USATF Junior Championships: Kristen Traub in the 1,500-meter run

As so often happens at these meets, tactical racing proved to work against Kristen Traub in the 1,500-meter run at the USATF Junior Championships this afternoon here in Des Moines. Kristen ran in the second section of the trials. The first section was fast but still tactical. The second section was ridiculously slow and very very very tactical, as entrants knew what they had to do to advance and chose to exert as little energy as possible in the early stages. Once Kristen went through the first lap in a pedestrian 86 seconds, I knew a personal-best time was out of the question and it was just a matter of when and not if the gears would shift. Kristen did her best at the gear-shifting, but it was not good enough to advance to the finals (top 12 move on). Here are the numbers:

Overall place: 14th

Overall time: 4:49.72

Splits

400m: 86.0
800m: 2:44.3 (78.3)
1200m: 3:54.5 (70.2)
1500m: 4:49.72 (last 400 in 72 seconds, she went through 1100m at 3:37ish)
More numbers:

Extrapolate her time out to a full mile and it is 5:10.77.

This would make her first half/second half splits look like this: 2:44.3/2:26.47.

That, my friends, is insane! But again, it is the nature of the beast in these events. Kristen’s PR and SR in the event would have placed her second overall in the preliminary round. But of course, things don’t work out that way. It is disappointing that Kristen did not advance, as we know she could have held her own in this field. This experience will serve her well. We have always felt that Kristen closes races very well, and we feel she has an above-average ability at shifting gears. Her best was simply not good enough today.

Before the race, the meet was suspended for a short time due to severe weather – thunder, lightning, heavy rain – in the area. Kristen’s race still went off on time, because they were able to condense the 200 dash trials that were before the 1,500. As we drove back to the hotel, we hit another heavy rainstorm, so it is quite possible that the men’s 10,000-meter run scheduled for 9 p.m. local time may get pushed back. We will keep you posted on it. Check back later for results, race details and eventually split times. If you want to watch the race, the entire meet is being streamed online.