Girma Segni (14:30.84, 10th place) and David Raucci (15:00.84, 28th place) ended their long and storied indoor track careers at Marist in the 5,000-meter race at IC4As on Sunday.
Girma had a great run. We were hoping he would get in the seeded (hot) heat of the event, but he just missed the cut. Believe me, I tried. I personally lobbied IC4A meet director Steve Bartold upon arriving at BU. He told me they would redraw the sections if the fast section scratched down below 12 runners. That seemed fair to me. Well, it scratched down to exactly 12 runners; Girma was the second fastest seed in the slower section. The fastest seed was scratched. So he just missed making the fast section by one scratch. Such is life.
Girma ran tough in the unseeded section, winning with a strong kick. His last lap was in 30 seconds. His last 400 was in 62 seconds. His last 1,000 was in 2:45. Excellent! Could he have run faster in the seeded section? It is certainly possible, but you can only run the race you are in, and run it well he did.
Lesson to be learned for future IC4A qualifiers: If you want to make the hot heat at ICs in the 3km or 5km, you better run a really fast time during the regular season. Girma did his best, running 14:31 at BU/Terrier, despite recovering from an early winter injury. I didn't think it was worth the risk of squeezing in another 5km (other than MAACs, which is generally a tactical, run-for-place race) to try to get a faster seed time; we figured the 14:31 would be borderline for the fast/slower sections. We were right.
David did not have a great finish. The early part of his race went well, but it really fell apart over the last 1,000, as you will see in the splits below. I felt he had a real shot at a PR as late as 4km into the race, but it just did not happen.
Girma's splits:
34, 67 (33), 1:43 (36), 2:18 (35), 2:53 (35)
3:28 (35), 4:03 (35), 4:37 (34), 5:13 (36), 5:48 (35)
6:23 (35), 7:00 (37), 7;35 (35), 8:10 (35), 8:46 (36)
9:21 (35), 9:58 (37), 10:34 (36), 11:09 (35), 11:45 (36)
12:17 (37), 12:52 (35), 13:28 (36), 14:00 (34), 14:30.84 (30.84)
Kilometer splits: 2:53, 2:55, 2:58, 2:59, 2:45.84
David's splits:
36, 70 (34), 1:46 (36), 2:21 (35), 2:56 (35)
3:32 (36), 4:07 (35), 4:41 (34), 5:17 (36), 5:52 (35)
6:28 (36), 7:04 (36), 7:38 (34), 8:14 (36), 8:50 (35)
9:26 (36), 10:01 (35), 10:37 (36), 11:13 (36), 11:50 (37)
12:26 (36), 13:05 (40), 13:45 (40), missed split, 15:00.84 (75.84)
Kilometer splits: 2:56, 2:56, 2:58, 3:00, 3:10.84
Both Girma and David end their careers with outdoor track eligibility. So today was an end, but not THE end.
This concludes the indoor track season. Our first outdoor track meet is in less than three weeks. The cycle never ends.
More thoughts and commentary on the upcoming season in the next few days.
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