Two PRs at IC4As, Andrews Looks to Travel

(5/31/2012 11:34 AM) Full Results

While the bulk of the squad stayed close to home in Cambridge for the Open New England Championships, two of the top Jumbo distance runners traveled down to Princeton for the third time this year to go up against many of the best D1 athletes on the east coast at the IC4A Championship.

Kicking things off in a big way on Friday night was junior Tyler Andrews. Earlier this year, he had lowered his 10k PR by over 40 seconds to 30:57 at Princeton’s Sam Howell Invitational. (He PR’d there in the 10k in 2011, too.) Andrews had no intention of breaking that streak of lifetime bests. After a pedestrian first 400m, his pack settled into a strong rhythm of 72-second laps. He came through halfway in 15:15 but looked strong and comfortable. His eighth kilometer was 3:00, but at 9k Andrews was fighting hard to hang onto to sub-30:30 pace. After a couple 74s, he gathered and pushed hard to the finish, closing his last lap in 67.3 and last kilometer in 2:59 to finish in 30:22.82, a 35-second PR. In the end, his slowest K was the first (3:10) and his final 5k of 15:07 was the third fastest of his life. His mark moved him to 20th on the national list with one weekend of competition left. The top 20 qualify for the national championships in Claremont, CA.

On Saturday it was junior Jeff Marvel’s turn, albeit with a slightly different goal. While Andrews targeted a national qualifier, Marvel is set to compete in the 800m at NCAAs in two weeks. This weekend, he moved up to the 1500m—the event he won at NESCACs—in pursuit of Jesse Faller’s (’10) school record. Unfortunately, he would have to settle for a mere two-second PR. The opening 800m saw a tight bunch fighting for position and Marvel almost constantly boxed in. Though he got free in the final lap, surges and moves in the first two laps left him flat in the last 200m. 3:50 will remain a goal for 2013, and for now Jeff will go into nationals with a PR of 3:52.75.


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