Day 1 of the Olympic Trials sees some great track action to get things underway.  Tetlo is one of 9 guys in his heat that finish with a 1:49.  Unfortunately, that put him 0.6 seconds away from advancing.  The only final of the day was in the Womens 10k where Heather said no to this tactical slow start BS and takes a few laps in the front to keep things honest.  The eventual winners then dropped a hard 2nd half that begun the lapping process.  Didn't pan out so great for Heather but all times were slower with a fair amount of heat still present in the evening.  Great to see an Aggie out in the front not afraid to put things on the line and take some chances.  Next up, Kara aims for a spot in her Steeple Prelim on Monday night.  Wish her the best and congratulate our other outstanding athletes.

Folks head up to Sacramento to brave the heat and race an 8k.  Phil and Sergio lead the race finishing 1-2, with fellow SLObispians Johnsrud and Hankins....er....Hankins....uh, Keith???  Um, where'd he go?  Okay, so Pierpoint, Johnsrud, and Carlos came around as the scoring 5.  Good enough for the team title.  In Mens Masters attendance, Hongo leads the way with Jose, Ellingboe, Chuck, Gordon, and maybe a few others also there.  Gordon just barely gets outkicked by Christina Applegate, so there's got to be a story there somewhere. The men enjoyed their Shriner's pancake breakfast while basking in the glory of their age division award plaques.  All in a day's work to end the first half of the road PA champ series.

Only hours from the entry deadline for the US Olympic Trials some aggies decide to play track.  Tetlo Emmen runs 1:49.45 up at Eugene.  Simultaneously, at Mt. SAC, Kara falls shy in running down a high shool girl breaking the national HS 1500 record.  Kara finishes behind her in 4:27.  But the biggest showdown of the weekend was former long distance runners Reyes and former Aggie Hesch battling to the death in an ever-so-exciting 800m dual.  The two brought up the rear of the slow heat until Reyes put on a magnificent distance-runner type kick that dropped a few dudes including the cookie monster.  Reyes garnered the wagered all-you-can-stuff-yourself sushi dinner plus endless bragging rights.  Both men qualified for the Olympic Trials Women's A standard, though Reyes has decided not to enter since he won't wear yoga tights.  Next up...... the 2008 Olympic Track and Field Trials.

Aggie old guys pick up a Masters win at the Tahoe Relays.  Matt Yeo, down 7 minutes at the start of the anchor leg, runs down his opponent and secures a Masters victory for the Aggie Camel Toads.  The mixed bag of 40 and 50 year olds, Haase, Minor, Searls, Grove, Strangio, Cushman, and Yeo run 8:16 for the 72 miles, good for 11th overall (over 120 teams this year).  Kudos to Strangio for stepping in at the last second with little training, and to Rigid Man for finishing Leg 6 on, well, one leg.  Prepare, style, and smoke, baby!

Track everywhere.  Things are geared up to full speed as the entry deadlines approach this Sunday.  Last chances took place at Jim Bush, Pre Classic, and a no-name 10k in Portland this weekend.  At Jim Bush, Kara drops 13 secs off her season starter from just 7 days earlier by finishing 4th in 10:08.  Heather snags a bronze spot in the womens 5k in 16:51 (link below).  Also on Sat night, Phil and Serg head to Portland for a last ditch effort in the 10k.  Both came up short as only one guy in the race, former olympian, gets the Trials A std.  Phil starts and ends his 10k season with a massive PR here finishing a few ticks back of Serg.  Full race video and results found at flotrack.  Then wrapping it up, new Aggie Tetlo Emmen comes around in one of the Pre Classic 800m heats and finishes with a 1:49.02.  (results found on letsrun)  Awesome showing by all.  Some OD athletes are on the bubble for Trials entry and will now play the waiting game while others may get a few more event PR's this week.  Stay tuned.

Lady Ags travel abroad to continue their track seasons.  Heather heads up to Portland for a 10k time trial effort thrown together for Ms. Goucher to run down the Oly A standard.  Heather winds up 6th in 34:23.  Meanwhile, 3 time zones away Kara lands a steeple in Indy and busts the rust off finishing in a controlled 10:21, not bad for her first one in a year.  Great job to both.

Aggies bust it out at Marin today.  The race was led by Phil and Serg making tracks for the team which would go on to finish 1st and include Hankins, Pierpoint, and Peterson.  Phil realized he doesn't know his event winning this in 29:36.  On the ladies side, Heather snags 3rd with Kara on her heels and Rosemarie and Derego in the next wave.  In the Mens Masters, Hongo steps up once Schille pops his heel at mile 1.  More results to come.  After a scenic drive through jurassic park, the aggie caravan landed at the Peterson residence in Stinson Beach for some awesome beach and bbq action.  Great showing by all and a huge thanks to the Petersons for opening up their wonderful home for us to do our thing.

On a usual windy day in San Mateo some aggies put forth some tough efforts.  Kara started back into action with a win in the 1500 despite taking off like a rocket.  Keith in the 800 and Sergio and Jeff joggin along in the 1500.  A few more Ags in attendance to support this hopeless cause.  Felt much like a dual meet in High School.  Ah well, it is what it is.

Aggies roll to centipede wins in both mens and womens races.  The men and women ran identical races being sure to trip up their elite runners and take a spill to add excitement.  The fellas in this case, didn't want to break the hearts of the centipede record holders which was on course to be destroyed, so Ben ate asphault to give the now old guys some remaining dignity.  Figured the men will take it down next year, but in the meantime, the men were happy with the 1/2 Lenichi turn they pulled off when the stinger section passed the head and the centipede finished butt-first.  Had they not spotted the women 4:40, the guys would have beat the first woman by over a minute. They should start the open pedes' based on the 12K world record. The women enjoyed their stroll through the park and then joined their colleagues at the afterparty VIP tent 'till they kicked us out.  Good times, great year...more talent to come, but for now, check out aggies on flocasts.

OD Aggies set PR's across the board on this chill evening in Palo Alto.  Heather leads the way with a 33:22 in her heat of the 10k.  Phil takes 4th in the 5k B heat with a new PR of 13:55.  Sergio forgets to figure out his stomach's needs and plays it safe coming across in a PR 28:35 for the 10k B heat.  Heather and Sergio reset their provisional standards for the Olympic Trials.  Awesome aggie crowd support into the late night hours on Sunday pushed these athletes along.  These Track junkies must not have monday jobs.  Huge thanks to all.

Aggies headline this showcase with overall wins in the 5k and the marathon.  On this beautiful morning, full teams on the mens side (Open, Masters, Seniors) compete for points while Ags Andy Martin and Jeff Gardina (last yr's marathon champ) dual it out for the overall win with Andy escaping the last few miles to take it.  On the womens' side, Rosemarie takes 2nd Masters and 9th overall in the 5k.

A bunch of Ags make a showing here.  Highlights were a 2nd place open mens finish, another obnoxious race t-shirt, and the post-race refreshments generously provided by Gordon (Thanks a ton).  Official results to follow.  For now, click link below.

Strong distance action this weekend as usual at the Mt SAC Relays starting on Thurs night.  Phil lets Khadevis win one in the 1500 as Phil takes 2nd in 3:47.  Rolf drops a 3:52 in the same race.  Ron T. struggles home in the 5k to wrap up the night.  Then on Friday, Hankins runs a 1:52 in the 800m, Gibson a 16:36 in the Women's OD 5k, and Sergio finally PR's in the 5k a few ticks under 14 in the Mens OD 5k.  Good progress by all.

Former Olympian Linda Somers-Smith gives an outlook for this weekend's huge event.

Phil and Rolf run their first 5k's of the season running 14:02 and 14:28 respectively.  Heather still under the weather with bronchitis switches to the Womens 10k "B" heat to run 34:21.  Kara pulled out of the women's steeple for injury prevention.  Nice job all.

The Boise Aggie masters and seniors duke it out on the 200m oval with the rest of the country.   Lot's of hardware collected, with some great performances.  Read all about it on the Boise Aggie website. 

Stephanie races the 1500m, Phil takes the mens race in 3:48 with Rolf a few spots back and Hankins in the B heat. Jameson rounds out the Ags with 2nd in the 3k in 8:27.  Next up, Stanford Invite this weekend.  Stay tuned.

Results out for Sunday's PA USATF's 2nd road race.  Aggies perform a perfect tri-sweep of team wins.  The open men and women beat out the transports guys 'n gals, and the Mens Masters beat out W.V. Joggers & Striders.  All teams are now ranked in the grand prix standings with the open men leading the way in 1st thus far.  Great job by all.

Aggies in the papers.

Ags scrap some teams together that in the end made it look as though they had PLANNED to dominate the fields.  Leading the 3000+ runners to follow was duo Sergio and Crosby pushing each other virtually the whole way and snagging 1st and 2nd respectively.  Spankin' new Ag Rolf Steier finishes in 4th.  Hankins blows chunks in the last 200 but finishes with Schille wrapping up the scorers.  On the fems side, race director favorite Linda Somers-Smith leads the Ags placing 2nd for the open women and the first masters runner by a long shot.  Heather knocks off a 1/2 min from her time last year, followed by Kara, Rosemarie, and Jill.  Everyone got Nuts afterwards (cheesy pun intended), except maybe that long list of runners who got DQ'd because we live in an age where we can't run w/o our 'pods. (see link).  Initial glances show the open Men and Women took away team titles (unofficial).

Read from the journals of Aggie Ryan Moorcroft and his latest experiences in Iraq.

Kelly Conover is accepting donations on Ryan's behalf.  He would like to help provide the children with the basic supplies of pencils, pens, crayons, markers, paper, binders, etc.  This is where we come in and make a difference to the innocent children of Iraq and one American Soldier.  No donation is too small.  Five pencils, is five pencils more than the children of Iraq have today.  If you would like to help, email Mark and he'll let you know how:

Mark Conover <mconover@calpoly.edu>

More Ags opened their track season this weekend with stellar performances at UCLA.  Kara had a convincing win in the 1500 (4:26), while Reid did the same in the mens open 2 mile (8:51).  Also jumping back into track action was Jameson Mora finishing 3 spots back of Reid with an 8:58.  Nice work all.