Saturday, December 26, 2009

Rhines Ranked #3 USA at 5000 for 2009



One running site has ranked Jen Rhines as the #3 American at 5000 meters this year, behind Shalane Flanagan and Jenny Barringer. Here is Letsrun.com's summary of her year:

LRC #3 Jen Rhines • adidas • 15:07.78 • 9th Place, Worlds • USA Runner-Up

Jen Rhines had a great year as she finished as the USA runner-up in the championship 5,000m and went on to finish 9th in the IAAF World Championship 5,000m final. In Berlin, Rhines ran a strong 15:20 to make the 5,000m final and then ran even better, 15:12, in the final. This year Rhines ran 8 races between 15:33 and 15:07 on the track, including a 4th-place finish in the 5,000m at the IAAF Grand Prix in Stockholm, won by LRC #2 Jenny Barringer. Rhines ended her year with a 3rd-place finish on the roads in Providence in 15:33.

While 9th at Worlds, Rhines is only #3 in the US rankings. For many her ranking may not need an explanation. But for those of you who need an explanation here it is: Making the final at Worlds was not very difficult for a 15:10 5k runner this year. Rhines was not the US champ, so we couldn't see ranking her over Flanagan and Barringer whose 5k campaigns were more impressive than Rhines (except for the Worlds which they didn't run).

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