Wednesday, April 30, 2014

No Time To Rest

Before moving on from the Penn Relays allow me to apologize for neglecting to list Darrell Hill on my list of event winners. Hill won the Championship of America shot put. Thanks to a dedicated reader for pointing out the error.

With Penn in the rearview mirror, the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational and Maryland Twilight are up next. The Payton Jordan meet at Stanford has a stacked 800 meter field, especially for a Penn State fan.

Event 4  Men 800 Meter Run
===============================================================================
     Name                        Year School                               
===============================================================================
  1  Harun Abda                       Oregon Track               
  2  Amos Bartelsmeyer                Georgetown                 
  3  Ahmed Bile                       Georgetown                 
  4  Ryan Brennan                     Penn State                 
  5  Travis Burkstrand                Team Usa Min               
  6  Scott Buttinger                  Stanford                   
  7  Peter Callahan                   New Mexico                 
  8  Connor Claflin                   Columbia                   
  9  Martin Dally                     Virginia Tec               
10  Christian DeLago                 Unattached-I               
11  Will Drinkwater                  Stanford                   
12  Terrance Ellis                   Unattached                 
13  Aaron Evans                      Oregon Track               
14  Brendon Fish                     Columbia                   
15  Grant Grosvenor                  Montana Stat               
16  Eugene Hamilton III              California                 
17  geoff harris                     Halifast                   
18  Gabriel Hilbert                  Unattached                 
19  Mark Husted                      Brooks I.D.                
20  Edward Kemboi                    Iowa State                 
21  Brannon Kidder                   Penn State                 
22  Boaz Lalang                      Unattached                 
23  Billy Ledder                     Georgetown                 
24  Luke Lefebure                    Stanford                   
25  Nathanael Litwiller              Sacramento S               
26  Jordan Locklear                  California                 
27  Casimir Loxsom                   Brooks Beast               
28  Ryan Manahan                     Georgetown                 
29  Harry McFann                     Columbia                   
30  Aduo Omot                        Augustana (S               
31  Patrick Peterson                 Unattached-I               
32  Thomas Rigby                     Unattached                 
33  Anthony Romaniw                  Speed River                
34  Patrick Rono                     Arkansas                   
35  Thomas Roth                      AAM                        
36  Mike Rutt                        New Jersey-N               
37  Eliud Rutto                      Mid. Tenn. S               
38  Elijah Silva                     Tulsa                      
39  Tyler Smith                      U. of Victor               
40  Pablo Solares                    Unattached                 
41  Tomas Squella                    Arkansas                   
42  Nathan Strum                     UC Davis                   
43  Matthew Tex                      Montana Stat               
44  Za'Von Watkins                   Penn State                 
45  Mark Weiczorek                   Brooks Beast               
46  Cole Williams                    Georgetown                 
47  Denzel Woode                     Columbia                   
48  Masato Yokota                    Fujitsu 

Remember what happened the last time Cas and Brannon were in the same race?

 
I hope the four of them end up in the same heat this weekend.

The American Track League Starts With a Rockin Paul Souza


"The American Track League is an abbreviated track meet, so it is almost like watching an athletics concert," -Paul Souza.

This weekend marks the beginning of the American Track League in Bloomington.  An abbreviated track meet punctuated by the musical fury of the Velveteen Playboys with our very own high-jumping Paul Souza on vocals.  I was unable to make it there to play the cow-bell, but someday...


Apparently my interview with Paul wasn't enough to satisfy the masses, so he interviewed with Spikes, a British Athletics Magazine.

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Whose Baton Is It Anyway?

One of the most exciting races at the Penn Relays was the men's USA vs. the World 4x400. The Bahamas (with Mike Sands in attendance) had the same four runners from their 2012 Olympic gold medal team while the American quartet featured 3 members from their IAAF Indoor World Championship and world record team.

The Bahamas held the lead through the first two legs before American David Verburg split a 44.5 on the third lap to draw even with Chris Brown of the Bahamas. Apparently the Race Marshall thought Verburg had taken the lead outright and rearranged the handoff position of the anchor legs. Manteo Mitchell of the USA was given pole with the Bahamian anchor behind him. Despite the fact that their teammates were coming down the homestretch in the opposite order. Chaos ensured as they reached the exchange zone dead even. Mitchell went for a no-look pass in order to gain an advantage and grabbed the first baton that touched his hand.....
Whose baton is it?
Mitchell realizing he has the wrong stick in his hand has to come to a dead stop and take the hand off from Verburg. Who, at this point, is on the verge of face planting. This gave the Bahamas Ramon Miller enough of a lead and eliminated any chance for a climatic final lap and a USA sweep of the international relays. Lucky for the Americans, they get a shot a redemption with the IAAF World Relays in a little a month. Looks like we a second relay rivalry to go along with USA vs. Jamaica in the 4x100. Which, by the way, the Americans won that race by .01 of a second.
Three hands on the same baton!
 



Victory in Paradise and Another Book Review

Well, Miami isn't Paradise, but Tyler McCandless got to spend some time in Key West following his victory in the Double Bridge Run sponsored by Mercedes Benz.  No word yet on how much he likes his new car.  But check out the boots on the finish line tape-holder!


And our very good friends at Once Upon a Time in the Vest have a very good book review on a fascinating story of running and bureaucracy gone wrong.



When John Tarrant gave up on his fledgling and horrible stab at boxing, he decided that he was a pretty good runner.  His boxing training on the roads was the only part of boxing he was good at.  When he decided to enter some races he declared a small pittance of expenses from his boxing career and was promptly banned from amateur athletics for life.  His running career went on unabated however, and was quite interesting indeed.

Check out the whole thing on their web site. 
(page down to the 4/26/14 blog post.)

Monday, April 28, 2014

What A Weekend

Another superb Penn Relays in the books. It was great seeing old teammates again, this weekend has really evolved into a mini reunion for us. The first ever Reconnect at the Relays was a success as well, a great event for alumni attending the Relays to connect with one another. The perfect prequel for the big reunion in May.

On the track, we were represented by three alums competing in distance events. Brian Fuller DNFed in the men's Olympic Development 5000 meters. He was feeling under the weather but being the Penn Relays, you line up and give it a shot. Kara Foster got a new mile PR with her 14th place 4:43.97 in the women's Olympic Development Mile. Owen Dawson lined up for the men's Olympic Development Mile, last year he ran his first sub 4 here, and went for the win holding first place with 200 meters go. He ran 4:00.13 for 5th place.

Per usual the Nittany Lions had multiple event winners.
Congratulations to:
Leigha Anderson 10000 meters COA division
Laura Loht javelin COA division
Will Barr discus college division
Michael Shuey javelin COA division
Steve Waithe triple jump COA division
Bernard Bennett-Green, Brandon Bennett-Green, Alex Shisler, Byron Robinson 4x400 IC4A division

Of course part of what makes the Penn Relays great is the scene outside of Franklin Field. I will leave you with this video of the party.

In High School, I Was Faster Than Frank Shorter and Bill Rodgers*


* And probably you were too! (My 4:20.8 and 9:21.11 compare favorably with both.)

There are many great runners out there who got a late start on things, or were just plain slow when they were in high school.  The list is pretty long and quite interesting.  It even includes our very own Olympian Greg Fredericks, who didn't really start running much even into his Senior year in high school.  The transformation was quite phenomenal in just one year for Dr. Lucas's recruit who Coach Groves called "too slow" to be recruited.  But then again, everyone is entitled to one mistake!

These are from:

Slow Milers - that is Great Runners who were slow in High School


                         Olympic Champions
     Frank Shorter      9:39.3  4:30+      2:10:30
     Dave Wottle        4:20.2             1:45.86,3:53.3
                            Past World Record Holders
     Buddy Edelen       4:28               2:14 WR 
     Dick Buerkle       4:28               3:54.93i WR
                             Current American Record Holders
     Bob Kempainen      4:21+ (1600)       2:08:30 AR
     Mark Nenow         4:20/9:17          27:20 AR
     
                            Past American Record Holders
     Bill Rodgers       4:28.8/9:36.1       2:09:27 
     Greg Fredericks    4:20                28:08 10k
                          1995 National Champions
     Paul Mcmullen      4:19.9(1600)        3:34.45
     Mark Croghan       9:20.5 (2 mile)      8:09.76 Steeple 
                         4:10 1600m
     Brandon Rock       1:56 800            1:44.97
                             Formerly World Ranked
     Tom Byers          4:21                3:50.84 
     Niall O'Shaughnessy 4:39               3:55.4
                               
                               Olympians
     Jeff Galloway        4:28/9:48      13:41 28:29
     Ken Martin           1:58/4:19      8:23 steeple, 2:09:38
     Benji Durden         4:36.8/10:00   2:09:57
     Mark Coogan          4:20           13:23/28.23/2:13.24
     
                             US Ranked
     Mike Roche          4:23               8:30 steeple 
     Amby Burfoot        9:39(? mile)       2:14:29 PR 
     Erik Nedeau         4:12(1500)         3:38.24
     
                            More Studs-Past and Present
     Bill Donakowski       4:19.3            13:39/28:25 at U Michigan 
     Dan Mayer             9:42  4:26         28:19 13:53
     Gary Giffen-UConn     4:25 9:25         indoor 5000 NCAA Qualifier 
     Jack Dwyer-Dartmouth  4:25  9:33        All American indoor 5000 
     Craig Longhurst       4:22 9:41          29:45.54 10k
     Eric Mack-Air Force   4:18.94(1600)       3rd 1995 NCAA X-C
     Bob Evans-Weber      >4:20              29:22 10,000 8:47 Steeple 
     Mike Skinner-Arkansas 4:20.3           29:48 10k,2:19:38(Marathon)
     Craig Lawson-BYU       ???             29:15 10k

Sunday, April 27, 2014

It Was a Successful Penn Relays Even With Second in the 4 X 800

Running without Robbie Creese, Penn State had its back against the wall in defending Championship of America titles in the Distance Medley and the 4 X 800 at the 2014 Penn Relays.  They put all their chances into the 4 X 800 and didn't field a team in the DM.  It almost paid off.   
( Brannon Kidder, 1:46.96 split) Second place finishes* in the Sprint Medley and the 4 X 800 (and IC4A victory in the 4 X 400!) still has PSU near the top of the Relay Rankings overall.  Lions can hold their heads high.

But lest we forget, there were many victories in individual events, which really bodes well for elevating PSU Men's rankings.  I'll let Matt chime in with other results when he recovers from the Carnival festivities!

A small consolation of the Sprint Medley Fiasco* yesterday. PSU's time in winning the IC4A 4 x 400 was better than LSU's time in the Championship of America race.
 IC4A section

1 Penn State 3:07.94 Bernard Bennett-Green, Brandon Bennett-Green, Alex Shisler, Byron Robinson BA

===============================================================
Championship of America

6 LSU 3:11.43 Quincy Downing (46.7), Darrell Bush (51.7), Cyril Grayson (46.12), Vernon Norwood (46.93) AB


* See previous post HERE.

Saturday, April 26, 2014

We Were Robbed in the Sprint Medley by LSU Yesterday.


I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody's part!  And we're just the guys to do it.


Apparently, LSU missed the deadline for inclusion in the Penn Relays Championship of America Sprint Medley yesterday and weren't disqualified.  They were hastily allowed to enter the College  heat instead.  Their time in that race happened to be better than Penn State's in the Championship heat and they claimed the Wheel while Penn State was already on the podium.  Their actions were less than honorable, from what I have heard.

In the tradition of Bluto in Animal House, this calls for a gesture in response.  A futile gesture showing disgust.  What better way to show this futile gesture than a cliched movie clip from a Nazi movie substituting dialog to explain the situation.  So I bring you...

Penn State Was Robbed by LSU


Some Penn Relays Reception Photos I Stole From Al Gore's Intertubes

I was not able to attend the Penn Relays or the Reception last night as my daughter qualified for the Dallastown Invitational 1600.  So I had to watch her instead in a downpour.  I'm not complaining.  In fact, there wasn't anywhere else I would rather have been.  I'm proud of everything my daughters have achieved, even while being excellent students and even better human beings.  I'm blessed far beyond anything I deserve.  (Daughter the Elder didn't hit another PR, but the deluge had a lot to do with it.) Good luck to the Lions in Saturday's races. Watches and wheels. Watches and wheels.

Photo from Michael Gross.
Phil Passen, Larry Mangan and Ryan Foster.


Yeah, that's Phil Passen again! With Coach Groves in Penn Relays attire.

Gosh Phil, I must have stolen all of these from you! Michael Syrnick and Sam Masters.

I'll buy a drink to the guy that will name everyone here in the comments!

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Another Option For Viewing The Relays

The Penn Relays and Drake Relays will be broadcast live on cable television this weekend.
 
Live Broadcast Schedule
Friday, April 25
7:30-9 p.m. EDT - Drake Relays - USATF.tv
9:30-11 p.m. EDT - Drake Relays - Universal Sports

Saturday, April 26
12:30-3 p.m. EDT - USA vs. The World at the Penn Relays - NBCSN
3-5 p.m. EDT - Drake Relays - NBCSN
5 p.m. EDT - The Cool Down - USATF.tv
 
The Drake broadcast should be showing the college 4x800 and 4x200 on Friday and the professional Mile on Saturday. The televised portion of Penn will show all the USA vs. The World relays. The College Men's Championship of America 4xMile takes place during the live broadcast but I would be surprised if it gets shown in its entirety. Best case scenario will be short highlights of other events.
 

Big Life. Big Stage. Big Ten.

Rachel Casciano is living out the dream of many, being featured in a Big Ten television commercial. In the video Rachel talks about overcoming many obstacles in her pursuit of competitive running, including beating cancer.


Happy Birthday Coach Groves

"... for a brief time, I'm the greatest Track Coach in the world." -Retirement Celebration, 2006.

"If you can't get excited for The Penn Relays, then damn it, you aint got no soul!" -Coach Groves.

I'm pretty sure that his best present is being at the Penn Relays for Distance Night on his big day.


Wednesday, April 23, 2014

The Definitive Guide to the Penn Relays From One of Our Own!

Tim Johnson is a real writer.  Tim Johnson is a real golfer too.  Tim Johnson has produced a darn fine preview of the Penn Relays on Penn Live for the casual fan (and the rather rabid fan too!).  This includes many links and previews of each day of the whole Carnival. Be sure to stop by the article and add some good comments and praise his works.

He has been commissioned to produce similar articles for the preview and review of our humble golf tourney, but I'm not holding him to a word count!  His fees will resemble those of the highest officers of our group.  Good luck with that, Tim!


I Still Don't Want Anyone to Punch Me In the Back of the Head at the Reunion

As we await the real start of the Penn Relays (the PSU multi-eventers aren't in the decathlon or the heptathlon and are entered in individual events instead), let's just introduce a little bit more Physics news.

Turns out that quite rarely, a punch to head can make you smarter.  A normal directionless bloke had his whole life changed this way and now is a mathematics and Physics brainiac.  I'd almost volunteer, but I know I'm never that lucky.


Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Is It Impossible to Perfectly Mark a Running Track?

First off, running tracks have only 2 turns!  Of those who answered the quiz on the left sidebar, only one person knew that.  The NASCAR influence must be high among track enthusiasts (or at least those who bother to answer ridiculous polls on obscure web sites!)

In trying to solidify the fact that tracks have only 2 turns (I didn't, of course. Why start now?), I came across this obsessive web site documenting how to precisely mark a running track.  The author studied nearly 200 tracks in California and states that not one of them was marked 100% correctly.  With Franklin Field's inside 3 lanes shorter than 400M, an extra wrinkle is introduced!

In reading through the seeming small novel,  I can understand how impossible it is to do.  There are so many variables that it is very easy to slip up literally hundreds of times and still have a functioning track. I spotted many on the high school track after just skimming a portion of the article.

AND  It's Penn Relays Week with PSU's excellent multi-eventers gunning for a watch.

The Penn Relays Are Underway!

The Penn Relays begin today with the men's and women's multi-events. For those who are attending please make an effort to join us at the University City Sheraton Hotel for Reconnect at the Relays. For those unable to attend, the meet will be broadcast online via Flotrack (of course that requires the purchase of a FloPro membership).

Luckily, for those unable to attend and unwilling to shell out $19.99 a month, we have Ryan Foster to provide updates via twitter (@PennStateTFXC). Of course, I will be tweeting about the interesting activities that the Jamaicans are doing (@Groves10287) and retweeting Ryan's tweets.

Monday, April 21, 2014

Meb Keflezighi Is A Real American....

... he runs for the rights every man!



Let's Crowd Source Our Leading Members in the Boston Marathon

Does anyone know of the first PSU Track and Field Alumni in any of the Divisions?  Use the comments at the bottom of the post to supply answers.  I'm too busy (Lazy?) to try to look them up!


From The Desk of Founder, Clark Haley



13th Annual Harry Groves Golf Outing and Gathering – ONE MONTH AWAY!!
Greetings All,
In case you have not heard, the outing takes place this year the weekend of May 16, starting with our meet and greet Friday, May 16th at Damons from 8-12pm (we have the upstairs reserved with access to the outdoor patio) – Cash Bar. 
The heart attack run Alumni "Run"will start at the track at 9:oo am on Saturday, May 17th for anyone interested in a short jog or a loop around campus (please leave the egos behind and try not to run this if you haven’t run a step in ten years…)! 
The Golf outing will be held at the Elks Club Mountain View Country Club (former Elks Club!) again this year with a start time of noon ( think the putting contest will take place at that time with the outing actually beginning at 1pm – if I’m wrong with that, I will send a follow up email).  There will be a group gathering to hike Mt Nittany (or a campus tour) at the hotel between noon and 1pm as well (for those not interested in golf).  The reception Awards Dinner after golf will take place at Damon’s – in the basement – beginning at 7pm – Cash Bar.
We have a block of rooms reserved (under Penn State Track and Field alumni) at the Hampton Inn with a reduced rate of $94 / night (1101 East College Avenue (814) 231-1590).  Since we are running this solo again this year, all entries will need to be sent to Harry Smith at 7793 Hudson Park Drive – Hudson, Ohio 44236 (we’re not sophisticated enough to run this through any kind of a credit card! – though we may explore Pay Pal in the future)…
The fees this year are reverting back to what they were - $150 for those attending the outing and the receptions – we have however, decided to cut the newbie’s a break this year with a reduced rate of $100 for anyone graduating in the past 5 years.  $125 for anyone flying in…  If you choose to attend the Friday night function alone, the fee will be $25 – Saturday alone, $50.  This year, we have also cut the costs for those with children under 18 attending the receptions in that they are free on Friday night and $10 on Saturday.
Again, this is a Co-Ed event, so the more the merrier!  Do not feel as if you would embarrass yourself if you have no golf game (we’ve been embarrassing ourselves for 12 years now and enjoy laughing about it…)
If you should have any questions or comments, please let me know – Hope to see you there in a month!
P.S. – Anyone attending Penn this year should contact Ryan Foster if you plan to attend the Friday Night (April 25th) function at the Sheraton, University City (8-10pm)…

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Happy Easter

Happy Easter to you and yours!


From The Blog With It All.

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Movies I Have Helped To Be Made


I have given money to only 2 (and quite different!) movie projects in my time here on Earth. And both are nearing completion and distribution to the masses.

The first is Everest on the Track, about Roger Bannister's epic sub-4 minute mile. It is just in time for the celebration of the 60th Anniversary of that day. I joined 301 people in funding the last bit of production on this worthy project.



The other is Plan 9, a remake of the world's worst movie by Ed Wood.  I'm actually an Associate Producer on that one and have my name up on the big screen for the very first time.  Big news coming on that one!  Keep your eyes out for them both at a theatre near you!



Remember, that's 800 U's very own Steve Black running away from zombies at the 1:28 mark and Monument Avenue (scene of Tyler McCandless's recent 2nd place finish) in Richmond at the 2:20 mark.

Distance Efforts On the West Coast

2012 Performance of the Year Winner Bridget Franek returned to the track after a semi-break learning and studying in graduate school.  She appears to not have missed a step as she won her opening 3000 M Steeplechase at the Oregon Relays at Hayward Field  in a Meet Record 9:56.72.


PSU's Tori Gerlach and Matt Fischer also traveled to the Mt. San Antonio College Relays in Walnut, California.
20th  Matt Fischer   5000M      14:09.97
11th  Tori Gerlach   300M SC    10:30.07


                    

Friday, April 18, 2014

Reconnect At The Relays

Remember the team is hosting the first ever Reconnect at the Relays Friday, April 25, 8 - 10 PM at the Sheraton Hotel in University City. They are hoping to get an accurate headcount so please RSVP to Ryan Foster (rgf5028@psu.edu) no later than Monday, April 21. The event cost $25 at the door and includes food and an open bar. That is one heck of a deal for food and drink in Philadelphia. If my weather report yesterday didn't convince you, hopefully this will. Consider it a prequel to the Alumni Reunion in May.



Mentioning Steve Prefontaine, Bruce Jenner and Greg Fredericks Guarantees a Surge in Readership

With a slump in readership this close to Penn Relays and our Reunion and Golf Tourney, I thought I better bring out the big guns.  Who (other than me!) knew that a repeat of The Bear Story wouldn't garner even an average number of hits?

Well, for the tough readership out there, here's a story including Steve Prefontaine and Greg Fredericks at the 1972 NCAA 5,000M Finals.


The info below was derived from articles and stats in the Eugene Register Guard, June 2 and 4, 1972, the Spokane Spokesman-Review, 4 June, 1972, and Track & Field News, II June 1972.

Pre ran a 5000m heat on June 1st, winning with a time of 14:01.4. He won the final on June 3 with a time of 13:31.4, in front of a hometown crowd of 14,500 raving Pre fans—the distance-happy Oregon fans ate it up.

Pre finished an astounding 26 seconds under Gerry Lindgren’s 1968 5000m meet record of 13:57.2—all the top six finishers clocked under the 1968 meet record. Pre’s finishing time of 13:31.4 was just 1.6 seconds under his own 5000m American record of 13:29.8, set April 29th of the same year.

Pre ran the first mile in 4:21.8, the second in 4:25.6 (8:47.4), and the third in 4:16.9. The last mile before finishing the 5000m distance was run in 4:14.4. The final three-quarter mile timed 3:08.9, and half mile at 2:03.8. The final lap was run in 61.4.

The fans stood and cheered as Pre broke away from Greg Fredericks to take the race to the finish, then cheered him again as he took five and a half victory laps—a victory mile! [you don’t see that anymore!]

“I haven’t felt mentally or physically right all week,” Pre said later. “With a few laps to go I waved Greg [Fredericks] by but he wouldn’t go, so I just picked up the pace. I didn’t want to sprint because I wanted to save myself for the Olympic trials [a month away]. So I ran a 63, then a 62, and on the last lap 60. I was just happy to win it.
Happy enough, in fact, for the five and a half victory laps, several of them with Fredericks.

Fredericks remarked: “I really felt like I had a good chance to win . . . you’d have to ask Steve why he waved for me to pass him. It’s a lot easier running behind someone than set the pace and I guess he wanted me to take over for a while. I was hoping I could catch him sleeping.”

Fredericks was second to Pre for the second time in a row in the NCAA 5000m/3-mile championship. Still, his time of 13:34 made him the 4th fastest American ever, behind Pre, George Young, and Gerry Lindgren.

The 5000m was only run in an Olympic year up to 1976--other years the three mile was run (all events were metric except for the mile). Because the NCAA wouldn't measure or record the 3-mile times during a 5000m event, Track and Field News did so unofficially. Pre and Fredericks timed at 13:04.4 and 13:06.8 respectively. These unofficial 3-mile times represent an improvement of the 1971 3-mile Pre-Fredericks times by 16 and 22 seconds respectively.

This NCAA Championship meet was his third consecutive annual victory in the same event NCAA Championship event, the 3 mile. He won the 3 mile in both 1970 (13:22.0), and 1971 (13:20.2). At the 1973 NCAA Championship meet Pre set a record with his fourth victory title, the 3 mile race again, with a time of 13:05.3. Pre's best time in the four meet series, 13:04.3, was 17.7 seconds faster than his slowest time of 13:22.0.

5000m final finishing times:

1. Pre 13:31.4 (meet record over Gerry Lindgren's 1968 5000m meet record of 13:57.2)
2. Greg Fredericks (Penn St) 13:33.9
3. John Hartnett (Villanova) 13:44.4
4. Glenn Herold (Wisconsin) 13:45.8
5. Michael Keogh (Manhattan Col) 13:48.3
6. Rick Hitchcock (Kansas St) 13:49.5
7. Dave Tocheri (Northern Arizona) 14:03.0
8. Phil Burkwist (Washington St) 14:04.4
9. Paul Geis (Rice) 14:07.8
10. Joel Majors (Georgia Tech) 14:13.6
11. Paul Baldwin (Kentucky) 14:22.4
12. Del Ramers (Florida St) 14:39.2
 And here's Bruce Jenner talking about his Olympic roommate Steve Prefontaine: (From NBC OlympicTalk)
He was one of my roommates at the Games in 1972. We also spent a month in Oslo, Norway, training before going to Munich, getting acclimated with the time change. So I got to know him pretty well. I was 22 years old. I had never needed a passport before. I never expected to make it on the Olympic Team in the first place. I came out of nowhere at the trials, wasn’t even ranked in the top 10 and made it on the team in the last event [the 1500m, earning third place overall].
So I didn’t know any of these guys. I had heard of them and saw Prefontaine run, but I didn’t know the guy beforehand.
So we go to Norway, and let me tell you, those guys knew how to have a good time. I was going to bed early, and these guys were out partying. One night Pre had a little bit too much, and we like poured him into bed that night. The next morning, he got up and did the hardest workout I think I’ve ever seen in my life. I was shocked.
Him and Frank Shorter, and all these people, were having such a great time. My thinking was oh my God, they’re so happy they made it on the Olympic Team and they’re not worried enough about what’s going to happen once they get to Munich.
But then Shorter wins the marathon, and Pre had a great 5000m race even though he wound up fourth.
When I woke up on the morning of the terrorist attack, Pre was the guy who had just gone out for a morning run and told me something’s going on out there. He heard somebody got shot. He said you won’t believe what’s happened outside. He was the one that broke the news to me.


 
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