USA Men's 8K Championships[USA Men's 8K Championships] [Women's 8K Invitational] [NYRR 8000]
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 Featured athletes were brought out for pre-race introductions by runners in the NYRR Foundation kids’ fitness program. This lucky guy gets to pace Alan Webb. |
 An NYPD flag corps attended the start while the national anthem was sung. |
 These competitors fight for position even in the first steps of an 8K (4.97-mile) race… |
 …and maybe they should: Most of the front line at 100 meters finished in the top 10. 2005 champion Jorge Torres, of Boulder, CO, heads the phalanx. |
 Webb, of Reston, VA, the American mile record-holder, stayed with the leaders until just past 5K, when stomach trouble forced him to ease off. |
 Torres was followed closely through the final stages by Andrew Carlson of Bloomington, MN, and Jason Hartmann of Eugene, OR. |
 Torres’s final move was just enough to hold off Carlson. Torres reclaimed his title, while Carlson finished a mere seven-tenths of a second later. Both were given officials times of 22:42. |
 A resurgence over the last year has made Torres a contender for a spot on the 2008 U.S. Olympic team. For now, a national championship will do just fine. |
 Carlson, who only one week earlier won his first national title at the USA 15K Championships, has reached a new level at a very good time—during an Olympic year. |
 Hartmann, a friend and training partner of 2008 U.S. Olympic marathon member Dathan Ritzenhein, was the final medalist here with his 22:48 in third place. |
 Fourth place went to James Carney (22:53), who also became a national champion for the first time recently by winning the USA Half-Marathon Championships in January. |
 Fasil Bizuneh of Flagstaff, AZ, was fifth in 23:03, one and two seconds ahead of the next two men. |
 Christian Hesch, who lives in Morro Bay, CA, probably felt cold on a 41-degree morning. He added a layer and took sixth in 23:04. |
 Tim Nelson of Madison, WI, on the other hand, looks like he’s at the beach. He finished seventh in 23:05. |
 Josh Moen of Readlyn, IA, worked hard for an eighth-place finish in 23:14. |
 In a wild sprint for the final top-10 spots, Ryan Kirkpatrick prevailed in 23:21. Behind him came Macharia Yuot, of Chester, PA, 10th, also in 23:21; Paul Jellema of Rochester Hills, MI, 11th, also in 23:21; and Jon Pierce, of Blowing Rock, NC, 12th in 23:22. |
 Ryan Sheehan of Rochester Hills, MI, who finished 13th in 23:24, is 24 years old—younger than anyone ahead of him… |
 …but not than the man behind him, 23-year-old Mike Hanlon of Flagstaff, AZ, who finished 14th in 23:27. |
 Brad Lowery of Bloomington, MN, claimed the final prize-money spot with his 15th-place finish in 23:31—one second ahead of Alan Webb. |
 The men’s top 10 enjoyed a photo op with their young hosts from the NYRR Foundation’s running programs. Is there a future champion in the front row? |
