USATF Competition this weekend

Kaylee sets her final school record in the SC.

That is super impressive. At 2000 there was a group of nine and the push started. The pace was not at all slow until that point. Three women were dropped on that lap and there were six at 2400. At 2800 the top three were clear and Mitchell was 2 seconds out of fifth. She closed a little but still got sixth place. I'm mostly out of touch on the running scene but I think Mitchell got herself a better pro contract with this finish. She will go to Europe and probably get in a Diamond Cup race or two. As a wild guess, she was looking at a small training stipend and coaching and now has the opportunity for 100K/year for two years and a much better training group.

As another guess, I think she and Quintana were targeting this race. She did a little less than I expected at NCAA's but it looks like she was peaking now and not then.

The USA team for worlds is Krissy Gear (Furman/Arkansas '22), Emma Coburn (Colorado, the top American for a decade or so), and Courtney Weyment (BYU '22, NCAA Champ '22). This years NCAA champion, Oliva Markezich, Notre Dame, beat Mitchell by 24 seconds in that race. Tonight Markezich got fourth, six seconds ahead of Kaylee. Lexy Halladay from BYU who got 4th at NCAA's was one of the ladies dropped on the lap between 2000 and 2400.

FWIW, my experience in competitive distance running was that if you felt a little chilly at the starting line, it quickly became very comfortable once the race started. So right around 60 degrees (in my opinion at least) was optimal training/racing temperature. 

Been somewhat surprised by the sparse attendance at the meet in fancy new (and expensive) Hayward Field. Looks like about 25% of capacity.