IC4A Championships: Friday night result

Sophomore Spencer Johnson concluded a remarkable outdoor track season with a truly gutsy effort in the 10km at the IC4As on Friday night under the lights in Princeton. This was Spencer’s fourth 10km of the season – that’s a lot of laps (100, to be exact)! Spencer would never make excuses, but this was a tough week for him: Lack of sleep due to final exams, and allergies that morphed into a full-blown cold, which left him literally gasping for air over the final few laps under the lights on Friday night. “I couldn’t breathe” was the first thing he said after the race.

If you look at the splits below, you won’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out when and where this breathing issue occurred. The early pace was punishing too. But again, Spencer hung tough, passed a lot of runners and outlasted even more runners who DNFed (there were 29 starters in the race). The pre-race goal was sub-31:00, which would have earned him a scoring spot. Given all the factors, it was not in the cards tonight. But Spencer gave it his all, and for that we are extremely proud.

IC4A Championships

Friday, May 15, 2015

Princeton University

Princeton, NJ

10,000-meter run

16. Spencer Johnson 31:33.68

71, 2:23 (72), 3:36 (73), 4:49 (73)

6:04 (75), 7:18 (74), 8:34 (76), 9:49 (75)

11:03 (74), 12:19 (76), 13:34 (75), 14:49 (75)

16:03 (74), 17:19 (76), 18:34 (75), 19:50 (76)

21:07 (77), 22:24 (77), 23:41 (77), 24:59 (78)

26:19 (80), 27:39 (80), 28:58 (79), 30:16 (77)

31:33.68 (77.68)

5km split: 15:27

1600m splits: 4:49, 5:00, 5:00, 5:01, 5:09, 5:17

(Special note: Thanks to Marist Running Alum Doug Ainscow for the usual tremendous job on splits. Doug is in the area – side note, he is a Big Fan of the Garden State – for some on-the-job training, so it was a nice bonus to have him here)