Posted Apr. 19, 2008
TUSCALOOSA, Alabama -- Matt Reed, recent U.S. citizen and at 6-feet 5-inches the tallest man in the ranks of elite triathlon, whipped heavy favorites Andy Potts and Hunter Kemper to take the second U.S. men’s Olympic Triathlon team trials event in Tuscaloosa Alabama Saturday.
In a race that went a little closer to form, Julie Swail Ertel used a lightning-quick bike to run transition to surge ahead of Sarah Haskins, then sealed her win with a personal best 35:19 10km– 23 seconds faster than Haskin’s run – to cross the line in 2:02:21 for a 29-second margin of victory. The win gave the 2000 Olympic water polo silver medalist a rare Olympic qualification in a second sport.
The men
Potts, who was disappointed with his performance in the first US Olympic Trials qualifier in Beijing, didn’t want to play a waiting game Saturday. ”I’ve been swimming well and I wanted to take the race from the start,” said Potts at a post-race press conference. “That was my best play, knowing my strengths and knowing the course layout.”
Potts’ 18:17 swim in the windswept, white-capped waters of the Black Warrior River gave him a 42-second lead starting the bike. Potts then made a brave effort to go it alone, but was overtaken by a solid surge by Potts, Kemper and Brian Fleishmann on Lap 4 of 8 on the bike.
Reed, who had hung back with Fleischmann and Kemper while they wore down Potts, wasn’t satisfied with the bike teamwork. “No, I don’t think we worked all that well together,” he said, which was probably more a sign of Reed's strength on the day than any lack of cooperation.
“Once they got within ten seconds, I knew it was over and I joined the group,” said Potts. Watching and marking his rivals the whole way, Reed made a savvy risk-reward calculation on the eighth and final lap of the bike. “I could see that Andy had made his play and was waiting for the run – and Hunter didn’t want anything to do with another surge on the bike,” said Reed, who took off on the last of eight bike laps on a hilly course along the Black Warrior River. It worked -- Reed gained a 25-second advantage over Potts, Kemper and Brian Fleischmann. “It was a last lap decision,” explained Reed. “I win most of my races from the front, and I didn’t want to run with them, so I attacked on the bike.”
While Kemper let Reed have his last lap bike surge, confident that he could overtake his tall, New Zealand-born friend on the run, Reed answered with a race-best 31:03 10km run that outpaced both Andy Potts (31:07) and Kemper (31:07) to cross the finish in 1:52:15. Had he been pushed, Reed could have run even better, since he spent a happy 20 seconds exulting, working the crowd, and drinking in the moment – and still had a 20-second advantage over runner-up Potts and 24 seconds over third place Kemper. “I worked hard for a long time for this moment, so I wanted to enjoy it,” said the taciturn Kiwi.
Tuscaloosa marked the second straight upset of the U.S.A.’s most decorated Olympic distance triathletes in 2008 Olympic Trials races. Since Jarrod Shoemaker took the first U.S. men’s Olympic slot in Beijing last September and Reed punched the second U.S. Men’s Olympic triathlon ticket to Beijing, Potts and Kemper will be left with triathlon’s version of a Texas Death Cage Wrestling Match in June at the Hy-Vee Triathlon in Des Moines. As each has a second and a third place in the three U.S. Olympic Trials competition, it’s basically a winner-take-all match race for the third U.S. Olympic men’s triathlon slot. That is, unless Potts and Kemper have some sort of catastrophic accident before Des Moines. Then Doug Friman (a fourth at Beijing) and Brian Fleischmann (fourth at Tuscaloosa) can leap over Kemper and Potts if either of the two challengers places first American at Des Moines – a long odds proposition.
”I’m still unhappy, but I can handle it because I gave it everything I had today and got beat by a better man – on the day,” said Potts.
“It was a tough day and I’m not satisfied with myself,” said Kemper. “But I’m really happy that if I couldn’t win that it went to Matt.”
The women
Sara McLarty broke out with a 19:09 swim, followed closely by Sarah Haskins (19:21) Sarah Groff (19:21) and Ertel (19:23) The four of them worked hard to surge to a 1-minute break over Joanna Zeiger, Mary Beth Ellis, Jasmine Oeinck, Amanda Stevens, and Becky Lavelle.
At the end of the bike, Ertel’s lightning change from bike to run gave her an eight-second advantage over Haskins and Groff. “She had a gunfire transition,” said Haskins. “When Julie came out of transition so fast, it takes a lot to make up those eight seconds. Yes, it's a little discouraging."
Ertel, however, was locked and loaded for the best run of her six-year triathlon career. “As soon as I got off the bike, I felt good,” said Ertel. “I focused on my run the last weeks of training, and did three running races in three weeks.”
After her initial surge, Ertel was never challenged. Afterwards, Haskins and Ertel gave one another high-fives for setting 10k PRs. Haskins, who blazed to a win in 1:58 in an Olympic distance race in Miami last month, didn’t quite have enough in the tank Saturday.
"I took a pretty sizable taper to prepare for this race,"said Ertel. "I decided to put all my eggs in one basket because if I qualified now I could go back and train hard to peak in August."
Afterward, Groff had conflicting emotions about her third place finish, nine seconds back of Haskins with a fine, sub-36 minute run. “It was great to be in the game,” she said. “But when Julie made that move, I don’t know why I didn’t try to go with her.”
Joanna Zeiger, 4th place finisher at the 2000 Olympic triathlon and bronze medalist at the 2001 ITU Olympic distance world championship, bid her farewell to ITU-style racing with a 37:15 10k to claim fourth place. “I don’t have any regrets,” said Zeiger. “I got my speed back training for this – and that will help me going back to Ironman.”
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After two rounds of 2008 Olympic Trials, Haskins has two second places and can only lose if Groff is the first American woman finisher in round three at the Hy-Vee Triathlon in Des Moines in June.
2008 U.S. Olympic Triathlon Trials
Round 2 – Tuscaloosa, Alabama
April 19, 2008
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
S 1.5k/B 40k/R 10k
Results
Elite women
1.Julie Swail Ertel (Irvine CA) 2:02:21
2. Sarah Haskins (Colorado Springs CO) 2:02:50
3. Sarah Groff (Boulder CO) 2:02:59
4. Joanna Zeiger (Boulder CO) 2:05:15
5. Jasmine Oeinck (Colorado Springs CO) 2:06:09
6. Mary Beth Ellis (Thornton CO) 2:06:19
7. Becky Lavelle (Los Gatos CA) 206:31
8. Sara McLarty (Colorado Springs CO) 2:06:53
9. Amanda Stevens (Colorado Springs CO) 2:07:15
10 Rebecca Wassner (New York City NY) 2:09:57
11.Margaret Shapiro (Herndon VA) 2:10:97
Elite men
1. Matt Reed (Boulder CO) 1:52:15
2. Andy Potts (Colorado Springs CO) 1:52:35
3. Hunter Kemper (Colorado Springs CO) 1:52:39
4. Brian Fleischmann (Colorado Springs CO) 1:55:22
5. Doug Friman (Tucson AZ) 1:56:25
6. Timothy O’Donnell (Colorado Springs CO) 1:57:00
7. Mark Fretta (Colorado Springs CO) 1:58:16
8. Joe Umphenour (Colorado Springs CO) 1:59:04
9. Victor Plata (Sacramento CA) 2:03:21
DNF Manny Huerta
