Matt Llano Earns All-America Honors in the 10K

Spider Junior Places 9th (4th among USA Runners) in the NCAA Championship...

Matt Llano finished ninth Thursday night in the 10,000m

at the NCAA Championship. (Photo by Dan Petty)

The skies opened and the rain and cool weather set in before the NCAA Men’s 10K Championship Final earlier this evening. By the time the 24 runners in the race moved to the start line it was cool, cloudy and a strong breeze blowing down the track.

The race started slowly with Matt tucked into 15th position as he covered the opening lap in 73 seconds and followed it with a 76.4 as he crossed the 800M point in 2:29.4!! A slow start for the 24 athletes for sure.

From there the pace quickened as Matt held his position through the 1600M (1 Mile) in 4:46.4…That would be his slowest mile of the 10K (6.2 miles) race as he moved up to a top 10 position with a tightly packed group. He covered the 2nd mile in 4:38 to pass the 3200M (2 mile) point in 9:24.9…
It was a physical race with a lot of pushing and shoving throughout. Matt passed the 5K or halfway point in 14:46.0 and maintained good position. By 4 miles the pack was down to about 15 runners with Sam Chelanga separated from the field in the lead. Matt hit 4 miles in 18:48.6 making that mile a 4:38.1. He moved up to the top 10 and at times as far up as 6th place as the athletes jostled for position as the packed covered the 5th mile with another 4:38.4 to pass 5 miles in 23:27.0.
His 6th mile was another 4:38.4 exactly as he sat in 9th place beginning his kick passing the 6 mile point in 28:05.4. In the last lap he raced stride for stride with Ben Cheruiyot (Kenya/Auburn) as they closed the gap on 7th place runner Alfred Kipchumba (Kenya/Portland). Coming down the stretch he couldn’t get around the two finishing in 9th with a time of 29:10.27 only 1.1 seconds out of 7th place. Llano ran his last 400M in 64.0 which secured NCAA DI All-America honors for the Spider junior.

“I felt great and had the goal of being All-America”, said Llano. “Of course I would like to have run a second faster and placed 7th but I achieved my goal and will be back next year...The race was physical and people were shoving a lot. I guess that's pretty normal at this level.”

“It’s been a great season for Matt”, said Coach Taylor. “I couldn’t be happier for him. No one knows how hard he has worked to get to this point in his career. He is the epitome of the student-athlete. He makes all the sacrifices required with his training, sleep patterns, diet and mental preparation to be ready for the effort it takes to achieve greatness in this sport, especially at this level. The countless miles are expected and something everyone out there does. If you really want to be good…If you really want to achieve greatness and All-America honors, you must be ready to sacrifice and make this sport a way of life, not just something you do for a few hours a day. Matt has done that. Running is a way of life for him. He deserves and has earned every achievement to his credit. With the sacrifices and investments he has made the result here tonight is a fitting end to his season. Go Spiders!”

Llano's NCAA Championship Splits

73.0
76.4 (2:29.4)
68.0 (3:37.5)
68.9 (4:46.4)-1 mile
69.6 (5:56.0)
69.9 (7:09.9)
67.9 (8:13.8)
71.1 (9:24.9)-2 miles (4:38.5)
70.3 (10:35.3)
71.2 (11:46.5)
71.8 (12:58.0)
72.4 (14:10.5)-3 miles (4:45.6)
35.6 (14:46.0)-5K
71.4 (15:21.9)
67.7 (16:29.6)
69.3 (17:39.1)
69.5 (18:48.6)- 4 miles (4:38.1)
69.6 (19:58.3)
70.1 (21:08.5)
69.2 (22:17.7)
69.2 (23:27.0)-5 miles (4:38.4)
68.2 (24:35.3)
70.9 (25:46.3)
70.0 (26:56.3)
69.1 (28:05.4)- 6 miles (4:38.4)
64.8 (29:10.27)- 10K—9th over-all (4th USA born runner)
14:24.2 for his 2nd half (5K)

Bob and Sue Llano, Matt's parents won a trivia contest at the track

and got their own button. Nice Spider!!

Matt in front of the NCAA Championships sign.

...a close up of Matt and a Championship sign.

Matt is all smiles after earning All-America honors.

Matt with his parents, Bob and Sue Llano, after the race.

Matt with the Man, Dan Petty...

His former teammate and roommate now works for the Denver Post

and made the trip with his photography equipment.

Me and Llano...

Ha Ha...Matt and I walked by Prince Puckler's Ice Cream place

earlier in the week...After his race we marched the two blocks

from the track and had some very good ice cream.

At least it tasted extra sweet for me after Matt earned All-America honors.

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Llano Ninth At NCAA Championship In 10,000m, Earns All-America Honors

It marks the best finish by a Richmond men's runner at the NCAA Championship since 1984.

By Mike DeGeorge

University of Richmond SID

June 10, 2010

EUGENE, Ore. - Redshirt junior Matt Llano placed ninth overall in the 10,000m Thursday night at the 2010 NCAA National Track & Field Championship, hosted by the University of Oregon in Eugene, Ore. The finish secured All-America status for Llano.

The Arnold, Md. native and Atlantic 10 Champion in the 10,000m was clocked in a time of 29:10.27, which was good for the ninth in the event that featured 24 of the nation's elite collegiate distance runners. Llano had brought the 14th-fastest time to Eugene. He was less than a second shy of a top-eight showing.

Liberty's Sam Chelanga (Kenya), who set the NCAA Record earlier this season, won the NCAA Championship by cruising to the finish in a time 28:37.40.

Llano's appearance at the NCAA National Championship meet was the first by a Richmond men's runner since 1985, the first by a Spider men's distance runner since 1980 and marked the program's best finish (men & women) at the NCAA Championship since Edwin Koech was sixth in the 800m in 1984.

Stay tuned for quotes and photos to follow Friday.

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NCAA Division I 2010 Outdoor
Track & Field Championships
Eugene, Or - 6/9/2010 to 6/12/2010

Event 8 Men 10000 Meter Run
=======================================================================
Final only. Random draw. Double waterfall. 2/3 on main
American: A 26:59.60 5/1/2010 Chris Solinsky, Nike
College Best: C 27:08.49 5/1/2010 Sam Chelanga, Liberty
NCAA Meet: M 28:01.30 6/1/1979 Suleiman Nyambui, Texas-El Paso
Hayward: S 26:25.97 2008 Kenenisa Bekele, Ethiopia
Name Year School Finals Points
=======================================================================
Finals
1 Sam Chelanga JR Liberty 28:37.40 10
2 John Kosgei SR Oklahoma State 28:55.93 8
3 Jake Riley JR Stanford 28:57.41 6
4 Mohammed Ahmed FR Wisconsin 28:57.44 5
5 Kiel Uhl SR Iowa State 28:58.55 4
6 Joe Bosshard FR Colorado 28:59.87 3
7 Ben Cheruiyot SO Auburn 29:09.09 2
8 Alfred Kipchumba SO Portland 29:09.63 1
9 Matt Llano JR Richmond 29:10.27
10 John Beattie SR Tulsa 29:16.48
11 Samuel Kosgei SR Lamar 29:19.90
12 Tyler McCandless SR Penn State 29:22.67
13 Michael Krisch SR Georgetown 29:22.85
14 Luke Puskedra SO Oregon 29:27.37
15 Ahmed Osman SO Northern Arizona 29:29.62
16 Elkanah Kibet SR Auburn 29:30.46
17 Kevin Schwab FR Oklahoma 29:35.07
18 Josh Izewski SO Florida 29:37.85
19 Ryan Collins JR Virginia 29:48.76
20 Dan Jackson JR Notre Dame 29:54.87
21 Duriel Hardy SR Brown 30:04.19
22 Lex Williams SR Michigan 30:04.26
23 Patrick Cheptoek SR Western Kentucky 30:04.32
-- Chris Barnicle SR New Mexico DNF