Keith Bechtol on the starting line of the 10KKeith Bechtol finished 14th in the NCAA 10K. while Bonnie Meekins finished 18th in the heptathlon.
The narrowest of margins, one single second in a half-hour race, was all that prevented senior Keith Bechtol (Alexandria, Va.) from earning his first All-America honor last night at the NCAA Track Championships. The 10,000m race was a slow, strategic race won by Shadrack Songok of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in 28:55.83. Bechtol finished 14th in 29:20.05, less than a second behind the 13th-place finisher who was the last to earn All-American honors.
Click the arrow to see the beginning of the NCAA 10K and here to see Keith at the 9K and see how close he was to the leaders (as he explained in his post) late in the race.
The narrowest of margins, one single second in a half-hour race, was all that prevented senior Keith Bechtol (Alexandria, Va.) from earning his first All-America honor last night at the NCAA Track Championships. The 10,000m race was a slow, strategic race won by Shadrack Songok of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in 28:55.83. Bechtol finished 14th in 29:20.05, less than a second behind the 13th-place finisher who was the last to earn All-American honors.
Click the arrow to see the beginning of the NCAA 10K and here to see Keith at the 9K and see how close he was to the leaders (as he explained in his post) late in the race.
William and Mary senior Bonnie Meekins (Herndon, Va.) capped her five years in Williamsburg by finishing 16th in the heptathlon at the NCAA Championships. She moved up from 18th after the first day with a near-career-best performance in the javelin throw and a new personal best in the 800m run to total 5,444 points. Meekins got a boost in the standings before she even went to sleep last night, as prohibitive favorite Diana Pickler of Washington State was disqualified from the 200m dash after stepping on the lane line too many times, dropping her from first to 25th. Opening the day with the long jump, Meekins jumped 18’ 9”, good enough to keep pace in the field at 18th overall. She began her move upwards in the javelin throw, where her fifth-place throw of 134’ 1” was only one centimeter shy of her personal-best in the event (which converts to 134’ 1” as well). In the 800m run, she punched the accelerator with a personal-best performance of 2:18.59, placing sixth in the event and moving up two spots in the final standings to finish 16th.
Watch Bonnie running the hurdles at the NCAA meet.
You can also see Bonnie high jumping by clicking here and here.
Keith Bechtol was kind enough to share his thoughts on his NCAA 10K effort.
Bonnie, Coach Gibby, Coach Stimson, and I arrived in Sacramento Monday night and spent most of Tuesday and Wednesday relaxing and making final preparations before the big competition. My final workout on Monday went well. I was able to finish up with a fast 1000 at the end which is big confidence booster for me. I'm not known for my leg speed. After the workout, I felt a shade tight high up on my left hamstring. That made me a bit nervous going into this week but I took a light day on Tuesday and Coach Gibby helped stretched out my hamstring. By Thursday everything seemed back in order... click here to see the rest.
Bonnie, Coach Gibby, Coach Stimson, and I arrived in Sacramento Monday night and spent most of Tuesday and Wednesday relaxing and making final preparations before the big competition. My final workout on Monday went well. I was able to finish up with a fast 1000 at the end which is big confidence booster for me. I'm not known for my leg speed. After the workout, I felt a shade tight high up on my left hamstring. That made me a bit nervous going into this week but I took a light day on Tuesday and Coach Gibby helped stretched out my hamstring. By Thursday everything seemed back in order... click here to see the rest.
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The check-in procedure at NCAAs is a bit more formal than at other meets but nothing too out of the ordinary. In the bullpen the other 10K runners seemed more relaxed than I expected. Somehow I thought the atmosphere would be a bit more charged up at a big meet but everyone seemed focused on their own preparations. The officials marched us from the practice area to the hipping tent by the track about 15 minutes before the start of the race. It felt almost like a small parade going across the dirt through the chutes to the track in our spikes all ready to go. The crowd around us at this point was excited but the racers remained calm as far as I could tell. Next the officials let us out onto the track, which was great because I didn't have a chance to run any strides with all the check-in procedures. We had plenty of time to loosen up and just before the start of the race the decatholon results were announced. (Joe Detmer of Wisconsin ran a 4:04 1500 after 9 other events in the decathalon - impressive.) I lined up on the waterfall number 23. I think I was seeded 18 going into the race.
The race itself was not what I was expecting at all. Coach Gibby and I were thinking that the race may start fast and just roll along at 69 pace. What actually happened was that the pace varied considerably between 68 and 73 for the first 5 miles with a tight pack running at least 2 wide. I tried to stay outside in lane 2 most of the way so that I could respond in case there was a move. But we just kept waiting and waiting and it seemed that nobody wanted to attack. I think the entire field was nervous because people were moving back and forth all around me. I tried to stay out of trouble but still got spiked a few times and almost tripped a fellow from Geogia during one squeeze. Before the race I promised myself that I would not get spooked by the high level competition and that I would run my own race regardless. I made some lousy tactical decisions at regionals the week before pressing the pace when it just was not my style. This time I was content to guard my position in the middle of the lead pack. Even after 8 years of racing I am still learning!
As laps clicked off I realized that it was getting later and later in the race and still nobody had made a concerted push for the lead. I told myself to have confidence that I could drive 2 miles to the finish. But all of a sudden we were over 20 minutes on the race clock and there would be only a few more laps to go. Somehow I managed not to panic even though I knew that probably most of the field had better mile PRs. (My best in 4:23 from a workout, not something to brag about in college distance running.) Finally, Rupp and McDougal, two of the prerace favorites, shifted out with about 2K to go. Coach Gibby warned me that the pace was about to pick up and to shift speed gradually when the surge was made. There was a building acceleration and then with a mile to go everyone in the lead group started moving. I tried to match the pace and ran the next 800 at my mile pr pace to keep up. Then the leaders started pulling away and I had to collect my breathing a bit to make sure I would have enough for the last lap. As I entered the final lap the crowd became much louder as the race broke wide open - remember that the pack had stayed closely packed for about 5 miles. I could hear Coach Stimson and Coach Gibby yelling and I tried to hold form as best I could for the final stretch. I had no idea who was around me and sprinted through the line but still Jeff Powers from Central Michigan caught me with about 25 meters to go.
I wasn't sure exactly what happened. I think I was mostly baffled that the NCAA 10K had turned into a mile sprint! I waited on the track for the results to be posted on the jumbotron to try to make sense of what happened. I didn't make the first page showing the top 9 finishers but I could see that I wasn't too far behine based on the names and who I could remember seeing on the final stretch. Then the next page came up and I saw I was 14th and had run 29:20 - my second fastest time ever. I had no idea we would be able to go that fast with the strange pacing over the first 5 miles. I also realized at this point that I probably would be right on the border for All-American. As it turned out, I was the 9th American in the field and the honor goes to the top 8. So close! I missed it by about a second in that final sprint for the line. Still though, I was able to improve on my seed position and more importantly ran a composed race in a situation that is not usually my strength - a race with a big close. I'm most pleased with being able to come to the NCAAs and walk away feeling like I gave it my best shot against some fantastic competition. Just making the meet was better than an individual career goal for me.
After the race it felt odd not to meet up with my buddies on the team and go out for a cool down and shake out. I always have enjoyed cross country for the team aspect of everyone focusing on a single mission so finishing up my last track race and not being able to share that experience immediately with teammates was strange. My Dad came to the race so I was able to visit with him. Today, the two of us ran along the American river by the Sac State campus. I think I'm still in denial about my career at William and Mary being over. The entire experience was amazing and I can't imagine what I would have done at college without the friends I made on the team. A bunch of folks called or sent messages before the race to wish me luck which felt great, especially after graduation when most people had left campus for the summer. Williamsburg has been quiet lately so it has been particularly encouraging to hear from them. A big thank you to everyone who supported me along the way - coaches, trainers, teammates, family, professors, classmates, and the whole W&M track community. I have had every opportunity imagineable to succeed with everything from ambitious training partners I'd trust to the end and careful race plans to shoes and trips to fast 10K races on the West Coast. It has been more than fun and I'll miss the team atmosphere tremendously. Next year will feel like starting completely over for me. Train hard and run smart in cross country next fall. I'll be watching.
Keith Bechtol
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