Yesterday I watched Lawi Lalang of the University of Arizona run 3:55.09 for the full mile at the Razorback Invitational. It was the fastest mile I've seen run in person but it lacked an excitement and pull that you would expect to hear when you see a result that fast. He just missed Oklahoma State's German Fernandez collegiate record of 3:55.02 from three years earlier. Lalang went through 800 in 1:54 point and came back in 2 flatish, the last 800 was run totally on his own. His teammate Abdi Hassan served as his rabbit for the first half. Lalang's effort really never seemed to change and I am very impressed with his range. It just wasn't exciting to watch him lead the field by 60 meters by the 800, there was no race at all.
We had two Oklahoma State athletes run well both finishing in times of 4:01. Sophomore Kirubel Erassa ran this personal best and is easily in sub-4 shape after seeing how well he looked. Raul Botezan finished ahead of Kirubel in the same time and did not achieve a personal best but is also primed to hit a sub-4 showing in the coming weeks. The rest of the field was essentially screwed as the "field's" rabbit was set for 1:58 through half but was not informed of Lawi's rabbit. So, when Abdi and Lawi bolt by the field's rabbit assumes he is too slow and works to help lead the group. This left the rest of the field, filled with numerous sub-4 athletes to pace themselves. This sounds simple, but if you've ever watched one of these races no one ever seems to want to do it and things usually go slower than expected. So they go out slow, then frantically kick for home and not another runner outside of Lawi breaks four. Disappointing with this type of field.
The meet itself was great overall and especially for our OSU athletes. Tom Farrell ran 7:52.38 for fourth in the 3k and a personal best behind Elliot Heath and Chris Derrick of Stanford and Stephen Sambu of Arizona. He looked great and raced so well. Shadrack Kipchirchir also improved on a previous best running 7:59 despite clipping the rail several times. The day was filled with our guys running better than they ever had or improving tremendously on their season's bests.
Look for video on Flotrack featuring Lalang's mile in the next day or two and of the invite 3k with three auto qualifiers for indoor nationals.
http://www.flotrack.org/coverage/247596-Indoor-Track-and-Field-Season-2012/video/590713-M-Mile-H01-Lawi-Lalang-35509-Razorback-Invite
Link to the race on Flotrack.org I actually filmed this, sorry it gets crappy but my position in the stands wasn't the best.
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