Friday's USATF Picks

I have little prep time for this so I am going to try and be brief and only touch on finals that I like and the Woman's Steeplechase.

Jr. DEC - Curtis Beach is out front after Day one and I expect him to hold that. Look for a surprise in the 1500 as this kid has blazing 800m speed. However also expect a hard chase (over all events) by Horn of Florida. He's only down by 134 points, so not completely down and out yet.

MEN DEC - Given Clay is out, I'm going Hardee and then Eaton with a hard fought battle between the two till the last event or so. And because I am a SOCAL runner as of late I am wanting to go with a VS athletic guy in Desi Burt for 3rd. However Arlnold has shown consistency across events. He is my pick for 3rd.

800m Men's & Women's - need heats to be up. Not set just yet. So I will just guess at how this will go but I am calling Johnson, Clark, Gall, Vessy Vaughn and Waits, and I don't want to do anymore without heat sheets. On the men's side I am thinking Smith, KD, Symmonds, Brown, Johnson, Everett, and again I need heats to do anymore.

Women's 3k Steeplechase - Rules for the prelims, 2 heats, top 4 finishers plus next 6 best times. There are 13, and 12 runners in the heats respectively.  Heat One has names such as Nicole Bush, Kara June, Lisa Galaviz and of course Barringer! Heat Two has Stanford grad and College Park HS alum Lindsey Allen, the beautiful and skilled Mel Lawrence, Delilha, and of course Anna Willard who ran well in in her 1500m heat today. Heat One Picks - Barringer, June Galaviz, Bush, and Kara June. Heat Two Picks - Willard, Allen, Lawrence, Anderson. Time Picks Delilha, Frank, Lorenzen, and Kristen Anderson. But really, none of the time picks should factor in at all. I just picked anyone who has shown the ability to dip under the 10 minute mark. Two Olympians and at one time AR in Barringer and Willard. Both have run under 4:02 with Jenny B running a stellar 3:59 to take 2nd at PRE recently. However they are in different heats, and both are entered in other races, Scratching post anyone?

Men 5k Final So there are two heats, with the second heat having the faster runners (sub 13:36).  I want to call Rupp, but he has mentioned to only be running the 5k if something bad happened in the 10k. That being said Ritz is also in this race, but I doubt he will be racing today. The same goes with Bauhs who looked pretty spent at the end of the 10k last night, and Nelson who took 3rd. The guys to watch in the second heat are going to be Vaughn, Bethke, Solinsky, collegian Fernandez, Famiglietti and Tegekamp. Fam has had a pretty good season winning a 15k in early spring but he will have the Wisco boys to deal with who posted fast 3ks at Pre recently. Fernandez, if racing, could challenge these runners, but I don't think he is at their level just yet, at least for 5k. I see German taking 4th. You can't count out Vaughn who had a stellar race against Lagat in the 5k at Stanford last year. My Picks Fam for the win with a clusterF**** finish for 2-5 placing's. I see Solinsky taking the 2 spot and Teg following close behind in 3rd.

Women 5k Final The entries are led by Flanagan, Goucher, Barringer and Rowbury (1459-15-1501-1512). Goucher is racing to test her kick in prep for WC marathons. Barringer has been on fire and given her recent 1500m time I would expect her in much better than 15:01 shape. And Rowbury has the speed just like Barringer and strength given her road racing over the early spring in 5k's. You can't count out Jenny Rhines with a 15:02, but that was last year. Not much out of her recently. I would pick Flanagan, but she ran a 10k last night and didn't look overly fresh and coming off a new coach, and new local, I don't see her in the same form as last year. Part of this pick is what I would like to happen, but it is loosely based on facts. I am going with Picks Barringer*, Goucher and then its a toss up with recovery from races yesterday between Rowbury and Flanagan. My pick for dark horse is Fleshman.

*assuming scratch in the 3kSC (at 720 5k's at 750)