As I look back on my picks, I realize I have picked an Adams State runner to win every distance event. Until now. Aaron Braun is the best runner in the meet, hands down. But I like Western State's Iain Donnan over 5,000 meters. The junior Mountaineer is focussing exclusively (like teammate Tyler Pennel) on the distance, while Braun will have only 2 1/2 hours' rest. Of course, if anyone can do it, it would be Braun. It's too bad Micheal Crouch (Queens, N.C.) didn't choose this race, which would've been his best chance to win a national title.
- Iain Donnan (Western State)
- Amos Sang (Abilene Christian)
- Aaron Braun (Adams State)
All-Americans: Marko Cheseto (Alaska-Anchorage), Luke Cragg (Adams State), Pennel, Florian Theophile (Adams State)
Remember, the first final is the men's 10,000 meters tomorrow night. At that time, I'll ignore my prognostications and pretend I knew the winner all along!
On this prediction I don't get why you put Sang in at second over both Theophile and Pennel. Both are going to be much more fresh and ready to roll than Sang, having run the 10k the night before, Pennel even has a faster seed time and Theophile is not too far behind. Theophile has shown that he can put the hammer down on his last lap, running around 60 sec quarter in indoor and kicking a bit too early at Mt. Sac and dieing, but if he had timed it right he would have run a very fast time. Pennel has one of the fastest 1500m times of the group and also ran a 1:52 800m, both of these marks, along with his 5k, would show that he is in shape and can mix it up with the best.
ReplyDelete