"He was flying," said Columbus IN North coach Rick
Weinheimer after his star runner, Christian Wagner, streaked to
the Conference Indiana championship (10/9) in 14:35 5k. The Johnson
County Horse Park course was admittedly flat and fast, but there
was no diminishing Wagner's performance. His 1k splits were a symmetrical
2:53, 2:54, 3:00, 2:54, 2:53, and it was the fastest 5k in the country
this season by a bunch.
Until last spring, Wagner labored in the shadow of Indianapolis
star Nef Araia, who is now running at Stanford. Although both made
it to the 2002 Foot Locker finals in San Diego, Araia finished a
strong fourth and Wagner was 27th. Wagner changed all that last
June with his same day double in the Indiana State Meet in the 1600
and 3200, beating Araia both times. Wagner confirmed those wins
on a national stage a week later by winning the 2 mile at AOC Raleigh
in 8:53.91, with Araia again second.
After trouncing a strong Midwestern states field in the Midwest
Meet of Champions at Hilliard OH September 6, Wagner compared himself
to last year.
"My condition is better. I dumped in quite a few more miles
in the summer than last year. My training's going good right now.
I ran 20 seconds faster in my first meet on the same course as last
year."
He is training toward Foot Locker. "If I stay healthy, I'll
get out there again and maybe perform a little better this year."
Wagner's past performances:
2003 cross country
14:35 5k 1 @ Conf Indiana IN 10/9/2003 74, flat
15:10 5k 1 @ Seymour dual IN 9/11/2003 80, sunny, flat
15:14 5k 1 @ Midwest MOC OH 9/6/2003 soft grass, mud
2003 outdoor
B-2Mile 8:53.91 6/14/2003, AOC Raleigh NC, # 1
B-2Mile 8:59.12 c 6/6/2003, Boys State Meet IN, # 1
B-Mile 4:08.61 c 6/6/2003, Boys State Meet IN, # 1
B-2Mile 8:59.6 c 5/15/2003, Franklin dual IN, # 1
B-2Mile 9:05.11 c 5/2/2003, Conference Indiana IN, # 1
B-Mile 4:16.56 c 5/2/2003, Conference Indiana IN, # 1
2002 cross country
15:48 5k 27 @ FootLocker nationals CA 12/14/2002
15:41 5k 5 @ FootLocker MW seeded WI 11/30/2002
15:20 5k 2 @ State Meet IN 11/2/2002
15:15 5k 2 @ Semi State IN 10/26/2002
15:43 5k 1 @ Conf Indiana IN 10/12/2002
15:01 5k 1 @ Manchester Inv IN 10/5/2002
15:18 5k 3 @ Midwest MOC OH 9/7/2002
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The defending Florida 4A cross country and 1600 meter champion,
Jennie Barringer is looking ready to step up to the national stage.
Barringer lost a thriller at Great American (9/27) by the narrowest
of margins. Running in the Seeded Invitational along with a big
group of unattached individual stars, Barringer seized the lead
midway and stayed there until Katelyn Kaltenbach launched a furious
kick in the last 200 meters. The two raced side by side around the
stadium grass, and it took the Finish Lynx cameras to judge the
winner -- Kaltenbach by 0.4 second.
A week later, Barringer showed that race was no fluke when she
won the flrunners.com Invitational at Ed Radice Park in Tampa in
17:24. It was not only the fastest 5k in the country this year,
but it was a startling 62 seconds faster than Barringer ran the
same course last year in the Florida State Meet.
Barringer has a long, muscular stride which should be seen among
the leaders in Charlotte November 29 at the Foot Locker South regional.
She was 12th there last year and is determined to move up to the
top eight for a trip to San Diego.
Barringer's past performances:
2003 cross country
17:24 5k 1 @ flrunners ROC FL 10/4/2003 Ed Radice Pk
18:06 5k 2 @ Great Am Seeded Inv NC 9/27/2003 hills, 70
17:54 5k 1 @ Edgewater Inv FL 9/13/2003 Cypress Grove Pk
2003 outdoor
G-2Mile 10:50.37 6/14/2003, AOC Raleigh NC, # 9
G-2Mile 11:02.83 c 5/17/2003, 4A State Meet FL, # 2
G-Mile 5:02.08 c 5/17/2003, 4A State Meet FL, # 1
G-Mile 4:59.38 3/29/2003, Florida Relays Inv FL, # 1
2002 cross country
18:17 5k 12 @ FootLocker SO seeded NC 11/30/2002
18:26 5k 1 @ State 4A FL 11/23/2002
18:47 5k 1 @ Region 4A FL 11/16/2002
18:21 5k 1 @ District FL 11/9/2002
17:59 5k 1 @ Seminole Conf FL 11/2/2002
18:18 5k 1 @ Pre-State FL 10/19/2002
Barringer at Golden South, May 2003
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