Curtis & Rhines well off leaders at Payton Jordan 5000

Bobby Curtis got back on the track last night in Palo Alto at the Payton Jordan Invitational.  The 5000 meter event was deeply packed with top-end American talent and thereby provided a good measuring stick for Curtis training regimen as her gears up for the USATF 10,000 championships in late June.  Now known primarily as a 10,000 meter man, Curtis was the 2008 NCAA champion at 5000 meters and possesses a 13:18.97 PR set in Paris in 2010.  By that standard, and the fact that he was beaten back to 18th place, last night's result could be viewed as disappointing.  Curtis has competed well against Ben True, the race winner, on the roads over the past two years, but was well off that pace here.  However, Curtis's training program with Hansons-Brooks is being calibrated very carefully, with the ultimate focus on trying to make Team USA for the Moscow World Championships.  That requires peaking perfectly at the USATF championships (June 20-23).  Moreover, Curtis has been primarily a road racer over the past year, and this was his first competition on the track in some time.  The race video below seems to suggest that Curtis was in the event not to compete at the front, but to get back on the track and run a steady state workout; he immediately settled in near the back of the pack from the very start, and seemed content to run 65s and 66s throughout. With these things in mind, then, one hesitates to make too much of a 5000 meter race in April.

Event 18  Men 5000 Meter Run Section 1
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    Name                    Year School                  Finals
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Finals

  1 Ben True                     Saucony               13:14.44
  2 Evan Jager                   Nike                  13:14.60
  3 Diego Estrada                Northern Arizona      13:15.33
  4 Leonard Korir                Global Sport          13:15.45
  5 Hassan Mead                  Otc                   13:15.50
  6 Dan Huling                   Nike                  13:18.42
  7 Eric Jenkins                 Northeastern          13:18.57
  8 Garrett Heath                Saucony/Aurum         13:20.01
  9 Sam Chelanga                 Otc                   13:20.07
 10 Zane Robertson               Unattached            13:21.15
 11 Chris Solinsky               Nike                  13:23.62
 12 Brett Robinson               Melbourne Tr          13:26.35
 13 Jeff See                     Saucony               13:29.08
 14 George-Byron Alex            Unattached            13:29.55
 15 Luke Caldwell                New Mexico            13:29.94
 16 Maverick Darling             Wisconsin             13:30.40
 17 Parker Stinson               Oregon                13:31.70
 18 Bobby Curtis                 Hansons-Brooks Odp    13:32.57
 19 Paul Chelimo                 Unc-Greensboro        13:36.27
 20 Byron Piedra                 Ecuador               13:37.60
 21 Alan Webb                    Nike                  13:37.68
 22 Aldo Vega                    Unattached            13:41.73
 23 Jose Mauricio Gonzalez       Colombia              13:53.55
 24 David McCarthy               Unattached            13:56.80
 -- Alex Hatz                    Wisconsin                  DNF
 -- Arne Gabius                  Unattached                 DNF
 -- Chris Derrick                Nike/Aurum                 DNF  8:01.07-3k

In the women's race, the race went out rather slowly, with no one really willing to pull the field along (unlike the men's 5000 -- where Chris Derrick served as a rabbit and pulled the field through in 8:01 at the 3000 mark -- the women's race had no pacesetter).  Jen Rhines finished well off the pace, 48 seconds back in 16:10.17.  Jen's PR of 14:54.29 is now 5 years old and she ran a full 29 seconds faster (15:41.31) here one year ago.  To be fair, Jen is coming back from injuries that caused her to scratch at last year's Olympic Trials and -- like Bobby Curtis -- this race was her first on the track for the outdoor season.  She ran a crisp 15:10.44 just two summer ago and when healthy and fit is still a force to be reckoned with.  Regaining fitness is her first priority.

Event 56  Women 5000 Meter Run Section 1
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    Name                    Year School                  Finals
===============================================================
Finals
  1 Kim Conley                   New Balance           15:22.07
  2 Katie Mackey                 Brooks Beasts         15:23.65
  3 Julia Lucas                  Otc                   15:23.77
  4 Riko Matsuzaki               Sekisui Kagaku        15:27.51
  5 Nicole Sifuentes             Saucony               15:27.58
  6 Misaki Onishi                Sekisui Kagaku        15:27.84
  7 Brie Felnagle                Adidas                15:29.14
  8 Delilah Discresenzo          Puma/NYAC             15:36.45
  9 Sara Hall                    Asics                 15:39.32
 10 Kate Van Buskirk             Athletics Toronto     15:40.26
 11 Julie Culley                 Asics/NYAC            15:41.41
 12 Katie Matthews               Boston U.             15:44.19
 13 Amy Hastings                 Brooks                15:44.93
 14 Eina Yokosawa                Daiichi Seimei        15:44.99
 15 Mai Ishibashi                Denso                 15:44.99
 16 Angela Bizzarri              Brooks/Aurum          15:48.26
 17 Jen Rhines                   adidas-Aurum          16:10.81
 18 Risa Kikuchi                 Hitachi               16:21.51
 19 Ai Igarashi                  Sysmex                16:59.34
 -- Lindsey Allen                Nike                       DNF