BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, February 11-12 — The 2-day Dave Hemery Valentine Invitational at the super-fast Boston University Track & Tennis Center produced records galore. The American men’s and women’s 5000 records fell, as did the Collegiate Record in the 3000, and a scintillating women’s 800 saw two girls better the HS Record.
Elise Cranny 14:33.17 AR
Nike Bowerman teammates Gabriela DeBues-Stafford and Elise Cranny put on quite a show in their 25-lap race on Friday.
With their eyes on Shalane Flanagan’s North American Record of 14:47.62 from ’09, the two fell behind the pace early (8:57.41 at 3K) but Cranny led a hard drive for the finish, and even was ahead of the Canadian by 1.39 with 600 left. But the Olympic 1500 finalist had the better kick, and went by her on a 30.81 final lap to score a Canadian Record 14:31.38, with Cranny demolishing the AR at 14:33.17 (in/out she’s now No. 3 U.S.).
Left far behind was Olympic steeple medalist Courtney Frerichs, whose 14:48.75 moved her to No. 4 among Americans all-time. The closing splits for the leaders were indeed boggling. Final 3000 in 8:30.83 for GDS (faster than her recent NR) and a final 1600 of 4:25.72. For Cranny, an 8:32.43 that only 4 Americans have bettered indoors, a last 2000 of 5:35.76 (Mary Slaney’s AR is only 1.24 faster) and a last 1600 of 4:27.81.
“That hurt, but I’m really happy with it,” the winner told LetsRun. “In a 5K you can get a lot out of yourself with a good negative split.”
Said Cranny, “There’s hopefully more there if we start at a faster pace next time.”
Grant Fisher 12:53.73 AR
On Saturday Olympian Grant Fisher annihilated Galen Rupp’s U.S. 5000 record with a No. 5 all-time world indoor performance of 12:53.73.
After passing the 3000 in 7:53.76, the Nike Bowerman star hammered the pace down from the front, stringing together a brutal series of laps that broke teammates Moh Ahmed and Marc Scott. His final 2000 took 4:59.97, his final 1600 only 3:57.6. He took a solid 7.53 off Galen Rupp’s ’14 standard of 13:01.26, and was just 0.13 off Bernard Lagat’s outdoor AR.
Ahmed stayed close enough for a Canadian Record 12:57.08, moving to No. 6 all-time and Scott scored a British Record with his 12:57.08 (No. 8 all-time). High plaudits to Fisher, who placed 5th in the 10,000 and 9th in the 5000 at the Olympics. He now has run the fastest time undercover on American soil and trails only the 12:47.20 U.S. all-comers record by Ahmed run outdoors in ’20.
Fisher admitted he thought he was only good for 13:00–13:01 before the race. “I thought my chances of going after Galen’s record were tight but attainable. We just had great pacing out there, a great track. A lot of people say BU’s faster than an outdoor track. I tend to agree with them now. It feels like you’re just running on springs,” he told LetsRun.
A big performance for the U.S. troops as Emmanuel Bor grabbed 4th in 13:00.48, becoming the second-fastest U.S. indoor performer ever.
There were also fireworks in the second section, where Woody Kincaid (13:05.56), Lopez Lomong (13:07.40), Thailand’s Kieran Tuntivate (13:08.41 NR) and Sean McGorty (13:09.21) all led new collegiate leader Adriaan Wildschutt’s 13:09.30. The Florida Stater moved to No. 2 on the collegiate ATL. In 7th, Notre Dame’s Dylan Jacobs ran 13:14.04 to break the 13:16.95 American Collegiate Record of Northern Arizona’s Tyler Day from ’20.
Roisin Willis 2:00.06 HSR
A stunning 800 saw high schooler Roisin Willis (Stevens Point, Wisconsin) lead from the start through splits of 27.90, 58.20 and 1:29.39 to win in a High School Record 2:00.06 over Madeleine Kelly (2:00.11).
In 4th, Rhode Island prep Sophia Gorriaran also went under the old prep record of 2:01.78 set by Sammy Watson in ’17 with her 2:00.58.
Yared Nuguse 7:38.17 CR
Earlier in the day, Notre Dame senior Yared Nuguse, took the measure of the 3000 by more than 9 seconds in 7:38.17, breaking the Collegiate Record of 7:38.59 set by Arkansas’s Alistair Cragg in ’04.
Nuguse ran alone the last 1300m, finishing with a 58.03 final 400 to nip the mark. He later revealed that he had a mild case of COVID the week before: “I’m not the kind of person to let those kinds of excuses bring you down,” he said.
Much Miling
The men’s mile, a BU staple, produced a dozen sub-4:00s coming from 4 different sections, with the fastest being the 3:56.87 by Princeton’s Sam Ellis. Such is the profusion of times this season that mark will not be enough to get him into the NCAA.
The women’s mile saw one of the newest Nike Bowerman athletes, Lucia Stafford of Canada (Gabriela’s little sister) win in 4:24.42 over Mexico’s Alma Cortes (4:27.09).
Amid all the miles, a 1500 race gave Britain’s Neil Gourley a shot at the World Indoor meet, with his year-leading 3:35.32 winner over Bowerman’s Josh Thompson (3:37.96).
HEMERY VALENTINE MEN’S RESULTS
(200m banked)
800: 1. ***Reed Cherry (NEn) 1:48.44 PR; 2. Johnny Gregorek (Asics) 1:48.48; 3. *Clement Paillon’ (AmInt-Fra) 1:48.55.
1000: 1. Quamel Prince’ (Guy) 2:19.01 PR; 2. Luciano Fiore (EmpE) 2:19.17 PR.
1500: 1. Neil Gourley’ (GB) 3:35.32 PR (WL);
2. Josh Thompson (NikBowTC) 3:37.96; 3. Charles Da’Vall Grice’ (GB) 3:38.00 PR; 4. Jack Anstey’ (Aus) 3:38.65 PR.
Mile: I–1. Sam Ellis (Prin) 3:56.87 PR; 2. **Cruz Gomez (Tx) 3:57.09 PR; 3. Eric Holt (EmpE) 3:57.16 PR; 4. ***Yaseen Abdalla (Tx) 3:57.53 PR; 5. Jack Salisbury (Gtn) 3:58.17 PR. II–1. **Parker Stokes (Gtn) 3:58.02 PR.
3000: 1. Yared Nuguse (NDm) 7:38.13 CR (old CR 7:38.59 Alistair Cragg’ [Ar] ’04; old AmCR 7:42.62 Grant Fisher [Stan] ’19) (AL) (7, x A) (in/out: 2, 2 C) (@ 2000—5:07.31 CR—old 5:10.1 Joe Falcon [Ar] ’89);
2. Cameron Griffith’ (Aus) 7:47.18 PR; 3. *Ahmed Jaziri’ (EnKy-Tun) 7:47.34 PR; 4. Dario De Caro’ (Boise-Ita) 7:47.46 PR; 5. *Baldvin Magnússon’ (EnMi-Ice) 7:47.51 PR; 6. Fernando Daniel Martínez’ (Mex) 7:47.67 PR; 7. Ehab El-Sandali’ (Iona-Can) 7:48.00 PR; 8. Amos Bartelsmeyer’ (Ger) 7:48.87 PR.
5000: I–1. Grant Fisher (NikBowTC) 12:53.73 AR (old AR 13:01.26 Galen Rupp [Nik] ’14) (WL) (4, 4 W) (in/out: 2, 2 A);
2. Moh Ahmed’ (Can) 12:56.87 NR (7, 7 W); 3. Marc Scott’ (GB) 12:57.08 NR (8, 8 W); 4. Emmanuel Bor (NikUSAr) 13:00.48 PR (10, 11 W; 2, 2 A—also under old AR);
5. Sam Atkin’ (GB) 13:03.64 PR; 6. Jonas Raess’ (Swi) 13:07.95 NR; 7. Conner Mantz (Nik) 13:10.24 PR; 8. Shadrack Kipchirchir (ADP) 13:10.79 PR; 9. Hillary Bor (Hoka) 13:10.98 PR; 10. Dillon Maggard (unat) 13:13.62 PR.
II–1. Woody Kincaid (NikBowTC) 13:05.56 PR (4, 5 A); 2. Lopez Lomong (NikBowTC) 13:07.40 (x, 10 A);
3. Kieran Tuntivate’ (Tha) 13:08.41 NR; 4. Sean McGorty (NikBowTC) 13:09.21 PR (11, x A);
5. *Adriaan Wildschutt’ (FlSt-SA) 13:09.30 NR (CL) (2, 2 C) (in/out: 3, 3 C);
6. Evan Jager (NikBowTC) 13:13.23 PR;
7. *Dylan Jacobs (NDm) 13:14.04 AmCR (old AmCR 13:16.95 Tyler Day [NnAz] ’20) (4, 4 C) (in/out: 8, 8 C; 2, 2 AmC).
60H: 1. Oliver Thomas (WPI) 7.82.
DisMed: 1. Army 9:39.65; 2. John Carroll 9:41.56; 3. Williams 9:42.29.
TJ: 1. Nathaniel Meade (BosNTC) 52-8¾ (16.07) PR.
Wt: 1. ***Michael Shanahan (unat) 77-9¼ (23.70) PR.
HEMERY VALENTINE WOMEN’S RESULTS
800: I–1. Roisin Willis (WiHS) 2:00.06 HSR (old HSR 2:01.78 Sammy Watson {Rush-Henrietta, Henrietta NY] ’17) (AL) (in/out: 5, x AJ; 2, 2 HS);
2. Madeleine Kelly’ (Can) 2:00.11 PR; 3. Cynthia Anais’ (Fra) 2:00.49 PR;
4. Sophia Gorriaran (RIHS) 2:00.58 PR (2, 2 HS) (in/out: 7, x AJ; 4, 4 HS);
5. Brenna Detra (adiBAA) 2:01.47 PR; 6. Emily Richards (unat) 2:01.52 PR.
1000: 1. **Margaret Hock (Prin) 2:45.54 PR; 2. **Julia Fenerty (Dart) 2:45.62 PR; 3. Anna Jurew (CPTCTracksm) 2:45.84 PR.
Mile: 1. Lucia Stafford’ (Can) 4:24.42 PR (4:07.63); 2. Alma Cortes’ (Mex) 4:27.09 PR (4:09.58 PR); 3. Julie-Anne Staehli’ (Can) 4:28.10 PR (4:10.74 PR); 4. Michaela Meyer (Nik) 4:29.64 PR (4:10.97 PR); 5. Hanna Hermansson’ (Swe) 4:29.81 PR (4:12.24 PR);
6. Emily Mackay (Bing) 4:30.94 PR (CL) (4:13.14 PR [CL]).
3000: 1. Sarah Lancaster (Paras360) 8:47.41 PR;
2. *Lauren Ryan’ (FlSt-Aus) 8:47.88 PR (CL) (4, 4 C) (in/out: 5, 5 C);
3. Vanessa Fraser (NikBowTC) 8:53.11 PR; 4. *Mercy Chelangat’ (Al-Ken) 8:53.16 PR; 5. Jessy Lacourse’ (Can) 8:59.26 PR.
5000: I–1. Gabriela DeBues-Stafford’ (Can) 14:31.38 NR (WL) (5, 6 W);
2. Elise Cranny (NikBowTC) 14:33.17 AR (old AR 14:47.62 Shalane Flanagan [Nik] ’09) (in/out: 3, 3 A);
3. Courtney Frerichs (NikBowTC) 14:48.75 PR (4, 4 A) (in/out: 10, x A); 4. Millie Paladino (NBalB) 15:02.63 PR (9, 11 A); 5. Elly Henes (adi) 15:03.27 PR (10, 13 A).
Wt: 1. Emily Mikoud (Army) 67-5¼ (20.55).