.png)
First Thoughts: Charles Hicks (27:57) & Emily Venters (31:48) Throw Down Electric 10k Performances
- Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
- Apr 1, 2023
- 8 min read
Despite today's date being April 1st, the below 10k results did actually happen! And yes, some of these performances were fast enough to the point where you may not believe me anyways.
The Stanford Invitational gave us A TON of results to review. And while there were excellent marks across all of the distance events, we'll focus on just the 10k races for the sake of time. We'll be sure to cover the top efforts tomorrow.
Also, if you want to review some of the incredible middle distance action that we saw at the Texas Relays, be sure to read our article from yesterday.
Emily Venters Throws Down Monster 10k Mark of 31:48, Now Sits at NCAA #6 All-Time
Good news: I predicted Emily Venters to win this race.
Bad news: My guess was 51 seconds off from her actual finishing time.
Alright, here's the thing: No woman in the NCAA throughout last spring ran faster 32:27 for 10,000 meters. And after Allie Hays (NC State) just stunned us with a fantastic 32:21 mark over that distance at the Raleigh Relays, I didn't know if this field would have enough top-heaviness to eclipse that mark.
Would I have been surprised if Venters ran a little faster than that? No, probably not. But what this Utah veteran was able to do on Thursday night was outstanding. A final time of 31:48 for 10,000 meters is so far and beyond what I thought she was capable of. Truthfully, I'm not sure I envisioned Venters closing out her collegiate career with a top-10 mark all-time.
And yet, here we are.
Venters is undoubtedly better in the longer distances. That was abundantly clear last spring, this past fall and on the indoor oval, running a huge 15:20 (5k) PR a little over a month ago. Everything about her resume suggested that she was going to be a top talent, nationally, over 10,000 meters and a very comfortable All-American candidate.
But running this fast? In her third-ever 10k?
Just incredible stuff.
It's hard not to root for Emily Venters. The long-time collegiate distance star was one of the top rookies in the nation during her time at Boise State, but after a handful of challenges and transfers, which she was kind enough to detail to us back in 2020, this current Utah Ute has put together a comeback campaign that people write books about.
Is Venters a national title contender? Yes, I think so. Regardless of what you think about her experience in this event, her tactics or anything else, it's obvious that she's fit enough to hang with any of the top 10k women in the country.
If Katelyn Tuohy or a healthy Parker Valby were to move up to the 10k, would I say the same thing? Maybe not, but at the moment, I don't see any problems with someone choosing Venters to win gold in this event come June. She did, after all, hold her own on the national stage a few weeks ago.
As for everyone else, you have to be in awe of how fast some of these other women were. Top runners such as Everlyn Kemboi (Utah Valley), Amanda Vestri (Syracuse) and Anna Kostarellis (Baylor) were built for this distance. I would have had no problem saying that the 10k was their best event.
But if you had told me that they would run 32:03, 32:08 and 32:13 for 10,000 meters this past weekend, I wouldn't have believed you.
Trying to explain the magnitude of these results is hard to put into words. And frankly, it's exhausting trying to emphasize their importance after seeing what Venters ran. But this trio of runners has forced us to change our thinking about how we view the 10k as a whole this year.
Sure, Kemboi is an outstanding talent, but she's never been this good before. The same goes for Vestri, although she has built great momentum after an All-American finish at the indoor national meet.
But for Kostarellis, this is a monumental result.
Don't get me wrong, she was always a great distance runner, specifically when she was at Xavier. However, Kostarellis was relatively quiet at New Mexico as a graduate transfer and didn't race much.
Kostarellis has always good -- but she's never been anywhere close to this good. And sure, after running 9:14 (3k) and 15:44 (5k) on the indoor oval, you'd think that this Baylor ace would be due for an even stronger performance (relatively speaking) at her ideal distance, the 10k.
But 32:13? That's a mark that will tie Mercy Chelangat for the NCAA #22 spot all-time over this distance...and honestly, I never thought I would be comparing these two athletes.
Kudos, Anna Kostarellis.
So...remember when running sub-33 for 10,000 meters was a big deal? Well, other than the four women who we have already spoken about, there were 13 other attached collegiates who ran under that barrier.
Admittedly, there were very few surprises throughout the rest of this field. In my opinion, we didn't learn a whole lot after the top group finished. The only thing that we truly learned is that everyone is just faster than we thought they would be.
And with the camera on Venters throughout the latter-half of this race, it was hard to get an idea as to how the rest of the women in this field were faring.
That, however, doesn't make their performances any less impressive.
Charles Hicks Makes Statement, Runs 27:57 (10k) to Lead Four Others Under 28-Minute Barrier
Alright friends, let's have a chat.
Here were my top-five predictions for this race...
Drew Bosley (Northern Arizona) - 28:01
Charles Hicks (Stanford) - 28:03
Alex Maier (Oklahoma State) - 28:07
Victor Kiprop (Alabama) - 28:07
Ky Robinson (Stanford) - 28:13
When these 10k predictions were posted to Instagram as part of a promotional inside look for our meet preview, I had some people commenting and telling me how the predicted times were too slow.
And as it turns out, they were right.
Here were the top-10 overall results of the men's 10k race at the Stanford Invitational...
Charles Hicks (Stanford) - 27:57
Victor Kiprop (Alabama) - 27:57
Ky Robinson (Stanford) - 27:58
Scott Beattie (Tulsa) - 27:58
Peter Lynch (unattached) - 27:59
Patrick Kiprop (Arkansas) - 28:00
Bob Liking (Wisconsin) - 28:00
Devin Hart (Stanford) - 28:07
Drew Bosley (Northern Arizona) - 28:18
Gilbert Boit (unattached) - 28:19
Was I actually that far off in my predictions for a lot of these names? In terms of times, no, I was actually within a reasonable range for a handful of the top guys. Of course, our readers were correct in saying that this race was going to go under 28-minutes.
But what a lot of people don't know is that the pace, according to a coach for one of the top entries in this field, was set to be around the 28:10 to 28:20 range. These guys were looking to run fast, but maybe not set the world on fire.
And even then, most of my predictions went comfortably under that pace-based time range.
As far as the actual race goes, there really wasn't much to talk about until the final few laps. The top guys that you see in the results were, for the most part, the men who made up the lead group for almost the entire battle.
Alex Maier had an "off" day and fell back quite a bit while Drew Bosley quietly made up a lot of ground after taking what was clearly a reserved approach to his race plan. But other than those two men, everyone else was fairly consistent.
The Stanford duo of Charles Hicks and Ky Robinson led for most of this 10k race while Wisconsin's Bob Liking was comfortably behind them for almost the entire time. But with a few laps remaining, we saw aerobic-centric front-runners Victor Kiprop (Alabama) and Patrick Kiprop (Arkansas) take over the lead.
And on the final lap, Victor Kiprop tried to get some early separation, establishing a sizable gap on the field that didn't seem like it could be closed down.
But then Charles Hicks turned on the jets on the final curve, putting together an extremely hard close which allowed him to barely edge Kiprop at the line for the win.
It was one of the better-timed kicks I have seen in quite some time.
Ok, now we have to actually break down these results.
I don't know what happens to Charles Hicks when he reaches the 10k distance, but whether it be in cross country or on the outdoor oval, this Stanford star is truly elite.
Hicks has always had some underrated finishing speed, but Friday night was easily the best kick I have ever seen from him. And when you think about how that applies to the national stage, I would be very encouraged if I was a fan of the Cardinal men right now.
Sure, his indoor track campaign was somewhat unexciting this past winter, but that was only relative to his cross country season (which ended in him winning an NCAA title). And now that Hicks has reached the spring months, he seems like he's as sharp as ever, even if he was 17 seconds off of his PR from last year.
As for Victor Kiprop and Patrick Kiprop, I absolutely loved how they raced. It was exactly what I was hoping they would do.
Both men seem to have developed an understanding that their finishing speed over the final 100 to 200 meters isn't quite as lethal as what we saw from Hicks and a few others. Their best chance for success is to ramp up the pace at the end (which they did) and try to get separation early as they go into the last lap (which they did).
Victor Kiprop was already a fairly refined runner in terms of knowing what his capabilities are. Sure enough, we saw that as he ran what I would describe to be the perfect race...even if he didn't get the win.
But Patrick Kiprop is beginning to show outstanding growth and maturity (strictly as a tactical runner). His positioning is far better, the timing of his moves are far more ideal and he's learning not to rely so heavily on his raw talent when trying to run from the front.
Sure, Patrick Kiprop may have finished 6th overall, but I was incredibly happy to see how he handled that race. Fantastic work from the Arkansas runner.
We also need to acknowledge the results that we saw from Ky Robinson (3rd) and Scott Beattie (4th), two guys who ran a pair of 27:58 (10k) marks.
For Robinson, this isn't too surprising, but I will acknowledge that I had him finishing a bit slower than what he actually ran. That, however, was only because he looked so gassed at the NCAA Indoor Championships. And frankly, I just didn't know if he would rebound.
Of course, a result like this was very much in the cards for him.
But let's move our conversation to Scott Beattie, a Tulsa veteran who has quietly become an incredibly dangerous runner over the last few seasons. His personal bests currently sit at 3:58 (mile), 7:49 (3k) and 13:31 (5k). His 10k PR prior to Friday sat at a very strong time of 28:19.
However, with a new 27:58 (10k) personal best, Beattie now has upper-tier firepower to pair with a very well-rounded resume and tons of experience. Admittedly, the UK native has had some tough luck in the postseason, but this result feels distinctly different from any other mark that he has ever posted.
Will that translate to May and June?
I guess we'll see...
As for Wisconsin's Bob Liking (28:00) and Stanford's Devin Hart (28:07), they were just flat-out excellent! They leaned heavily on their aerobic-based fitness and just rode the pace all the way to the line.
Liking did a heck of a job staying near the front of that lead group for as long as he did. Hart, meanwhile, validated his outstanding indoor track campaign and is continuing to build more consistency as a true national contender.
And then there was Drew Bosley, the Northern Arizona superstar who was making his season debut and event debut over 10,000 meters. He settled for 9th place with a time of 28:18.
It doesn't feel like there's a whole lot to talk about when it comes to Bosley. It feels somewhat obvious that he took a very cautious approach and wasn't going to go all-out over 10,000 meters in his event debut. He started out the race in 24th place and through 4000 meters, he was over seven seconds behind the pacer.
We'll see Bosley in the 10k again. And when we do, I imagine his race approach will be very different...unless he doesn't contest this event until the West Regional Championships.
In that case, never mind.
