To see a post-race interview with Connor, click here.
To see photos from Connor's race and of other Eph competitors, click here.
Cleveland,OH -- Last year, struggling through an injury-plagued season, Connor Kamm '10 (Salt Lake City, UT) was unable to break 15:30 in the 5K. On Saturday, he broke 14:30, running 14:28 to win the NCAA Track & Field Championship in that event. Brian Cole '11 (St. Helena, CA), the other Eph to qualify for the finals in his event, finished 6th in the 1500m. In a tight 1500m final which saw seven athletes finish within 3 seconds of the winner, Cole ran 3:52.49 to sneak in for sixth just one hundreth of a second in front of seventh place Ivo-Milic-Strkalj of Haverford College.
The 4x400 team will also consider the 2010 season a success despite not making the finals in an ultra-competitive field. The team, which consists of two sophomores -- Richard Fusco (Cheshire, CT) and Tomas Kearney (Foxboro, MA) -- and two freshman -- Jabulani Blyden (Baltimore, MD) and Chris Fogler, ran 3:14.60 on Thursday, just missing a spot in the finals. The time was a season's best for the Ephs, and is even more impressive considering that two runners, Kearney and Fogler, were late additions to the squad as the Ephs looked to find the best combination of athletes. It should also be noted that the Ephs were without two All-Americans from last track season, Viktor Nagy '12 and Taylor Fitzgerald '11. And because all four athletes are underclassmen, expect to see this group continue to improve over the next two years.
|
| Brian Cole '11 |
The Ephs finised 21st at the NCAA Championships.
Connor Kamm's time of 14:28 is one of five fastest times in Eph history for the 5K and is just two seconds slower than his personal best time of 14:26. To run at or near one's PR at a National Championship race is very difficult as these races are often tactical. Yet Kamm was able to run close to his lifetime best while still having enough left to outkick two extremely talented runners, Nick Carwoski of Dickinson College and Kyle Brady of North Central College, who both ran 14:29. Brady had won the 10000m just two days earlier.
Kamm's strength in the 5000m, his advantage over the rest of the competition, is his ability to sustain a quick pace and then still unleash a blistering kick. This was exactly the strategy he employed en route to his 5K victory.
