I slept in today because I didn't have to be in Ohio until 2:00 in the afternoon. I got up about 7:30 and walked over to the briefing area. I talked to a lot of the guys that I had met on the trip so far and told them that I was riding up to Marietta, Ohio and there was a chance that I wouldn’t be riding with them to Washington, DC, but I would make it to Washington, DC at some point. I watched the group leave and then I went back to pack up mu stuff.
I was the last person to leave the campground because everyone else went with the group. I stayed in the water park and reorganized my stuff. Once I got all straightened out, I headed out to Marietta, Ohio.
I got there about 1:30 and found a place to park where I could watch my stuff while I was watching the track meet. I got there in time to see the 4x100 relay. St. Thomas was the top seed and they won their heat. It was neat to see another conference team do well.
I talked to Joe Dunham, the head coach from Central College in Iowa. We talked for a while and he was a very interesting guy. I told him about my trip and he was fascinated. We talked about a lot of track stuff and I really enjoyed the conversation.
Joe Dunham - Head Coach of Central College
Hamline’s first person that ran on Thursday was Brandon Gleason. He was last guy to make it to Nationals in the 1500. He was in the second heat. He was running near the end of the pack for most of the race, but on the last lap he sprinted for the lead and was catching the leaders at the finish line and finished fourth so he was guaranteed a spot in the finals which had 12 runners. The top eight make All-American.
Brandon Gleason
I talked to the guys in the 4x400 relay who were running in a few hours. I told them they had to make the finals so they could be All-Americans. This race was very important for them. They seemed very relaxed which I thought was a good thing. I wished them good luck and they went off to prepare for the prelims.
Hamline's 4x400 Relay team
Brent Nelson, Tyson Molitor, Brant Luehman and Andy Marnach
St. Thomas, Bethel and Gustavus ran in the first heat. I thought this was unusual because they had three schools from the same conference in the same heat while the second heat had no schools from the MIAC.
St. Thomas won the first heat, Bethel came in second and Gustavus came in third. It was neat seeing three schools from the MIAC finish one-two-three at Nationals.
In the third heat, Hamline ran a good race, but they were in last place at one point. Tyson Molitor ran a great third leg and moved them up to third place. Brent Nelson ran down everyone but the guy from Nebraska Wesleyan and Hamline ended up getting 2nd place in their heat. Only the heat winner automatically made it to finals, but their time was fast enough to make it to finals and they should be All-Americans. I found it pretty interesting that a school would not even make All-Conference, but could make All-Americans. How funny!
Tyson Molitor
Brent Nelson
The last person from Hamline to run today was Margot Branigan in the 10,000 meter run. She was seeded 14th and she ran a great race and finished 10th out of 18 girls. She did a fabulous job and she was moving up in the latter part of the race. I think she will do better next year and make All-American.
Margot Branigan
Well, since Hamline is in the finals of the 4x400 relay, it looks like I will be staying in Ohio and not going to Washington, DC tomorrow. I can’t do that when Hamline's 4x400 relay is in the finals at Nationals.
After the race, I headed out of town to find a camp site. There was the Wayne National Forest just north of town. They had a bunch of camp sites that were all free. I ended up going to the third one before I found one that had an empty camping space. I threw up my tent at the one end. I will be asleep in no time tonight.
