by Larry Eder
Remember those old Henry Weinhard commercials from the 80s? Well, they were pretty funny, and iconic. But it all came down to something in the water (well, and the hops). Two Oregon men excelled this past weekend: Galen Rupp and Ryan Crouser. And both are challenging icons in their own rights.
So this last weekend, Galen Rupp pushes Mo Farah to European and British 5,000m records, and he guts it out to a new AR for 5,000 meters of 13:11.44. That was in Birmingham, UK for the AVIVA Indoor Grand Prix.
Ironically, Mo Farah broke a British record set February 12, 1982, by Nick Rose, of 13:21.27. In third place in that race, three seconds back, was the current coach of both Mo Farah and Galen Rupp: Alberto Salazar.
Afterwards, Alberto Salazar and UK athletics distance mentor Ian Stewart waxed on about how proud they were of how Mo Farah and Galen Rupp challenged each other. Salazar admitted how pleased he was that Mo and Galen trained well together as well. In the end, the 8,500 SRO crowd at AVIVA Indoor in the NIA stadium were enthralled!
Then, at the Simplot Games, Ryan Crouser just exploded in the shot put ring. He threw 23.54m, part of a masterful series of throws which added two plus feet to the indoor WJR for shot put! Crouser is from a family that are birthed with shot puts, javelins or disci in their hands.
Crouser had a tremendous series of throws at the Simplot Games. This writer believes that Crouser has a serious shot to challenge Micheal Carter’s epic high school record throw, now over three decades old.
Congrats to both Galen and Ryan for their fine performances! Galen is running the USA indoors after the earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand laid waste to downtown Christchurch and damaged the QE2 track facility.
Rupp, Crouser post record-setting performances
(courtesy of Tom Surber, USATF)
Galen
Rupp reclaimed the American indoor record for 5,000-meters, and Oregon
high schooler Ryan Crouser had a monster series of efforts in the shot
put at the Simplot Games to shatter the prep indoor record and highlight
last weekend’s track and field action.
Rupp,
who two years ago set an American indoor record of 13:18.12 at the
Tyson Invitational, ran a spirited race Saturday against Britain’s Mo
Farah at the Aviva Birmingham Grand Prix in England to finish second and
lop .06 off Bernard Lagat’s year-old AR in the event with a 13:11.44.
The mark makes Rupp the 13th-fastest all-time performer in the world.
Rupp and Farah recently became training partners under Alberto Salazar. “It
is always nice to have a familiar face in a race with you,” Rupp told
Doug Binder of The Oregonian. “When you train with someone day after day
you gain the confidence that no matter what, you can always stay with
them in a race.”
Crouser,
a senior at Barlow (Ore.) High School who won gold for Team USA at the
2009 IAAF World Youth Championships, twice broke the existing national
indoor record with the 12-pound shot Saturday at the Simplot Games in
Pocatello, Idaho, with his winning mark of 23.54m/77-2.75 adding almost
two and a half feet to the previous record of 22.83m/74-11, set by Brent
Noon in 1990.
Crouser
initially broke the record on his second attempt with a toss of
22.95m/75-3.5. His full series was 21.95m/72-0.5, 22.95m/75-3.5, foul,
foul, 23.54m/77-2.75, 23.15m/75-11.5. Crouser’s mark trails only the
legendary Michael Carter’s 24.27m/81-3.5 in 1979 on the all-time list.
