KIMbia Athletics

KIMbia’s Sean Quigley returned to his high school stomping grounds on Sunday and was able to score a familiar result.  Quigley, a Massachusetts native, won the 20th annual Mayor’s Cup 8k Cross Country Championship over a strong field in Boston’s Franklin Park, the same place he won a state championship as a senior at Archbishop Williams High in 2002.  Quigley clocked a 23:54 to edge out second place Jacob Korir by one second.  Third place Andrew Ledwith was close behind in 23:57.

Racing in a lead group of five early on in the race, Quigley and Korir seperated themselves on the final loop of the 8k course.  Despite not leading once the whole race as the duo approached the finish line, Quigley laid down a perfectly timed sprint finish to gain a decisive one second lead as he broke the tape.

Perhaps the biggest win of 24 year old Sean Quigley’s young career, the Mayor’s Cup 8k is by far the most prestigious all-comers cross country race in the nation.  For his effort, Quigley earned a total of $900 in prize money between being the overall winner and top American finisher.

Full results for the Mayor’s Cup can be found here.

The conclusion of the World Athletics Final means that the 2009 track and field season has come to a close for us.  We saw many terrific performances, as our thirteen athletes who hit the track turned in a total of fourteen personal best performances, and with KIMbia talents collecting six top-five finishes in the 5000m and 10,000m races at the US National Championships — including four spots on the American World Championship team.  In particular, we were proud to dominate the Men’s 5000m in Eugene, with five runners in the top nine, and to see OTC member Matt Tegenkamp join one of the most exclusive clubs in US distance running, by going under 13-minutes in the 5000m with his 12:58.56 clocking on a chilly night in Brussels.

If you have questions for any of the members of Team KIMbia about this 2009 season,  please send them to questions[AT]kimbia[DOT]net or post them in the comments below!  If you need a quick refresher on some of the performances from the season, check the athlete bio pages or our race recaps, below.  Make sure you get your questions in by the end of the day Tuesday, September 22! Read the full article

After hearing James Carney’s comments on his strong 10.000m effort at US Champs, we wanted to open up the lines and let you pick the brains of the rest of our athletes, with regards to their efforts at Nationals.  You asked, now they respond:

Matt, how do you focus during a race, specifically on the last couple of laps? –Jacob McRoberts

Preparation for a race always starts in practice. (That sounds simple enough, right?) But this has been a very tough year of training and our races actually seem a little easier because of it.  It is always harder to get mentally prepared for practice, so we really try to concentrate on showing up to practice ready to put in the hard work.  Once in a race setting I just try to focus on competition!  If I worry about competing against the other athletes and forget everything else, it allows me to hurt that much more.  I don’t want to get in a situation where another athlete is able to run away from me so competition allows me to push through the pain as the race progresses. In the 5k, the race doesn’t really start until the last 1200m and we have worked on staying very relaxed until that point, trying to waste as little energy as possible. That allows me to stay mentally fresh and really get ready for the grind to the finish line. That last 1200m of the race has been a real work in progress the last few years and I am very confident in my finish. You just have to compete!!! Read the full article

After this past weekend, we couldn’t be any prouder of the athletes with whom we have the pleasure of working.  There was a sweep of 5000m titles north of the Rio Grande (Simon Bairu and Matt Tegenkamp) and three additional US athletes with podium finishes and a national team berth (Chris Solinsky, Evan Jager and Tim Nelson).  But moreover, KIMbia athletes competed this weekend with verve and with guts, even if, in some cases, the end result was not a full reflection of their efforts. Read the full article

KIMbia — and Coach Jerry Schumacher — saw three more athletes join Tim Nelson (10,000m) on the American team for this summer’s World Championships, with Matt Tegenkamp claiming his first outdoor National Title in 13:20.  Tegenkamp, Chris Solinsky (13:20) and Evan Jager (13:22) earned a decisive sweep in the Men’s 5000m, by running brilliant tactical races at Hayward Field, blitzing the final lap in 53 seconds.  Sean Quigley had his best showing at an outdoor national championship, hanging with the lead pack to the bell and ultimately finishing 7th, while Brent Vaughn took 9th. Watch the race in it’s entirety below, and check back for more the rest of this week! Read the full article

Sean Quigley journeyed north to compete in the 5000 at the Toronto for the Festival of Excellence, where he took 4th in 13:43 on a rainy night.  Filling the first three spots were top-shelf talents Saif Saaeed Shaheen (Qatar), Dathan Ritzenhein (USA), and Haron Lagat (Kenya), in what was generally a rather slow affair. Click here for full results from the June 11th race.

Next up for Sean are the USATF National Championships where he is qualified for both the 5000m and 10,000m.

Sean was interviewed as part of a RunnersWorld.com piece covering the Puma Street Meet in Boston a couple weekends ago, and talked about how he discovered the sport of running. Read the full article

In athletics, there’s rarely such a thing as an unqualified success, but a pair of KIMbia athletes opened the outdoor season last night with performances in that vicinity.

At the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, CA, Chris Solinsky and Sean Quigley took to the track to get their respective seasons underway, and came out guns a-blazing. In the 5000m, Solinsky clocked 13:18, good for 3rd, just behind Juan Luis Barrios and Anthony Famiglietti, and a mere 6 seconds off his lifetime best. In the same race, Quigley actually lowered his personal best by 3 seconds, running 13:27 to take 5th.

Full results here. To see performance details… Read the full article

A bit more than two weeks after opening the year with a victory in Central Park, Sean continued his winning ways at last weekend’s Bermuda Festival of Races. Sean won the 10K in 29:35, beating Kenyan Joel Mully by 2 seconds. Haron Lagat (29:52) and Rob Koborsi (29:58) also broke 30:00 on the extremely hilly course.

Depending on how you look at it, Sean either closed 2008 on a high note or got 2009 off to a great start by winning the New Year’s Eve Midnight Run in Central Park. Sean ran 18:45 for the 4-mile course to beat Brian Olinger by 8 seconds.

Times were slower than usual for the race because of the temperature (about 20 degrees at the start), the wind (20 MPH or so) and occasional icy patches.

Results are here.