BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, December 02 — Still have a little bit of fitness a couple of weeks after winning the NCAA XC title? Why not break the Collegiate Record in the 5000? That’s how Harvard’s Graham Blanks kicked off his indoor season at the Colyear-Danville Opener. The junior from Athens, Georgia, who ran a 13:18.45 here a year ago, blistered the newly resurfaced BU track with his 13:03.78 absolute CR.
The race set-up proved ideal for Blanks. Up front, Christian Noble handled the early pacing, which was set for 13:12. He took the tight pack through 1K in 2:37.51 and 1600 in 4:12.62. Blanks hovered in 7th much of that time, with Stanford’s Ky Robinson, Arkansas’s Patrick Kiprop, Oklahoma State’s Fouad Messaoudi and Denis Kipngetich in the mix as well as Britain’s Sam Atkin.
After Noble stepped off, the second rabbit, AJ Ernst, took the front through 2K (5:17.03) and 3K (7:56.51). The Providence alum stepped off then, having broken his 3K best by nearly 9 seconds. Robinson took over, with Blanks and Kiprop on his heels. The Australian kept the pressure up, hoping to get under the Olympic standard of 13:05. His next kilo took 2:37.68, passing 3200 along the way in 8:27.89.
The contenders now down to 3, Blanks proved the model of patience. With 800 to go, Atkin, an alum of NAIA school Lewis & Clark, jetted into the lead, and Blanks covered the move. Then, with little more than 400 to go, the 21-year-old Blanks took off, kicking a 57.04 final 400 to cap a last kilo of 2:29.03. He bettered the Collegiate Record of 13:06.32, set at the Sound Running Track Meet in ’22 by Abdihamid Nur of Northern Arizona. The old indoor best was the 13:08.28 by Lawi Lalang of Arizona in ’12. Robinson’s mark ended up No. 3 in collegiate history.
Blanks told LetsRun how he timed his kick: “Atkin took the lead and was kind of pushing the pace, so I just sat on it a little bit and then tried to run as fast as I could that last 400… I knew whoever won that was going to have the NCAA record, so that’s why I played it kind of safe.”
As one would expect from an event that resembles a giant all-comers meet with a superfast track and great pacing, other races would have generated headlines if the seeded 5000 hadn’t. Northern Arizona’s Nico Young impressed with his 7:37.73 win in the afternoon 3000, moving to No. 3 all-time among collegians. He closed in 27.46 to seal the win over Oklahoma State’s Brian Musau (7:38.04 — No. 5 collegian), Canadian pro Kieran Lumb (7:38.39) and Oklahoma Stater Ryan Schoppe (7:38.80 — No. 8 collegian).
As if that wasn’t enough, Young came back a few hours later to win section III of the 5000 in 13:22.96, closing that win with a 27.01 lap to top Romain Legendre of Adams State (13:24.09).
In the mile race that morning, Britain’s Sam Ellis edged Oregon junior Elliott Cook, 3:55.36–3:55.50, with Cal Poly’s Aidan McCarthy 3rd in 3:56.09.
COLYEAR-DANVILLE MEN’S RESULTS
(200 banked synthetic)
800: 1. ***Tinoda Matsatsa (Gtn) 1:49.58; 2. Kerem Ayhan (NEn) 1:50.00.
Mile: 1. Sam Ellis (On) 3:55.36; 2. *Elliott Cook (Or) 3:55.50; 3. *Aidan McCarthy (SLO) 3:56.09; 4. **Parker Schneider (BU) 3:56.67; 5. Sair Salgado (unat) 3:57.75; 6. Rory Linkletter’ (Can) 3:59.05; 7. **Carson Smith (SLO) 3:59.41.
3000: 1. *Nico Young (NnAz) 7:37.73 (3, 3 C; in/out: 4, 4 C); 2. ***Brian Musau’ (OkSt-Ken) 7:38.04 (4, 4 C; in/out: 5, 5 C);
3. Kieran Lumb’ (Can) 7:38.39;
4. Ryan Schoppe (OkSt) 7:38.80 ((7, 7 C; 5, 5 Am C; in/out: 8, 8 C; 6, 6 AmC);
5. Craig Engels (Nike) 7:43.76; 6. *Drew Bosley (NnAz) 7:43.98; 7. *Hillary Cheruiyot’ (Al-Ken) 7:45.90; 8. ***Lukas Kiprop’ (NM-Ken) 7:47.52.
5000: I–1. *Graham Blanks (Harv) 13:03.78 CR (old CR 13:08.28 Lawi Lalang’ [Az] ’12; old AmCR 13:11.01 Dylan Jacobs [Tn] ’23) (6, 6 A) (absolute CR—old 13:06.32 Abdihamid Nur [NnAz] ’22);
(30.55, 31.66 [62.21], 32.22 [1:34.43], 32.34 [2:06.77], 32.13 [2:38.90], 31.50 [3:10.40], 31.69 [3:42.09], 31.63 [4:13.72], 31.96 [4:45.68], 31.81 [5:17.49], 31.72 [5:49.21], 32.52 [6:21.73], 32.12 [6:53.85], 32.10 [7:25.95], 31.12 [7:57.07], 31.28 [8:28.35], 31.41 [8:59.76], 31.36 [9:31.12], 31.77 [10:02.89], 31.86 [10:34.75], 31.45 [11:06.20], 30.01 [11:36.21], 30.53 [12:06.74], 28.70 [12:35.44], 28.34)
(finish—28.34, 57.04, 1:57.58, 2:29.03, 4:04.02, 5:06.71)
2. *Ky Robinson’ (Stan-Aus) 13:06.42 (2, 2 C; in/out: 3, 3 C) (30.26, 31.14 [61.40], 32.13 [1:33.53], 32.39 [2:05.92], 32.07 [2:37.99], 31.55 [3:09.54], 31.66 [3:41.20], 31.68 [4:12.88], 32.29 [4:45.17], 32.10 [5:17.27], 31.75 [5:49.02], 32.34 [6:21.36], 32.01 [6:53.37], 32.09 [7:25.46], 31.15 [7:56.61], 31.28 [8:27.89], 31.46 [8:59.35], 31.32 [9:30.67], 31.74 [10:02.41], 31.88 [10:34.29], 31.79 [11:06.08], 30.45 [11:36.53], 30.80 [12:07.33], 30.11 [12:37.44], 28.98)
(finish—28.98, 59.09, 2:00.34, 2:32.13, 4:07.07, 5:09.81);
3. Sam Atkin’ (GB) 13:06.66;
4. *Parker Wolfe (NC) 13:13.61 (8, 9 C; 5, 5 AmC; in/out: 8, x AmC) (finish—28.81, 59.78, 2:03.32, 2:35.68, 4:12.67, 5:15.14);
5. ***Habtom Samuel’ (NM-Eri) 13:14.85 (finish—29.79, 61.20, 2:05.35); 6. Willy Fink (UArmB) 13:19.44; 7. Kasey Knevelbaard (UArmMDS) 13:20.94; 8. *Liam Murphy (Vill) 13:21.20; 9. Alex Maier (OkSt) 13:21.28; 10. James West’ (GB) 13:22.98; 11. Brian Barraza (RootsRP) 13:23.34; 12. Kirami Yego’ (Ar-Ken) 13:24.36; 13. Jackson Sharp’ (Wi-Aus) 13:25.51; 14. ***Denis Kipngetich’ (OkSt-Ken) 13:26.34.
II–1. *Bob Liking (Wi) 13:28.03; 2. *Dylan Schubert (Furm) 13:29.95.
III–1. Young 13:22.96; 2. *Romain Legendre’ (Adams-Fra) 13:24.09; 3. *Drew Bosley (NnAz) 13:29.26; 4. *Loic Scomparin’ (CSM-Fra) 13:29.35; 5. Theo Quax’ (NnAz-NZ) 13:29.48.
60H: 1. *Jerome Campbell’ (NnCo-Jam) 7.86.