Two Collegiate Records in One Race?

[ChileDuck]

You may have heard about Oregon's Cooper Teare running a  new collegiate record in the indoor mile last week in Arkansas.  If not I've included an excellent video breaking down the race below.   [EDIT... Yes I missed the earlier thread about the record... sorry]

But a funny thing happened on the way to the collegiate indoor mile records set last week by Teare and Cole Hocker. They also set records for the collegiate indoor 1500 meters, running the two best times at that distance too. It turns out that the race organizers were asked to set up official times for the 1500m splits to see if the runners could qualify enroute for the Olympic standard at 3:35. The previous record for indoor 1500m was held by James West at 3:36.93. (West incidentally is an Oregon runner who has one more season of outdoor eligibility.)

 

Cooper Teare's 1500m split time was 3:35.46 and Cole Hocker's time was 3:35.63, just off the Olympic standard but good enough for the best collegiate times ever indoor. Sadly for Cooper however, his 1500m record lasted only one day. The next day, a New Zealand runner, Sam Tanner, who runs for UDub, ran 3:34.72 coming in third in a rare indoor 1500m race filled with pros. (ex-Ducks Sam Prakel and Johnny Gregorek finished with PRs in the same race). So Tanner had the luxury of having faster runners pacing him and a finish line at 1500 meters.

 

So just think about it, Cooper Teare and Cole Hocker, enroute to a Mile finish, ~100 meters away, were finishing a 1500 meter run faster than any college athlete had before. Just think what they may be able to do (along with James West) in this year's outdoor 1500 meter events, when they won't have another 100 meters to run!

 

 

Impressive list of Oregon runners on these two indoor record lists:

[Orebcker]

Thanks for posting this.  With such incredible times I'd be curious to know how these runners are pacing themselves to guard against peaking too early for the outdoor season.  Curious also if an indoor track gives some assist with a little more bounce vs outdoors.  Teare by the way looked like he could have broke 3:50 had he not let up a split second before crossing the finish line.   

[Charles Fischer]

This is simply AMAZING, and really appreciate you giving us more information--giving us perspective on just how special that race was.  Not something that happens hardly ever...  Thanks ChileDuck!

[ChileDuck]

1 hour ago, Orebcker said:

Thanks for posting this.  With such incredible times I'd be curious to know how these runners are pacing themselves to guard against peaking too early for the outdoor season.  Curious also if an indoor track gives some assist with a little more bounce vs outdoors.  Teare by the way looked like he could have broke 3:50 had he not let up a split second before crossing the finish line.   

Outdoor track times are typically better since there are longer straights and less turns.  Certainly their outdoor season will be managed to peak performances for  championship events although you don't usually see records in these because they turn into tactical races because points toward team standing (and thus championships) are determined by place, not time.  Also, things are complicated by it being an Olympic year and these athletes will be working to peak for the Olympic trials.  But first they have to get that Olympic standard along the way so look for some fast time trial type races like the one last week in Arkansas sometime early in the outdoor season. 

It seems that with the Covid layoff last year, these runners are peaking earlier than normal.

[RatherBe]

16 hours ago, ChileDuck said:

 

It seems that with the Covid layoff last year, these runners are peaking earlier than normal.

I read that track PRs are being shattered for that very reason of the Covid shutdowns. More time to train with fewer distractions, like in-person class. I think the North Carolina athletic department had previously taken advantage of that phenomenon.