Masters athletes take center stage this week at the USA Masters Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Minnesota has a very strong masters community and is always well-represented at these meets. This year the meet will be held in Oshkosh Wisconsin July 9^th – July 12^th.

If you do not follow masters athletics, you may be surprised to know that the Roger Federer of age-group high jumping resides in Minnesota. Tom Langenfeld will attempt to add another national championship to his trophy shelf and is the subject of this week’s question:

Yes/No: Will Tom Langenfeld win the M70 High Jump at the USA Masters Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday?

Tom Langenfeld has won high jump titles in eight consecutive USA Masters Outdoor meets. Lagenfeld was second to Emil Pawlik at the National Indoor meet and Pawlik returns to battle Lagenfeld outdoors. Lagenfeld has won 29 USA Masters high jump titles in his career and is a member of the USA Master Hall of Fame.

To play our game, simply type "yes" or "no" into the subject line of an e-mail and send it to us at DtBFantasy [AT] gmail [DOT] com before 1:00 P.M. CDT, Saturday, July 11th. Please put your answer in the subject line of the e-mail and make sure your full name appears somewhere in the e-mail. We will continue to offer a bonus for participants making their debut in Yes/No - a correct answer will be worth two points for any first-time players.

My Answer: Yes.

Yes/No Results from last week: The correct answer to "Will Patrick Smyth be the first Minnesota finisher at the USA 10K Championship on Saturday?" was yes. Smyth narrowly beat Andrew Carlson and Antonio Vega to win the prize as top Minnesotan in this race. 9 contestants answered correctly last week.

You can find the all the results and leaderboards at DtB Fantasy Corner.

Good luck and thanks for playing Yes/No on DtB!

Bjorklund Half Champ in Doping Controversy

Liza Hunter-Galvan, the 2008 Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon women's champion, faces a hearing in her native New Zealand over what appears to be a failed drug test.

Reports in New Zealand's Auckland Star-News, HERE, in the San Antonio Express News, HERE, and the Duluth News-Tribune, HERE, say the 40-year-old Kiwi, who is based in San Antonio, must face the New Zealand Sports Disputes Tribunal for resolution of the matter.

Details of the issue are unclear as neither Hunter-Galvan (pictured) nor Athletics New Zealand are commenting on the matter.

Hunter-Galvan won the 2008 Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon in 1:13:20. Later that summer she represented her country in the Beijing Olympic Marathon, where she ran 2:34:51 for 35th place.

In the 2007 Grandma's Marathon, Hunter-Galvan battled with eventual champion Mary Akor before dropping out of the race in the late-going.

Kevin Pates of the News-Tribune reports that Hunter-Galvan did not return a positive doping test at Grandma's in 2008. The Star-Times says the postive test did not come at the Olympics.

Photo by Charlie Mahler.

Eden Prairie Tops Girls' Class AA XC Poll

It's only July 8, but apparently it's not too early for the upcoming season's first high school cross country rankings. Dave Emmans, the man in charge of rankings for the large school girls, actually tabulated the rankings listed below back in June, based on last year's Section and State Meet performances.

"I take out all seniors, move up all retuning runners, then add times behind the last returner to fill out the top seven," Emmans, the girls' coach at Wayzata, explained to DtB. "I don’t take into account track performances because we don’t know who is making the switch from another sport for sure. I score all top seven to account for team depth, but don’t take into account JV strength. Times are averaged from the section meet races using the state meet course as the constant."

Here's how the top teams in Girls' Class AA stack up according to Emmans (the notes on each team are his as well) ...

1. Eden Prairie - They return 6 out of seven runners that scored an outstanding 48 points at the state meet and went on to finish 11th at the Nike national meet. Even without state champion Opitz, they return all-state runners Laura Lawton (11), 6th, Alex Rudin (11), 10th, and Megan Platner (11) 12th.

2. Coon Rapids - They return their top 5 runners that won section 5AA and finished 7th at the state meet. Allstate runner Kayla Johnson (12) leads the way with a 20th place finish at the state meet.

3. Elk River - The Elks become a team to beat with the eligibility of Abbi Aspengren (11), 11:17 3200 meter in track. Add senior Emma Bates 7th place finish at last years state meet, and you have one of the best 1-2 punches around. 6 out of seven return from the 3rd place finishers in 7AA.

4. Grand Rapids - Extremely young team last year that finished 9th at the state meet. Top finisher was 36th at the state meet, Kala Erickson (12), All seven are back and you often will see significant improvement from 7th an 8th graders.

5. Winona - They finished 13th at the state meet last year, but have all seven returning. Add to that the runner-up in state, Claire Guidinger (12), and you have a chance to be very good. 2nd to Lakeville North in 1AA last year.

6. Lakeville North - Traditional power-house that gets hit with graduation this year. Finishing 2nd last year at the state meet, they lose 4 out of their top seven, but return Taylor Perkins (9), 31st at the state meet. The Bob Ertl gang always reloads and they should be solid again next year.

7. Wayzata - Finishing 3rd last year in 6AA, they return all seven runners. Seniors Robyn Zeidler and Maddie Lambert lead the way as individual qualifiers for the state meet last year.

8. Chaska - Six out of seven return for a team that looks to rebound from a disappointing last place finish at last years state meet. Interestingly, Chaska will be splitting into two schools this year, the other being Chanhassen. According to Dr Stallman, all his key runners are staying put at Chaska.

9. Centennial - Another solid squad that returns 6 of 7. They finished 12th last year at the state meet, but lose their top runner to graduation.

10. Moorhead - They finished 5th last year at the state meet but drop this fall in the poll due to losing 3 of 7 to graduation.

11. Waseca - Notoriously slow starting team, they return all seven runners. Led by all-state runner Hannah McGrath (11), 22nd at the state meet.

12. Shakopee - This team drops in the poll due to depth, but up front they are very good with a 6th place finish last year. Emerging talent Maria Hauger (9) finished 9th at the state meet and leads a very young group up front. Although they are at 12th in the pre-season poll, they could easily be a podium team by the end of the year.

13. Mankato East - Very solid top 6th that finished 4th last year in 2AA. State meet qualifier Amanda Blain (12), leads the way.

14. Hopkins - This is a very scary team with the Janis Klecker daughters set to join the team this fall. This team, if everyone is healthy , can easily be a top 10 team.

15. Eastview - Led by Anne Ferguson (11), this team finished 14th at last years state meet. Depth is an issue, but they have the talent to make it back.

16. Prior Lake - Another team that you could argue that is ranked to low. Edged Eastview for the 3AA crown last year and finished 10th at the state meet. Led by Taylor Scholl (10), 33rd at the state meet, this group will be good next fall.

17. Andover - Did you know how Andover got its name? In the 1800’s there was a huge train wreck, witnesses said that the train went over and over and over. Led by Madeline McKeefry (8), 41st at the state meet. No train wreck here with 6 of 7 returning.

18. Rosemount - Coach Harder getting a little love with his girls squad this year with 6 of 7 returning.

19. Woodbury - They drop to 19 after a 3rd place finish last year due to losing 3 of their top 5 to graduation. They do return all-state runner Laura Domski (11), 19th at the state meet, but have a lot of shoes to fill after her.

20. New Prague - 3rd place squad in 3AA, they return enough to make it to state. You always have a good chance when you have an all-state runner, Molly Wick (10), 18th at the state meet.

Best of the rest ...

Monticello - Led by the Seidenkranz sisters, I have a feeling you will here from this team next fall ... Lakeville South - Just edged by Winona last year, some feel this is a top 12 team ... Stillwater - Always has great individuals, Caitlin Hewes (11), 4th at the state meet ... Minnetonka - I know, I know, sacrilegious, not having the perennial top 5 team in state not ranked. Knowing Coach Jane Reimer-Morgan we haven’t heard the last of the Skippers.

Burns 2nd in USA Youth High Jump

Shaina Burns of Prior Lake finished 2nd in the Youth Girls' high jump at the USA Youth Championships held in Ypsilanti, Michigan last weekend.

The 13-year-old Burns cleared 5-3. Event winner Kira Larson of North Dakota won the event at 5-5. Full results of the event are HERE.

Earlier in the meet, Burns finished 4th in the pentathlon with 2702 points. She also finished 4th in her heat of the 200m hurdles in 31.02 and 6th in her prelim of the 100m hurdles in 16.48.

Chris Dallager, USA Track and Field Minnesota's Youth Athletics Chair, told DtB the the meet doesn't typically draw many of Minnesota's top young age-group athletes.

Age divisions for the meet broke down as follows:

Bantam ... for athletes born 1999 and later
Midget ... for athletes born 1997-1998
Youth ... for athletes born 1995-1996
Intermediate ... for athletes born 1993-1994
Young Men/Women ... for athletes born 1991-1992

Dallager noted that Rashawn Fountain of Eden Prairie placed 12th in the Intermediate Boys' long jump with 19-0. Fountain also finished 4th in his 400m prelim in 53.11. He was disqualified in the 200m for a lane violation, however.

Full results from the meet can be found HERE.

Results from the USA World Youth Trials meet, also held in Ypsilanti, are HERE.

Smyth 5th at USA 10K Championship

Patrick Smyth, the newest addition to Team USA Minnesota's stable of distance runners, finished 5th at Saturday's USA Men's 10k Championship, held in conjunction with the Peachtree Road Race.

Smyth clocked 28:49 on the streets of Atlanta to finish 14th overall in the race.

Abdi Abdirahman won the USA 10K in 28:11. Sammy Kitwara of Kenya took the overall race title in 27:22.

Results and a recap of the race are available HERE.

Former Golden Gopher Andrew Carlson finished 7th in the USA Championship in 28:53. Team USA Minnesota's Antonio Vega was 11th in 29:09, while teammate Josh Moen was 13th in 29:30.

USA Championship results can be found HERE.

Leer, Schwitzer Win in Excelsior ... Will Leer, who finished 5th in the USA Outdoor Championship 1500 meters in Eugene, Oregon a week ago, won the Saturday's Excelsior Firecracker 10K. The Minnetonka grad clocked 31:19 for a comfortable win.

Hopkins High School alum Emily Schwitzer, who will be a junor at Duke next fall, won the women's race in 38:21.

Find full results HERE.

Medtronic TC 10 Mile Lottery Opens Today

Lottery registration for the 11th annual Medtronic Twin Cities 10 Mile opens today. Sign-up for the drawing that will fill the race's 6500-runner field is open until July 15.

Known as "The Shortcut to the Capitol," the TC 10 Mile race starts near the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome and shares the last seven miles of the Twin Cities Marathon course, including the finish at the State Capitol.

The race is host in 2009 to the USA Men’s 10 Mile Championship.

Details about the on-line-only lottery sign-up can be found HERE.

Happy Independence Day from DtB!

Happy Birthday USA!

We know, we know ... we're posting these birthday wishes a day too early. But, we're closing the Down the Backstretch office complex (so to speak) on Friday to give the staff (so to speak) a three-day weekend to honor and celebrate America.

We'll be back on Monday with the latest news of running and track in Minnesota ... including the scoop on the USA Men's 10K Championship, the World Youth Trials, and, perhaps, a few road races with the words "firecracker" or "freedom" in their names.

Have a great 4th everyone!

Lakeville North: A Record and a Story

Casual Minnesota track and field fans can be forgiven if they were scratching their heads over the news last week that Lakeville North had broken the state's all-time boys’ high school record for the 4 x 100m relay at the Nike Outdoor National meet in Greensboro, North Carolina.

After all, didn’t Andover win the Class AA 4 x 100 at State?

Hadn't Lakeville North failed to qualify for State in the event?

Weren't the Panthers absent from the State 4 x 100 last year too?

Well, yes, yes, and yes.

But somehow, here the Panther team of Trevor Jellum, Jonny Anyaogu, Nate Sayler, and Nick Nelson was, running a 41.67 that eclipsed Eastview’s esteemed 2003 mark of 41.82 -- until then the only sub-42 team in Minnesota prep history.

Now, it is true, that slightly more astute observers of things-high-school-sprinting would have noticed that Lakveville North qualified three boys to State in the 100m dash, two of whom -- Anyaogu and Nelson – advanced to finals.

The Panther 4 x 100 also won the True Team 4 x 100m title over eventual Class AA champs Andover, edging the Huskies by .01 in 43.08. But for a disqualification at the Section 1AA meet – where Lakeville North won but was called for aiding on the final exchange – Lakeville North might have entered the MSHSL meet as the favorites.

In the end, many of the elements that made Lakeville North’s 41.67 a surprise for fans, were the same factors that drove Panther co-head coach Todd Endersbe and his squad to make the trip to Greensboro in the first place, although Endersbe says the the disappointments aren't the only reason the team went south to run fast.

“I think we would have gone in pursuit the of the state record in any case,” the former St.Thomas hurdle star told DtB, noting that the bad weather at the State Meet’s second day would have made a fast time there impossible, even if they had been in the meet.

The bid for the record had its complications, though. Two graduation parties scheduled for NON weekend needed to be rescheduled. In addition, the team’s usual leadoff runner, Shedrick Agyei, was unable to make the Greensboro trip due a prior commitment in Philadelphia that weekend.

Endersbe held a run-off for a spot on the squad between Kaleb Williams and Trevor Jellum, where Jellum, a hurdler and jumper by trade, earned the right to replace Agyei. The new role gave Jellum his own second chance on the season – the fastest qualifier to finals in the Section 1AA 110 hurdles, Jellum had false-started in the finals.

“It didn't seem like a gamble,” Endersbe said of the substitution “but we needed a fast replacement for Shed, a State meet qualifier in the 100m dash with an impressive 11.07 in Section. I knew Trevor had wheels, but I didn’t know how fast he was."

The Panthers’ arrived in Greensboro as the #24 seed in the 25-team boys 4 x 100. Endersbe admitted the squad was initially awed by the talent gathered at the meet, but he said they settled in after seeing reasonable times advance runners to the 100m finals.

“It gave them the mindset that, 'Maybe we belong,'” Endersbe said. “They then believed they could run with the best in the nation."

The squad proved they belonged when, from lane 1, they whisked the baton around the Greensboro track in 41.91 – the #2 mark in Minnesota high school history and a scant .09 off the Eastview record.

“I was just shaking,” Endersbe remembered after the prelim victory. “I couldn’t talk."

After the prelim, a North Carolina meet official asked of the Panthers’ if they’d run their suddenly modest-looking 43.08 seed time in a Minnesota snowstorm?

In what turned out to be a two-section final, the Panthers drew a better lane – lane 3 – and ran with the additional confidence gained from their stunning prelim.

They clocked the record-setting 41.67 to finish 4th overall and earn high school all-American honors as a team. You can watch the race HERE.

Endersbe admits to reacting emotionally to the final as well, but says the team was nonplussed.

“They looked at me and said, ‘Well, what did you expect us to do’?"

Actually, Endersbe confided that he’d had high expectation for the squad for more than a year.

“I made a prediction that I haven’t told anyone about until now," he revealed. "I thought the team could run 41.5.”

From that prediction, through all the ups and downs of their season, and culminating with their 41.67 at Nike Outdoor Nationals, Lakeville North is now a relay team -- and a story -- for the ages.

Photo by Paul Saxton, courtesy of Lakeville North. From left: Nelson, Saylor, Anyaogu, and Jellum.

For those distance running fans who are disappointed that the USA Outdoor Track Championships concluded last weekend, we have good news for you: There is another USA Championship on tap this weekend! The Peachtree 10k Road Race in Atlanta, Georgia will host the USA Men's 10K Championship on the 4th of July.

With four current or former Minnesotans in the elite field, we would like to know how you think the newest Minnesotan, Team USA Minnesota's Patrick Smyth, will do among them. So ...

Yes/No: Will Patrick Smyth be the first Minnesota finisher at the USA 10K Championship on Saturday?

In this contest, Minnesotan will be defined as anyone how went to college or high school in Minnesota or currently resides in Minnesota. The four Minnesota athletes currently listed on the startlist are former Gopher Andrew Carlson and Team USA Minnesota runners: Josh Moen, Antonio Vega, and Smyth.

For an introduction to Patrick Smyth, please reference DtB on Tuesday.

To play our game, simply type "yes" or "no" into the subject line of an e-mail and send it to us at DtBFantasy [AT] gmail [DOT] com before 6:30 A.M. CDT, Saturday, July 4th. Please put your answer in the subject line of the e-mail and make sure your full name appears somewhere in the e-mail. We will continue to offer a bonus for participants making their debut in Yes/No - a correct answer will be worth two points for any first-time players.

My Answer: Yes.

Yes/No Results from last week: The correct answer to "Will William Leer finish in the top three in the 1500 at the USA Championships in Eugene on Sunday?" was no, as Leer finished 5th. Leer was in contention for a top-3 finish throughout the race and came up just short. 5 contestants answered correctly last week.

You can find the all the results and leaderboards at DtB Fantasy Corner.

Good luck and thanks for playing Yes/No on DtB!

USA Championship Photos -- by Gene Niemi

Gopher vaulter Alicia Rue finished 7th with a PR-tying 14-3 1/4.

Katie McGregor (in blue) joined Amy Begley and Shalane Flanagan on the USA team for the World Championships in the 10,000m.

Will Leer (left) finished 5th in the 1500m.


Laura Hermanson (center) ran another PR with her 2:01.28, 5th place finish in the women's 800m.

Andrew Rock had a tough meet, running 47.10 and failing to advance from his prelim in the 400m.


Gopher heptathlete Liz Roehrig finished 6th in the event with 5802 points.

Photos by Gene Niemi.

Team USA Minn. Adds Notre Dame's Smyth

Team USA Minnesota has added seven-time Notre Dame all-American Patrick Smyth to its training group, organization president Pat Goodwin announced today.

Smyth (pictured), a native of Salt Lake City, Utah, finished 7th in the 10,000 meters at last weekend's USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon. Smyth concluded his college career earlier in June, placing 4th in the 10,000m at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. He has a best in the distance of 28:25.85.

He also has PRs of 3:47.15 in the 1500m, 7:55.41 in the 3000m, and 13:39.50 in the 5000m. The history major finished 11th at last fall's NCAA Cross Country Championships.

"We're very excited to have Patrick join Team USA Minnesota," coach Dennis Barker said. "He is one of the top U.S. distance runners coming out of college this year. He has great potential at a variety of distances and I'm looking forward to working with him."

Find Smyth's full Team USA biography HERE, at the Team USA Minnesota web-site.

Photo courtesy of Team USA Minnesota.

Carter Holmes Returns to the Track

Carter Holmes, the masters track and field star who suffered a massive heart attack in 2008, spending four-and-a-half days in a coma, returned to the sport he loves last weekend, participating in the Star of the North Games in Sauk Rapids on Saturday.

Competing in track events using a walker, Holmes contested the 100, 200, and 400 meter events. He also threw the shot, discus, and javelin at the meet. Holmes won the javelin event, in which he had no opponents.

Jim Schoffman, who won the 100, 200, and 400m events, told DtB that Holmes was "delighted" to be competing again.

Results of the meet can be found HERE.

Prior to the competition, the St. Cloud Times published THIS nice feature on Holmes.

Shortly after Holmes' heart attack, Jim Ferstle wrote THIS story about the incident and Holmes for DtB.