Former Ducks Nicholas & Dimoff Compete in U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Kicking off the sixth-month lead-up to the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, a pair of former Ducks took top-25 finishes Saturday in the U.S. Olympic Men’s Marathon Trials.
On the 26.26-mile course that looped around downtown Birmingham in five-mile segments, Lake Oswego native Scott Nicolas ran a 39-second personal best (18th, 2:18:13), and was followed by another former Duck John Dimoff (26th, 2:21:12). Both are current Portland-area residents and work for Nike and graduated in 1996 and ?94, respectively.
To earn an invite, the pair met the sub-2:22 qualifying standard the past two years, as Nicholas ran his previous best of 2:18.52 in the Grandma’s Marathon in June, 2002 in Duluth, Minnesota, and Dimoff qualified in the California International Marathon in Sacramento in December 2002. Dimoff’s best overall marathon time of 2:18.06 came in the 1996 Olympic Trials when he finished 20th. Based on qualifying times, Nicholas entered this year’s edition seeded 33rd and Dimoff was 50th.
As collegians, Nicholas owned the following bests - 800 (1:50.72), 1,500 (3:43.84), steeple (8:57.26) and 5,000 (14:18.56), and Dimoff owned steeple/5K/10K bests of 9:12.42, 14:47.51 and 31:39.46. Nicholas was a Pac-10 scorer in the 1,500 in 1996 (eighth), 1995 (sixth) and 1994 (fourth), and Dimoff was sixth in the Pac-10 10K as a senior. In cross country, Nicholas was a two-time NCAA veteran (1993 - 179th; 1995 - DNF), as was Dimoff (1993 - 94th; 1992 - 87th).
Overall Saturday, Olympic veterans Alan Culpepper (2:11:42) and Meb Keflezighi (2:11:47) led the field and averaged 5:03-mile pace. The final Olympic invite went to third-placer, West Linn, Ore., native and Portland resident Dan Browne (2:12.02) who is coached by former Duck distance great and 1984 Olympic marathoner Alberto Salazar.
Keflezighi entered the race with the field’s top seeded time from 2003 (2:10:03 from October’s Chicago Marathon) but spent part of the past two months recovering from illness. Culpepper owned a faster personal best from the 2002 Chicago Marathon (2:09.41), and Browne ranked third-fastest with a personal best of 2:11.35 from the fall of 2002. All-time in the U.S., Culpepper stands 11th and Keflezighi 13th based on their personal bests.
Other Oregon residents that competed Saturday included Portland assistant coach Ian Solof (39th, 2:23.59) and Browne’s training partners Mike Donnelly (DNF) and Phillemon Hanneck (DNF). State-wise, Oregon’s six qualifiers tied with Virginia for fourth-most in the field behind California (15), Michigan (12) and Colorado (10). College-wise, Oregon’s two qualifiers tied for sixth-best behind Michigan State (5), Stanford (4), Eastern Michigan (3), California (3) and Colorado (3).
Glancing at the history books, the Olympic Trials process was permanently altered in 1968 to a single qualifying event. Former Duck women’s head coach Tom Heinonen competed in the 1968 and 1972 races in Alamosa, Colo., and Eugene, Ore. Former Duck All-American Kenny Moore tied Frank Shorter for the win in 1972 (2:15.58) in Eugene, and finished second in 1968 (2:31.47), a minute behind George Young (2:30.48). Other high-finishing former Ducks since 1968 include Chad Bennion (14th, 1992, 2:19.25) and Will Kimball (25th, 1996, 2:20.21).
The father of current Duck distance Magdalena Sandoval - Tony - owns the fastest Olympic Trials Marathon time since ?68 (2:10:19) and that same time ranks him 18th fastest all-time among American marathoners. The second- and third-fastest Olympic Trials marathon times also came in the ?80 Olympic Trials in Niagara Falls, New York (Benji Durden 2:10:41; Kyle Heffner, 2:10:55). Sandoval just missed an Olympic bid in 1976 with his fourth-place finish in 1976 (2:14:58), 1:04 behind the third and final qualifier. He ran his final OT race in 1984 in Buffalo (sixth, 2:12:41) and was 51 seconds behind the third qualifying spot (2:11.50) and 58 seconds behind the winner. That same year, the father of another current Duck Eri Macdonald - Duncan - finished 11th (2:16.56).
Saturday’s event results and history are located at the www.usatf.org website.
Looking ahead, the women’s marathon trials are set for April 3 in St. Louis, Missouri. The track and field edition will return to the same site as 2000 - Sacramento’s Hornet Stadium, July 9-18. Provided they also meet Olympic ?A’ qualifying standards, the top three event finishers from the U.S. Olympic Trials earn invites to the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, Aug. 20-29. A list of Olympic and Olympic Trials qualifying marks is available in the ?Statistics’ portion of the www.GoDucks.com website).
2004 U.S. Men's Marathon Olympic Trials Results
Birmingham, Ala., Sat., Feb. 7, 2004
Place Name Age City/State Time
===== ========================== === ================== =======
1 Alan Culpepper 32 Lafayette CO 2:11:42
2 Meb Keflezighi 29 San Diego CA 2:11:47
3 Daniel Browne 29 Beaverton OR 2:12:02
4 Trent Briney 26 Rochester Hills MI 2:12:35
5 Clint Verran 29 Rochester Hills MI 2:14:37
6 Scott Larson 35 Superior CO 2:15:03
7 Josh Cox 29 Murrieta CA 2:15:18
8 Eddy Hellebuyck 43 Albuquerque NM 2:15:36
9 Peter Gilmore 27 Menlo Park CA 2:15:44
10 Jason Lehmkuhle 27 St. Paul MN 2:16:27
11 Keith Dowling 35 Reston VA 2:16:50
12 Kevin Collins 33 Albuquerque NM 2:17:00
13 Fred Kieser 33 Cleveland OH 2:17:20
14 Brian Sell 26 Rochester Hills MI 2:17:21
15 Scott Strand 36 Birmingham AL 2:17:44
16 Steven Moreno 27 Oakland CA 2:17:48
17 Corey Creasey 25 Berkeley CA 2:17:58
18 Scott Nicholas 31 Portland OR 2:18:13
19 Conor Holt 32 Norman OK 2:18:17
20 Christopher Banks 26 Alexandria VA 2:18:56
21 Ryan Meissen 26 River Falls WI 2:19:02
22 Scott Goff 28 Boulder CO 2:19:11
23 Ryan Shay 25 East Jordan MI 2:19:20
24 Matt Sandercock 35 Downingtown PA 2:20:23
25 Carl Rundell 36 Birmingham MI 2:21:08
26 John Dimoff 33 Portland OR 2:21:12
27 Michael Cox 29 Princeton WV 2:21:52
28 Jason Ryf 33 Oshkosh WI 2:21:55
29 Kevin Taylor 29 Raleigh NC 2:22:04
30 Erik Kean 27 Cheyenne WY 2:22:09
31 Brantley Lutz 29 Albuquerque NM 2:22:17
32 Edward Callinan 30 Cherry Hill NJ 2:22:20
33 Michael Wardian 30 Arlington VA 2:22:40
34 Eric Blake 25 Plattsburgh NY 2:22:44
35 William Kabasenche 32 Knoxville TN 2:23:21
36 Christopher Wehrman 28 Chicago IL 2:23:29
37 Eric Hartmark 26 Roseville MN 2:23:30
38 Ben Rosario 24 Rochester MI 2:23:42
39 Ian Solof 33 Portland OR 2:23:59
40 Brian Clas 32 Darien CT 2:24:18
41 Mike Franko 30 Rochester Hills MI 2:24:31
42 Terrance Shea 31 Rochester MI 2:24:32
43 Nate Bowen 28 Menlo Park CA 2:24:35
44 Shawn Found 34 Boulder CO 2:24:45
45 Nick Gramsky 26 McLean VA 2:25:10
46 Richard Byrne 40 Sciota PA 2:25:50
47 Joseph Wilson 29 North Ogden UT 2:26:04
48 James McGown 30 Shelton NE 2:26:09
49 Jan Talley 27 Farmington UT 2:26:12
50 Edmund Burke 35 Burtonsville MD 2:26:14
51 Matthew Folk 28 Youngstown OH 2:26:24
52 Paul Aufdemberge 40 Redford MI 2:26:43
53 Sean Nesbitt 30 Boulder CO 2:26:49
54 Christopher Lundstrom 28 San Francisco CA 2:27:00
55 Mark Manz 31 Kiel WI 2:27:58
56 Ken Pliska 39 Littleton MA 2:29:01
57 Todd Meyer 31 Rochester NY 2:29:23
58 Alex Tilson 34 Burlingame CA 2:29:31
59 Matt Byrne 29 Philadelphia PA 2:29:56
60 Greg Wenneborg 37 Tucson AZ 2:30:00
61 Joseph Mahoney 32 Madison WI 2:30:16
62 James Jurcevich 28 Dublin OH 2:30:59
63 Trevor Pettingill 28 Slc UT 2:31:43
64 Eric Mack 30 Las Vegas NV 2:32:26
65 Mark Newman 42 Germantown TN 2:32:41
66 Filomeno Apodaca 39 Las Cruces NM 2:33:10
67 Darrell General 39 Hyattsville MD 2:33:20
68 Matthew Harmer 32 Salt Lake City UT 2:33:33
69 Jason Mayeroff 36 Kunming, China AP 2:34:38
70 Robert Busquaert 29 Ray Twp MI 2:35:29
71 Chad Worthen 31 Sacramento CA 2:37:49
72 Alfredo Vigueras 41 Woodland CA
73 Curtis Moore 28 Riverton UT
74 Aaron Church 29 South Riding VA
75 Weldon Johnson 31 Flagstaff AZ
76 David Morris 34 Albuquerque NM
77 Peter Julian 33 Boulder CO
78 Teddy Mitchell 32 Albuquerque NM
79 Gregory Jimmerson 29 Los Altos Hills CA
80 Patrick Muturi 32 Thornton CO
81 Peter Clusener 27 Arcata CA
82 Mike Donnelly 29 Portland OR
83 Phillimon Hanneck 33 Portland OR
84 Tony Fraij 30 Hilliard OH
85 Matthew Marcini 28 York PA
86 Tom McGlynn 32 Burlingame CA
