Rodriguez Family with niece Elyssa Little at her Baptism in Houston... 

Texas High School Athletes Sizzle

Summer Track Meets & Performances

A few notable performances from Texas athletes at Nike Outdoor Nationals-

Lajerald Betters (JR) of Waco placed 2nd in the Boys 400m Run in 46.42
Matt Brock (FR) of Houston placed 4th in the Boys Long Jump with a 23-09
Trey Jordan (JR) of Troy placed 6th in the Boys Shot Put with a 62-08.50

Jocelyn Gardner (SR) of A&M Consolidated placed 6th in the Girls 2 Mile Run in 10:30.63 (worth 10:27 for 3200m), a personal best, Texas-leading performance for 2005 and moves into 4th best Texas All-Time performance.
Brandi Cross (JR) of Fort Bend Marshall placed 4th in the Girls 400m Run in 53.62
Erin Bedell (SR) of Plano West placed 3rd in the Girls 800m Run with a 2:07.07, a personal best, Texas-leading peformance for 2005, and moves into 2nd place All-Time on Texas's Girls performance list.
Jessica Doyle (FR) of Hays Buda placed 12th in the Girls Pole Vault with an 11-11.75 clearance
Lauren Lucas (FR) of Round Rock placed 18th in the Girls Pole Vault with a 10-11.75 clearance
D'Andra Carter (SR) of Red Oak won the Girls Discus Throw with a 158-04
Christina Mueller (SR) of San Antonio placed 4th in the Girls Discus Throw in 142-08
Paige Newby (SO) from Colorado City placed 9th in the Girls Discus Throw in 127-11 and placed 18th in the Girls Javelin Throw in 107-00


A few notable performances from Texas athletes at the Golden West Invitational (June 12- Folsom, CA)

Jenny Glover (SR) placed 3rd in the Girls Triple Jump in 39-07w
Britany Parker (JR) of McKinney placed 3rd in the Girls Pole Vault with a 12-08 clearance
Christina Mueller (SR) of San Antonio placed 2nd in the Girls Discus Throw with a 145-05
Jiovanna Martinez (JR) placed 8th in the Girls Discus Throw with a 129-05
Dess Meek (JR) placed 4th in the Girls Long Jump with an 18-05.75, placed 5th in High Jump with a 5-05 clearance, and won the Triple Jump with a 39-03.50 leap
Erin Bedell (SR) of Plano West won the Girls Mile Run with a 4:44.17 (worth 4:42.6 for 1600m), which is the All-Time Texas State Best performance and a personal best, as well as the 2005 Texas leading performance
Shewanda Woodard of La Marque placed 2nd in the Girls 400m Run in 55.99, and followed with a 5th place finish in the Girls 200m Dash in 24.70
Epley Bullock (JR) of Round Rock Westwood placed 2nd in the Girls High Jump with a 5-07 clearance
Hasley Fowler (FR) placed 4th in the Girls 800m Run in 2:17.25
Monika May (SO) placed 6th in the Girls 800m Run in 2:26.89 and placed 2nd in the Girls 400m Dash in 58.04
Kimberly Brooks (SR) placed 6th in the Girls 400m Dash in 59.89
Erin Cluiss (SR) of Forney placed 5th in the Girls Pole Vault with an 11-08 clearance
Leslie Starnes (JR) of Rockdale placed 12th in the Girls Pole Vault with a 10-04 clearance
Lauren Reeves (SR) placed 4th in the Girls Long Jump with a 16-10 leap

Anthony Flemons (JR) of Childress placed 3rd in the Boys Triple Jump with a 49-07.25w and placed 6th in the Boys Long Jump with a 21-07.75 leap
Malcolm Williams (JR) of South Grand Prairie placed 5th in the Boys Triple Jump with a 48-07w
Eliot O'Hare (SR) of Austin Johnston placed 7th in the Boys Triple Jump with a 48-03.50
Derrick Reescano (SR) of Hardin placed 12th in the Boys Triple Jump with a 46-05w, placed 9th in the 400m Run in 52.02, and 8th in the Long Jump in 20-10.75
Colon-Trey Jordan (JR) of Troy placed 2nd in the Boys Shot Put with a 62-07.50
Alexander Bentley of Tomball placed 6th in the Boys Pole Vault with a 15-07 clearance
Dan Schmidt of Graham placed 10th in the Boys Discus Throw with a 146-07
Jeremy Hicks of Alief Elsik won the Boys Long Jump with a 23-05 leap
Daniel LaCava (SR) from Grace Prep placed 4th in the Boys 800m Run in 1:53.92
Will Schroeder (SR) of San Antonio Reagan placed 6th in the Boys 800m in 1:54.37
Scott MacPherson (SR) of Plano placed 2nd in the Boys 3200m Run with a 9:00.23, a 2005 Texas leading performance
Ben Schultz (SR) of The Woodlands placed 11th in the Boys 3200m Run with a 9:25.77
Juan Hernandez (SR) placed 21st in the Boys 3200m Run with a 9:48.02
Derek Solarski tied for 7th in the Boys Pole Vault with William Paine, as they both cleared 14-06
Jalyn Bray (SR) placed 8th in the Boys Triple Jump with a 44-02.50w leap
Michael Hulsey placed 6th in the Boys Shot Put with a 52-09.75 throw


Some highlights of the Great Southwest Classic (June 2-4: Albuquerque, NM) from Texas athletes can be found at http://www.dyestat.com/3us/5out/GSW/results.htm
as Texas athletes performed stellar at this meet.

Great article on Brian Pope

This is a great article on the Spartan existence of one of America's greatest Master's runners, Brian Pope.
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050621/COL0504/506210361/1173/SPORTS

Perla doing her best "Vanna-White" impersonation on our lot in Seabrook. 

Our future home, sometime in 2006... 

Perla, Madelyn, and I post-race in Corpus Christi, Texas.. 

Eduardo anchoring our Beach to Bay Marathon Relay team that placed 5th in our debut. 

NCAA Distance Coverage

Meet Record Analysis

With the NCAA Division I Track & Field Championships underway in Sacramento, I was intrigued at the long-standing championship meet records and began wondering if any in the distance events would be broken in 2005's edition-

Men's 800m
The meet record is held by Mark Everett of Florida, who ran 1:44.70 back in 1990. This is one record I feel that can be attacked and broken, if the race plays out to an all-out war over two lactic-acid filled laps of agony. The prime players are Texas Tech phenom Jonathan Johnson, and Latvia's Dmitrijs Milkevics of Nebraska. Milkevics, only a sophomore, has already run 1:45.10 in his loss to Johnson at the Big XII Championships, but got revenge by defeating Johnson in the NCAA Regional Championship, 1:46.48 to 1:47.27. Milkevics has 46.44 quarter-mile speed and has enough experience to beat the Senior from Tech, but...
Johnson is the favorite. He holds the stadium record at 1:44.77, which he set at the 2004 Olympic Trials, which is his personal best. He also holds 46.20 quarter-mile speed, and is renowned for his front-running abilities. If these two horses get after it in the finals, watch for Johnson to drop a meet record, 1:44.20 over the likes of Milkevics and Florida A&M's Kevin Hicks. Oh, and just to satisfy your curiosity, Everett had 44.59, 400m speed to boot with his 1:43.20 best half-mile time.

Men's 3000m Steeplechase
I think it is safe to state that Henry Rono's (Washington State) 8:12.39 record from 1978 will remain untouched for the next decade or perhaps for the eternity of the NCAA Championships. Not because I do not think that another NCAA athlete could approach such a time, but moreso that if an athlete does show the potential to drop an 8:12 during the collegiate season, that the runner will turn professional before he/she runs the time. The only prospect I can see of this record being broken would be by a foreigner much like a Rono or David Kimani or Alistair Cragg, who comes to the NCAA as a relative unknown, turns out to be a phenomenal talent, loves the training/college environment and hangs around for 4 years. Otherwise, a Dan Lincoln or Anthony Famiglietti-type runner will have to perform phenomenally in such a meet, but it appears that most American steeplers run their fastest post-collegiately. Still, however, 8:12 for a Steeplechase is quite stout and I do not see this record being broken any time soon...

Men's 5000m
Sydney Maree holds this other "ancient" record, as the Villanova alum's 13:20.63 was run back in 1979. Maree's record is quite an excellent time, a time which is still run in high quality championship races as the Olympics and the World Championships. More and more collegians are running into the 13:20's during the season, so I could see this record being broken, but the conditions would have to be perfect and the preliminary races would need to be pedestrian. The record could be threatened this year, as the 5000 has one of the best fields in quite some time with potential sub-13:30 guys Ian Dobson (13:27 in 2005), Robert Cheseret (defending champion), Nick Willis (untested at 5000m), Matt Tegenkamp (13:31), Chris Solinsky and Brent Vaughn, among those with the ability to push the race to such a time. This race will have to be fast because of the presence of Michigan's Nick Willis. This middle-distance prodigy of New Zealand has won all of his 5000m with blistering kicks that his 3:32, 1500m speed produces. The only way this field has a chance against Willis is to push the pace from the gun. I can easily see Colorado's Vaughn forcing the pace early in the race with Cheseret of Arizona hanging in the back, waiting for Solinsky (Wisconsin) to take a turn up front, perhaps Ryan Hall of Stanford feeling confident with his own kick to wait. If this race plays out like a time-trial, like an all-out attempt to break Willis, I can see Cheseret and perhaps Dobson both beating Willis, much how like Cragg ran out the kick of the indoor 3000m in 2004, with Cheseret taking the title. Could we see a sub-13:20? I do not think so, but sub-13:25 is not out of the question.

HARRA Summer Celebration

The Houston Area Road Runners Association invites all members to its Summer Celebration, Saturday, June 4th, at 6pm at the Spaghetti Warehouse at 901 Commerce, Downtown.

Food and Fun! Awards and Recognition!

Special Guest Speaker: Bart Yasso.

$15 Members, $25 Non-Members

Easy on-line registration at www.harra.org