Sunday evening, Evan Jager and Chris Solinsky were the big stories for KIMbia out in Palo Alto at the Payton Jordan Invitational. Jager narrowly missed getting the win in a hot 5000, but still notched a major lifetime best. Ben True won to continue a torrid streak in which he was sixth at World Cross — but Jager took him to the wire, clocking a 13:14.60 to place second by just fourteen-hundredths of a second. The mark erased our resident steeplechase specialist’s previous PB of 13:22, set back in 2009 at the US Championships.

Meanwhile, Solinsky made his return to big-time competition after two and a half years of rehabbing his leg and rebuilding his fitness — and delivered a highly encouraging performance. Read the full article

At 13:07.00, Lopez Lomong‘s 5000m run on Friday night became the new American Indoor Record. It makes him the #11 performer in world history, and is the fastest performance ever run indoors on US soil. Also, he jumps two spots among Americans, regardless of venue, as the 8th-fastest man, indoors or out.

For the Jerry Schumacher-coached crew, the race started off hot with perfect pacing from Travis Mahoney of the local NJ*NYTC, followed by Dan Huling who towed the line of teammates from 2000m out beyond 3 “K.” After the first ten laps started right on 13:15 pace — their intended target and the World Championships “A” standard — Huling began to gradually squeeze down on the throttle. The slight quickening made for a painful grind the last two kilometers… but also made Lomong’s record possible, as he hit the 4-kilometer mark at 10:32.64 — checkpoint for a 13:10. The final kilometer featured three laps of under 31-seconds, and Lomong had the record. Despite beginning Friday as the national leader in the 800 for 2013, this record was earned on the back of his strength, as he held on for a final lap of 30.58, according to LetsRun.com.

Behind him, teammates were all en route to PB’s. Andrew Bumbalough ran Read the full article

Trying to run the Worlds “A” standard of 13:15? Indoors? Sounds so crazy it just might work… especially when you have six world-class teammates committed to that goal and willing to work together. (Doesn’t hurt to have an 8:13 steepler pacing, either.) Tonight, Matt Tegenkamp, Lopez Lomong, Evan Jager, Andrew Bumbalough and Elliott Heath (plus teammate Chris Derrick) will hit the track at the Armory in New York City for the Columbia Last Chance meet. A meet designed for college runners to achieve NCAA standards, Jerry’s Jets have their sights set on the World-level standard, instead. The opportunity was made possible with help from the New York Road Runners, and some of the KIMbia athletes racing shared their thoughts on what to expect… Read the full article

The number three American performer at two miles indoors is now Andrew Bumbalough, after he ran 8:13.02 at the Millrose Games on Saturday. Teammate Evan Jager ran 8:14 to grab #4 on the US all-time performer list, while Lopez Lomong won the Wanamaker Mile in a facility (and meet) record time of 3:51.26, making him #8 all-time in the world. As a Georgetown grad, Bumbalough feels a strong connection to the east coast and loves New York, and here he talks about the experience this past weekend.

What stands out about coming to New York to compete?
Flying into NYC is always exciting. The lights and buildings of Manhattan sparkling as the sun dips beyond the western skyline. I love this city and I especially love competing here.

Coming into Millrose, what were your expectations for the race?
There is an undoubted energy that surrounds this sport in the city that never sleeps. You feel it is almost your duty to go out and give a good performance because the fans give you so much back. The 2 mile set up to be an awesome race at Millrose. A record attempt certainly meant a quick early pace and so I was ready to hurt early.

How do you remember it playing out?
We came through the mile in 4:06, a pace for which I felt Read the full article

He followed in the footsteps of Eamonn Coghlan and Nourredine Morceli by making everyone follow his footsteps at the 2013 Millrose Games: Lopez Lomong ran 3:51.26 on Saturday night to win the Wannamaker Mile and join its list of renowned champions. Lomong’s performance also broke the event record, but that comes with a large caveat now that Millrose has been moved to an incomparably faster facility at the Armory. What needs no caveat, though, is his new #8 all-time ranking in the world — #3 among Americans — for the mile indoors. Moreover, as fast as the track at the Armory is, Lopez turned in the fastest performance in its long history by a whopping 2.7 second.

Lomong’s teammates from the Jerry Schumacher-coached branch of the Oregon Track Club ran stand-out races in the two-mile, as well. Andrew Bumbalough clocked a sterling 8:13.02 as the race runner-up, making him the #3 American all-time indoors and cracking Read the full article