Interview With Hassan Mead

Gopher Freshman Hassan Mead, runner up in the 5,000, third at 3,000 Meters at Big Ten Indoor Championships, talks to DtB correspondent Sean Hartnett.

DtB: You had never competed in a Big Ten Track Championship before yesterday, you sure have picked up a lot of experience in two days – and a lot of points for the team.

HM: Yes, I was trying to be a competitor, but at the same time learning. A lot of these guys have been here longer than I have, so they knew what it was going to be like. My teammates told me: ‘They will sit and kick in the 5K. I didn’t want that so I was going to try to break things up. It might have worked at some point, but it didn’t. Some of the guys had the endurance and the kick, but it was a great experience.

DTB: After seeing a slow 1K split you went right to the front.

HB: Yeah, I wouldn’t mind sitting back there as long as the pace was honest, but it was like 72 or 73. That is the pace you want to do in a 10K, not a 5. That wasn’t in my favor, so I came up to the front trying to break them early, even though it was 16 or 18 laps to go. My teammate Forest helped me out for a couple of laps so I was able to back off, but I tried to do what I could.

DTB: In both the 3K yesterday, and the 5K today the pace was turned up a notch with a kilometer to go, and really the last 250 to 300 was all out.

HM: Last night it wasn’t bad. I knew that Bethke has that big miler’s kick, so I was going to try to get as big as a lead as I could, I just have to get away. Today I had a feeling when his teammate took over with three laps to go that they were trying to set him up. So I was trying not to fall behind, so I just stuck behind him. But on that last lap he made me look like I was walking.

DTB: Yeah that was really some gear that Bethke hit twice on the weekend. As a freshman you have shown some very good racing skills, but as you get stronger maybe you can develop a closing gear like that.

HM: Yeah, I have to work on that turnover so I can finish with those guys.

Photo by Sean Hartnett