to PR at some point this season. If it's at NCAAs or the Trials, it doesn't matter. Whatever, it's all good.

So, what are your goals for the Trials?
I think it's to compete really. I'm not putting any pressure or time goals on myself. It's a really long shot for me to make the team, but I'd really just like to make the finals. I guess that would be a good goal...and to compete as hard as possible.

Do you think you belong in the finals?
That's what I'm going to try to do.

What do you think makes you such a successful distance runner?
I'd have to say a good bit of genetic work, a really great support system from my family and coaches and just a lot of hard work.

Were your parents runners?
They were athletic and they were into sports. They weren't actually runners. I did have an uncle who had a full scholarship to USC for sprinting. My dad was quite a good runner, even though he was never actually interested in doing track. I think it runs in the family, but they weren't actually runners.

Why did you choose UNC in the first place?
I don't know. I talked to my high school coach about a bunch of different options and I knew they had a really great legacy of girls who had come from this school. And they all seemed to be doing well post-collegiately. That was really important to me. Getting me in a program that wouldn't burn me out or anything. When I came on my visit here, I absolutely loved it. I decided I wanted to be here.

Did you get to meet Shalane Flanagan?
Yeah, she was here on my recruiting visit. She's actually roommates with my roommate now. She wasn't on the team my freshman year, but she was around when I was here and I saw her. She's still around every now and again. She's incredible.

What are you studying at UNC?
I'm a communications major.

I know you've got a year left, but are you already starting to look at going pro as a runner...or down the communications route?
I would absolutely love to go professional. I'm certainly not banking on that, because you never know what could happen. I am certainly looking into going into communications after my running career. But my first wish would be to go professional and run as long as possible.

What do you do when you're not running down there?
Umm, school (laughs). Lots of schoolwork. I don't know. I just like to be around my friends a lot. I like to read when I can find the time to do so. I like to go to the movies. I just like to relax.

Do you know Tyler Hansbrough?
Yeah, I actually can see him right now. We're at the pool and he's here. That's kind of funny.

So, I put your name into some search forums on Letsrun and other websites to come up with questions for this interview. Do you use websites like that?
Not really. I looked on it the other day to find some splits. But (laughs) not really.

On a college track program, what is the general opinion on sites like that? Is there negative feeling to going on those types of sites?
It's fine. It doesn't bother me if people want to talk. I mean...let them talk. Do I find it offensive or anything like that? I just don't look. It's my choice not to look. It doesn't bother me. I'm sure some of it's positive and some of it's negative. That's just life. People just have their own opinions. They're entitled to that.

You don't get to check it out other than splits and stuff?
My dad looks at it. I don't see a need. I have looked at it before. It's really just kind of amusing the times I have looked at it. A lot of it is really just untrue. That time I did look at it was around the time about that story I told you about. It was absolutely ridiculous.

Well, the results that came up seemed to be more about comparing your looks to Sarah Bowman, of Tennessee, than about your running. What do you think about that?
That seems to be the most important thing to most people. How female athletes look. Whatever, I just don't really care. I run because I like running and I run because I like being an athlete. I consider myself an athlete and if people want to judge how I look...well, that's fine. They can see me...so, whatever.

Can you give me a crazy running story?
There's this guy that has this yard. We run through it on our run and it's really convenient. It's really not even a yard. It's quite a ways away from his house, but it's on his property. And they definitely come down and yell at us and want to chase us. We actually went over there the other day to try to run through it and he had built a dam of sticks...it looked kind of like a beaver dam. Like he had taken quite a bit of time to put up sticks and block us from going (laughs) through that way. That was kind of funny.

Image by Tracknewswire.com

Here is the rankings for Division I, II and III for this week.

Men's Division I Rankings

Rankings Points
1. Texas A&M 260.93
2. Florida 248.00
3. LSU 247.82
4. Florida State 240.73
5. Southern California 206.67
6. Arizona State 203.55
7. UCLA 185.52
8. UTEP 170.25
9. Auburn 168.64
10. Texas 165.69
11. Baylor 149.08
12. Colorado 137.40
13. Oregon 133.87
14. Tennessee 128.73
15. Arkansas 125.98
16. Texas Christian 120.97
17. Arizona 119.04
18. Kentucky 118.74
19. Washington State 104.28
20. Liberty 102.93
21. BYU 97.50
22. Clemson 95.21
23. Georgia 92.54
24. Washington 91.97
25. California 88.86

Women's Division I Rankings

Rankings Points
1. Arizona State 326.16
2. LSU 321.69
3. Texas A&M 268.22
4. Southern California 232.22
5. UCLA 211.25
6. Virginia Tech 207.77
7. Texas Tech 204.83
8. Stanford 163.44
9. Minnesota 147.53
10. UTEP 145.37
11. Arkansas 140.02
12. Miami (Fla.) 139.82
13. Florida 135.39
14. Penn State 126.15
15. Baylor 123.03
16. Oregon 117.48
17. Texas Christian 109.17
18. Michigan 107.36
19. Tennessee 106.15
20. Mississippi 104.47
21. Oklahoma 98.36
22. Florida State 98.15
23. Auburn 95.58
24. Texas 95.11
25. Arizona 93.52

Men's Division II Rankings

Rankings Points
1. Abilene Christian 389.27
2. Adams St. 365.50
3. Central Missouri 347.23
4. Ashland 347.15
5. Grand Valley St. 336.56
6. Pittsburg St. 333.03
7. Western St. 332.00
8. SIU-Edwardsville 316.78
9. Fort Hays St. 314.74
10. Colorado School of Mines 310.30
11. Kutztown 309.18
12. Lock Haven 305.29
13. Nebraska-Kearney 304.08
14. UC San Diego 303.93
15. Angelo St. 303.01
16. East Stroudsburg 303.00
17. Emporia St. 300.76
18. Slippery Rock 299.35
19. Humboldt St. 297.81
20. Lewis 296.66
21. Northern St. 291.68
22. Harding 284.83
23. Wheeling Jesuit 279.18
24. Mary 275.73
25. Missouri Southern St. 275.61

Women's Division II Rankings

Rankings Points
1. UC San Diego 369.86
2. Abilene Christian 351.94
3. Grand Valley St. 327.34
4. Adams St. 315.82
5. Missouri Southern St. 315.70
6. Angelo St. 312.76
7. Kutztown 310.66
8. Central Missouri 306.26
9. Slippery Rock 302.61
10. Ashland 301.43
11. Western St. 294.42
12. East Stroudsburg 290.87
13. SIU-Edwardsville 288.71
14. Northwest Missouri St. 284.06
15. Mary 283.41
16. Nebraska-Kearney 282.36
17. Lock Haven 281.39
18. Pittsburg St. 279.29
19. Northwest Missouri St. 275.02
20. Shippensburg 270.34
21. Findlay 267.59
22. MSU-Moorhead 251.43
23. UMASS-Lowell 247.12
24. Wayne St. (Neb.) 246.02
25. Emporia St. 244.20

Men's Division III Rankings

Rankings Points
1. Augustana (Ill.) 333.37
2. North Central 323.26
3. Whitworth 317.67
4. CMS 315.34
5. Wisconsin-Platteville 314.41
6. St. Thomas 314.07
7. Wisconsin-La Crosse 311.55
8. Wisconsin-Oshkosh 311.48
9. Willamette 305.58
10. Tufts 305.35
11. Monmouth (Ill.) 303.23
12. Williams 301.57
13. Linfield 300.20
14. Brockport State 299.65
15. Carthage 299.48
16. Calvin 299.47
17. Wisconsin-Stevens Point 299.22
18. Ohio Wesleyan 296.10
19. Ohio Northern 294.67
20. Nebraska Wesleyan 294.00
21. Carnegie Mellon 291.15
22. U.S. Coast Guard 290.54
23. Emory 287.59
24. Wisconsin-River Falls 287.23
25. Susquehanna 286.72

Women's Division III Rankings

Rankings Points
1. Washington (Mo.) 295.44
2. Calvin 294.26
3. Wisconsin-La Crosse 292.19
4. Wisconsin-Oshkosh 291.36
5. Willamette 288.01
6. St. Thomas 285.60
7. Chicago 283.04
8. Nebraska Wesleyan 282.56
9. Augustana (Ill.) 277.64
10. Wartburg 274.61
11. Concordia , Moorhead 273.22
12. North Central 273.06
13. Brockport State 272.55
14. Monmouth (Ill.) 261.83
15. TCNJ 261.31
16. Whitworth 260.60
17. Williams 257.56
18. Illinois Wesleyan 256.71
19. Baldwin-Wallace 254.73
20. Rochester 253.91
21. Simpson 253.36
22. Ohio Wesleyan 253.35
23. Roanoke 252.76
24. Central (Ia) 252.11
25. Rhodes 251.88

*** Rankings from USA Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (http://ustfccca.cstv.com/)

This Olympic year has been chock full of too many amazing accomplishments to mention them all right now. However, credit needs to be given to this past weekend's Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational where Scott Bauhs got the Olympic "A" standard in the 10k, Sally Kipyego ran an amazing 31:25.45 10k collegiate record, and Shalane Flanagan proved she is on top by winning the Kim McDonald 10k in an American record time of 30:34.49. That just so happened to be the first time that Shalane has ever run the 10k and breaking the women's AR by 17 seconds, I do believe is amazing. If these amazing performances stay true you better believe that America's chances of getting on the podium at this year's Olympics are just as good as any. After an amazing two weekends of competition this weekend might not get as much hype, but rest assured that there will be some fast times, long jumps, and far throws posted.

Although those fast times, long jumps, and far throws will be happening mostly in the college rankings this weekend there will still be a few other interesting races of note. The IAAF will host the World Race Walking Cup this weekend from May 10-11 in Cheboksary and lets not forget about the 2008 USA 25 km Championships. The USA 25 km Championships will take place on May 10 at the Fifth Third River Bank course in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The Hanson Brooks team will be there with Brian Sell being the races headliner as he prepares for the Olympic Marathon (usatf.org). The top fun run this weekend will be the Medtronic TC 1 mile race in Minnesota. The fourth running of this event will feature its greatest field as of yet with names like Steve Sherer, Luke Watson, Tiffany McWilliams, and hopefully Carrie Tollefson. It has become one of the the largest one mile race purses with athletes competing for a total of $25,000 dollars plus time bonuses for the first man to break 4:00 and the first woman to break 4:28 (letsrun.com). Now too the ever quickly ending collegiate outdoor track season.

College athletes know that their season is coming to an end fast! For the Division I guys and girls most of them have this weekend to get their qualifing time (if they haven't already) and then its conference. They are almost exactly a month away from their championships, but first they have to get to and then through those tough regional meets. However, for those Division II and III student-athletes their championships are a little more than two weeks away. Man has this season flown by! The college meets of highlight this weekend are the Clemson Orange and Purple Classic, Florida State Seminole Twilight, Georgia Invitational, Heptagonal Championships, Indiana Billy Hayes Invitational, Michigan Len Paddock Invitational, NCC Championships, Oklahoma Sooner Twilight, Oregon Twilight, Villanova Last Chance, and the Washington Ken Shannon Invitationals.

Good luck to all the teams/individuals competing this weekend be safe and run fast! Always make sure to check out the News and Results on the Flotrack Website for any extra information!


Nathan Haskins

“News and Results Guy”



(Picture thanks in part to the turkishpress.com)

Zach Whitmarsh toils on the Jack Wallace Memorial, Oak Bay High School track. Marley, his dog canters back and forth from the infield to the start area and back, taking splits.

“What breed mix is Marley?”

Zach writes: ”Marley is a pound dog. As far as we can tell he is a Shepherd-Collie cross. There may also be a bit of Burmese in him, he's a big-pawed dawg and he'd probably weigh another 20 pounds if he didn't get in the 50 miles per-week he's gotten used to.”

Meanwhile some local, longer distance ectomorphs gut out a low-key invitational race, looking smooth in their attempt at sub 30 for 10, 000m (others drop at halfway or at 3,000 - they are here just to check fitness), they appear fluent, until Zach starts his sprint workout.

Whitmarsh re-defines the everyday runner’s paradigm of what is fluid motion.

He runs his repeats ostensibly faster yet effortless than what most think humanly possibly.

The first time I saw Zach race at the Victoria International Track Classic, he didn’t so much as shift gears in the final turn, completely humanizing the field, he exploded. The crowd stirred collectively as he launched from the pack, completely separating himself. The field otherwise was inextricable; finding themselves suddenly faced with annonyminity.

Recently, while standing in line to pick up our race packages for a local event, I asked him if he would sign my poster, he wrote something to the effect “I must run because I love to run…something...something...Zach.”

So when I interviewed him I came to realize that, that was not just a fleeting frame of mind that he was in. He does love running; he embraces it, which makes for compelling conversation.

CK: I understand you may be into XBox 360 a fair bit. Are you a big-time gamer? How about online poker? If so what is your current addiction.

ZW: I don't know if I qualify as a big time gamer, but over the last 6 months I've gotten right back into video games. Training full time again has afforded me a little more time on the couch. It amazes me how far that industry has come since the good old days of Super Mario and Duck hunt and my old time favorite Mike Tyson's Punch Out.

I got into the online poker for awhile, won a few tourneys and thought I was better than I was. I got up about 1000 bucks in the first month and lost most of it the following week and very quickly realized it was not something I should be trying to do seriously with the little money that I have, ha ha.

Now I play less, just dollar tourneys to kill time when I'm bored. My current addiction is definitely Tiger Woods ‘08. I play a lot on line, if ya want a game, look me up, Gamertag DR REEFERMAN...I only play tour mode, suckas!

CK: What about golf in the physical world? Do you get much golfing in? If so, what is your handicap?

ZW: I love to get out on the course, but I don't get out as often as I'd like, got that handicap down to 16 a few years ago, but would probably be pushing to break 90 these days.

CK: Your racing season is coming up shortly. You appear, from seeing you on the track to be in decent form. What kind of shape are you in right now?

ZW: Ya, I'm getting back into pretty good shape, I've had some good workouts up here at altitude (Flagstaff). My speed is as good as it's been in 4 years, but I can tell my endurance isn't as great as it used to be, but that's to be expected coming out of my semi-retirement. I figure another month or two chasing my buddy Gary (Canadian 800m record holder Gary Reed) I should be able to get pretty damn close to the Olympic standard.

Zach Stats:

3 time Provincial 800m High School Champion
2 time Provincial 1500m High School Champion
4 time Southern Conference Men's Indoor Track Champion
East Tennessee State, 1:50.92
Bronze - 800m - 1999 Pan American Games
2000 Sydney Olympic Games
5 time Canadian Champion 800m
800m personal best 1:45.94

CK: What are your expectations for this coming track season.

ZW: Really just take it as it comes. Run a handful of races and get ready for trials. At this point I'm really just doing it for fun to see what happens. I think if I can get within a couple seconds of my pb I'm doing pretty well. I'm half Finnish so even if I don't make the Olympic team, I can go back to Helsinki and compete for a club (Laden Ankera) who I used to run for back in the day.

It’s a pretty good situation, as they'll take care of expenses and gives me a chance to pick up some good money and then wind the season down and party with friends and family in the homeland. My mom was the only one in her family that left so it's nice having a lot of family over there and I'm pretty tight with a few of my cousins.

CK: Are your Finnish relatives into running or other sports, like hockey?

ZW: Ya, they're all big sports fans. It's a different culture over there; they get 20, 000 people out to their athletics championships, it’s crazy!

CK: Do you guys ‘hockey’ trash talk each other? If so, do you pull their sweater over their heads and pound them?

ZW: Ya, a bit of trash talking, although mostly over our pathetic tennis games, haha.

CK’s note: Stick to hockey, take your pet beaver.

Back to the love of running.

CK: I see you are sponsored by Island Runner Footwear, are you into Adidas? I know Phil (store owner) is an Adidas junkie.

ZW: Ya, Phil is great! Actually since I grew up in Vic (Victoria, BC) he's been good to me from day one. He used to help our high school track team back in the day, when I semi-retired from being so serious on the track a few years ago, Nike stopped sending me gear so I hooked up with Phil, and yes I love the Adidas.

I should probably throw a shout out to Frontrunners too. In the end I decided to go with Phil as he is sponsoring the Victoria International Track Classic, that's were my heart is. We really do have the best meet in Canada right there!

CK: I know the late and very great *Arthur Taylor was a coach of yours for some time. What training method did Taylor utilize as a coach? I understand he was a fan of Cerruty.

ZW: Arthur adopted and refined the 'Arthur Taylor' training method. Sure he was fan of all the greats Lydiard, Cerruty, the Russians, etc. He took this and that from everywhere and everyone. There was a real scientific approach to the programs he put together and he had great understanding of the physiological effects of training and the different systems that are involved in developing a runner.

CK: It appears you seem to enter a fair number of road races. Do you enter them for the love of running and racing or are these specific workouts?

ZW: Probably more a social thing and I generally do it only when it fits in with a light tempo training session.

CK: Every interviewer at some point asks every middle distance runner when they are going to move up in distance. I notice you have run 10k and ½ marathons. So here is the perverbial moving up question. Is it going to happen?

ZW: I've run some distance before, but it was always to build strength for the middle distance track races. I really have no desire to move up and try and be competitive in longer races. I'll always run whatever for the social aspect of getting out there and staying fit and having fun, but I'm old enough now and getting to the end of serious competitive track running to know, you should just do what you love.

So as I get older, you'll probably see me moving down in distance! I bet as a master you'll see me running everything from 200m to the marathon :-) why not! :-)

CK: If that’s the case, which marathon do you think you would most like to enter.

ZW: Oh I don't know, I'd imagine I would be the tourist type marathon guy, Hawaii or perhaps Brazil, I’ll make it worth my while.

CK: Who is your coach now, or are you self-coached?

ZW: I train mostly with Brent (Brent Fougner University of Victoria coach) and guys up at UVic, but as the season progresses we work in a lot with Wynn's group (Wynn Grimtroski) it's been easier getting in shape this time around chasing my buddy **Gary.

Back to Arthur

He was great! I'm the runner and the person I am today because of Arthur. It was more than just coaching philosophy and techniques, even though I've yet to come across anything I wasn't first exposed to by him.

More than anything he instilled a real belief and love in the pure simplicity and ideal of running. I learned to love to run because of that crazy old commie.

I'll be a runner for life and love it, because of him!

Good luck Zach in your quest for the 800m A standard and your continued love of running!

_____________________________________________________________________


*Arthur Taylor, held a love for all things running and shared it with all who he coached. Some of his 50+ age group records are truly amazing:

Canadian Distance Records:

M50 5000m 15:42
M50 10,000m 33:47
M50 Steeple 10:18
M55 Mile Indoors 5:03
M50 3000m Indoors 9:10
M45 Marathon 2:26:35
M50 Marathon 2:27:17

Canadian Masters Championship Meet Records:

M50 5000m 15:54
M55 5000m 17:04
M50 Steeple 10:41

**Gary Reed, Canadian record holder 800m, silver medalist, 2007 IAAF Track & Field Championships, Osaka Japan.

_____________________________________________________

Photo Credit: Mark Creery - Victoria, BC based photographer

The school year is drawing to a close and it seems that everybody is diving for the finish line. This weekend, bragging rights were up for grabs at the numerous conference races. As expected, there were many great performances and fast times. So, let’s get to the race highlights for last weekend. (I had some difficulties finding some of the results. As usual, I encourage readers to leave comments pointing out standout performances that I may have missed.)
California Collegiate Athletic Association In the women’s team competition, UC San Diego captured the title with 248 points. Chico State came in second with 199 points and Cal. St. LA rounded out the top three with 110.5 points. In the women’s 400 meters, four competitors ran the provisional qualifying time: CSU Dom Hills’ Deirdra Pettigrue (55.11), Cal Poly Pom’s Tokunbo Adeniji (55.49), Cal State LA’s Rebekah McCall (56.03), and UC San Diego’s Anne Lee McGregor (56.27). In the women’s 3000 meter run, four competitors also ran the provisional qualifying time: Chico State’s Sarah Montez (10:02.60), SF State’s Anna Bretan (10:08.35), UC San Diego’s Diane Dunn (10:13.71), and Cal St. LA’s Liliana Hernandez (10:14.97). UC San Diego’s Christine Merrill won the 400 meter women hurdles with the time of 59.62, an automatic qualifying mark.

In the men’s team competition, Chico State took top honors with 230 points. Cal St. LA took second with 175.50 points and UC San Diego rounded out the top three with 134 points. Cal St. LA’s Damien White won the 200 meters in the time of 20.55, besting his teammate Lamar Taylor’s second-place time of 21.01. White gained an automatic qualifying mark and Taylor gained a provisional qualifying mark. In the men’s 800 meters, Cal Poly Pom’s Sofiane Meniri won a provisional qualifying time of 1:52.22. Scott Bauhs won the 1500 meters in a time of 3:57.04. The next day, Bauhs hit the Olympic A standard at Stanford in the 10,000 meters with at time of 27:48.06.

Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference The women’s conference title was won by Grand Valley State with 251 points. Ashland University came in second with 155.50 points and Findlay came in third with 120 points. In the women’s 100 meter hurdles, there were three automatic qualifiers: Findlay’s Kirby Blackley (13.46), AU’s Alissa Klaehn (13.71), and Grand Valley’s Candice Wheat (13.82). In the women’s 1500 meters, half of the field provisionally qualified. In order of finished, the qualifiers include: Michigan Tech’s Andrea Metz (4:38.33); Grand Valley’s Susie Rivard (4:38.60), Kelly Gibbons (4:39.82), and Rebecca Winchester (4:40.51); HC’s Jen Gunderson (4:40.71) and Findlay’s Jessica Latham (4:41.82).

In the men’s conference title, Ashland won with 233.5 points, barely beating Grand Valley State who scored 231 points. Saginaw Valley State University rounded out the top three with 96 points. In the men’s 400 meter dash, Ashland University’s trio of Nick Bellanco (47.48), Joe Horn (47.73) and Edwin Smith (47.81) all provisionally qualified and took the top three places. In the men’s 1500 meter run, Grand Valley’s Nate Peck won in the provisional qualifying time of 3:50.16, followed by AU’s Max Hiltner (3:51.40), Ferris’s Jared Kelsh (3:52.10), and Grand Valley’s Nate Polk (3:52.61).

Great Northwest Athletic Conference The women’s title was taken by Western Oregon with 162 points. Seattle Pacific came in second with 158 points, followed by Western Washington with 142 points. In the women’s 1500 meters, Seattle Pacific’s Jane Larson won with a time of 4:29.66, followed by Northwest Nazarene’s Ashley Puga (2:35.10), and Alaska Anchorage’s Elizabeth Chepkosgei (4:36.42). In the women’s 3,000 steeplechase, Western Oregon’s Jessica Harper took first with 10:57.0. Seattle Pacific’s Suzie Stickler (11:03.0) and Western Oregon’s Lyndsey McKillip (11:04.0) placed second and third.

Western Oregon also took the men’s conference title with 166.50, followed by Alaska Anchorage with 157 and Western Washington with 152. In the men’s 3000 meters, MSU Billing’s Richie Pemberton won with the time of 9:12.00, followed closely by Alaska Anchorage’s David Kiplagat (9:12.01).
Lone Star Conference Abilene Christian took both the men’s and women’s conference titles. The women scored 290 points over Tarleton State (125 ) and Angelo State(102). The men scored 259 points over Angelo State (223) and Tarleton State (95).

Abilene Christian’s Winrose Karunde was a three time winner in the steeplechase (10:50.17), the 5000 meters (16:45.00), and the 3000 meters (10:13.30). Her teammate, Daniel Maina, won the men’s 1500 meters in a time of 4:46.53, followed by his teammate Julius Nyango who ran 3:48.80.

Mid American Athletic Association In the women’s team competition, Missouri Southern State won with 193 points, followed by University of Central Missouri (152.5 points) and Emporia State (149 points). Emporia State’s Jonel Rossbach took home three conference titles, winning the 800 meters (2:12.96), the 1500 meters (4:39.85), and the 5000 meters (17:37.42). In the women’s steeplechase, Missouri Southern’s Kara Eckard set an MIAA record with at time of 10:49.13.

In the men’s competition, University of Central Missouri won with 174.5 points, followed by Pittsburg State (135.5 points) and Emporia State (199 points). Central Missouri’s Damon Berry won the 100 meters in 10.45. Fort Hays State’s Bryan Haynes won the 200 meters in a time of 20.69. Truman State’ s Sean Bergstedt won the 400 meter hurdles in 51.02.

Northeast 10 Conference In the women’s team competition, Southern Connecticut won with 219.33 points over UMass Lowell (157.66 points) and Stonehill College (112 points). In the men’s competition, the teams finished in the same order: Southern Connecticut won with 229 points over UMass Lowell (144 points) and Stonehill College (128 points).

Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Slippery Rock took top honors in the women’s team competition with 203.5 points over Lock Haven’s 111 points and Shippensburg’s 107.50 points. In the women’s 400 meter dash, Shippensburg’s Erica Hess (55.68) out sprinted Slippery Rock’s Lacey Cochran (55.97) to win the conference title. Millersville’s Priscilla Jennings won the 800 meters in an automatic qualifying time of 2:10.22.

On the men’s side, Slippery Rock (124.5) topped Lock Haven (108) and Shippensburg (101.5) to win the team title. In the men’s 800 meters, Indiana PA’s Sean Strauman won in a blistering time of 1:48.57. West Chester’s Jarret Eaton won the 110 hurdles in an automatic qualifying time of 14.00. Lock Haven’s Paul Martin won the 400 meter hurdles in an automatic qualifying of 51.42.

University of Georgia's Ian Burrell is battling back after suffering allergies and breathing problems. He's posted impressive personal bests of 13:46 in the 5k and 7:59 in the 3k. Burrell is looking to go into law school and continue to pursue running.


How has your training being going lately?
Training has been going really well lately. Our workouts for the most part have been pretty decent. We're trying to figure out the races, which lately aren't going too well. There actually pretty awful. So, we're trying to figure out how to take the training and put it toward the races...see if we can get it the other way around.

What's been going wrong with your races?
Well...we're not really sure. For the most part, it's just confusing. We just went out to Oregon and I had some breathing problems and have been having pretty significant problems with allergies. Apparently Oregon's not a great place for me to run...at least not that night. We're still just trying to figure it out right now. I wish I could give you a better explanation of what's going on, but we're really not sure.

Is it one of those things where only time will tell?
I think so. I think hopefully, eventually, we'll just get it right and I'll be able to start racing well again. It's just one of those things that you just have to work through. Hopefully we'll get it right.

With this setback, is it hard to set goals?
It is pretty hard to set goals. It's like you go out there and set all these goals and your work outs show that you're on pace. Then you get in the race and it doesn't go so well. It makes it frustrating to keep after those goals. I guess it's one of those things that you have to do after a while. Just keep on going after it and hopefully you'll break through.

Do you plan on running at the Trials?
Yeah. If I can make the Trials, I'd surely run in them. It's going to be pretty tough to make them right now. That's unless something big happens. That was a goal starting the season. If I get the opportunity to run, I would definitely jump at that opportunity.

So, when did things start to go sour for you?
You know...I'm not really sure. Almost at the beginning of indoor. I didn't run as fast I wanted to in indoor. We did a bit more strength training than we normally did. I tried to peak at the right time for nationals. I was having some breathing difficulties working into the indoor season. Then at SECs, then nationals there was a problem. Now we're just trying to get it back around. Trying to keep running solid workouts. I guess that's the encouraging thing. You keep on having solid workouts then eventually you hope that translates into a good race. But right now we try to keep after it and hopefully it happens.

Do you have those breathing problems when you're doing those workouts, or is it only in races?
Yeah. A little. I have a pretty long history with allergy problems. I've been taking allergy shots for those. Last year was kind of an interesting year for running. During outdoors last year, the allergies just really got me down. I would have awful, awful workouts for about six weeks, but I'd be racing fairly solid. I raced the two Stanford meets. Those went fairly well. The workouts were awful here in Georgia. Eventually it caught up to me. SECs and nationals...I just didn't have very much left and just kind of tanked the season. This year...it's just the weirdest thing. We're just trying to figure this out.

How do you keep positive during a frustrating time like this?
You just gotta be positive the best you can. Try to search for solutions. Just keep going and trust in the workouts. Eventually it's got to break through.

I read that you're going into Law School...how well do you think that will gel with being a runner?
Going to law school and running at the same time will be pretty tough. Luckily running is a sport that's pretty flexible. You can train at all parts of the day if you need to. So it's something that can work, with going to law school, but you can't take it easy. There's going to be many days where you're going to be tired and you won't be able to get the work in. The work that you want to get in or the work that you should be getting in. You have to take the good and the bad. The unfortunate thing about running is that it doesn't exactly pay the bills unless you're one of the top runners in the country. You really have to have a backup plan. Going to go law school and trying to get my future situated kind of takes priority over running right now.

Are you up to that challenge?
Absolutely. I think I have pretty big desire to keep running and have success at that. It's a lot of fun to go out there and compete...well, compete well I guess it's a little bit more fun than going out there and getting toasted in the 5k. I would like to go after it. I am going to take a year off if I do go to law school. We'll see what happens during that year. I'll have to see which law school I get into, because some are going to be easier to run at than others.

College can be the land of temptations, can you talk about making sacrifices to excel in this sport?
There are a lot of weekends where you have to stay in, where you might want to go out and hang with your friends and do a little drinking. It's tough sometimes because you want to go out there and be a normal college kid and have your fun. There are times when you can go out and do that. But there are also times where you have to stay in and call it an early night because you have a workout in the morning, or you've got a race coming up. You've got to take care of business with that. I think there are times when you need to go out there and hang out and take a bit of the stress off. Running is one of those things where you need to take a mental break every once and a while. I think it's important to get out occasionally. But I think you need to make sure you're getting your rest and doing all the proper things to prepare for your sport.

Can you give me a crazy story from your running history?
(Laughs) Hmm...let's see. All right. I've got a pretty interesting running story. Last summer, I went to Peru for five weeks. I enrolled in a Spanish-immersion school. I went to Peru for five weeks, just to learn some Spanish. Running in Peru was kind of difficult. It was a pretty difficult challenge, because it was...it just wasn't the United States...let's say that. (Laughs). One of the things that was difficult out there was all their dogs are pretty much strays. And they're all pretty pretty aggressive. One day I found this trail through the hills. The hills in Peru are inhabited by these farmers, just out the farming the land. Some of them grew potatoes, some of them grew...what were they? I forget the crop they grew. They just farm the land. And they all have these dogs. I'd been previously warned about the dogs these farmers have that are pretty mean and they're pretty territorial. So, I'm running up and I see this family and I run by them. All of a sudden this dog starts tearing after me. It's a fairly decent sized dog, and it's snarling and I'm getting pretty nervous. It's coming after me. I just keep running. I pick up a rock...and the dog just keeps on coming after me. It gets about a foot away from my calve. I just unload the rock on this dog's head. The thing just drops right behind me. The thing is out cold. I'm not sure if I killed it or what, but this thing is on the ground. These farmers aren't too happy that I just knocked out their family dog I guess. They start running after me. I just try to book it out of there as quick as possible. I didn't want to find out what Peruvian farmers do to people who mess with their dogs. Luckily I was able to make it out OK, but I don't know about the dog. It could still be alive...or it could not.

It's better than a case of rabies in Peru.
That's for sure. I didn't want to mess with their medical system.