This past weekend in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Maria and Coach Tim competed at the USA Indoor Championships both racing 3,000m's. First up were the men with a small field of 4 competing. Coach Tim was going for his 13th Indoor Championship. The race started off with Patrick Stroupe going into the lead and pushing the pace, opening up the first kilometer in 3:51. Tim decided to just sit behind Patrick and let him do the work. Patrick just kept slowing down every lap as the race went on. They went through the 2nd kilometer in 4:13. Patrick still kept slowing down with Tim on his heels. With 3 laps to go Tim decided to make his move but had unfortunately already accumulated 2 red cards. He had already broken Patrick and so Tim decided to ease up on the pace and just make sure he didnt get another red card. Just as we thought Tim had the title once again, 20m's before the finish line he was shown his 3rd red card, therefore a disqualification. This was a very disappointing race for Tim. He was in great shape and the race felt easy for him but unfortunately the judges decided the race today even though Tim was leading Patrick by over 100m's.
Next up were the women with a very weak field of 3 athletes. Maria was the returning champion and had a lot of confidence coming off the race in Florida 2 weeks ago. Her plan was to start off the race in the lead and push from there. The two other girls tried to hang on to her for awhile but couldnt keep up with her pace. Maria went on to win easily in a time of 13:40, an 11 second improvement from last year.
Next up for the TEAM is the NAIA Indoor Championships in Ohio this Friday where we will see Katie, Janelle and Chris race for the medals. Katie is the returning silver medalist from last year and is hoping to improve upon that this year. Molly also races this weekend at the New York State Championships over 1500m's. Good luck to everyone.
Stay tuned!
TEAM
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