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April 26-28, 2001 at Franklin Field, Philadelphia PA 107th Penn Relays - Olympic Development 5kWhat they said afterward:
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by John Dye
Here are the comments of Dathan Ritzenhein and Rockford MI coach Prins after Ritz' 13:51.69 5k, second best all time for high school boys.
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Coach Prins
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Dathan Ritzenhein
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"Great race. Outstanding time for a high school kid. Especially coming back from the world cross country championship. He didn't really have the amount of time we would have liked to prepare for this, but I figured if he had a good race he would probably run at 14:00 and if he had an excellent race he's go around 13:50. I didn't think he'd go 13:44 today because it's just too soon. " Ritz was "really exhausted coming back from world cross country championships, not just because of the race but because of the type of conditions, the mud." "We tried to get back into it as soon as we could, but he needed some rest. So he hasn't been trained the length of time I would have liked to see for him to run his best 5k. "I think he will be able to go faster in a couple months. "I'm going to go by how he feels. I don't want to kill a high school kid. "He still has high school records to go for -- the 8:36 (Jim Nelson's high school 2-mile record) -- that's the biggest one. He's making a nice transition now from the 5 miles (world XC), and then the 5k tonight, and now we're down to 2 miles. We'll work a lot on his speed. " Where will you go for the 2-mile record? "Probably if not before, he will definitely run the 2-mile at Raleigh." How about Dayton next week? "He's just a young kid, and it's Friday, and he's only got one week before Dayton. A shot at the record? "That, we're going to leave up to him. He really is good about knowing his body. He may go after it." "To tell you the truth, he was just worn out and we had to back off in preparation for this (Penn). The kid's health is more important than anything right now. If he gets hurt, he won't break any records." |
Did he think he might have a chance to actually win the race? "I never really thought about it until late in the race. I kind of had a thought in mind on the last 3 laps. I looked at the clock every time I came by, and I shouldn't really do that. Slow start hurt his chances for record. "I'm not like some guys who can throw in a 4:05 mile, at least not yet." Missed USATF qualifier, but got a PR --- "Yeah, I'm happy, but I can't believe it was only 0.19 or whatever (from qualifying for USATF nationals). It's like, geez." What's next? "Next week I'll run the 2-mile at the Roosevelt Memorial at Dayton, and then I'll take it easy until my state meet." Feeling OK now or are you a little fatigued from World Cross? "I was really banged up. It was so muddy and everything. For about 3 weeks afterward I felt like crap.But about a week ago I started feeling really good again. |
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