National Recap
Weekend of January 23-24, 2004
It's a 'Breakout' weekend!

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New Balance Games
Saturday, January 24, 2004
At The Armory, New York
By Richard Gonzalez, DyeStat/DyeStatCal
        For a youngster without a school, Josh McDougal has just moved to the head of the class.
        With New Mexico's Shadrack Kiptoo and Illinois' Matt Withrow either on the shelf or off the radar, a motivated McDougal focused his energies on battling pre-race headliner Galen Rupp of Oregon, pouncing on the Central Catholic star with 300 meters to go en route to an all-time state-best 8:50.40 clocking for third place in the Elite Two-Mile Challenge, highlighting a great weekend of distance action at the 9th edition of the New Balance Games at The Armory in New York.
        McDougal's effort, a classic sit-and-kick affair that resulted in a tie as the seventh-fastest indoor two-mile performer in national history (see table below), also carried the soft-spoken teen into the highest-rent district on the national talent landscape for 2004. Rupp, likely putting the finishing touches on a successful winter campaign, was fourth in 8:54.45, the 14th fastest in indoor prep history.
        "Overall it was a good race, and was my first time at The Armory," said McDougal, the Peru, NY 18-year-old. "My plan was just to go out and sit on Galen's shoulder and see what he did. I figured I'd sit there until I made my one-and-only strong move when I had to."
        Rupp, who made repeated surges in the first mile only to have McDougal reel him in each time, made an assertive bid with about six laps remaining along the popular 200-meter oval, opening an advantage between the two preps in a field that also included five elite racers.
        "He made his last big surge at about the same place as FootLocker (Cross-Country Nationals)," said McDougal. "This time, I knew I had to cover that move. I'd been patient, stayed with the pack, and now was the time I waited for -- to make my only serious move."
        McDougal, whose training has been more geared to the 8-kilometer (5-mile) race distance in preparation for the upcoming USATF Cross-Country Junior Nationals, shifted into a stronger tempo to eventually catch and pass Rupp on the penultimate lap, then tapped his energy stores dry in protecting a short lead the rest of the way. McDougal estimated his final quarter mile to only be about a 64-second effort, but it "was just enough at that point in the race, as everyone seemed to move in slow motion with the legs getting tired and heavy."
         "I was paranoid that last lap, expecting (Galen) to come back and pass me," laughed McDougal, a strength-oriented runner. "(Being caught from behind) has happened a lot to me."
         Maybe not anymore. McDougal admits his fitness pointed to an 8:50-or-so performance this weekend, and the extra focus on Rupp on the message boards ("I read the message board occasionally. Alright, maybe more than occasionally. OK, let's just say I'm addicted to them...") provided the final motivational fodder.

1.	Gerry Lindgren	Rogers HS, Spokane, WA	8:40.0c	1964
2.	Jeff Nelson	Burbank HS, CA	8:42.7c	1979
3.	Alan Webb	South Lakes HS, Reston, VA	8:45.19d	2001
4.	Mark Dani	Valhalla HS, El Cajon, CA	8:49.1c	1986
5.	Franklyn Sanchez	Lynn Tech, Lynn, MA	8:49.60e	1999
6.	Andy Powell	Ames HS, North Easton, MA	8:50.29e	1999
7t	Joshua McDougal	Home Schooled, Peru, NY	8:50.40e	2004
7t	Dathan Ritzenhein	Rockford HS, MI	8:50.4d+	2001
9.	Dave Merrick	Lincoln-Way HS, New Lenox, IL	8:50.9a	1971
10.	Thom Hunt	Patrick Henry HS, San Diego, CA	8:52.4c	1976
11.	Alan Scharsu	Fitch HS, Austintown, OH	8:53.6c	1978
11.	Bobby Beck	Salmen HS, Slidell, LA	8:53.6d	1979
13.	Don Moses	Crescenta Valley HS, La Cres. CA	8:54.0c	1976
14.	Galen Rupp	Central Catholic HS, Portland, OR	8:54.45e	2004

        McDougal, home-schooled from a young age, has sheared over 13 seconds off his outdoor lifetime best in recent weeks, not to mention a recent lifetime-best 4:13 clocking for the mile. Previously known to incessantly pound the trails in search of excellence, McDougal has since canned such regimens as the 107-mile work weeks (his high end) and the four consecutive weeks of 100-plus miles. His top weekly logs now peak out in the 70-mile range.
        "I used to hammer the mileage hard, too much, all year-round," explained McDougal, recalling the Trial of Miles. "I really had no progression schedule."
        McDougal's training epiphany came midway through the 2003 cross-country season, when a pre-stress fracture shelved him from the trails onto a bike seat. "It was driving me crazy," he recalled. "I finished 9th at FootLocker Regionals (the year before), and I knew I wasn't going to come back off this and run 100 mile weeks."
       Instead, McDougal sheared away nearly one-quarter of the mileage, and allowed his body to recover more in between hard sessions, teaming with his dad/coach to make wiser daily adjustments.
      "I became a student of the sport and started changing my training," he added. "If anything, the last few weeks (of training) have been easier for me, even though I'm running a lot better. I go by how I feel, and that's made a big difference."
      McDougal now sets his sights on the Junior Nationals in Indiana in two weeks, in search of a bid to the World Juniors meet in Belgium in March. "I don't even want to think about not making Worlds," said the upbeat, likeable teen. "It's real important to me."
       With his against-preps competition schedule somewhat limited by his home-schooled status, McDougal has already penciled the outdoor track Junior Nationals on his calendar as well, where he'll tackle the 5,000-meter run, if not the longer distance: "The 5k looks really good, but I might want to see what I can do in the 10k."

 

Photo by John Dye
Connecticut's Gavin Coombs passed six runners on the final lap to win the
boys mile over New York's Hakon Devries, 4:11.35 to 4:11.38.

Coombs prevails in a thriller!
Devries rallies, but gets nipped at the line;
Zagorski, Hallinan deliver solid statements
       Only 24 days in, will this prove to be the race of the year? If you ask any of the main combatants from Saturday's New Balance Games Invitational High School Mile, they'll tell you this one will be hard to top!
       "It was crazy and it was awesome," said red-hot John Jay HS (NY) senior Hakon Devries, who had already gained a berth to the Millrose Games prep mile coming in. "I usually have pretty good faith in my kick, thinking I'm good for a 60 or 61 last quarter. I made the turn with two laps to go at 3:10 and all of a sudden, a pack engulfs me. I mean, I come across at 3:10 and I am boxed!?! I'm thinking like, 'What's going on here???' "
        Miler's Madness, that's what.
        With Gavin Coombs eager to erase memories of a tough-luck mishap from the week before, and rising supertalents Jeremy Zagorski and Steve Hallinan hitting a new groove to put the heat on Devries, East Coast milers are out of the gates quickly in 2004!
        Coombs was the victor here, making amends for a 1/10th-of-a-second loss here a year ago. Although trailing a tightly bunched six pack of runners entering the stages of the race, it was the Griswold HS (Connecticut) star that swung wide off the final turn and found the space he needed to chase down Devries and prevail right at the tape, 4:11.35 to 4:11.38.
        "I knew Hakon was going to set a fast pace because he'd already made Millrose Games field (based on his victory at the Hispanic Games) and he was mainly going for time here," explained Coombs.
        Even so, Devries, unbeaten in three previous calendar outings on the Armory oval, admitted the early pace was overkill.
        "I planned on 30-61-2:04 (for 200/400/800m splits), but seeing Josh and Galen run great in front of a good crowd, that got me a bit too hyped up," the Stanford-bound senior conceded. "I came out in 28/58/2:04... I got the 2:04 alright, but not in the way I wanted."
        "Hakon took it out extremely fast - he was movin'!" said New Jersey talent Zagorski (Parsippany Hills HS). "With that pace, I was just sticking to my plan, staying in the back of that lead pack and kick hard with 300 (meters) to go."
        Devries ably led the pack through the halfway point, with promising talent Steve Hallinan of Cardinal O'Hara HS (PA) then seizing the reins over the next two revolutions, doing the work to bring the pack across in just under 3:11. Devries , obviously not too taxed from his aggressive opening charge, then regained the lead but found an army of challengers in tow.
         "It was crazy!" said Devries. "I fought back as much as I could on that last lap. As I was coming up on the finish, I heard the announcer say, 'and here comes Coombs!' That made me give an extra push. Had he not said that, Gavin would have caught me sooner."
          Both runners had to wait a few minutes while the phototiming system was reviewed to declare the winner, with Devries then showing a mix of class and sportsmanship in raising Coombs' arm in acknowledgement as soon as the official results were announced.

Great show of sportsmanship by New York's Hakon Devries (l),
acknowledging the announcement that Connecticut's Gavin Coombs (r)
prevailed in a photo finish (4:11.35-4:11.38) at the New Balance Games.

          Coombs' kick corraled the entire lead pack to earn the victory, but there were several winners here. For Coombs, it was his biggest win to date. For Devries, the ability to rebound late after such a strong pace early was a positive sign of dangerous fitness heading into Millrose. For Zagorski, a 2 1/2-second improvement over his outdoor best (to 4:11.87) and a fraction-of-second-from-victory showing in a solid field was a nice confidence builder ("I felt great at the end of the race, ended though I slowed the last 50. I was surprised at how good I felt at the halfway and through most of the race.").
          New Yorker's Kevin Tschirhart (fittingly pronounced 'sheer-heart') and Andre Silva, 4:12.69 and 4:12.86, respectively, also picked up big results here. Tschirhart's fine clocking also smashed the 12-year-old New York state junior class indoor record (reportedly previously held by Mike Stahr), adding to the state sophomore class all-time standard, a 32-year-old record which he claimed from Matt Centrowitz last year. Silva, although sixth, was just one-and-half ticks from the top spot.
           For the Pennsylvanian Hallinan (4:12.72 for fifth), his brash racing stye clearly tabs him as a contender in the races to come. Hallinan is part of a nice crop of state returnees that includes Lewisburg's Chris Spooner, North Hills' Ian Fitzgerald, Manheim Township's Craig Miller and Red Lion's Matt Dennish, among others.
           But for now, all attention turns to Millrose.
           "It should be great, with three guys already at 4:11 and a few more at 4:12," said Devries. "I don't think I'll PR at that track... everyone tells me it's a slow track. If it goes out slow, I might pick (the pace) up. It'll probably come down to a kick - like always."

 

Another positive Blood test
Saratoga Springs sophomore shows poise
versus elites in state record 4:48.82 mile
         Nicole Blood is still having fun at this, and the nation couldn't be happier.
         Blood, the popular and freckle-faced New York sophomore with a fan club as overflowing as her trophy case, added to her age-group lore with a showing more becoming of a gristled veteran rather than a mere 15-year-old. Competing in the elite section of the women's mile at the New Balance Games, Blood refused to allow a pivotal point-of-separation to evolve into a point of desperation.
          Running the latter stages of the race pretty much with no adversaries around her, Blood relied on her own focus and merit to place seventh in 4:48.82, a New York state indoor record and believed to be the third-fastest sophomore undercover mark in U.S. history (trailing only Californian Julia Stamps {4:46.73 record} and Washington's Deanna Coleman). Great Britain's Hayley Tuller won the race in 4:27.28.
          Much like her opposition finds her to be throughout her high school career, Blood was untouchable for part of the weekend, as efforts to reach her by phone went unproductive as she was attending a Sunday-night sleepover with friends.
          Blood, the central performer in the great Saratoga Springs distance arsenal, will likely focus on the relays when the team competes at the season-ending Nike Indoor Classic in Maryland in mid-March. Saratoga Springs is projected to challenge both the 4x800 and distance medley relay national records at that time.

Iatauro turns the corner
Tri-Valley HS star enjoys a 'step-up'
performance to attain national-class status
           A successful fixture on the age-group scene for years, bubbly Tri-Valley High (Grahamsville, NY) standout Heather Iatauro has always been a name to watch. Now she could prove to be a tough name to catch. Confidence will do that for a runner.
           Iatauro uncoiled a strong surge over the final half lap to sneak up on Bay Shore's (NY) Laura Cummings to snare the meet record in a 4:53.79 to 4:53.82 triumph. Iatauro's clocking was also a lifetime best, causing her to flash a beaming smile from ear to ear that was said to light up the Armory.
           Iatauro's previous best showing was a 4:58.64 effort outdoors for 1600 meters at last year's Arcadia Inviational, where she finished among the pack. Here, she proved to be the center of attention.
           "She was really excited, you could tell this was a big step for her," said John Dye. "I've been watching her ever since she was in the junior high races (at Great American), and you could see the massive confidence after winning here."

Chock Shock hits all-comer meet
California senior wins girls division of
mixed race by nearly two minutes!

Caitlin Chock at last year's Cal St CC Meet

California flash Chock races stunning 10:30.1 for full 2 miles outdoor at Diablo Valley College All-Comers in a "mixed race" (with boys). The conversion to a 10:26.5 for 3200m distance would have the Nation's #7 prep time for the distance last year among preps. The amazing greater Sacramento area prep (Granite Bay HS senior) has signed with the University of Richmond, with the sense that she is one of those prep runners who will just become better as the distance becomes longer (6k collegiate cross-country, etc.). Link to Meet Summary of the 10:30.1