Turkey Trot or Not? ⏱

Lap 38: Sponsored by ArtiKen

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NCAA XC Championships

BYU may not have taken home either team title, but they’re the first university since Indiana back in 1988 to produce both individual winners at the same championship. In doing so, Conner Mantz became the first to — and probably only person who will ever — win two NCAA XC titles in the same year.

After following up his previous 2021 XC victory with a track season that included a 27:41 10,000m and a 5th place finish at the Olympic Trials, many fans probably expected him to turn pro. But in interviews since, Mantz and others in his camp have said that the market wasn’t quite as bullish as hoped for, so Mantz bet on himself, came back and doubled down on his value.

In comparison, Whittni Orton put the exclamation point on her career that she’s been waiting for. With personal bests of 4:09/4:29/8:49/15:12, it’s honestly shocking that prior to this weekend’s title, she had never individually finished higher than 7th at an NCAA Championship (2019 XC, 2018 Mile). This past weekend, Orton finally put the race and season together on the big stage that many have long expected her capable of.

It’s a shame that there’s no live betting in cross-country because with 1k to go in the 6k race and a pack of 10+ women still together, I declared out loud that the race was over — her loping stride and apparent calm seemed built for that downhill finish. The only question is if this win will overshadow another of her great athletic accomplishments — a 4:58 mile dribbling a basketball.

Given the extra season of eligibility gained by all NCAA athletes due to the pandemic, this year’s field was positively loaded with fifth-plus-year seniors. For context, the first TRUE freshman (we’re talking athletes who graduated from high school in 2021) on the men’s side was UNC’s Parker Wolfe, who crossed the finish in 28th.

Because championship XC distance literally doubles for the fellas once they get to college, it’s expected most will take a couple years to adjust, but we still see the occasional wunderkind notch a top-10 finish from time to time.

But on the women’s side, with only one additional kilometer of running vs. prep races, it’s even more common to see prodigious athletes come in and immediately be competitive on the national stage. At this year’s championship, the first true freshman was UNC’s Brynn Brown in 65th. That’s gotta make this the deepest field ever at NCAAs, right?

Side note: The Tarheel women finished 14th overall, but their top 6 all competed as freshmen. Keep on eye on things over in Chapel Hill!

Go Pack/Lumberjacks Go 🐺🪓

The North Carolina State women have been a regular force at the NCAA Championships, and their 2021 team win marked their 16th finish within the top 10. Although this weekend marked NC State’s first NCAA title, it wasn’t their first national championship — the university won two AIAW championships in 1979 and 1980 before joining the NCAA.

On Saturday, led by former New York HS standouts Kelsey Chmiel and Katelyn Tuohy, and coming off a second place finish at last year’s race, there was but one piece missing from the puzzle — an Ivy League transfer. With Columbia graduate Allie Hays joining to finish off her eligibility, the pack gained a 21st place finisher and secured the title that had evaded NC State for so many years.

(This is the part of the newsletter where I must admit bias having run at Columbia with three of Allie’s siblings plus a fourth if you count her sister-in-law.)

It’s impossible to separate the history of the program from Coach Laurie Henes, who was a six time All-American and individual NCAA 5000m champion for NC State as an athlete there. In 1992, after graduating, she joined her alma mater’s coaching staff and would ultimately guide her daughter, Elly, to an NCAA 5000m title of her own in 2021.

Dynasty — Northern Arizona University has now won five of the last six NCAA titles and given their young roster, there may be more coming. There is no room for a weak leg on a national caliber team and given all five scorers were All-Americans, that was certainly the case.

The storylines remain the same: Mike Smith is a great coach, Flagstaff is a nice place to run, altitude makes breathing harder (until it makes it easier). At this point if you’re a really good high school recruit, I think you should go somewhere else. Wouldn’t it be more fun to bring a championship some place new? But maybe there are some kids out there who watch The Mighty Ducks and root for Iceland.

As an aside, can we acknowledge that the broadcast for the NCAA XC Championships has become consistently better each year? But the highlight for me this year was not the drone shots, believe it or not, but the occasional Bill Spaulding commentary. That type of mid-race analysis breaking down the X’s and O’s of what’s unfolding before us contributed a ton to the viewing experience as it explained in granular detail what to watch for.

Upset of the century ⚡️

If the last couple Olympic Trials weren’t enough to validate the Bowerman Track Club as the premier distance running club in the country, we can now add the Michigan Pro Ekiden to its collective resume. The co-ed team covered the marathon distance relay in 2:08:24 — about 3.5 minutes ahead of the second place NAZ Elite squad. The second year event did a good job at attracting multiple groups to come participate, but unfortunately for viewers, we needed another all-star team in there to make things more competitive.

The concept has a lot of promise. Often the hardest part of ‘experimenting’ with new races is finding the appropriate time of year to squeeze it into the schedule. And coaches actively cooperating with each other has historically been difficult. Taking a look at the splits, it’s obvious that a lot of athletes came out to be good teammates, but were caught in a down cycle during a training block. Undoubtedly as this thing builds and attracts more talent (hopefully from other countries) then the depth will fill out and we’ll get to watch some legitimate battles.

The performance of the day goes to hometown hero Grant Fischer, who triumphantly returned to The Mitten and dropped the gloves as he assaulted the 10k leg in 28:36.

But the highlight of the race was watching Minnesota Distance Elite’s Annie Frisbie make good on her 2:26 breakthrough at the New York City Marathon. She covered the 6k distance in 19:25 (5:13/mi) to beat Olympic silver medalist Courtney Frerichs by 18 seconds. How does one bounce back just 10 days after the race of their life with another huge run? And where the heck did Annie Frisbie come from?

Let us tell you! Interested in supporting athletes? On Friday morning in our premium newsletter we will be publishing a conversation with Annie Frisbie. This initiative has now raised over $13,900 with all proceeds going towards the elite athletes.

Does this come with a receipt?

It’s not cheap to put on a race with $50k in prize money. This is the sort of thing we’ve come to expect from the Hansons, who have always been super generous and transparent with their investment in the sport, but still, it’s gotta be a bit of a treat when the winners of said prize give the whole thing back! (And as for those “poor” BTC athletes, don’t worry, I am sure the athletes gave the green light on this, or they were paid their winnings out of the expansive Nike budget.)

This sport is filled with too many nice people. We created The Victory Lap to help support pro athletes and I swear every other week we have to force the athletes to accept the money we raised for them.

We’ve made it this far into the newsletter without a full-fledged Kyle Story, so here we go: During the summer of 2016, the Sir Walter Miler invited the NJNY boys down to Raleigh. To help with the trip, they offered a travel stipend so we could fly down, but being a bunch of savvy financial wizards we chose to drive instead so we could pocket the extra bit of money.

Plus, road trips are fun!

We ended up sweeping the top spots in the race and enjoying a memorable night out on the town (I won, nbd). On the way home the next day, the topic of us getting that extra cash came up — that’s when Ford Palmer got quiet. Apparently they gave him all of our travel money to distribute and he gave it right back to them. Would you believe that Ford’s post-running career is telling other people how to invest THEIR money?

The best ever? 🐐

The Newbury Park boys are at it again — this time at the CIF Southern Section Finals where the team swept the top six spots to claim the first perfect score in the meet’s 96 year history. The team’s top 5 averaged 13:54 for 3 miles and 14:44 for 5k earlier this season — both national records — which has shifted the conversation from, ‘Is this the best high school XC team ever?’ to ‘Is this the best high school team ever…in any sport?’

Their coach, Sean Brosnan, is a native Long Islander. And ‘cause I’mma island boy, we of course worked at XC camp together (s/o to The Running School), where Sean is known for hammering the notoriously competitive cabin one runs. I decided Tuesday night at 10pm was a good time to text him to catch up:

Kyle: I don’t cover high school running very often, but what your team is doing seems quite notable. How did this weekend go?

Sean: The guys are rolling! I don’t shy away from not being a fan of the Mt. Sac course. It beats you up and the start line is dangerous, but we got the job done. No one has ever perfect-scored, prelims or finals, but that’s our goal. There are a few guys who want to break us up, but it’s possible. We held back this weekend.

I am hearing through the grapevine that this is going to be the most packed state meet in the history for spectators because everyone is going to come watch us run. It gets loud. They come from all over the state.

Kyle: What are you guys doing differently? Why is your team so good?

Sean: At camp, I’d say to the other counselors that these kids should be running faster. They don’t have to do a lot, but they need to focus on the right things. I joked when I first started that if you gave me five half decent kids that we’d win a state championship. This was a team that never made the meet.

We do supplemental work for the hips and glutes, we practice in the morning and I set the bar high. I’ll say ‘4:20’s not fast for a HS mile. It’s just not fast.’ It’s a decent mile time. It’s not about breaking 5 as a freshman, it’s 4:30 now. There may be a ceiling for some kids, but you have to set the bar high.

We go to altitude for a month. Does it help us physiologically? Maybe. But it’s about focusing. I paid for a sports psych from my own money because I want them to learn how to think. Why not give these kids an opportunity to be the best team ever? I was expecting it. I took over the girls a few years ago and now they’re top-10 in the country because they want to be as good as the boys.

Kyle: Kids today get a lot of flak for not being as tough compared to ‘back in the day.’ Is that fair?

I don’t think it is. I treat this generation like I would want to be treated and I badly wanted to be a part of the team. They know I care deeply. I’m teaching full-time and I like to think I am coaching full-time. I’m constantly thinking about it.

I don’t swear at them, but I’ll be honest with them. And when a kid believes in what we are doing they see the results. Most kids buy-in, I mean you have to be there 5-6 days a week. There is no leeway. Technically we have standards, but they don’t mean anything. Our team has athletes running 26 minutes for 5k, but they want to be there.

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🚨 WR: HALF MARATHON 🚨

Lisbon may have become a marquee destination for footloose digital nomads who enjoy working remotely, but Jakob Kiplimo doesn’t mind going into the office. On Sunday morning, after what now feels like a weekend ritual, Americans woke up to the news that another world record was broken overnight — this time in the men’s half marathon.

It was just one tick faster, but 57:31 is the new mark to beat, surpassing the previous record of 57:32 set by Kibiwott Kandie in Valencia in 2020 — a race where Kiplimo finished in 2nd just five seconds back. Two months prior, Kiplimo had out-kicked Kandie for the win at the Half Marathon World Championships. There is a nice rivalry brewing here and it’s driving Uganda’s ascent in distance running, where it now threatens the previously held dominance of Kenya and Ethiopia.

Not that much color is needed to make averaging 4:23 for 13.1 miles any more impressive, but Kiplimo did it all by himself from the very beginning. His 5k splits of 13:40-13:25-13:22 add up to a new 15k world best of 40:27 — significantly faster than Joshua Cheptegei’s 41:05. So yes, 57:31 is fast. But he was on pace for sub-57 for the large majority of the race. Not bad for a guy who turned 21 last week!

Droddy signed!

Back in April, The Lap Count started a pledge on behalf of Noah Droddy, who at the time was an unsponsored 2:09 marathoner — and a popular one at that!

I wrote: ‘The problem is it’s difficult to quantify how many shoes Noah [could sell]. So we're left with a methodology for determining an athlete's valuation that is archaic and completely made up…It’s time we demonstrate the value that professional runners can bring to a company.’

And 777 people signed on and committed to buy a pair of shoes from whatever company ultimately signed Noah. Well earlier this month, we got the answer and it looks like we are all buying a new pair from SALOMON!!!!

Enter code DRODDY15 at checkout to receive 15% off Salomon footwear*.

(*Exclusions apply - sportystyle, advanced and forces product not included. Good for one-time use per user. Due to global supply chain issues stock is low so the discount for Lap Count readers will be valid until 12/31/22.)

“I think my role to be a positive brand ambassador. Beyond proving that the product is high quality and capable of high performance, I want to learn what Salomon is all about and be the embodiment of that in the road running community. Salomon’s support keeps my career chugging along. It gives me the freedom to take some risks, and gives me the freedom to play it safe if necessary. Mostly it takes the stress of the day to day monotony of training and allows me to focus big picture.” —Noah Droddy

Disclosure: This is not a paid ad and The Lap Count will not be receiving a kick back. I reached out to them and they loved the idea — now let’s prove the value of supporting professionals!

Rapid Fire Highlights 🔥

• 3x US Olympian Tianna Tashelle wrote an emotional blog about giving birth to her son at just 26 weeks. She competed at the Olympic Trials while pregnant, but did not know at the time. Have some tissues close by for this read. (Post)

• The charismatic Jimmy Gressier had another wild celebration this week! (Video)

• Josette Norris (15:42) and Cam Griffith (13:49) won the Sugar Run 5k in Memphis, TN.

• The Bowerman Track Club has announced the additions of Canadian Olympians, Lucia Stafford and Andrea Seccafien.

• The Millrose Games announced Cole Hocker and Elle Purrier St. Pierre will be in the WHOOP Wanamaker Mile Fields. The new sponsor will be providing fans with live physiological data insights during the race.

• Adam Peterman and Sara Cummings won the prestigious JFK 50 Miler in 5:19:38 and 6:18:43, respectively.

• Olympian Karissa Schweizer shared that she underwent achilles surgery, but is now on the comeback trail.

• Marcel Hug won the Oita Marathon, breaking a 22 year old wheelchair marathon T53/54 world record in a time of 1:17:47.

• Atlanta Track Club’s Ryan Adams ran a 3:59 mile, which is not something you see very often during November.

• Christian Coleman sat down with Ato Boldon to discuss his suspension and return. (Video)

• Haile Gebrselassie will apparently be joining Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali and Olympic champ Feyisa Lelisa on the front lines of the country’s ongoing civil war. (Post)

• The Philadelphia Marathon is slowly gaining steam as a new destination marathon as everyone I know who runs it walks away happy. Course records fell as Mike Chesire won the men’s in 2:13:27 and Leslie Sexton won for the women in 2:28:33.

• Peak Running Elite has added 8:08 steeplechaser, Stanley Kebenei.

• Cooper Teare and Sophie O’Sullivan both collapsed and had dramatic finishes at the NCAA Championships. Props to both of them for still finishing and thankfully, they’re healthy and recovered! (Video)

• D2 Nationals: Grand Valley State University went 1-2 in the women’s race led by Hannah Becker, but Adams State won the team title. GVSU did win the men’s title on the shoulders of Isaac Harding and Tanner Chada’s 1-2 finish. The early leader had a tragic fall after having a huge lead 7k+ into the race (Watch).

• D3 Nationals: It was the Johns Hopkins women and Pomona-Pitzer men with Kassie Rosenbum and Alex Phillip taking top honors.