Nationals

[libvaultzero]

Ok so I watched Centrowitz run at SC and I was throughly impressed, I heard he's in contention for a National Title, any thoughts on some Marylanders doing well at Nationals?

[scdistance]

I have no doubt that Centrowitz will do well at nationals, he is a fantastic runner.

[scrunner08]

Yeah, i saw that he ran a 15:01 somewhere.

[CoachSpongeBob]

He cut part of the course - that time is deceiving. I have heard different amounts of how much he cut, but the first two guys cut, and some were upset they didn't get DQ because it was thought 3rd place would have caught 2nd. 3rd finished 13 seconds behind 2nd - so that could be between a 10 to 20 second cut if accurate.

[l2mmcoach]

I was at Lancer and saw the short cut happen, along with a number of coaches and fans. I measured it the next day ( at a youth meet) and they cut 95 meters off. It was on the wooded trail leading out to the upper fields. This year's course had the trail longer than in the past, but Centro and Moen popped out at the opening used in prior years. We yelled for them to come back but they didn't hear. Centro was leading and Moen was right on his heels at that point in the race. Moen seemed to be concentrating so much on hanging with Centro that he would have followed him anywhere. Neither had run the course before and the trail stripes were all washed away. We were worried the chase pack was going to follow them as well, but everyone else ran the proper course.

Could Walsh have caught Moen? Well, the times seem to indicate that he could. But Moen seemed like he was less intense after Centro pulled away from him in the 2nd mile. He may (or may not) have had more in the tank if Walsh had pulled alongside. That was the strongest I've seen Walsh run. So him and Moen can chase Centro again at 4A states.

I see Walter Johnson is scheduled to run at Lion Den, so maybe you can ask Moen about Lancer. Honestly, I don't think he knew he cut the course until someone told him afterwards.

Why no DQ? Unfortunately, no meet official was at the spot. If coaches challenged the results they were over-ruled and I'm guessing no one bothered with an appeal. It was wet and cold so they probably wanted to get back on the bus and move on.

Fast times at Lancer. The competition and cool weather helped, but the course seemed like it was only 3 miles. They cut out the lower baseball field this year and added more in the upper fields.

Good luck at your meet tomorrow.

[scrunner08]

did he cut the course on purpose? Or was it a confusing course? If he did it on purpose he doesn't deserve to go to nationals.

[CoachSpongeBob]

He didn't cut it on purpose, but I still think one should know the course. Especially the elite runnres. We tell that to the kids all the time, know the course.

As far as DQ. Here is a couple problems with not DQ. From what I heard, they at first did DQ him (I don't know this to be true, just what I was told). Who is to know that Moen would have beaten Walsh had he run the course, nobody does, and that's why it should be a mute point. He gained an advantage, and nobody knows for sure how much it would change the actual race. Also, apparently milesplit now has Centrowitz time as the 3rd fastest in the nation - but he didn't run the whole course. That isn't right either.

I'm just pointing these things out. I love watching these guys run, but in my opinion, if the course was cut, I think you have to DQ someone for it, regardless of other factors if he gained an advantage.

Kemptown Park is usually 3 miles. One year I believe it was a 5K (several years ago) only because of some work they were doing in the park they had to run it differently. Other then that, its a 3 mile course, and we always had fast times, except last year in that monsoon.

[nsnyder]

We saw lines during the course walk, and we even passed Centrowitz in that section of the trail during the course walk, and considering the girls race had already run I can't imagine that it was real hard to know where you were supposed to go even with the lines being gone.

Either way you should know the course and they both should have been dqed.

[sizzlinsizzler]

honestly people do you really think centrowitz would want to/ need to cut the course? honest mistakes happen when your leading a race whether you know the course or not. actually having someone relatively close to him may have given him some enjoyment and he simply could have been distracted. as for disqualifying him thats up to whoevers in charge of the meet. trisha repsher went off course 3 times at liberty 2 years ago and was never disqualified. yes she did run the extra distance to go back to where she went off but none the less she went off course. she stil ended up winning and was given credit.

its one thing to think it was an accident and that he didnt mean to do it but to say that matt intentionally went off course is another. honestly why would he need/want to do that? thats what you have to ask yourself.

[CoachSpongeBob]

Actually, Trisha ran off course, but didn't cut off the course - she ran extra. She also didn't win, she ended up in 3rd place with Lindsay Warfield beating her because of the misdirection. that is why she wasn't disqualified - she didn't gain an advantage. Had she cut off part of the course, she would have been disqualified no questions asked. Instead, she ran at least a tenth of a mile extra if not more (Donadio did the same thing as Repshar)

[sizzlinsizzler]

ok bob, i was just trying to prove the point that you dont always mean to go off course. sorry if my results arent as good as yours, i dont have the time you have to waste. way to elaborate on the insignificance of her placing 3rd

[nsnyder]

Regardless of what he meant to do or why he did it, the result should be the same. I'm sure he would have won regardless but he gained an advantage, one he didn't need but still it was an advantage.