Wednesday's links: Husky track reunion weekend, national rankings, Mo & Galen, and direction of big city marathons...
Here are your links for Wednesday, as we prepare for one of the busiest weekends, with meets here, there, and everywhere, including Saturday's UW vs WSU dual meet at the new University of Washington track & field facility, the Drake and Penn Relays, the Payton Jordan meet at Stanford, the WWU Invitational in Bellingham, and the Duane Hartman Invite in Spokane…
In conjunction with the opening of the new track, the University of Washington will host a ribbon cutting ceremony to officially open the facility and dinner Friday for alums and friends of the program.
The event gets underway at 5 pm at the track complex, located next to the Husky Soccer Stadium, followed by a tour of the facility.
Following the tour, the scene shifts a few hundred meters south to the Conibear Shellhouse for a dinner and program featuring the coaching staff and members of the current team, along with numerous UW track & field hall of famers, Olympians, All-Americans, and NCAA champions.
The weekend concludes with Saturday's annual dual meet against the Cougars on the new track.
The event is close to being sold out, with only a few tickets left ($45 per individual, $20 for youth 13 & under, or $120 for two adults and two youth)
The event is close to being sold out, with only a few tickets left ($45 per individual, $20 for youth 13 & under, or $120 for two adults and two youth)
The ticket to this event includes the tour of the facility, dinner and beverages, a giveaway item, and admission to the Big W Club Alumni tent for Saturday's meet.
Organizers are encouraging folks to purchase their tickets in advance.
For more information on the weekend's events, please visit gohuskies.com/events and click on the track & field alumni weekend button…
Organizers are encouraging folks to purchase their tickets in advance.
For more information on the weekend's events, please visit gohuskies.com/events and click on the track & field alumni weekend button…
Speaking of the current UW team, the Husky women's squad is ranked #19 in the current USTFCCCA women's poll released Tuesday.
Washington drops from #14 in the computer polls, as all marks from the 2012 season are now thrown out.
Texas A&M is the new women's #1 team, followed by Kansas and Arizona.
On the men's side, Florida, Texas A&M, and Arkansas are the country's top three teams, with Oregon the top Pac-12 squad at #4.
In Division II, Seattle Pacific's squad has dropped to #23 in the national women's poll after being #16 in the last national poll.
Like the Division I computer poll, all marks from 2012 are no longer factored in this week's rankings.
Lincoln of Missouri is the nation's #1 women's team in the poll, followed by Grand Canyon, and Academy of Art. The top GNAC women's team is Alaska Anchorage, ranked #8.
Saint Augustine's, Adams State, and Grand Canyon are the nation's top D2 schools, with Alaska Anchorage the top GNAC squad at #18.
The Oregonian has a great story and photos written by one of the friends of the blog, Ken Goe, on Mo Farah and Galen Rupp.
Goe, and photographer Thomas Boyd followed double Olympic champ in the 5000 and 10000 Mo Farah, training partner and Olympic 10000 silver medalist Galen Rupp, and coach Alberto Salazar, on a specialized training day, that started with them doing sprint work at a local high school track in Portland, then a workout at a fitness facility.
After that session, the runners went home for a nap, then finished with a run.
Finally, Toni Reavis, one of the most respected followers of the international running scene, writes in his blog that it's time for running to get media wise, after spending the weekend in London covering the Virgin London Marathon.
He contends that the great battle in London, in which Emmanuel Mutai was caught by two time champ Tsegay Kebede in the last kilometer, was lost in the media. Instead, all the hype was showered upon local hero and double Olympic champ Mo Farah, who only ran the first half of the race, and dropped out, as a precursor to him running the full distance in next year's London Marathon.
A combination of not-very-media-savvy elite runners, which causes a disconnect with fans and sponsors, and the emphasis on the sideshows that happen at big city marathons, is leading the sport down the road towards what he calls "a series of clown shows and Jerry Lewis-like charity fund-raisers rather than sporting events."
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