5000 meters

Ritz 13:44.70 ! Dathan Ritzenhein faster than Pre, faster than Virgin -- agonizingly 0.70 off Lindgren's all-time record. Photo by Erik Palmer/Trackwire.com

Photos by Victah Sailor

 

Although well off the pace, Ritz's effort to break Lindgren's record caught the crowd's attention almost as much as the winning effort by Bob Kennedy. With 2 laps to go he needed to finish in 2:08 and he just missed; Ritz still got a "victory" lap to a big ovation. Colorado coach Mark Wetmore, who will become Ritz's coach this fall, told RunnersWorld Online: "He ran a great race. Tonight I saw a kid who's been training and racing for 9 months, and has run probably more than 100 races, and he has this kind of race while running most of it in the second lane. He's a hell of a talent."

Dathan ran his own race and hung back in close to last for 3 laps. Gradually moved up and picked them off. Very smart racing. A tribute to his successful transition to racing with the BIG BOYS.

Photos by Cheryl Treworgy, prettysporty.com

 

A report from Eugene by Dan Cruz, a California HS coach:

Sorry to post so late but I needed to get something to eat after such a long day. A wonderful race by the young man, who I must add was so charming and affable when I did get a chance to interview with him. I will be sending photo's and a write-up tomorrow.

The youngster got out with a good start from the #2 alley, settling in with what I found out later to be many Colorado guys. He said, "I felt very comfortable in the race because I was running with many guys I am familiar with, I plan to head to Colorado on July 1st and continue my training with them this summer after I take some time off".

He opened in 66.9 and continued to run pretty even splits throughout the race. He was running wide through the first 800 and even making passes later in the race on the turn. When asked about runnning wide he stated, "I knew I was running wide and needed to get inside, it was tough trying to pass those guys." "It was great to be in there".

Ritz passed the 800 in 2:13.6, 3/4 in 3:19.5, the mile in 4:25.1, 1 1/4 in 5:32.0, 1 1/2 in 6:38.5, 1 3/4 in 7:44.1, Two miles in 8:50.8. From this point he started to actually look charged up and he awaken with a very solid last mile. "I heard the section on the of backstretch really making noise and it woke me up", referring to the Aggie Running Club section Q on the backstretch. "Oh yeah, those guys on the backstretch really helped me".

He ran a 66.5 for 9:57.3, 66.2 for 11:03.5, 65.1 for 12:08.6, and then a 64.1 passing 12 laps in 13:12.7, closing in approximately 32.0 (adjust for fully automatic), to run 13:44.70, just missing Gerry Lindgren's national HS mark. "With a lap to go I saw I needed a 63 or 64 so I went for it" (Ritz).

When asked how he felt about missing the record Ritz responded, "I did awesome, yeah you can't be disappointed I'm just happy with it". "There's everything, your best friends, you just have to be satisfied with yourself".

Spoken like a real champion! I must say he is so warm and personable, an incredible young man.

DC

 

Results from USATF

 Event 7 Men's 5,000 Meter Run



W         World: 12:39.36 Haile Gebrselassie, ETH             1998

A      American: 12:58.21 Bob Kennedy                         1996

M   USA Outdoor: 13:16.42 Doug Padilla, Ath. West             1985

H Hayward Field: 13:07.83 Luke Kipkosgei, Kenya               1998

 -     HS Record: 13:44.0h Gerry Lindgren, Rogers, Spokane, WA 1964



Results - Finals - Friday 06/22/01

Compiled By Time



RANK COMP# ATHLETE NAME              TEAM                             TIME  PTS

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 1   485 Bob Kennedy               Nike                      -  13:28.72

 2   247 Alan Culpepper            adidas                    -  13:29.66

 3   348 Adam Goucher              Team Fila                 -  13:30.36

 4   504 Matthew Lane              Unattached                -  13:32.91

 5   671 Nick Rogers               Nike                      -  13:35.68

 6   660 Jonathon Riley            Stanford                  -  13:40.13

 7   713 Peter Sherry              New York AC               -  13:40.78

 8   808 Andre Williams            Unattached                -  13:41.17

 9   129 Brian Baker               Team New Balance          -  13:41.69

10   457 Chad Johnson              Hansons RS                -  13:41.98

11   662 Dathan Ritzenhein         Unattached                   13:44.70

12   760 Matt Tegenkamp            Unattached                   13:49.64

13   667 Grant Robison             Stanford                     13:52.24

14   750 Nolan Swanson             Nike                         13:53.34

15   399 Brent Hauser              Nike                         13:53.95

16   773 Jorge Torres              Colorado                     13:58.24

17   644 Phil Price                Nike                         13:58.57

18   404 Seth Hejny                Stanford                     14:03.59

19   787 Clint Verran              Hansons RS                   14:24.06

20   430 Jason Hubbard             Adams State                  14:31.97

21   141 David Bazzi               Washington                   14:33.83

 -   130 Kyle Baker                Indiana Invaders                  DNF

 -   246 David Cullum              Nike Farm Team                    DNF

 -   123 Bolota Asmerom            Nike                              DNF

 -   398 Brad Hauser               Nike                              DNF

 -   286 Matthew Downin            Nike                              DNS

 -   102 Abdi Abdirahman           Nike                              DNS

 -   349 Chris Graff               New York AC                       DNS

 -   481 Mebrahtom Keflezighi      Nike                              DNS