Long Distance
“Legs, arms, shoulders, jawbone, ears, chest, fingers… all battling the strained numb pain of lactic acid, all striving for that normality of motion that would preserve – should heaven and hell fall into each other in a cosmic swirl – the integrity of the stride. Let others flail; the runner runs truly to the end.”
Men’s 5,000m
Jim Spisak (Duquesne) leads the field in the 5,000m with his Indoor time 13:43.24 but has not run one yet this Outdoor season. Spisak had an incredible Indoor season, noted by breaking multiple school records and qualifying for USATF Indoor Championships and placing 8th in the 3k. The fastest 5k run this season belongs to Aaron Leskow (Saint Joseph’s) who currently is seeded 2nd with his time of 14:09.44. Freshman Rico Galassi is seeded 3rd with a time of 14:15.29. Last year’s 5,000m winner is seeded 4th with a time of 14:20.91 and should not be counted out, Alfredo Santana (La Salle). Santana won both the 3k and 5k and the most recent Atlantic 10 Indoor Championship. Both he and Spisak are doubling back from the 10k and will need to recover well from that if they want to medal.
Women’s 5,000m
The current leader Meghan McGlinchy (La Salle) looks to retain her Indoor 5,000m title this weekend as she leads the field by almost 30 seconds with a time of 15:53.74. This is an Indoor time which she ran solo back in January. She took that time all the way to NCAA Nationals where she finished with a 2nd Team All American finish of 15th place. Her best this season is 16:07.32. Also vying for medals are the 2nd seed Margo Richardson (Saint Louis) with an entering time of 16:20.27 and Bethany Sachtleben (George Mason) with a time of 16:23.76. McGlinchy and Richardson went 2-3 at last years Outdoor Championship. McGlinchy ran away from the field at the gun this Indoor season to win the gold at A10’s. However, this time around she will be attempting a more aggressive 5,000m and 10,000m double. Its seems unlikely that she will try to sprint away from the field this time after fighting through a 10,000m the day before, but who knows. She typically runs her best on her own and without another runner in sight. It will be interesting to see how she does with her 10,000m race in her legs and competing in a more compact field.
Men’s 10,000m
The heavy favorite in this event is Jim Spisak (Duquesne) who has run 29:02.09 so far this season. Spisak red-shirted last Outdoor season and Duquesne does not have an Indoor team that competes at conference, so this is his first Atlantic 10 Champs race in a year. Spisak is followed in seeds by two seniors from La Salle: Alfredo Santana in 29:50.67 and Demetri Goutos in 29:54. Santana was the winner at this distance last year in 29:58.69. Goutos is a 5th year grad student who transferred from Yale and is running well under Coach Ireland at La Salle. Duquesne and La Salle own the top 5 seeds in this event (Chuck Lockwood of Duquesne in 4th and Nico Greco of La Salle in 5th.) Greco was the most recent Atlantic 10 Cross Country Champion.
Women’s 10,000m
Meghan McGlinchey (La Salle) owns a sizeable lead over the next entry time with her time of 33:15.95. Bethany Sachtleben (George Mason) trails McGlinchey in seeding for the second race of the weeked with a time of 34:31.99. The third seed belongs to Jessica Hoefert (Saint Louis), a Milliken University transfer who has found success switching from soccer to track while at Saint Louis. She took the silver medal in the 5,000m at the most recent A10 Champs. McGlinchey and Sachtleben may be racing conservatively with the 5,000m in mind the next day, while Hoefert is solely racing the 10,000m and can be a little more liberal with a quick pace early.
Lane 2 