2016 U.S. Olympic Team TrialsJul 8, 2016 by Dennis Young
Men's Steeple Final Quick Picks and Takes
Men's Steeple Final Quick Picks and Takes
FULL EVENT PREVIEWThe men's 3000m steeplechase is tonight at 5:23 PM local time/8:23 Eastern. Here are our last-minute picks and takes.Meg Bellino: Evan J
FULL EVENT PREVIEW
The men's 3000m steeplechase is tonight at 5:23 PM local time/8:23 Eastern. Here are our last-minute picks and takes.
Meg Bellino: Evan Jager is the male equivalent of Emma Coburn. He's so far ahead of every competitor in the field, this race will be a replica of last night's women's final.
Jager's Bowerman TC teammates Dan Huling and Andy Bayer could provide Jerry Schumacher with enough elation to last for the rest of his career should they sweep this. With his fifth-place finish in last year's world championship final, Huling is the last (and likely only?) American to beat Jager in a steeplechase. Bayer is fairly new to the steeple game and has not looked as good as Huling and Jager in 2016, however I'm hesitant to pick AGAINST a Bowerman athlete, as their women have made every team they've attempted to make.
Only four men have broken 8:20 this season: Jager, Huling, Stanley Kebenei and Cory Leslie.
Kebenei trains in Tucson with James Li's elite squad of Bernard Lagat + others. His 8:18 PB came from his fifth-place finish in Rome and he was fifth behind Bayer in the U.S. championship in 2015. Leslie ran 8:19 and 8:20 during the season and, like Jager, has strong 1500m wheels to close.
Why haven't we brought up Olympian Donn Cabral? He was one second behind Jager in this race in 2015 and has that 8:13 PB. Though his 2016 marks may not be as fast as the others, he's a gamer and has made teams before.
Dennis Young: My god, will this be a Bowerman sweep? Will that be enough for coach Jerry Schumacher to give an unfathomably rare on-camera interview? (I don't think that Badgers/Schumacherians Chris Solinsky, Matt Tegenkamp, and Evan Jager sweeping the 5K at USAs in 2009 was.) Jager is clearly the best American steeplechaser, Dan Huling beat him at worlds last year, and Andy Bayer has 3:34 1500 speed.
The candidates to break them up are extremely strong. Donn Cabral had a season best of 8:29 coming into the meet (he ran 8:26 in the heats here), but his SBs in the flat events are basically the same as when he ran 8:13 last year. If he's in 8:13 shape, he's making the team. And I think he's in 8:13 shape or at least close, so I'm taking him and Huling behind Jager.
But Kebenei has the fastest SB. Cory Leslie has enough confidence to skip the 1500--an event in which he would have been one of only six men with the Olympic standard--for the steeple. And Donnie Cowart was fourth, fifth, and fifth at the U.S. championships in 2012, 2013, and 2014.
If the race is half as entertaining as its women's counterpart, then it's an all-timer.
The men's 3000m steeplechase is tonight at 5:23 PM local time/8:23 Eastern. Here are our last-minute picks and takes.
Meg Bellino: Evan Jager is the male equivalent of Emma Coburn. He's so far ahead of every competitor in the field, this race will be a replica of last night's women's final.
Jager's Bowerman TC teammates Dan Huling and Andy Bayer could provide Jerry Schumacher with enough elation to last for the rest of his career should they sweep this. With his fifth-place finish in last year's world championship final, Huling is the last (and likely only?) American to beat Jager in a steeplechase. Bayer is fairly new to the steeple game and has not looked as good as Huling and Jager in 2016, however I'm hesitant to pick AGAINST a Bowerman athlete, as their women have made every team they've attempted to make.
Only four men have broken 8:20 this season: Jager, Huling, Stanley Kebenei and Cory Leslie.
Kebenei trains in Tucson with James Li's elite squad of Bernard Lagat + others. His 8:18 PB came from his fifth-place finish in Rome and he was fifth behind Bayer in the U.S. championship in 2015. Leslie ran 8:19 and 8:20 during the season and, like Jager, has strong 1500m wheels to close.
Why haven't we brought up Olympian Donn Cabral? He was one second behind Jager in this race in 2015 and has that 8:13 PB. Though his 2016 marks may not be as fast as the others, he's a gamer and has made teams before.
Dennis Young: My god, will this be a Bowerman sweep? Will that be enough for coach Jerry Schumacher to give an unfathomably rare on-camera interview? (I don't think that Badgers/Schumacherians Chris Solinsky, Matt Tegenkamp, and Evan Jager sweeping the 5K at USAs in 2009 was.) Jager is clearly the best American steeplechaser, Dan Huling beat him at worlds last year, and Andy Bayer has 3:34 1500 speed.
The candidates to break them up are extremely strong. Donn Cabral had a season best of 8:29 coming into the meet (he ran 8:26 in the heats here), but his SBs in the flat events are basically the same as when he ran 8:13 last year. If he's in 8:13 shape, he's making the team. And I think he's in 8:13 shape or at least close, so I'm taking him and Huling behind Jager.
But Kebenei has the fastest SB. Cory Leslie has enough confidence to skip the 1500--an event in which he would have been one of only six men with the Olympic standard--for the steeple. And Donnie Cowart was fourth, fifth, and fifth at the U.S. championships in 2012, 2013, and 2014.
If the race is half as entertaining as its women's counterpart, then it's an all-timer.
| MEG | GORDON | DENNIS |
|---|---|---|
| Evan Jager | Evan Jager | Evan Jager |
| Dan Huling | Donn Cabral | Dan Huling |
| Cory Leslie | Dan Huling | Donn Cabral |
| Donn Cabral | Cory Leslie | Stanley Kebenei |
| Andy Bayer | Stanley Kebenei | Cory Leslie |
| Stanley Kebenei | Andy Bayer | Andy Bayer |