USATF Minnesota Indoor Champs; NCAA DII Qualifer

Live Results from the USATF Minnesota Indoor Championships are HERE.

Final "Qualifer" meet at University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.  University of Minnesota Morris women in 5K, shot put, weight throw.  St. Scholastica  women in shot put,  weight throw, high jump, 800, 3K, and Distance Medley Relay. UMM men in the 800, Mile, 5K.. St Scholastica men in the 800, 5K, weight throw. Full results HERE.  Minnesota Morris summary is HERE.  St. Scholastica summary is HERE.

Grunewald Tenth in 3K

Team USA Minnesota's Gabe Grunewald finished 10th in the women's 3K final at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Sopot with a time of 9:11.76. "Was hoping for a lot more here in Sopot, but proud of my effort to make the best of a very difficult indoor season," Grunewald wrote on Twitter. "Super inspired by my #teamusa teammates though! How about @ChanellePrice?!?! #amazing(winner of the 800)."

Flotrack interview with Gabe Grunewald is HERE.

St Thomas Continues Streaks with Sweep of MIAC Team Titles

The University of St. Thomas continued their team title streaks on Saturday winning both the men's and women's titles.  The men scored 186 points, sixty more than runner up St. Olaf and 70.5 ahead of third place Hamline.  The Tommie women accumulated 185 points, 63 more than runner runner up St. Ben's and 75 in front of of third place Carleton.

Concordia Moorhead athletes Hilary Thompson and Cherae Reeves set women's meet records.  Thompson won the triple jump with a hop, step, and jump of 11.75m(38' 6.75").  Reeves won the shot put with a toss of 14.58m(47' 10").  St. Olaf's Grant Wintheiser set his second MIAC meet record while winning the 3K in 8:28.10.

Men's results are HERE.  Women's HERE.Men's summary is HERE, women's is HERE.

Kampf Falls in 1500 Final; Leer Sixth in Men's 1500: Updated with DQs

Whoever thought that running was a non-contact sport had their illusions dashed as falls and DQes marred the women's 1500 final.  Team USA's Heather Kampf went down before the first quarter of the race was completed .  The crash inspired pre-race favorite Abebe Aregawi to take off and never look back as she won the race by nearly seven seconds in 4:00.61.  Kampf got up and finished ninth in 4:21.78, but was DQed along with the original third place finisher, Rababe Arafi. Medtronic TC Mile runner up in 2013, Nicole Sifuentes set a Canadian national indoor record of 4:07.61 and was moved up to take the bronze medal.

Will Leer finished sixth in the men's 1500 final in 3:39.60 in a race controlled by winner Ayanleh Souleiman, who dictated the pace and held off the field in a winning time of 3:37.52. Medtronic TC Mile champ in 2013, Nick Willis finished fourth in 3:38.47, but was DQed.

Kampf wrote on Twitter: "Thank you for the kind words. I'm coming away with less skin but more heart."  Leer wrote: "In the wise words of the Big Lebowski, 'Sometimes you eat the bar. Sometimes the bar eats you.' Gave my best today and came up a bit short."  Willis tweeted about the DQ: "DQ'd for taking step inside rail on final turn. Our belief is Turkish runner cut down on me to prevent the pass and bumped me...Please pray for a calm heart as I await news on our DQ appeal. Tempting to get angry but I know God is bigger than results."

FloTrack interview with Heather Kampf after the race is HERE.Will Leer interview HERE. Interview with Nicole Sifuentes HERE. Women's 1500 race video is HERE.  Men's 1500 is HERE.

St. Thomas Leads in Men's and Women's Team Scoring after Day 2 of MIAC Indoor Championships

St. Thomas leads in both men's and women's team scoring after second day of competition at the MIAC Indoor Track Championships at St. John's. Men's meet record in the mile by St. Olaf's Grant Wintheiser by .01 of a second in 4:11.94.  Gustavus' Cameron Clause won the heptathlon in the last event and set an MIAC meet record of 5088 points.

St. Thomas's Mallory Burnham set two meet records, running 8.66 in the heats of the 60 meter hurdles and 7.62 in the heats of the 60 meter dash.  She won both finals, only .01 slower than the heat,s to take the sprint double in 8.67 in the hurdles and 7.63 in the sprint.  St. Ben's Allison Kosobud set a meet record in the 800 of 2:13.50.

Men's results are HERE, women's HERE. MIAC women's summary/photos are HERE, men's HERE.

Grunewald, Leer, Kampf Qualify

Team USA Minnesota's Heather Kampf led from the front and finished in second to automatically qualify for the 1500 final.  "I believe I have good strength for the 1500 and a kick too," Kampf told the IAAF radio interviewer after the race. Kampf said of the front running tactics noting that she was the alternate on  the US team, so "I feel I have something to prove."

Prove it she did, leading from the gun with splits of 67.09 at 400, 2:16.03 800, 3:23.79 1200, and a new indoor PB of 4:11.27.Race results with splits HERE. Kampf's US World's team teammate Treniere Moser also qualified for the final, winning the final heat.  "Heather ran great," said Moser.  "She sort of gave me inspiration to go through."

Kamf's Team USA Minnesota teammate Gabe Grunewald and Minnetonka grad Will Leer both qualified for the finals in their respective events on Friday at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Sopot.  Both qualified on time as only the top two in each heat of the 1500 and top four in the 3K automatically made the finals.  Heather Kampf runs in the women's 1500 heats later today in the evening program.

Leer finished third in the third and fastest heat of the 1500 in 3:38.02.  Results of each of the heats, plus splits are HERE.  As usual indoors, the races featured plenty of contact among the runners and Grunewald came away with spike wounds, but, more importantly, a place in the women's 3K final by finishing sixth in the second and fastest heat in 8:58.10. Results of the 3K are HERE.

IAAF summary of the men's 1500 is HERE.  IAAF article on Gabe is HERE.  Videos of the races are available HERE. YouTube copy of women's 1500 heat video is HERE.

Morning session quotes:
 “You always want to conserve a little energy to be ready for Sunday and I did that. There was a lot of pushing and I got pushed pretty hard from behind. The pack got a little frantic and that was when I wanted to make my move so it threw me off for a lap. After something like that happens, you have to collect yourself and finish the race. I kind of knew we’d be okay if we finished strong the last 1,000m. We started a little slow but I knew it’d pick up. I’m happy with my time; it’s the second-fastest indoor 3000m this season. I’m okay taking a time qualifer because it means I have five seconds more in the tank on Sunday.”--Gabe Grunewald.

“I had an idea that those guys were going to take it from the gun. We had the advantage of knowing what everyone else did. The announcer was extra super nice and let the crowd know the bubble time, so he told us too. I sat back, bided my time, and I don’t feel fantastic so I’ll feel a lot better tomorrow I hope.”--Will Leer

Amelia Campbell Wins MIAC Pentathlon; Max Dunne Leads Heptathlon After First Day

Carleton's Amelia Campbell won the MIAC Pentathlon title, results HERE.  St. Thomas' Max Dunne leads the men's Heptathlon after the first day, results are HERE.  Summary of Day 1 is HERE.

MIAC feature on Campbell is HERE.

MIAC Preview: List of Qualifiers for NSIC teams for NCAA DII Indoor Champs

Yes, there are other meets going on this weekend aside from the IAAF Indoor World Championships.  The MIAC championships start today up in Collegeville at St. John's with the multi event competition.  MIAC men's preview is HERE, women's HERE. Championships home page is HERE.

List of qualifiers for NCAA DII Indoor Championships for NSIC teams HERE.

Na zdrowie Will Leer

The craziness began immediately. As Team USA congregated before boarding at gate B48 in Washington Dulles airport we already had our first goal: delay the plane! As athletes arrived at the airport on various airline carriers there were numerous mixups regarding baggage and apparently a security line whose length defied any sort of logic. Walking as slowly as we could down the jet bridge, being unable to find the proper seat and finally pleading to keep the airplane door open a few more minutes, everyone made it on board. The same cannot be said for their bags, but that is an inevitable part of travel. 

Once in Poland things slowed down dramatically. With the Mera Spa Hotel, located right on the Baltic Sea, serving as our weeks accommodation and base of operations, Team USA set up camp. Sweat pants and hoodies have become regarded as almost "formal" attire. Most athletes haven't worn pants with a button since arriving. It is times like this when it becomes painfully apparent how many hours are in a day. Books, movies, card games, a little tourist-ing through town, meals and practice; this is how I have been occupying myself for the last week in anticipation of the first round of competition on Friday. This is, after all, a business trip. 

The 1,500 meters at the World Indoor Championships is a two round affair: prelim on Friday morning, final on Saturday evening. For me, it's one race at a time. I've got to put all my focus on the prelim, treat it as though it is my final, and race hard in order to survive. Only then can I begin thinking about Saturday. When I was last at a World Indoor Championship, 2010 in Doha, I did not race aggressively enough in my prelim and missed out on the final by one spot. I won't make that mistake again.

It has been nice to have Lopez Lomong and Nick Symmonds around. These two have proven themselves internationally in major championships, both having previously made a final. Our collective mentality is "It will be fun AFTER the final when we can..." This is a much more professional approach than I had in 2010.

This winter I have started taking a complete rest day two days before my competition. As a part of my active recovery I took a nice long walk through the town of Sopot. A beautiful seaside town whose livelihood is primarily derived during the tourist season (summer), things are pretty sleepy around here. Lots of the hotels are closed for the winter, which creates a very calm and peaceful environment, perfect for a leisurely stroll. In the middle of town most of the pubs, shops, and restaurants are still in operation. I intend on sampling some traditional Polish food when I am finished competing. Maybe even a Polish beer and some of this Polish vodka I have been hearing so much about.

Today (Thursday) is the first day the competition venue is open for the athletes to see and practice on. I am meeting up with my Very Nice Track Club teammates Nick Willis and Lee Emanuel for a short run and some strides on the racing surface. As nearly every indoor track is different (dimensions, bank of the turn, track surface, size of venue), I find it helpful to get a good grasp of where I will hang out before my race, location of bathrooms, warm up, do drills, and do pre-race strides, so there are fewer potential question marks that arise on the day of competition. It's all about being prepared!

The entirety of Team USA is excited to be here and eagerly anticipating our chance to compete.

Na zdrowie(Cheers or Bless You),

Will

The Calm

By Dennis Barker

Running along the Baltic Sea in Sopot has the feel of running along a resort lake in northern Minnesota.  There are a lot of older, small cabins and wooden concession stands mixed in with "rustic" resorts and an influx of new condos.  There is a lot of cleaning, raking, pruning going on in anticipation of the coming vacation season.

It's probably a good thing this meet happens before the start of the season because it looks like this place will be packed with vacationers in a couple of months.  The beach is long and beautiful, but the water is cold and the air has a Pacific Northwest feel to it. The running path goes on much farther than I run these days and there are occasional soft trails on the non-beach side of the path that lead off into a pine forest.  There aren't as many runners on the path as the Twin Cities but you're never alone.

We went to the track today.  The mayor of Sopot said it was his dream to host the World Indoor Championships and now his dream has come true.  I hope Chris Coleman in St. Paul has this dream some night. The track is brand new - never been run on.  The turns are broader, the straights shorter, the banks higher than the track in Albuquerque.

The track fits tightly into the stadium with the stands right up to the track.  Ticket prices for the finals are $150 so hopefully that means they are in demand and it will be full.

The athletes all appear rested, antsy and ready to go.  

Stories from Sopot

Since most of us have no idea what it's like to represent the US at a major international competition, such as this weekend's IAAF World Indoor Championships, we've asked the "Minnesota contingent," Team USA Minnesota coach Dennis Barker; Team USA Minnesota Athletes Gabe Grunewald and Heather Kampf, and Will Leer to share their thoughts on the experience.

How much they are able to write, blog, communicate back to us will depend on the time they have available.  Their first priority, obviously, is to perform their best once the racing starts this weekend.  Today's first reports deal with getting to Sopot, settling in, and getting ready for the challenge ahead.

Heather's Big Adventure

A Sopot selfie?  Heather's photo, from her Facebook page,

in Sopot

Heather Kampf wrote in her blog about Monday "the crazy day from finding out I'm on the team and some reflections along the way" HERE.

Settling in Sopot

 By Dennis Barker

This is like all championship meets in that there is a lot of waiting for the few moments of excitement surrounding the event in which you're involved.  For a trip this far though it's a good idea to arrive a little earlier than later.  The first couple of days of jet lag and inconsistent sleep are significant.  But most of the athletes have raced in Europe before, though not at this time of year, so their anxiety level is low and adjustment seems smooth.   

My first two days had some added adventure.  My bag, as well as maybe a dozen others, were lost by the airline.  And I had to get a key to an apartment I am sharing in Sopot with Justin Grunewald for the week.

After the long day of travel, it was getting dark as we arrived at the hotel so Gabriele and Justin went for a run while I headed out, directions in hand, to get the apartment key.  The directions given me turned out to be wrong and after over an hour of walking, being befriended by a doorman of a building and a woman walking her dog, I found the place - closed and dark.

So I headed back to the hotel, on a more direct route, to strategize over dinner and beers.  The walk was actually very pleasant since the temperature was in the 40s and the part of town I walked through reminded me of Kenwood in Minneapolis, with many very large, beautiful old homes and lots of huge trees.  

Gabriele contacted her agent Paul Doyle, who had acquired the apartment for us, and he contacted the person with the key, who had "stepped out" for awhile.  Thus, after dinner I took a taxi, which are cheap and plentiful throughout the city, back to the place, got the key, returned to the hotel to pick up Justin, taxied to the apartment and collapsed into bed.

The agenda for day two was: coffee, get my bag, get a coaching credential.  This doesn't sound like much but it took nearly all day.  The day started late due to bad on-and-off sleep.  Our apartment is also a ways out with no shops or stores around it, and no readily available transportation.

So we began our quest for coffee on foot, eventually landing in a quaint restaurant where the coffee was small and the breakfast sandwiches large.  Further exploration, however, brought us to an actual coffee shop on a street that has been turned into a walking mall with a lot of shops and restaurants.  In one direction the street rises up a hill to a university.  In the other direction it ends at a long pier that extends out into the Baltic Sea over a quarter mile.

Fully caffeinated, I headed to the credentialing hotel.  I had been unable to get the credential the day before, but the wrinkle had been ironed out and it went smoothly this time.  The walk to the athlete's hotel was another half mile, pushing my total for the day to over two miles.  But it was worth it because shortly after I got there, both Heather and my bag arrived.  We had a nice dinner and all seemed well with the world.

News Bits

Athletics Illustrated Interview with Gabe Grunewald is HERE. ESPNW story on Grunewald is HERE.

The Grunewalds discover Grunwaldzka  HERE.

Will Leer Instagram photo from Sopot HERE and HERE

U Mary's Jennifer Agnew selected for NCAA Post Graduate Scholarship HERE.

NSIC weekly review, athletes and coach of the year HERE(men), and HERE(women).

Minnesota Daily article on Big 10 Championships is HERE.

UMAC men's conference awards are HERE,  women HERE.

USTFCCCA NCAA DI indoor track rankings HERE, DII HERE, DIII HERE.

MIAC women track athletes of the week are HERE, men HERE

Duluth News Tribune on Erik Hartmark's win at the National Snowshoe Championships is HERE.

George Kawalawu's YouTube video of the St. Cloud State sprinter's prep for NCAA Champs is HERE.

MileSplit alumni report for Feb.16-27 HERE.

NCAA DII indoor track championships info page is HERE.

NCAA DI entry list is HERE.

Bernd Heinrich, story of an inquisitive mind in an extraordinary body HERE.

World Indoors Viewing Party

Brits Pub will be hosting another viewing party for World Indoors this Sunday from 11:30 - 2:00 PM. 

The Facebook event pag is HERE: More info on the Twin Cities Track Club website HERE.

Heather Kampf Will Compete in Worlds

By virtue of her third place finish at the US indoor championships, Team USA Minnesota's Heather Kampf was the first alternate on the US team for the women's 1500.  Mary Cain has withdrawn from the championships because of an injury, so Heather is now on her way to Sopot, Poland for the IAAF Indoor Championships.  Cain's statement and Kampf's response to the opportunity are HERE. Article Kampf's trip to Poland HERE.
 

Kampf had just finished her run this morning on a treadmill at the Life Time Fitness Highland Park Club when she got the call. “My teammates Jon Grey and Ben Sathre were also at Life Time and they were the first ones I told,” said Kampf.  “I am really excited to be named to the US team.  Things work out in mysterious ways.  My ultimate goal is to make the final in the 1500 meters.”

Heather also posted this photo on Twitter: "I just told Ricky I am going to Poland. As I am jumping around, this was his reaction. Apparently he prefers me home."  Dennis Barker, team USA Minnesota coach also welcomes the news, but reports from Poland: "The good news: I made it to Sopot. The bad news: my luggage didn't."  Hopefully the trip will go smoother for Kampf.

 The preliminary heats for the women’s 1500 meters and 3000 meters(where her team USA Minnesota teammate Gabe Grunewald will compete) will be held at Sopot’s Ergo Arena on Friday, March 7.  The final of the women’s 1500 will be on Saturday, March 8, and the final of the 3000 will be on Sunday, March 9.

Summaries of Pre-MIAC Meet and Ole Open

Gustavus wins men's, Macalester the women's at Pre-MIAC Meet at Macalester, results are HERE.
Macalester women's summary is HERE, men's HERE.
Gustavus men's summary is HERE, women's HERE.
Hamline men's summary is HERE, women's HERE.
Augsburg men's summary HERE, women's HERE.
Bethel summary is HERE.
St. Kate's summary is HERE.

Ole Open Qualifier Meet results are HERE(men) and HERE(women). Meet photos are HERE(men) and HERE(women).
No St. Olaf summaries posted yet.
St. Thomas women's summary is HERE,  men HERE.
Carleton women's summary is HERE, men HERE.
St. John's summary is HERE.
St. Mary's summary is HERE.
St. Ben's Summary is HERE.

Repeat Winners at Little Rock Marathon

Armstrong HS grad Leah Thorvilson and Mark Chepses seem to be dueling to see who can win the most Little Rock Marathon titles.  Thorvilson won her fifth Sunday morning, Chepses his fourth.  Read about it HERE.

NSIC, Big Ten Results

UMD women's team-NSIC Champs

MSU Mankato wins men's title, UMD the women's at NSIC Championships.  Full results are HERE. Photos for Day one are HERE , Day two  HERE
Mankato men's  NSIC summary is HERE, women HERE.
UMD women's summary is HERE, men's HERE
 SMSU summary is HERE.
St Cloud State summary is HERE.
Bemidji State summary is HERE.
Concordia St Paul summary is HERE

Mankato Men-NSIC Champs

At the Big Ten Meet, Penn State wins woman's team title, Gopher women fourth.  Wisconsin wins men's crown, Minnesota sixth.  Full results are HERE.John Simons won the mile in a slow, sit and kick race in 4:15.73 and took second in the 3K in 7:52.62.  Alena Brooks won the 600 in 1:26.73, while three Gopher women went 2. Molly Kayfes 16:21.06, 3. Laura Docherty 16:25.8, and 5. Liz Berkholtz 16:26.48 in the 5K.
Gopher Big 10 men's summary is HERE. Women's is HERE.

Big Ten and NSIC Day One Results

Gopher men fourth, women fifth after first day of Big Ten Championships, results are HERE.
Gopher men's summary is HERE, women's HERE.
  
MSU Mankato  leads men's, UMD leads women's after day one of the NSIC Championships, results are HERE.
Day one photos are HERE.
MSU Mankato summaries are HERE(men), and HERE(women).
UMD summaries are HERE(women), and HERE(men).
St. Cloud State summary is HERE.
Bemidji State preview is HERE.
Southwest Minnesota State summary is HERE.
Concordia St. Paul summary is HERE.