It's slow rainy day here at the blog, and I never seem to be in my room anymore to check my list of nominees for all the races which is upsetting because I feel that is slowing the process. Just a reminder to prevent confusion, before I was accepting nominees for the Oscars, now is the actual voting for who will win the Oscars. Just clarifying.
I figured I'd start off by throwing a quick shout out at Evan Mao. He is an avid reader of the blog, despite being a thrower (and if I don't talk about sprinters, I really don't talk about throwers), and he has made great strides so far this indoor season, by coming a real factor to go to the state championships. Keep up the good work Evan.
Anyway moving on.
Perhaps the biggest news, that I literally just found out 2 seconds before I started typing this is Drew Magaha, the 2 time Oscar Nominee and winner of the Best Animated Feature award in 2011, has Mono. It's tough because Mono can kill a season. Some types of Mono can last only a bit, others can take you out for a while. We saw Sarah Sargent come back and run a very nice 3k indoors after Mono in XC (a race which arguably is the highlight of her career to date), but we also saw Katie Kinkead struggle to get back into shape after her bout with Mono. It effects everyone differently, and it is not fun.
My hope is Drew gets healthy and is ready for a big outdoor season, but the fact of the matter is this opens the door for a lot of other people. Ned is suddenly an overwhelming favorite in the mile and the 800m, and if Dustin Wilson runs only the 3k, Ned can win both races without much trouble at all. No offense to the field, its just the class this guy is in right now.
Also this means we probably won't see the indoor mile record go down this season, unless Ned can find a way to run 4:11 at what very well may be a tactical race at Millrose. No guarentees here of course, but I see the record being safe for at least another year (and honestly I don't see anyone breaking it any time soon out of the underclassmen, but you never know).
The epic race that I had been looking forward to all winter of Magaha vs. Willig is now just a dream. I can't see how Drew can make it back in time and be in good enough shape to compete with Ned who is at the top of his game right now.
This also means guys like Brett Kelly and Jack Huemmler and Joe O'Such may enter the mile rather than save up for the 3k or the DMR or the 800m. Willig is the heavy favorite but say he opts for another chase at the 800m state record or he runs too tactical and gets surprised by someone else. Look at Tom Kehl in the outdoor 16, he was a huge favorite and Will Kellar ended up surprising and outkicking him. Anything is possible in a race, especially a race that won't be dominated outfront by Drew and Ned out front.
This is all of course pure speculation, but we will see what goes down this winter. Spring is another story entirely. We can cross that bridge when we get to it.
Couldn't come at a worse time for Drew. I heard from a friend he had invites to the US Open, NB Grand Prix, and Brooks; and had to turn them all down. Let's hope he gets back soon.
ReplyDelete