Five topics worth talking about from this past weekend

Hey, y’all this newsletter is not exclusively coming from Ben, instead it’s coming from both Ben and myself, Donny Speas. For the foreseeable future, I’ll be helping out here and doing a little bit of content for Kicking For Home (though don’t worry, you can still expect Ben to continue with the content, including a completely separate newsletter later this week). 

In this week’s newsletter I’ll be going over five things I thought were worth talking about from this action-packed last weekend of racing. There are certainly more than five things worth talking about that happened this past weekend but these were some of my favorites. So with that said, let's jump into it!

Parker Valby is the undisputed queen of the NCAA

Going into this weekend we were unsure of whether Parker Valby could complete, much less dominate a challenging double at the NCAA Championships. Even on the start line there appeared to be bruises on Valby’s legs, adding to the injury and durability questions. 

However we were wrong, so wrong that I feel dumb for even questioning what Parker Valby is capable of. For those of you unaware, Valby ran out of her mind in both races. On Friday night she opened up in a 14:52 5k, taking down the meet record and resetting her collegiate record. Perhaps even more impressively was how well Valby could double back on day two. Instead of running away from the start as Valby typically does, she let others lead for the first 2000 meters surging around Notre Dame’s Olivia Markezich and never looking back, winning by five seconds and taking down Jenny Simpson’s (then Barringer) meet record. 

Parker Valby has now won as many individual NCAA titles as Katelyn Touhy (both have four) and while the Florida Gators are a great cross-country team, I don’t think they are a true title contender. Where am I going with all this, well I think that this is going to be Parker Valby’s last year in the NCAA….

Blazing fast times by the Boys at New Balance Nationals. 

NCAA’s wasn’t the only championship track meet going on in Boston this weekend. It wasn’t even the only championship going on at the same venue! Seriously! Both races took place at The Track at New Balance, Facility Manager Jay Rourke and the rest of the facility staff deserve a massive shoutout for helping this weekend run smoothly. 

Anyways, New Balance Indoor Nationals (NBIN) was wicked fast. On the boy’s side, we saw three different meet records. So let's break down each one. 

First up is the boys’s 5000 meter championship where we saw Danny Simmons run a massive personal best in the 5000 meters, stopping the clock at 13:38 which broke Tyrone Gorze’s previous meet record of 13:56 by 18 seconds! Simmon’s new personal best places him number four on the High School All-Time 5k list (indoors and out) and I’d love to see Simmons take a shot at Lex Young’s record (13:34) this outdoor season. 

Stepping down a mile in distance, in the boy's 2-mile championship, Foot Locker Champion Drew Griffth shattered Edward Cheserk’s 2-mile record, running a time of 8 minutes and 34 seconds. I can’t help but wonder what would happen if we saw a Drew Griffth vs Danny Simmons head-to-head matchup this weekend, over either distance. With any luck, we’ll be able to witness a race between the two at the Arcadia Invitational this spring or perhaps at New Balance Nationals in the summer.

The final record of the meet was by Clay Shively in the boy's mile. He broke Jackson Heidesch’s record by running 4:00.4. Out of all the records broken on the guy’s side, this is the performance that I’m the least surprised by. After seeing Shivley run 4:00.7 back in February I can’t say I’m shocked by the time and after Jojo Jourdon announced he would not be competing in Boston, I’m even less shocked by Shively’s victory. 

Keeping with the high school theme, let's move a couple of hours south to New York, the site of the Nike Indoor Nationals

How could Elizabeth Leachman fare in the NCAA?

At Nike Indoor Nationals Elizabeth Leachman pulled off the most impressive performance of any athlete in any championship this weekend (at least in my opinion.) On Friday, we saw Leachman run a meet record (an Armory HS record) of 9:44 for two miles. Then on Saturday, we saw Leachman take down Katelyn Touhy’s 5k record, by running 15:28! Yes, you read that right, 15:28!

We all know 15:28 is crazy fast, but here’s some context for just how fast 15:28 is. This indoor season we only saw 11 athletes run faster…. At the NCAA level. That’s right Elizabeth Leachman, a sophomore in high school, would have qualified for the NCAA Indoor championships. I have no clue what Elizabeth Leachman can continue to pull off as the outdoor season dawns upon us but I can’t wait to see what she has in store for us.

Some kudos for Luke Houser

Seriously, I’m shocked by the lack of press this is getting. Not every day, you get a back-to-back champion in the NCAA. Typically when you get an NCAA champion they end up having a pretty good career, both at the collegiate and professional levels. The last back-to-back championship in a mile happens to be a guy named Josh Kerr (who I’m sure we’re all familiar with). 

Through the first half of the race, nobody seemed willing to take the pace and they ultimately came through 800 in a pedestrian two minutes and eight seconds. Houser then shot to the lead and slowly ticked down the pace until the last lap where he kicked for home a final 200 of 26.8 seconds. Something else I found rather interesting is how Houser ran this relatively “alone” in his mile victory last year Houser had 2 teammates around him, allowing them to make bolder tactical moves and get better positions. This time it was only Houser and Joe Waskom in the 1500, and Waskom didn’t seem as “engaged” as he typically is, and fell to 8th place. 

To close out this section, massive props to Houser, that was a wonderfully executed race and he deserves more credit than what he’s getting.

Nico Young VS. The World 

I’ll admit it. Before this season I was one of the many people who didn’t think Nico Young would win an individual championship during his time in the NCAA, but then in December he showcased his newly developed kick against a strong 3k field in Boston, in January he showed he was in the best shape of his life by running a 3:57 mile at 7000 feet, followed by obliterating the NCAA 5k record and becoming the first collegiate runner under the 13-minute barrier. Still, even then there was a sizable part of me that didn’t consider him the favorite over the rest of the field. 

Welp, Nico Young, this serves as my formal apology to you, I was wrong and you were right. Young dominated both the 3k and the 5k at the NCAA indoor championships using his recently developed speed to put both races away within the last half-mile. The stat that I found the most jaw-dropping from all of Nico’s races was how he closed his 1600 of his 3k in 4:00! This kid is simply on another level right now!

Young is not slowing down at all, he’s entered Sound Running’s The TEN this Saturday, and with such a loaded field (including fellow collegiate star Habatom Samuel) it’s not crazy to suggest that Sam Chelanga’s collegiate record of 27:08 or perhaps even the Olympic standard of 27:00 is a possibility for Young…..

That’s all I got for y’all folks, thanks for reading!