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Camel City Recap 2014Published by
There is no other way to put it, but the 2nd Annual Camel City Elite races were a resounding success. The races set new facility records in 5 of the 6 races, new college facility records in 5 of the 6 races, and saw 6 athletes obtain top 10 NCAA qualifiers at the time they occurred. Below is a recap of each of the events.
Women's 3,000m The women's 3k was the first of the Camel City Elite races. Prior to the introductions, the lights over the bleachers, warm-up track and some of the infield lights were dimmed.
As they lined up on the starting line, you can see that Brooks was well-represented with 4 members of the Brooks Beast Track Club. From the gun, Jessica Tebo of Brooks Beast TC led the way, running 70 second quarters as the Brooks folks tried to hit the 9:02 IAAF World Indoor qualifying standard. As the race progressed, Deb Maier closed the gap and eventually won the race by nearly 2 seconds, as she lunged toward the finish line.
Maier won in 9:02.79, just missing the qualifying standard by less than a second. Jessica Tebo was second in 9:04.52, with Addie Bracy, a North Carolina grad, finishing 3rd in 9:13.56. Annie LeHardy of North Carolina had a huge PR to finish 4th in 9:16.56, which converted to 9:11.83 for NCAA qualifying purposes. That put her #8 in the country at the time of the race. Juliet Bottorff ran 9:18.88, which put her #10 in the country with an indexed time of 9:14.13. Hopefully those times will be good enough to get both of those ladies into NCAA Indoor nationals.
Men's 3,000m In the men's 3k, Auburn University's Coach Mark Carroll sent two of his top athletes (Ty McCormack and Niklas Buhner) to Winston-Salem to try to achieve a qualifying mark using the flat track indexing conversion.
The race was perfectly paced by Rob Finnerty of Furman Elite who took the race out in about 4:15 for the first 1600m. The pack was already pretty well strung out at that point, with Craig Forys (Furman Elite/NYAC), Ty McCormack (Auburn) and Bobby Mack (Reebok) close behind the pacer.
When Finnerty stepped off the track, McCormack of Auburn went to the front and started pushing the pace. He and Forys opened up a slight gap on Mack at one point. McCormack started to fade a little at the end, as Forys went by for the win. A hard charging Mack went by McCormack for second, but couldn't catch Forys.
Forys took the win in 7:58.07, with Mack finishing just under 8:00 in 7:59.98. McCormack held onto third place in 8:01.60. That time puts him #6 on the TFRRS list at the time of the race, with a converted 7:56.07. Ryan Walling of North Carolina finished in fourth in 8:06.79 (#17, 8:01.20). Felix Duchampt of Queens University in Charlotte finished in 5th place in 8:11.26, which is currently the NCAA Division II leader.
Women's Mile Coming into the women's race, the two favorites were probably Brie Felnagle and Charlotte Browning. Felnagle has an impressive running resume, and also was considered a hometown favorite based on her time as North Carolina Tarheel. Browning's status was bolstered by the fact that she ran 4:33 for the indoor mile just the week before. However, the race really was anyone's game, particularly with Felnagle as a late scratch due to illness.
The race was contested by only 5 women, plus Heidi Gregson (Furman Elite) taking on the pacesetting duties. Gregson was tasked with taking the pace out in 2:14 for the first 800m, and she did her job perfectly. However, none of the contestants elected to go with her.After Gregson stepped off the track, Stephanie Garcia and Nicole Bush, both running for Furman Elite and New Balance, attacked the race, with Sara Vaughn of Brooks ID program close behind.
With 400 meters left, it seemed to be anyone's race, but Vaughn quickly took command of the race and won going away. Vaughn crossed the line in 4:35.07 to set a new facility record. Bush and Garcia went 2-3 in 4:38.18 and 4:38.60, respectively.
Men's Mile This race was probably the most wide open of any of the fields, with four elites with comparable PRs. Miles Batty of Asics was a late scratch due to illness, further intensifying speculation on who would win the race.
The top elites in the field included Duncan Phillips (unattached), Riley Masters (Brooks Beast), Michael Hammond (Furman Elite) and local favorite Matthew Elliott (Brooks).
The race followed a similar script as last year. Michael Hammond of Furman Elite, taking the role of Cory Leslie, tucked in behind the rabbit (Donnie Cowart) and gapped the field as they passed the 800 in around 1:58. However, when Cowart stepped off the track about 1050m into the race, Hammond was a bit in no man's land. He was quickly swallowed up by the field.
With 200m to go, Riley Masters had the lead, with Phillips and Elliott close behind. There was a great race down the backstretch, as Isaac Presson also started to make a move.
At the finish, though, it was all Duncan Phillips, as he closed quickly to win the race in 4:00.94. He picked up $1500 for the win, but was unable to secure the $500 bonus for breaking 4:00. Matt Elliott overtook Masters for second, 4:01.50 to 4:01.77. Isaac Presson closed well to run 4:02.28, which converts to 3:59.23 for NCAA qualifying purposes. At the time of the race, that had him #4 on the NCAA list. Presson will now play the waiting game to see if that gets him into the NCAA meet. Dylan Lafond of Mount Olive ran in relative obscurity in the race and finished in 4:05.53 to get an automatic qualifier for the NCAA Division II indoor nationals that will also be held at JDL Fast Track in March.
Women's 800m Before the races, some said this might be one of the marquee matchups, with two sub 2:00 PRs in the field by Phoebe Wright (Nike) and Maggie Vessey (unattached), as well as Heather Kampf (Asics/Team USA Minnesota) coming off an impressive 4:30 mile the week before.
The race went out quick, with the rabbit taking them out in just under 60 seconds for the first 400.
With 200m to go, Kampf and Wright had gapped the field and would duel the entire way around the track. Wright would later say that she mis-timed her kick, as the straightaway was shorter than she thought.
The timers had to look at the photo just a little longer than normal, as Kampf barely held off Wright - 2:04.28 to 2:04.29!
Meanwhile, the race for third was shaping up behind them, as Lauren Wallace of Oiselle finished in third in 2:06.99. Elizabeth Whelan of North Carolina became the third Tarheel on the day to get a top 10 NCAA mark when her 2:07.03 converted down to 2:05.59, good for a tie for #6 on the TFRRS NCAA qualifying list.
Men's 800m The final Camel City Elite race featured the headliner, 2x Olympian and World Champs Silver Medalist Nick Symmonds.
This race would be Nick's first race in a Brooks Beast uniform, as he would also be racing with two of his teammates, Cas Loxsom and Mark "Wizzo" Wieczorek. Watch out for the guy on the far right, Middle Tennessee State's sophomore, Eliud Rutto.
Just after 400m, which the rabbit Logan Roberts executed perfectly in 53 seconds, Cas Loxsom was in second with Symmonds, Wizzo and Rutto giving close chase. Loxsom would fade towards the end, giving up the lead to Symmonds, who was chased to the line by Rutto.
At the finish, Symmonds gave a fist pump as he was pleased with his first race of the season. Symmonds won in 1:48.64, Wizzo got third in 1:49.66 and Loxsom was fourth in 1:50.14. The biggest surprise of the day, though, was probably Eliud Rutto finishing second in 1:48.98. That time converts down to 1:47.45 for NCAA qualifying purposes and was the NCAA #1 TIME IN THE COUNTRY at the time of this race!
Post-Race Party That evening, the Camel City Crowd Fund Platinum Sponsors got a chance to have dinner with all the elites.
The owner of JDL Fast Track and host of the party, David Shannon, poses with Piper Chamel, Maggie Vessey and Nick Symmonds.
Elites Heather Kampf, Jamie Cheever, Sara Vaughn and Phoebe Wright enjoy dinner.
Brooks Beasts TC members Riley Masters, Deb Maier, Angela Bizzarri and Jessica Tebo take a moment to pose for the photographer.
And finally, Camel City Mile winner Duncan Phillips consider whether he will return next year. He answered an emphatic "YES!"
Check back with us in the fall for the 2015 version of the Camel City Elite races and all the additional improvements we will be making. Thanks again to all of our sponsors, Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze supporters. See you next year! |
