Distance Runners Discover (Again) That Oxygen Density Matters
Yes, folks, low oxygen density is a thing. And, yes again, it matters quite a bit to distance runners at elevation.
We could quibble over how much impact (more on this in a moment) conditions impacted the Mullen 1600s on Saturday, but the 3200s were definitely dealt a serious blow by the conditions.
The density altitude at the Mullen track checked in at 8100+ feet of elevation at 5 PM, and winds were gusting to about 20 mph. And, the distance runners struggled. Only 6 of 24 girls, all of whom made a cut to enter the race, broke 12 minutes. Only 3 of 22 boys, all of whom made a similar cut, managed to break 10 minutes (and those not by much).
Density altitude calculations for the 1600 were closer to 7900 feet of elevation and winds were more in the 5 - 10 mph range for those races. In all, the 1600--being more anaerobic in nature--is less impacted by conditions of low oxygen density than the 3200, but it's not unreasonable to speculate that 1600 times could have easily been a couple seconds faster under more favorable conditions.
Having now given the oxygen density its due, let's now give those who dealt with it their due.
Lauren Offerman set a blistering early pace in the girls 1600 and ended up winning by 10 seconds. What Offerman seemed to have her heart and mind most set on, however, was a sub-5 time. She came up short of that by the thinnest of margins, stopping the clock at 5:00.52. Perhaps better still, she did that by putting each of her four laps within a second of 1:15.
In that race, Mountain Vista's Caroline Eck ran a spirited last 100 meters to nip Roosevelt's Madi Kenyon at the finish line, but finishing but a hair over 5:10.
A similarly tight finish accompanied the next-to-last heat of the girls 1600. This time it was Green Mountain sophomore Kasey Klocek and Battle Mountain sophomore Naomi Harding charging their way to a pair of 5:13s.
The top heat of the boys 1600 proved to be a battle of attrition. The field was content to let Tanner Norman take the lead, but not content to give him any space in the early going. Norman sailed through the first lap just a shade under 65 seconds, but the entire field was still nipping at his heels at that point.
The end of the second lap told a similar story. This time, Norman went by at just over 2:11. Six competitors still remained within a second-and-a-half of Norman's pace.
Some serious thinning of the field took place on lap three. Norman went through at 3:15-and-change, and by this time the number of effectual pursuers had been whittled down to two--Mountain Vista's Joshua Romine and Carter Dillon.
When Norman hit the afterburners on lap three, he was able to gain separation on Romine and Dillon and eventually ran to a winning margin of just under three seconds at 4:17.99. But Joshua Romine--who has heretofore been known in track circles as almost solely a 3200 type--earned some serious 1600 credentials with a 4:20.88.
Dillon and Air Academy's Cal Banta rounded up the sub-4:25s in the field. Nobody else managed a sub-4:30 (in any heat).
When you assemble a field as strong as the Mullen 1600 and end up only four sub-4:30s, that's one good indicator that conditions were monkeying with the results a little.
The girls 3200 was won by Kasey Klocek in 11:30, followed by Liberty Ricca at 11:32. Denver South's Yonatan Kefle and Alamosa's Isaiah DeLaCerda battled to a very close finish in the boys 3200, both finishing at 9:56-and-change.
There are some days when you just have to go out, race, and forget about the clock. This was one of those days.