Fast Women: Weini Kelati strikes again
A look at why the number of women in collegiate cross country and track coaching remains low
Issue 275
Weini Kelati bounces back to win the USATF Cross Country Championships
Six days after she ran 1:06:25 at the Houston Half Marathon and set an American record in her debut, Weini Kelati dominated the USATF Cross Country Championships in Richmond, Virginia, winning the 10K race by 37 seconds, in 32:58.6.
A pack of 11 runners stayed together until just before 4K, when Kelati moved to the front. From there, she gradually pulled away. It was an impressive run so soon after her race in Houston, and a big improvement over her last race on this course. She earned a modest $4,000 for the win, compared to $13,500 a week earlier. (In Houston, she earned $3,500 for taking fourth, plus $10,000 for the American record. Hopefully she has picked up some nice sponsor bonuses as well.)
Kelati finished fifth at this event a year ago, when she was dealing with foot pain. But by the time the World Cross Country Championships rolled around, she was feeling good enough to finish 21st. She’ll try to improve on that at this year’s championship, which takes place March 30 in Belgrade, Serbia.
During the six days between her two races, Kelati wasn’t certain she’d compete in Virginia. She told Race Results Weekly that she got really sick after her half marathon, but by Wednesday, she was feeling better, so she decided to race. She wanted to secure a spot on the World Cross team, even if she didn’t win.
The race behind Kelati, for the other five spots on the U.S. team, was more tightly contested. Emma Grace Hurley had a strong showing to take second in 33:35.9. Katie Camarena improved nine spots from last year and took third in 33:40.3.
Allie Ostrander and Cailie Logue had a dramatic race for fourth, with Ostrander falling across the line to edge out Logue, 33:52.5 to 33:52.7. And Abby Nichols took sixth in 34:09.4, grabbing the last spot on the team, assuming everyone accepts theirs. Kelati and Ostrander are the only two runners on the team who have represented the U.S. at a senior global championship in the past.
It’s nice to see Ostrander make the team, given all she has been through with her injury struggles and eating disorder recovery, plus the embarrassment of a four-month suspension for not getting a TUE for acne medication. (The length of the suspension suggests anti-doping authorities didn’t think she was intentionally trying to cheat.) Because she does such a good job of bringing fans along with her via her YouTube channel, she has a lot of people cheering her on. I’m already looking forward to seeing her insider content from World Cross.
“I really just tried to go out there and run for myself today,” Ostrander said. “Just run not to prove anyone wrong, not to prove that I’m a worthy human being, but just to feel everything that I love about the sport.”
If anyone in the top six declines their spot, Katrina Spratford-Sterling will be the next in line. She had an impressive run, taking seventh in 34:31.7. But first up, she will race the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials on February 3. On her best days, Katie Izzo is certainly capable of making this team, but she seemed to have a rough day, finishing eighth in 34:41.0. (Results)
Zariel Macchia, Carrie Dimoff take U20, masters titles
The U20 women’s 6K at the USATF Cross Country Championships came down to an exciting sprint finish between New York’s Zariel Macchia and Virginia’s Allie Zealand. Macchia edged ahead ever so slightly with about 100m remaining and held Zealand off to win, 20:31.0 to 20:31.9. Macchia, a 17-year-old high school junior, earned her second U20 cross country title, after also winning in 2022.
NC State’s Jolena Quarzo (third, 20:44.0), North Carolina’s Mary Bonner Dalton (fourth, 20:46.7), Virginia’s Maddie Gardiner (fifth, 20:48.2) and Massachusetts’ Ellie Shea (sixth, 20:53.3) grabbed the remaining spots on the World Cross Country team. Aside from Quarzo, everyone on the team is still in high school.
In the masters 6K race, Carrie Dimoff started to break away from Renee Metivier in the fourth kilometer. Dimoff, 40, won in 21:15.5 and Metivier, 42, finished 31 seconds back, in 21:46.5. Last year’s champion, April Lund, 41, finished third in 21:56.9.
The other age-group winners were Jacqueline Cooke (45–49, 23:29.0), Amy Gannon (50–54, 25:04.5), Melissa Chiti (55–59, 27:03.1), Mary Cass (60–64, 25:37.3), Nora Cary (65–69, 27:06.8), Cynthia Lucking (70–74, 34:49.3), Andrea McCarter (75–79, 46:18.6), and Joyce Hodges-Hite (85–89, 1:03:59.8). In the age-graded results, Cary came out on top.
Michaela Rose runs the fastest-ever 600 yards
In her first serious race of the indoor season, LSU’s Michaela Rose set a world best and collegiate record in the 600 yards, running 1:16.76 at Texas Tech’s Corky Classic. The previous record, held by Tennessee’s Delisa Walton, stood for 41 years. Rose led every step of the race, and you can watch it here.
The 600y isn’t contested often, but I think the notable thing here is Rose’s progression in the event. She has run the event at this meet every year she has been in college. In 2022, she ran 1:20.78. Last year, she moved to second on the all-time collegiate list with a 1:17:58. Later in the year, she went on to run 2:00.18 for 800m indoors and 1:59.08 outdoors.
This year, she’s 0.82 seconds faster, so it’s going to be interesting to see how the rest of her season goes. For more on Rose, I featured her a few weeks ago. (Results)
Long hours, poor pay, discrimination: Why the number of women in collegiate coaching remains low
Almost two years ago, I decided to write an article about women in collegiate coaching. At first, I made relatively quick progress, but tracking down the final people I wanted to speak to took a long time.
As someone who spent eight years coaching in the NCAA, I really wanted to do the topic justice, and I wasn’t sure I could pull it off. I put off writing for a long time, thinking I just needed a few more interviews, or that I needed to find more answers before I started writing. At the same time, my life changed dramatically and putting aside the time to write an article with more than 30 sources no longer seemed realistic. A couple times, I decided I should probably just scrap the project altogether.
But the thing that ultimately made me decide to stick with it, even if the product was imperfect, was that I had collected so many good stories. I wish I could have included more of them. My favorite section is the one on coaching and parenting. The coaches I spoke to have had some ridiculous experiences. Hopefully things will change and in the future, women won’t have to go to so many extremes to make things work.
It didn’t take me two years to write this story, because I spent most of the two years not working on it. But this project has been hanging over my head for two years, so it’s a relief to finally send it out into the world. My hope is that the article will contribute to the conversation about women in collegiate coaching and ideally get some of the people who have the power to make change thinking about these things more.
I am so thankful to all of the women who were willing to share their experiences with me. You can read the article here. (Set aside a decent amount of time. It’s a long read.)
Other News and Links
In this article announcing Andrea Seccafien’s plan to make her marathon debut at the Tokyo Marathon in March, the Canadian opened up about her decision to leave the Bowerman Track Club in November. And it’s all sounding pretty familiar by now. Seccafien said she left on good terms, but because of the move to Eugene, things are very different now than they were when she joined the team. “When I joined, I thought running the marathon there would work with Bowerman,” she said. “Jerry (Schumacher) doesn’t have time to coach a marathoner; you’d essentially be training on your own.” Seccafien said that Gabriela DeBues-Stafford was the only athlete who left specifically because of Shelby Houlihan’s involvement with the team. Seccafien, who is returning from injury, is back in Melbourne, Australia, now, where she was previously based, and she’s being coached remotely by Trent Stellingwerff.
I was glad to see The Washington Post cover Weini Kelati’s American half marathon record. It made me laugh to read that Kelati’s goal going in was just to break 70 minutes.
When I came across this four-minute video about Gonzaga’s Rosina Machu, I had no idea how emotional it was going to be. Machu has been on a roll recently, finishing 16th at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in November and running 15:37.05 for 5,000m in December. Machu discusses spending part of her childhood in an Ethiopian refugee camp before she and her family were relocated to Idaho.
Dot McMahan, 47, is the oldest competitor scheduled to run next month’s U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. She and Des Linden are the only five-time Marathon Trials qualifiers in the women’s field, and getting there wasn’t easy, with the standard dropping eight minutes. McMahan talked to Sarah Lorge Butler about her Trials prep, and I appreciated her comments about letting her hair go gray. (Runner’s World)
I’m sure many of the Olympic Marathon Trials qualifiers are finishing up their builds with some really impressive training, but they aren’t all putting it on Strava. Scrolling through Keira D’Amato’s recent workouts, it’s clear she’s ready to go. This long run and finishing this workout with a 4:45 mile impressed me.
D’Amato’s training partner, Sophie King, announced last week that she had minor surgery to help repair a plantar tear, which means she won’t be running the Trials. King went from being a beginner to a Trials qualifier in less than two years (more on that here, scroll down). It’s unfortunate to hear that she’ll have to sit this one out, but her running career is just getting started.
This is nerdy, I know, but I have a spreadsheet where I’ve been tracking who is entered in the Trials and who has announced they aren’t running. I don’t claim my stats are perfect, but as of now, I believe the maximum women’s field size will be 162. A few more have said they’re on the fence. I may have missed some announcements, and more are bound to withdraw before race day.
Outside featured Jenny Simpson, who is preparing to make her marathon debut at the Olympic Trials.
Many Trials competitors have relocated to Florida and other warm climates to finish out their race prep. But Christina Welsh didn’t have to. She’s based in St. Petersburg, less than two hours from Orlando.
Emma Coburn said that she won’t be racing indoors so she can take her time in returning from her hamstring tear. According to this post, her training is going really well and she is ahead of schedule.
Vanessa Aniteye, the 2023 NCAA DII Indoor 800m champion, wrote about winning a national title for Seattle Pacific after having a baby.
There’s no running connection here, but I appreciated this New York Times Q&A (gift link) with Stanford basketball coach Tara VanDerveer, which my editor, Sarah Lorge Butler, sent me last week. Last night, VanDerveer, 70, became the NCAA basketball coach with the most wins of all time. And I love that the last person mentioned in the article is Jamila Wideman, who played for VanDerveer and was by far the best athlete in my high school class.
Additional Results
Allie Wilson, who confirmed last week that she is among the athletes who followed coaches Andrew and Amy Begley to Indianapolis when they left the Atlanta Track Club, opened her season with a strong run at the Bellarmine Open. She won the 1,000m in 2:35.42 and then doubled back in the 3,000m later in the meet, winning in 9:26.75. She moved to seventh on the U.S. all-time list in the indoor 1,000m, and both times were personal bests. Between this and Emma Grace Hurley’s cross country result, the Indianapolis-based training group is off to a good start. (Results)
Atlanta Track Club Elite’s Olivia Baker won the 600m at the Dr. Martin Luther King Collegiate Invitational in Albuquerque, running 1:27.55. Her teammate, Sadi Henderson, who is coming back after illness due to exposure to toxic mold, finished second in 1:30.50. (Results)
NAU’s Maggi Congdon won the mile at the Lumberjack Team Challenge, held on her home track in Flagstaff, and her performance converts to an NCAA-leading time. Her actual time was 4:40.34, but using the NCAA’s altitude conversion, that equates to a 4:30.16 at sea level. Her sea-level personal best is 4:38.35, but it looks like she’s ready to have her best season yet. Congdon also won the 800m in 2:11.83. (Results)
Great Britain’s Molly Hudson, 21, is new to the NCAA, but in her first track race, she broke Boston College’s mile record with a 4:32.45 win at the TRACK at New Balance Collegiate Showdown. Hudson was rabbited by BC alum Kate Mitchell, who now runs professionally for New Balance. (Results)
At Virginia Tech’s Hokie Invitational, Georgetown’s Melissa Riggins won the 1,000m in 2:40.67 and NC State’s Samantha Bush won the mile in 4:35.67 (and took third in the 1,000m in 2:44.71). (Results)
Running unattached, Texas high school sophomore Elizabeth Leachman, who recently won the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships, won the 3,000m at Texas Tech’s Corky Classic in 9:16.84. She was so far ahead of the competition that she lapped the entire field. (Results)
Kenya’s Edinah Jebitok won her third gold-level cross country event of the season at Sunday’s CrossCup Hannut in Belgium. She covered the snowy 9K course in 31:01 and won by 39 seconds.
Sarah Disanza won the Matanzas 5000 in St. Augustine, Florida, in 16:36. (Results)
Podcast Highlights
I always appreciate how straightforward Kellyn Taylor is. On I’ll Have Another, she said that her Olympic Marathon Trials training was going really well, but then she got sick with a “really crummy” illness. She said she was basically out for a week and didn’t feel great for a month. She said that as of the recording date, she had started to come out of it and she was hoping the last few weeks of training would leave her feeling much better on race day. Taylor pointed out how much her life has changed since the 2020 Trials, including the fact that she had one child then and she has four now.
Another Trials competitor and mother of four who dealt with illness during her buildup is Sara Vaughn. Vaughn said on The Rambling Runner Podcast that she basically spent a week in bed and like Taylor, it took a long time for her to feel like herself again in training. Vaughn is planning to do a shorter taper than usual to give herself a little more time to put in some quality work.
On the Just a Cup podcast, Heather MacLean said she might just focus on the outdoor season this year, because she’s still rebuilding strength after an injury last year cut her season short. It was touching to hear her talk about her siblings realizing they could dream a little bigger after she made the Olympic team, and she’s always a good interview in general.
Noah Droddy and Stu Newstat of DIII Glory Days are two of my favorite running podcast hosts, and they did a good episode with Trials qualifier Kim Horner. I particularly enjoyed hearing her talk about her time running for Luther College. She said she wasn’t a particularly good teammate in the early days, but her teammates remained patient with her, and she learned from her mistakes.
If you can’t get enough Trials related content, you’ll likely enjoy this episode of the Ali on the Run Show, where she discussed many aspects of the Trials with the event’s media director, Jay Holder.
I was interested to hear Trials qualifier Elena Hayday tell some of her story on For the Long Run. It would have been hard to predict from her early years in the sport that she’d be having as much success as she is now. If you’re more of a reader than a podcast listener, here’s a different option.
Caroline Cole was on C Tolle Run, where she talked about qualifying for the Trials, as well as losing her father to suicide and her father-in-law to a heart attack within an 11-month span.
On the Citius Mag podcast, Laura Muir said that she considered skipping March’s World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, but she was swayed by the fact that the 3,000m is a straight final (no prelims) and it’s taking place 10 minutes from her house.
The latest episode of Runners of the Bay, with guest Cal Calamia, includes a really interesting conversation about trans inclusion in running.
Additional Episodes: Last week’s episode of Nobody Asked Us with Des and Kara focuses on the Houston Marathon and Half, with some Trials content mixed in | Dot McMahan and Anne-Marie Blaney on Lactic Acid with Dominique Smith | Simone Plourde of the Union Athletics Club on the Sit & Kick podcast (She represented Canada at the World Championships in August and said that in January 2023, that was so far off her radar that she didn’t even know it was a world championship year.)
Something that made me smile
Though the sheet of ice that coated Eugene, Oregon, last week created all kinds of problems, it also made it possible to ice skate at Hayward Field. I loved these videos from Oregon track athletes Simeon Birnbaum and Taylor Chocek. Apparently the administration/coaches were less enthusiastic.
I am always thankful to my editor, Sarah Lorge Butler, who helps make this newsletter so much better. But I am particularly thankful this week for her help in editing my article about women in collegiate coaching. I never would have finished the project without her, and if you could see the before and after, you would understand how good she is.
Thank you, also, to everyone who helps keep Fast Women going via your contributions on Venmo and Patreon. I couldn’t do this without you, either. I hope you all have a good week.
Alison