Derek Parra gives last minute instructions to Josh Wood, Alex Mark, Terence Allmond (in orange) and Jessica Smith, before the 1000-meter races.Today our guys and girls would have brought home some great medals .... had they awarded them. Yes, there were no awards for any of the individual races nor the over-all winners if there were any. Now this may be typical and no one complained, but I wonder what inline skaters (or some of the people who post regularly on the boards) would have said after paying an entry fee for an American Cup or World Cup Qualifier (these races were combined-it just depended on how you signed up) and then did not receive an award of some kind.
Jillianne Rookard looks great coming out of turn 2 during today's 5000-meter race where she finished 2nd.
I must admit that I missed seeing the award ceremonies, probably because I am just used to it. But the one thing that I am most sad about, was during the playing of the National Anthem each morning... not everyone stopped to listen, including those playing LaCrosse, Soccer and Hockey in the middle. Even Pascal Briand from FRANCE mentioned to one of our skaters that he couldn't believe that people were not paying attention to the playing of our National Anthem. At the end I know I clapped, but I don't remember hearing too many more than that. The reason I might not have heard others was because of the size of the Oval....
Some of the positive things that happened this weekend while we were at the races was that our announcer was professional sounding and must have known that I was clueless about what was going on. He explained every race and how 4 skaters could skate in one heat on the track at the same (that was confusing a first, but by the time they came to heat 2, it became clear what was happening). He gave everyone their accumulative times as well as that individual lap time. I am good with times, but he kept me hopping!! I love that they were on time, literally to the second. That is no exaggeration. There were things that put them behind, like falls and a re-skate or two, but then we got back on time and it was business as usual.
MENS 10,000-METER:
1st - Patrick MEEK 14:16.30
2nd - Josh WOOD 14:17.66
3rd - Paul DYRUD 14:22.50
4th - Liam ORTEGA 14:46.24
5th - Keith CARNEY 14:48.52
6th - Brian BOUDREAU 15:21.25
7th - Paul NAHRWOLD 15:35.48
8th - Brandon ANDREWS 15:54.82
MENS 1000-METER RESULTS
1st - Carpenter 109.57
2nd - Pearson 109.73
3rd - Bokko-NOR 109.92-PB (stands for personal best)
4th - Aussprung (Jr National Record) 110.11
5th - Fredricks 110.22
6th - Needham 110.23
Wood 114.53-PB
Creveling 114.35-PB
Cano 114.10-PB
Allmond 116.20-PB
Gorman 113.30-PB
WOMENS 5000-METER
1st - Catherine RANEY 7:15.17
2nd - Jillianne ROOKARD 7:31.48
3rd - Anna RINGSRED 7:35.94
4th - Erica LANSER 7:41.93
Erin DIJULIO's time was 7:55.96 but was disqualified for interference during one of the cross-overs.
5th - April MEDLEY 7:56.87
6th - Marian FURST 9:02.67
WOMENS 1000-METER RESULTS
1st - Elli OCHOWICZ 1:17.45
2nd - Claudia PECHSTEIN - GER 1:117.85
3rd - Mia MANGANELLO 1:18.80
Rookard 1:22.68 PB
Gunther 1:21.75 PB
Richardson 1:20.67 PB
Combs 1:28.83
Cholewinski 1:23.00 PB - Fell first time and hit tail-bone was awarded a re-skate
