Mt SAC (Day #3)-W's 5K and Princeton-M's Steeple and W's 5K

Race Day for...
Amy Van Alstine (16:38) at the 52nd Mt. SAC Relays
Garrett Graham (9:16), Jon Molz (9:08) and Erin Lunny (17:45)
at Princeton's Larry Ellis Invite

The Mt SAC Relays are the place to run fast...

Our last competitor in the 52nd annual Mt SAC Relays was Amy Van Alstine. She spent the day relaxing and preparing at the hotel. Lori took her to the track early this morning before her race for a short run. We are staying in Pomona, which is very hilly…No need to run hills the morning of the race. So, they headed over to the track where she loosened up since her race was scheduled for 9:45PM (PST)….That’s 12:45AM East Coast time. We encourage our athletes to change their watch when they arrive in California and lock into this time zone…Otherwise you can drive yourself a bit crazy thinking about how late it is.

Amy Van Alstine (shown in 4th) in Mt SAC's Open 5K
on her way to a personal best 16:38.58

She (shown in 2nd) was tough early...
passing the 1600M in 5:19

...tough in the middle...
passing 3K in 10:02
and 3200M in 10:42.1

...and mean at the end
running her personal best (16:38.54).

Amy was in the Open 5K race with 44 other runners. It was another crowded track race. The event started with 2 unattached athletes taking the lead and the chase pack forming with Amy very near the front (in 4th-5th place). She looked good as she passed the 400M in 78.6…800M in 2:40.3 and 1600M in 5:19.7 an honest pace that looked extremely easy for her…at least from where we were watching. The chase pack reeled in the athlete in the second place and replaced her by placing their focus on the leader.

Amy crossed the 3K in 10:02.1 and the 3200M in 10:42.1. She was clipping off even splits…again looking very easy in the process. With 1K to go Amy with the chase pack caught the leader and then the racing began. Amy closed her final 1K in 3:15 and her last 600M in 1:55 which is sub 5:10 pace. She crossed the 3 mile mark in 16:00.5 and closed in 38.0 to finish in 16:38.58 for 8th place.

Going into this weekend her time would rank her 43rd on DI NCAA DI National Ranking. Her time is a personal best by over 15 seconds. The senior will return next year to complete her eligibility since she has redshirted a cross country and track season while at Richmond.

Amy Van Alstine’s 5K splits at Mt. SAC

78.6/81.6/80.0/79.4= 5:19.7 at 1 mile
80.5/80.3/80.6/80.8= 10:42.1 (5:22.2) at 2 miles (10:02.1 at 3K)
80.0/80.2/80.3/77.7= 16:00.5 (5:18.2) at 3 miles
38.0= 16:38.58 for 5K

Dana Guglielmo, Tim Quinn, Amy Van Alstine

and Levi Grandt after Amy's 5K race.
_______________________________________________________
Princeton’s Larry Ellis Invitational (Princeton, NJ)

Spider Assistant Coach, Jon Molz

shown here at the 2009 Bronx 1/2 Marathon,

opened his track season

with a 9:08 3K Steeple in Princeton

The first race for the Spiders at the Larry Ellis Invitational at Princeton University was the men’s 3K steeplechase which included Spider Assistant Coach, Jon Molz and one of our team captains, Garrett Graham. Another deep field was assembled for this race. It was a close, competitive battle throughout with Molz finishing 7th in 9:08.08 and Graham finishing 12th in a personal best 9:16.34 out of the 45 runners in the event.

Garret Graham (above) shadowed Molz

for much of the 3K steeplechase

to set a personal best 9:16.34

"I felt really good and stayed relaxed early in the race”, said Graham. “It was sooo crowded throughout the race that I had to step on a couple of the barriers. I also hit every water barrier with my non-dominate leg. It was a competitive race."

For Molz this was his first track race in several months. “I plan to race the steeple next week at the Penn Relays” said Molz. “I wasn’t sure I would compete here until a couple of days ago but I felt good tonight.”

Erin Lunny tied her personal best in the 5K

at Princeton running 17:45.25

The night concluded for us at the Larry Ellis Invitational at Princeton University with Erin Lunny in the Invitational 5K. She ran a good personal best two weeks ago at the Colonial Relays and wanted to return home to improve upon that mark of 17:45.11.

With good conditions in Princeton the race went with Erin covering the opening 1600M in 5:29, followed by a 5:41 as she passed 3K in 10:27 and the 3200M in 11:10. From there she wasn’t able to hold on. "I felt great through 3K”, said Lunny. “My first mile was 5:28 and I felt good...That's the fastest I've ever gone out...I lost contact after 3K and was running alone. I just needed to stay with those girls."

Lunny’s 5K splits at the Larry Ellis Invitational at Princeton:

80/82/83/83= 5:29 at 1 mile
84/84/84/87= 11:10 (5:41) at 2 miles
90/89/90/86= 17:05 (5:55) at 3 miles
38.5= 17:45.25 for 5K

Lori Taylor quote: “That was a personal best 2 weeks ago and she matched it again tonight off a faster pace. I believe Erin is ready for another break through. Her training has progressed and she is gaining confidence.”

Tomorrow is another big day with our team competing at the VCU Invitational in Richmond and standout distance runners, Julie Rechel competes in Lubbock, TX at the College National Triathlon Championships...She was third at the National Championships last year...