Foot Locker West
Qualifying is the name of the game -
a comment on Shalane Flanagan's disaster at New York
by Ed Grant
(Editor's Note: Ed Grant, based in New Jersey, is
the guru of Eastern high school track writers. At Van Cortlandt Park last
Saturday, he and the rest of us saw Shalane Flanagan, the fine Massachusetts
runner, set a killer pace. When we ran back from the mile mark to
the finish line, everyone was saying no one would catch Flanagan. But she
never made it to the finish line. Coming out of the VCP woods in
first place, she suddenly stopped and dropped out of the race a quarter mile
from the finish line. The killer pace killed off the pace setter. I
put this article in the West Regional section because it may be relevant to
tomorrow's race at Mt. SAC, which also has a relatively flat first mile, hills
in the middle, and a flat finish. John Dye)
Netters:
The
following is not directed at any one runner or coach, just a general
comment:
The
recent catastrophe suffered by Shalene Flanagan at the Northeast Footlocker
trials should never have happened. But it is not the first time it has at VCP
and surely at other trials around the country.
It
seems that some runners and their coaches forget that the point of the trials
is to qualify for the finals, not to set personal bests or even to win the
race. The most important place is 8th, not 1st, and race tactics should center
on this.
There can be cases, of course, where the runner's lack of a kick may dictate
taking the pace and trying to get a safe lead before the final charge begins.
But even then, it is not necessary to take the lead at the start and set an
unrealistic pace that will take its toll later.
By
the time these races are run each season, most of the contenders should have a
fair idea of their capabilities and be able to adjust their pace no matter
what the leaders may be doing.
The
size of the field and the nature of the course will, of course, have its
effect. The girls' race at Van Cortlandt was not a large one---only 135
finished and with clear running for the first near-mile, there was little need
to worry about being crowded out when the field went into the hills. The boys'
race was another story with almost 300 starters--far too many---and the fast
pace there for the first 880 (2:12) was somewhat justified; it slowed down
considerably after that and there were no significant casualties in the
results.
It
is a shame that possibly (some would say probably) the best girl runner in the
national will not be at Orlando, not to mention a finalist from last year.
Ed Grant
