Latest / The CITIUS MAG Podcast | A Running + Track and Field Show / USATF Outdoor Championships 2026: Day 4 | Melissa Jefferson-Wooden Goes 21.69, Cooper Lutkenhaus Dominates 800m + More

Transcript

USATF Outdoor Championships 2026: Day 4 | Melissa Jefferson-Wooden Goes 21.69, Cooper Lutkenhaus Dominates 800m + More · The CITIUS MAG Podcast | A Running + Track and Field Show

0:00
All right, welcome to day four of the 2026 USATF Outdoor Track
0:07
and Field Championships. I'm Chris Chavez with Kyle
0:09
Merber, and we're live from the CITIUS Mag after party taking
0:12
place right now in Astoria, Queens after a great day at the
0:18
track. OK.
0:19
This just built and built and built and built and built and
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today was great. It was non-stop finals.
0:25
Yeah, we bought a big bunch of tickets for Section 2O5, and
0:31
over the last couple days it was just sort of like, all right, we
0:33
give you your ticket, we give you your shirt.
0:36
Contract. We made people sign social
0:38
contracts that they had to wear the shirt.
0:41
Great shirt and then from there over the last couple days, it
0:46
was easy to move around like you want to sit with your friends,
0:49
you want to move into the shade a.
0:50
Little bit. Today you couldn't do that.
0:53
By the time the broadcast window started, we were pretty
0:58
deadlocked in your seats. And like you, your wife came,
1:02
the kids came, your friends and their kids came and everyone was
1:06
like, so when we talk about just sort of those photos over the
1:09
last couple days of some empty seats, there were no empty seats
1:13
today. There were actually people
1:14
sitting on top of other people today in the seats.
1:16
Look, did my kids receive a few NIL offers today based off of
1:20
the amount that they were running around in the stands?
1:23
Did they? No, but they should have.
1:27
Yeah. Really fun to me.
1:31
In my mind, I was like, of course I should bring the kids
1:34
done Sunday because it's non-stop action.
1:38
They'll love it. And it turns out kids can't
1:40
really appreciate the difference between prelims and finals.
1:43
They're more about like, is there a cotton candy?
1:46
Yeah. And there wasn't, which was a
1:48
problem. OK.
1:49
Yeah, that's a whole other thing.
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It's like the the concession stand and.
1:54
Not stands. One stand yeah, there was only
1:57
one so New York has a couple little kinks to work out if you.
2:01
We want these championships to return, but overall.
2:05
We can find a halal guy. Multiple.
2:08
In the hot dog stand who who would cart the cart upstairs and
2:14
plop it down and be very. Content, yeah, but alas, we were
2:18
not part of the organizing committee this time around.
2:21
Maybe we get a a couple questions next time, but
2:24
overall, the vibes today, no appearance by the mayor, no
2:28
appearance by Jaylen Brunson, starting to question how much of
2:31
a real track fan he is. But overall a fantastic day.
2:37
So let's get into breaking down all the action that took place
2:42
and I want to start with the race that I was most excited by
2:46
yesterday. When we did the pod, I said I
2:49
was looking out for the women's 5K because we had a highly
2:52
anticipated showdown between Parker Balbee, the six time NCAA
2:56
champion team, New Balance and Shelby Houlihan.
3:01
I don't think those two had ever raced head to head.
3:04
You forgot somebody. Yeah, I did, because I was kind
3:07
of fresh off thinking that Emily Mackay was only going to do the
3:10
15 and that the 5K would just be an insurance policy, especially
3:14
with the 15. I mean, she dove at the finish
3:17
line to try and get the victory. You know, you can wake up, feel
3:21
a little sore, a couple scrapes, a couple bumps and decide not to
3:24
run. But no, I mean, major kudos to
3:26
Emily because not only did she show up, she won the whole damn
3:28
thing. And what we saw, I guess
3:32
throughout was a little bit of what we thought was going to
3:35
happen is that Parker had to hit the front, try and make this
3:39
thing a little bit quick so that you couldn't just leave this to
3:43
be a kicker's race. So early on, just rattling off
3:48
70 twos, 70 threes, 70 twos, 70 threes.
3:51
But we looked at each other in the stands and we were just
3:53
like, that's not enough to shake off Shelby or Emily.
4:00
Margo Appleton was in there. Sydney Vaught, who took the day
4:03
off yesterday and came back after winning the 10K, like she
4:06
was also in the mix there for a bit.
4:09
So this ended up being a, you know, sub 15 minute race up in
4:13
the front end of it. But it just sort of like Parker
4:16
did so much work at the front of the race and it and and Shelby
4:20
Houlihan and Emily Mackay just let her did not help out with
4:25
the lead at all. And so once they decided to make
4:27
their move with about what it was like 500 to go, we knew
4:31
that, OK, this is going to come down to who has the best final
4:34
400. And on the day, it's Emily
4:36
Mackay, who is, you know, one of the best American milers right
4:39
now. I think when they hit 2K in six
4:43
flat, you turned to me and said how fast is that?
4:47
Which is arguably some of the easiest math.
4:50
Yeah, well, you know, I'm not good.
4:52
I'm not good. Yeah, we could have.
4:53
You could have. It wasn't a complicated.
4:56
I'm not good at that. I'm not a splits guy.
4:59
So I was like, that's 15 flat, not fast enough.
5:04
No, not. Fast and as it went on, I I had
5:08
two epiphany. I was, I I said what does Parker
5:12
think is going to happen? And then I went wait a second,
5:17
She could have won the 10K so easily.
5:20
Oh, 100. Percent, this move would have
5:21
worked like a charm in a 10K, but in a 5K, it just wasn't
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fast. And it was, it was the middle of
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the day, but it wasn't that hot. I mean, she's running hotter
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conditions as we've seen at global championships before.
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And she doesn't bother Parker. She's obviously spent plenty of
5:41
time in Florida and it just wasn't fast enough to drop the
5:45
field. But you know what, glass half
5:49
full type of guy? We got a full outdoor season.
5:51
We do. I think the next move from here
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is you probably see Parker entered in like the Celestia 5K
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and what we said at the beginning of like after her runs
6:01
in LA is that we want to see what she can do now in a fast
6:05
race against some of the best in the world.
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And that's the type of 1 where you're doing less thinking than
6:10
you did today. You just slot in line up, you
6:13
know, behind the likes of a Faith Kapiagon or Nadia
6:17
Bataclidi and you can just see how fast you go.
6:20
And so I'm still optimistic at the at thinking that Parker's
6:24
got sub 1430 potential this season.
6:28
It just has to be in the right race.
6:30
But today it's a lesson as well of like, all right, I know that
6:35
come 2028 trials, if these athletes are still also my
6:39
competitors and you throw in other people who weren't here
6:43
today, the likes of Elise Cranny, A Curitius Weiser.
6:46
I can't get away with doing all the work in the front.
6:49
Also have to develop a kick. Yeah, no, it's true.
6:54
So I mean, at some point then with a lap to go, it was clearly
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an Emily versus Shelby. Shelby was the first one to try
7:00
to make a move. And you kind of like go back six
7:04
years and it's like, oh, Shelby has this crazy last 100.
7:08
Right. Like muscle memory, we're going
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to see her pull that. But the truth is, is that Shelby
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is more of a 5K10K girl now than ever before.
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Emily's the one who's the true middle distance runner right
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now. And we really saw it at the end.
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I mean, when Emily decided to make the move, it was so
7:29
definitive and obvious. And even though Shelby looked
7:31
very comfortable, Emily's last 200 was 29, and she's the one
7:38
who's breaking 2 on The Reg. Yeah, Yeah.
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These days. And so honestly, it was a pretty
7:45
easy victory for Emily. I'm sure she's not two guests
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after that one and but it also feels great because I'm sure she
7:52
was super disappointed after the 1500s, so.
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That's probably the toughest part is just sort of like
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emotionally getting yourself back up for the to get on this
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start line and channel all of that redemption energy.
8:03
Although like yesterday I think on her cooldown and stuff, I saw
8:06
some smiles. I got to meet her grandma after
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the race. She said some really nice things
8:11
about Sidious, about me. If someone says something nice
8:14
about Sidious, that's kind of like saying something nice
8:17
about. You I take saying something nice
8:19
about CITIUS as to saying something nice about our team.
8:22
I say when someone says something nice about me, I think
8:24
that's something saying something nice about City.
8:26
So it's not just, it's not about me.
8:27
Yeah, they're like, oh, you have really good photographers.
8:30
That's what I'm thinking. I'm like, oh, you guys are doing
8:33
a good job of getting the stuff up on Instagram.
8:35
That's how I follow along and all that stuff.
8:36
That's how I take. It impeccable leader.
8:38
It's not about me unless they say like, oh, I listen to the
8:40
podcast and you know, I like the British guy better.
8:44
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Most people do.
8:49
All right, so that was the women's 5.
8:52
K as a segue, yeah, if I would have told you at the start of
8:56
this weekend, hey, I feel like the 1500 guys or the 1500
9:00
runners are really poised to do well in these five KS, you
9:03
probably would have been like, yeah, that makes sense.
9:05
Well, yes, but also be like, well, what happened to Grant
9:10
Fisher and what happened to Woody Kincaid?
9:14
So both those guys chose not to double back from the 10K.
9:18
No, I don't think either of them has cited any sort of injury or
9:21
anything crazy. So I mean, it's just tough on
9:24
your body after running a 10 Ki. Give Grant full credit for
9:27
showing up. A lot of people didn't show up.
9:29
US as Grant showed up. One of the biggest stars
9:32
obviously wishes that he could have done a couple things
9:35
differently or things would have felt better, but I don't blame
9:38
him at all. After the 10K, I'm sure he was
9:41
like, yeah, body's not 100% this weekend, get back to work, get
9:47
back in there. Bigger fish to fry, but that
9:51
really opened up today. Yeah, it did.
9:55
And so when you look at the results, you're probably like
9:57
scratching your head and be like, this is a strange 5K race,
10:00
but Vinciotti, Cooper Tier, Sam Pracle, Tom Ratcliffe, who
10:04
probably of that bunch is the most 5K guy of of, of the group.
10:10
Sam Pracle. No, no, no, no.
10:11
Tom Ratcliff. Oh, Tom Ratcliff.
10:13
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because Cooper Teare has been
10:15
running more 5 KS over the last couple of years, but he is AUS
10:19
1500 champ from 20. 22 was the one who took it early and I kind
10:23
of liked it. Look like no one, especially a
10:26
guy like Cooper who has run 350 in the mile, right.
10:30
He hasn't gotten under 350. Yeah, you just, you want it
10:35
honest enough, but you don't need to do anything crazy.
10:39
And I appreciated that they're honest enough was coming
10:41
through, you know, the 1st 800 and 2:10.
10:46
Yeah. They were they, they weren't
10:48
jogging. It was something it's enough to
10:51
run the legs out of people littles, but you're not dropping
10:55
anyone off of that. But I, I did appreciate it.
10:57
I think that's I, I think the, the, the TV people probably
11:02
appreciated that too. I think, I think you look at the
11:05
top three in this one and you're like, all right, I would have
11:07
been happy with, I mean, even top four with like the storyline
11:12
of them winning this race for Vince, it's like he's always
11:16
been in the mix, so close. Now he finally gets to call
11:19
himself a national champion on the track 'cause he's got like,
11:21
I think Rd. mile titles. Cooper, it's coming back after,
11:27
you know, several races that maybe weren't what you would
11:31
hope for out of him. And then Sam Prekel, it's
11:33
another sort of like, oh, would have been like, he's another guy
11:36
who's always been so close and he missed the 1500m finals.
11:40
So like, had he won, it's a very it would have been poetic had it
11:43
been like Emily Mackay winning after finishing third and Sam
11:47
Prakel winning after, you know, not making the final.
11:51
But this is a good, good enough redemption performance.
11:54
And so, yeah, it's it's, it's interesting to think like what
12:00
type? Like do you get this kind of
12:02
race in Eugene? I don't, I think.
12:05
In an off year, maybe you might still get it.
12:07
I mean, when you go through, that's not like there's anyone
12:09
in this race who's going to push it.
12:11
And it's actually like a pretty sizable gap, like guys died.
12:15
Yeah, which happens all the time when you shift gears.
12:17
The poop smell hit them. You got hit with the poop.
12:21
The the poop jumped on their back there it.
12:23
It hit me at toward the end of the meet.
12:24
For sure. You know, Vince dabbled in the
12:27
5K for the first real time earlier this season.
12:30
He ran 1313 and if I remember correctly, he got out kicked by
12:35
a few guys in a really close race.
12:38
But it was like a nice little experiment.
12:40
And I, I think that for him, I have this idea that maybe it's
12:48
time to move up. But obviously the 5K worked
12:53
really well for him in this situation.
12:55
Any but maybe there's a future there.
12:59
And you know, he's 31. He's probably got a good
13:04
lifetime of mileage under him. We turn that 1313 into, you
13:09
know, we, we had another 10 to 3 miles a week.
13:13
I don't know, we got something here.
13:14
You know, that the Olympic trials probably is going to be a
13:17
1245 race. So I think he's got good
13:20
potential here. I liked it.
13:23
I liked a lot and also just like the fact that he just closed
13:28
really hard. 2671 final lap. But like looking at the splits
13:33
605854, his last 1200 was 253. And I said in the preview
13:38
podcast sub four last mile, not the boldest tank in the entire
13:43
world, but I said it. You didn't say it.
13:48
They did it. They did.
13:49
It but 253 is a great close on the 1200 and it signals some
13:52
potential and you know, stronger international field.
13:56
So really liked it. It's always nice to be the
13:59
fastest guy. It's not like Vince has like
14:01
some crazy 800 PB. He's running 146 high.
14:05
That's not fast anymore. It's not good enough.
14:08
And he's bro, look, he's five years old.
14:12
Yeah, yeah, I think he can go faster now.
14:14
Yeah, yeah. Especially based off of what
14:15
he's on the 1500, but he's not naturally like some.
14:19
He wasn't getting picked in a 4 by 4 Virginia Tech back in the
14:22
day. And so, you know, to be the
14:24
fastest guy in a 5K is a nice thing.
14:26
So I like it. All right, let's move on over to
14:29
the two hundreds. We'll start with the men.
14:34
Garrett Kaalund ends up being the winner here in 20 O 4.
14:38
Cal, she could have picked up so much money today had they just
14:42
split the switch and said given that operate although they do is
14:46
no one miles versus the field. Oh yeah, That would have been
14:49
the odds, yeah. And we were saying all week,
14:53
what's Noah going to do? That's going to be dramatic in
14:55
this race. And what we The answer to that
14:58
question is run 50.88. Why did he finish?
15:04
The trivia question he last year was or yesterday was what's the
15:09
slowest outdoor 200 that Noah has run?
15:12
He goes and it was up until that point and he's like, you know
15:15
what, I'm going to make that answer easy for me next time
15:18
someone asks me that question. And I'm just going to think 2026
15:22
USA outdoors when I ran 5088. So if you're out there
15:26
somewhere, go to your local track and I think you'll be able
15:32
to run a 5088. New end of summer.
15:36
No. Allows challenge run.
15:39
Run 5088 or faster for 200 meters.
15:42
There you go. But no, no.
15:45
All right. So in all seriousness, Noah
15:48
played it smart. He he just had a cramp.
15:53
That's what he had. He came through the mix zone
15:55
afterwards and told people it's like, listen, I'm not gonna do
15:58
anything dumb here. He had zero concern, zero
16:01
concern. He wouldn't.
16:02
He wouldn't. By the end of the 50 seconds, he
16:04
wasn't. Concerned he was clapping like
16:06
as he was walking it in he and afterwards in the mix zone, he
16:10
said. There's no reason I'm pushing
16:12
that so I just decided to cut it off.
16:13
It's just a cramp. And yeah, also he was just great
16:18
with Garrett afterwards. He was super pumped for him.
16:22
Obviously Garrett coming out and running, winning a national
16:26
title, probably didn't wake up this morning thinking he's going
16:29
to win a national. Title this is like his third or
16:31
fourth race of the outdoor season.
16:32
Like he he you know, has played it pretty quiet and so but he's
16:38
a talent. I think like definitely remember
16:40
his name coming up because those spots behind Noah in the 200 for
16:46
2028 could be pretty wide open. You obviously have Kenny,
16:50
Courtney, Lindsay, but then from there, like, you know, we
16:54
thought that the likes of an Aryan Knighton was going to hold
16:57
on to one of those spots for years to come, but that's not
17:00
the case. So yeah, he could be a
17:03
contender. So if you do the Know Lyles
17:06
challenge on, just tag us on your Instagram stories and we'll
17:09
be sure to repost it sub 50.88. I think Garrett one of the best
17:18
post race interviews in stadium today.
17:20
Yeah, what did exactly did you say?
17:22
They was it Don on the mic who asked like, what should the
17:26
crowd know about Derek? And he said, well, I have one
17:28
cat right now and soon I'm going to have a second.
17:32
And the crowd went nuts. It was like he mentioned how
17:36
good New York City pizza is. Yeah.
17:37
So it's right up there, I think with like some good crowd work.
17:40
But I'd say the shame in all of this.
17:45
Is that we had. Plus 1.5 win and based off the
17:50
women's race, there was an opportunity to really run fast
17:54
here. And Noah's first hundred was
17:57
good. He was, yeah, yeah, he was.
18:00
And he got out-of-the-box well. And so the shame of it all is we
18:04
don't know what he would have run had he been healthy.
18:07
But if I had to choose between seeing like a 19419 five today
18:12
or seeing Noah the rest of the season, I'm taking nowhere the
18:15
rest of the season. He's got an after.
18:17
Party. He's got an after party.
18:18
Are we invited? No.
18:20
Not yet. It's athletes only.
18:23
I think or actually don't do the no Lyles challenge because we
18:26
won't get invited to the after party.
18:27
Why it's athletes only? Is it athletes only athletes?
18:31
Only why was there an? Athlete.
18:33
Really, it's athletes. Only it's athletes, only they
18:36
just wanted us to know we're not invited.
18:38
But we are athletes. If you have a body, you're an
18:41
athlete. If you have a World Athletics
18:43
page, you should be. I don't have I I can pass as the
18:47
other Chris Chavez to get into the party.
18:52
All right, Well, I guess it's a good thing that you didn't get
18:55
hurt because. He's got he's.
18:57
Got that would have been a brutal trip like if he was hurt
19:00
and then only gets to go to Budapest to to to to throw a
19:05
party. So all right, well, safe
19:10
healings to Noah Lyles. All right, women's 200, which
19:14
you did talk about one one point O wind and Mosa Jefferson Wooden
19:21
had heavy favorite in this race. Absolutely delivered 2169
19:25
season's best. Obviously, we all know what you
19:29
know, the likes of Julian Alfred, Gabby Thomas and a Deja
19:32
Hodge has run. And so we know Melissa Jefferson
19:34
Wooden is fully capable of being in that mix.
19:37
And so she's one of the big six right now.
19:39
You throw in Sharika Jackson in there as well.
19:43
She's like, all right. I'm just reminding you folks.
19:45
I'm the world champ. The Women's 200 on an
19:49
international level might be the most exciting event out there in
19:56
track and field right now. Yes.
19:58
'Cause there are legitimately 5 or six women who have a shot.
20:02
Yeah. I, I, I'm, I think I'm pegging
20:04
it at Big Six right now. Yeah.
20:06
Yeah, in the the Perennial Men's 1500, there are not that many
20:12
people who have a shot. Thinking 202024 Olympic final.
20:18
Saying like going 2024, that was the number one event in track
20:22
and field. Yes, right now in 2020. 6 But
20:25
there's more contenders in this race than there.
20:28
Were contenders and more contenders who are competing at
20:30
a top ten all time level. That's the number one event in
20:34
track and field right now and I think Melissa reasserted herself
20:38
as the world champion. It's a reminder she won by over
20:43
a half second here. It's it's crazy because Cambrea
20:46
Sturgis is good. Cambrea Sturgis might make the
20:50
final at. Ultimate chance, yeah, yeah.
20:53
And she was second in 2022, so. What are we going to call?
20:56
We need to come up with like something.
20:58
Is it just? Ultimates at Ultimates.
21:01
Yeah, yeah. We're good with.
21:02
Ultimates. Yeah, yeah.
21:04
Saying like World ultimate, World Athletics, Ultimate
21:07
Championships too much. Comments section on Spotify
21:10
please sound off like so. We call it world's Olympics
21:12
Ultimates. I think ultimates.
21:14
Ultimates and then if Jesse Gabriel listens to his podcasts
21:21
and approves because she's head of comms, right?
21:25
I don't know the official title. Head honcho at world ultimate
21:29
champs. It's like Sebs, Seb, then Jesse,
21:32
Gabriel. This feels like something that
21:34
the people decide what to call it as a nickname.
21:36
We're calling it Ultimates. Ultimates.
21:39
I've qualified for ultimates. I'm on pace to qualify for
21:43
ultimates. As one of the biggest podcasters
21:46
in Brooklyn. We're calling it Ultimates.
21:48
Yeah. All right.
21:49
So yeah, Cambrea Sturgis may be in the final at Ultimates.
21:53
And yet Melissa dominated. Dominated.
21:57
Yeah. I didn't.
21:58
I like loved all of the videos and content around Melissa and
22:02
Mamdani. I liked it too.
22:04
I was talking about this on my run with Mac.
22:06
I was like. I did find it funny though that
22:08
she doesn't have any New York connections though.
22:12
I my favorite joke is when people be like, that's my mayor
22:14
parentheses. I'm from Blake.
22:17
Yeah, yeah. That's what Loggy Loggy posted
22:21
on her Instagram story being like, damn, can't believe I
22:24
didn't go to the track today and meet my mayor.
22:26
I'm from San Diego. That's my name.
22:28
So he's America's mayor now? I mean, like America's mayor was
22:32
the title they had for Rudy Giuliani post 911.
22:34
But like, like, F Giuliani at this point.
22:38
All right, we got political on the pod.
22:40
Mamdani's America's Mayor. Based off of not to get
22:43
political, Mac has has gave me about like 4 hours worth of
22:46
content about San Diego's mayor. Yeah, yeah.
22:49
So it sounds like. Everyone else, everyone in San.
22:51
Diego is just looking for a mayor.
22:54
I want, I want to know people in the comments section let us know
22:58
who are the other beloved mayors in America because I know that
23:02
everyone loves Mumdani right now.
23:05
Some small town that like voted a dogging there.
23:09
Is yeah, there is that. There's that someone.
23:11
But also a very popular mayor. For now.
23:14
For now. For now, till he'd bite someone.
23:17
Yeah. All right.
23:18
Next event, Chris. Men's 100 meter hurdles, which
23:21
is the final event of the day. 100 and. 10 we have 110 hurdles.
23:26
The semi finals were actually we do have to shout out what what
23:31
one of the bigger stories of the semi finals, Freddie
23:33
Crittenden's last race. Yeah, we love Freddie.
23:37
Love Freddie? I saw him outside the stadium,
23:39
dapped him up and you know, we're ready to begin his career
23:44
with Sidious whenever he's ready to join us.
23:48
But the thing that the that all stood out to me was like, I
23:53
mean, I don't know if he's banged up and hurt, but he was
23:56
last in his in his semi final, but also spin zone taking as
24:03
much time to appreciate this the crowd and the fans and his final
24:08
race. Son, good spin zone.
24:10
All right into the final. Freddie, just in general.
24:14
Freddie had a great reception. He did today in the crowd.
24:17
Got emotional speaking to the crowd.
24:19
We love to see people appreciate it.
24:23
It was great. All right, into the final.
24:27
I thought it. I mean it through what, 6 or 7
24:31
hurdles? Like it was dead even Like could
24:33
have been any of these kinds. Of point, it was Bradley
24:35
Franklin. OK.
24:36
Yeah, yeah. All right, so Bradley, Franklin,
24:38
Sanford guy, 19 years old, sophomore, you have to think I,
24:44
I think he was fifth at NCAA's. And you have to pour one out for
24:47
everyone in the NCAA who's like, I have to go up against Jacoby
24:52
Farr. Look.
24:53
Kendrick Smallwood did hold his own in the final and ends up
24:56
running the second fastest time but.
24:58
Like third today. Yeah, I mean, he was third today
25:00
and I was looking at him in a in a Texas uniform and was like,
25:03
all right, if Cordell doesn't win, it'll be him.
25:05
But Bradley Franklin, like gave them all a run for the for for
25:07
their money. So Bradley?
25:08
Franklin had it, but Cordell Tinch, we know, and we've seen
25:12
him run 60 meter hurdles. Yeah, he's the last 40, last,
25:16
sorry, last 50m guy. Yeah, yeah.
25:18
And he came off that 10th hurdle so well and he's a long boy.
25:25
Was able to dip it at the line. They both ran 13 flat.
25:29
A very nice personal best for Bradley, for Cordell.
25:34
I'm sure he's been like biting his tongue all season trying to
25:39
like. Remind people I'm the world
25:41
champion. I'm the world champion, but you
25:44
know, it's, it's been all about Jamal Britt, Jacoby Tharp.
25:47
Those are the guys who keep running under 13.
25:49
Cordell officially 12.993 that gets rounded up to 1300.
25:55
They both ran 1300 a very nice win for Cordell Tinch a great
26:02
moral victory for Bradley Franklin.
26:06
I was nervous following this like I I thought would look at
26:12
the schedule once again like the two hundreds should finish it
26:14
out. Melissa Jefferson Wooden Noel
26:17
Miles, our biggest stars in the sport like I would close it with
26:20
them. But the 100 hurdles the only one
26:21
that had prelim so give them the most rest.
26:24
But it did deliver a very nice like bang to the end of the the
26:30
long weekend. Yeah, just touching on some
26:33
other results. Chris Nielsen takes the men's
26:35
pole vault title. Vashti Cunningham adds another
26:39
national title to their collection in the women's high
26:43
jump. Women's long jump for a second.
26:47
I mean, I think there's a lot of people who went home.
26:51
They are in their cars. They're like, man, that was
26:53
awesome. Tara Davis Woodhall won.
26:55
Like, she threw me AT shirt in the stands and like was dancing
27:00
and celebrating. And then we're on the bus on our
27:03
way here to the after party and we shout out the results, shout
27:06
out to our friends. No Well, dip in Shaw with the
27:09
protest window clock. Man I love that thing on the in
27:14
the results page it. Is not official until the clock
27:18
on the results page is down to 0.
27:20
Yeah, so for anyone, yeah, anyone who I guess like, yeah,
27:25
at this point has been following along with the live results.
27:30
Like you saw a new feature in there was like race ends,
27:34
protest window clock begins and very cool.
27:37
Like if you're a coach, are you standing?
27:40
When are you 10? Yeah, 9.
27:44
And then you and then you slide the hundred across the table.
27:48
Oh yeah. To the, to the.
27:51
Is that a USATF rule as well or is that cash?
27:54
No, it's cash, $100 cash to protest the risk.
27:58
They don't take Amex. They don't take Amex, they don't
28:01
take card, neither does the 1 concession stand that's selling
28:05
drinks in the in at icon. So it's cash only.
28:12
They didn't take a card. No, they they, they said to me,
28:16
it's like you and I said where's the nearest ATM?
28:20
Not on this island. As someone who works in this
28:22
industry, that's tough. Yeah, big payments guy over
28:26
here. Anyway, results get updated as
28:30
we're on our way here, and Alyssa Jones from Stanford ends
28:35
up being crowned national champion.
28:36
Snaps Tara Davis Woodall's very long winning streak.
28:40
I think that goes back to 2023. Really.
28:42
Yeah, that's that's. You mentioned there's a winning
28:46
streak. I didn't realize it was that.
28:47
Long, well, think about it. Olympic year she was on fire,
28:50
last year undefeated and this year undefeated up until this
28:53
point. Obviously, if you think about
28:54
it. If you think about it and look
28:55
it up, yeah. All right.
28:58
Forager hurdles, Men's forager meter hurdles.
29:01
We knew Christopher Robinson. Yeah.
29:04
And Caleb Dean would go out fast.
29:06
And it was about who's going to hold on.
29:09
Caleb Gene only held on for two hurdles and then Chris Robinson
29:13
took over after hurdle 4 closed the whole thing out.
29:18
Ends up national champion. Kept it all together.
29:23
Yep, no season's best 4761. Good victory for him.
29:28
Look, this is a year Rye wasn't around the 400 hurdles.
29:31
It was time to test someone else out.
29:34
A new opportunity today. He might get to go to Ultimates.
29:39
Oh, he's, he's very well positioned.
29:41
I don't have to look it up to know that.
29:43
Did you see what happened earlier today though?
29:45
Do you tell Oh? Allison dos Santos, no 4648.
29:51
Wow, yeah, hell yeah. Love to see.
29:54
That oh wait, yeah, 4648 I'm pretty sure.
29:58
Fastest time, I think second fastest time of his career
30:01
behind I think only the Olympics.
30:04
It's funny, it was that I assume that was at the Brazilian
30:06
national championships. Yeah, I have not seen any other
30:11
results from any national championship.
30:13
Tomorrow I will pull up the laptop and spend some time going
30:17
through everything. And then you subscribe to the
30:19
Lab Count newsletter and you'll get a full rundown of like,
30:22
incredible results that took place all around the world this
30:24
past weekend that you may have not heard.
30:26
About, but I've been in the zone you've.
30:27
Been in the zone kind of cool though, that like he doubled 400
30:32
and 400 hurdles at the Brazilian National Championships and so
30:36
he's on fire. Women's 400 hurdles.
30:39
Women's 400 hurdles, big crowd reception, of course, for the
30:43
little Mohammed before the race. And I mean, I oh, she got DQ D
30:51
but she was. That protest window.
30:53
That protest window got to her. She was not really all that in
30:56
it. And clip the hurdle is what Mac
31:00
is telling me. Yeah.
31:04
So I think like she crashed out pretty hard.
31:08
So Anna Cockrell just ended up dominating this 15294 Deonca
31:14
bookman from Nike and the W Cap program I believe with the US
31:18
Army in second with APB of 5395. Shamir Little rounds out the
31:22
podium in 3rd place for this. Like, I mean, tremendous victory
31:28
for for Anna. Yeah, I again like.
31:32
Kind of changes my mind for ultimates.
31:34
Right what you were you're. AI thought I no, I want the
31:39
storybook ending of Delilah winning Ultimates and riding off
31:42
into the sunset. But now I'm kind of putting that
31:45
idea to rest and I think I'm leaning towards Anna Jasmine
31:50
Jones, one of the two. I need to see it a race between
31:53
the two of them head to head before then.
31:55
I think it when at her best, Anna Cockrell is the favorite.
32:01
Pull it out today. We saw her just absolutely
32:04
dominate. I mean, in a league of her own
32:07
looked really good. Hopefully a big confidence
32:09
builder for her. Yeah, I don't know.
32:14
I feel like the US just, we have a knack for finding 400 hurdlers
32:21
and you know, Sydney out of it for a couple of years, it's at
32:26
its. Turn right now it's wide open.
32:27
Yeah, it's Croatia versus or no Czech Republic versus the world,
32:32
Slovakia for Zapatalova. Yeah.
32:36
Oh man, this is she's team new bounds Kyle really messing this
32:40
up right? Now can we edit this podcast?
32:42
No, no edits, straight shot. But anyway, I think it's Czech
32:46
Republic. You think so?
32:47
Yeah, Emma, Slovakia. Don't come at me, Chris.
32:57
Yeah, All right. You were right.
33:00
Nobody knows more countries than Yeah all.
33:02
Right. All right, then let's get to the
33:04
8 hundreds. Now, let's begin with just sort
33:07
of the fact that before actually let's go women's first and then
33:13
we'll go to. The the Lake County, Florida
33:14
women's 800 meters. Yes.
33:18
Who tricked Lake County, Florida into like?
33:22
Sponsoring the race. Look, I think a lot of people
33:24
are really going to come down to Lake County, Florida, if you
33:27
give us a few, $1000. Yeah, it's not just they sponsor
33:31
multiple races all throughout the.
33:32
Week. Why do I feel like going to get
33:33
Adm from someone about me making that joke?
33:38
You know, it's a very random, neat sponsor.
33:42
Everyone thinks that Mum Donnie is America's mayor, it's the
33:47
and, and that he loves track. It's actually the Lake County,
33:49
Florida mayor who really loves track and is sponsoring all
33:53
these races. Yeah, I mean, where's
33:56
Minneapolis mayor? Why is he not sponsoring races?
34:00
I don't know. We know he's a he's.
34:01
A track guy. Let me give you some facts about
34:03
Lake County, Florida. It features over 1000 lakes, but
34:08
they don't call it the Land of 1000 lakes because that's
34:11
Minnesota. Yeah, it's the largest city and
34:16
it is Claremont, so that makes sense as to why.
34:18
Oh, OK. Yeah, they are.
34:20
Oh, we, we have 50 Olympians as residents in our town.
34:24
Yeah. Yeah, notable people from it.
34:28
Ginger Minge the drag queen from being the runner up on the 7th
34:31
season of RuPaul's Drag Race. I knew I was familiar with Lake
34:34
Florida. But most notably is the fact
34:38
that the Notable people section for Lake County, Florida on
34:41
Wikipedia does not list any of the professional athletes who
34:43
trains who. Live there and who live there?
34:46
When Marcel Jacobs moved down there, he was like, I like going
34:49
to the grocery store and no one knows who I am.
34:52
It's like all the videos we saw during the World Cup of Like, La
34:56
Mina Mall is shopping at Target and no one recognizes him.
35:01
And so maybe that's their sell. Come to Lake County, Florida, If
35:05
you're a star, no one will bother you.
35:10
All right, Mia Aikens stuns this field, runs 15925 for the win.
35:18
Another national title. Just when you kind of start to
35:21
count out Mia, I, I think at this point just sort of like,
35:25
oh, it's a it's US as and she hasn't had like the best of
35:28
seasons and leading up to this, it doesn't matter.
35:30
She's just like Marcel Jacobs. She's a championship performer.
35:35
She remembered with like 200 years ago.
35:37
She's like, oh, I win this. I usually win this.
35:40
Yeah, like we kind of said before, well, top race for
35:45
Rocheen Willis to, like, try and take this thing.
35:49
I didn't love this approach. I think she's got the best close
35:51
of the field. I think she's one of the
35:53
strongest 800 meter runners out there.
35:55
She's based off of the entire portfolio of the season so far.
36:00
I think there was reason to believe that she was the fittest
36:03
in the field. I mean, like, would it shock you
36:07
by the end of this year, you hear?
36:08
Roisin Willis ran 155. Not at all, no.
36:12
So listen, not a great It's a learning year, an offseason.
36:16
I think a lot of people are learning a lot at these US.
36:19
USA's Megan Hunter. Very similar to just kind of
36:21
like went a little too soon. Yeah, we're talking to coach
36:27
Dilji Taylor after the race and we're talking about the prelim
36:32
where she made a big move leading it to 400 meters to go.
36:36
And that was not going to be the plan here as as we were talking
36:40
with coach, it was like, no, that's how you qualify for the
36:42
finals. But to win the finals, you got
36:45
to you got to close it down and not take it from that far out.
36:48
I think we're going to see something really special out of
36:50
making at some point. I think it's going to click.
36:52
Hopefully a meat director out there gives her that opportunity
36:55
to come in. She's.
36:56
Good. 158 two is not reflective of the type of fitness that she
37:02
has playing now and you can see it just by virtue of the
37:05
athletes that she's finishing. The whole body of work all
37:07
season has been phenomenal for like, think back to like
37:10
January, Doctor Sander. Yeah, yeah, It's like, all
37:13
right. Like she earned her way to mill
37:14
Rose. And then still I think did
37:16
really well. I don't know.
37:17
She didn't win. The Sidious Mag women's 1K came
37:21
close. She was a contender in that one.
37:22
And we we have a soft spot for alums of the Sidious Mag.
37:25
Women's How many alums are? There siga da guma sage herda
37:29
Clecker. So we didn't have too many here
37:31
at this meeting. Right now we.
37:32
Have two soft spots. We have a lot of soft spots,
37:35
Yeah. And then Addie Wiley, I mean,
37:37
like, we posted the clip from last last night's podcast about
37:41
sort of like, I mean, yeah. But then again, it's just sort
37:45
of like there's always one weird move, right?
37:47
It was a hard move, yeah, which like I understand from the
37:50
perspective of being the 15, like the strongest 800 runner,
37:55
like the the one coming down or the one who can also run the
37:58
1500, that you're going to take it from really far out.
38:01
It was just an aggressive move and NIA was able to cover it
38:06
enough. Yeah, his final lap was over a
38:11
half second faster than than Addie.
38:13
And so if you're Addie though, like you walk away from this
38:16
weekend with two runner up finishes.
38:17
Like, not a bad weekend, all things considered.
38:19
In a different year, in an Olympic trials year, when it's
38:23
two teams off of more days, yeah, especially it's perfect
38:28
point. Yeah, you make 2 teams and you
38:30
have more time to get it done. Yeah.
38:32
Squeezed into. I mean, she ran every day.
38:36
For the last four days. And not to brag, I did too, but
38:39
I didn't race them all. I only ran three of the last
38:42
four days. Yeah, that's.
38:44
Not as good as me and Abby. Do you want to address the fact
38:46
that people thought that you had a couple bevies before the
38:49
podcast yesterday? Yeah, I got a nice comment on
38:53
our Spotify. Kyle had looks like he had a
38:55
couple of adult beverages he's had.
38:57
One here and I've had one here. I had one.
39:00
I just really like track. I feel like that's allowed.
39:02
Yeah, I ran. 18 miles. That's right.
39:07
We wanted to let people know Kyle ran 18 miles.
39:10
Might be a big announcement coming in the future.
39:12
Hold on. Yeah, really big announcement
39:17
anyway. 8 hundreds. Good race.
39:20
Was hoping for Paige Shepherd to get under that 2 flag.
39:22
I know, me too. Five women did.
39:24
Unfortunately, Paige was not one of them, but we press on.
39:29
Juliet Whitaker said. All right, I'm going to disprove
39:32
Kyle's theory for one round and then didn't have the best day
39:36
today. Look, it's not like she lost
39:38
anyone who is. No, they're all good.
39:39
She didn't lose the chump change out there.
39:41
Yeah, yeah. It's just, and I think I said
39:43
this yesterday, like if you run the women's 810 times, we get 5
39:49
different winners here. Should they do that at a feature
39:51
championship? No.
39:55
All right. Final event.
39:56
Men's 800. Men's 800 butts before they.
40:00
Fired off this event. Amazing moment in the stadium.
40:04
Really. Special So they decided to honor
40:07
legendary coach your former coach Frank Agliano, who for a
40:13
period right had the most sub for American milers in history,
40:17
might still probably. No idea, that sounds right.
40:21
Coached at Manhattan College, Won NCAA title there.
40:26
Coached at Roselle Catholic, Roselle Catholic before all of
40:30
that. Rutgers yeah, we're an after
40:34
farm team, farm team, OTC and Jane Y and.
40:38
Jane Y and many other athletes along the way.
40:41
And so the reason why this was like so awesome.
40:44
And I think like we were explaining this to our young
40:46
interns who were like, oh, what, what, what's the deal with this?
40:50
And we said it's because like. Everyone in this stands today
40:55
was probably either coached by Gagliano or sitting next to
40:58
someone who is coached by gags. Yeah.
41:01
And like when we got there, there was because we wanted to
41:05
go say hello and there was a line to see him.
41:09
He was like sitting at the top of the stands and, like, it was
41:12
like trying to meet the Pope. But, I mean, they call him the
41:15
Godfather for a reason. And so it was.
41:18
It was awesome. And the reason I guess like
41:19
quick history lesson for folks is like the likes of Julie
41:24
Benson, Diljit Taylor Vilanana, Chris Miltonberg, Pat Henner,
41:31
that's like we've you can retrace a lot of American middle
41:35
distances coaching tree back to gags.
41:38
And so when Nikki wins, like there's a connection there.
41:42
And so that's I think one of the coolest parts to our history as
41:47
a sport. And so today it was, it was, it
41:50
was just great to see him and like he he took it in.
41:53
It was a lot. Yeah, it was really cool.
41:54
I mean when he was like throwing his first up in the air, it was
41:58
awesome and he was wearing his USA gears obviously Olympic
42:01
coach and and has coached many Olympians.
42:09
It was awesome. It was honestly, it was
42:11
emotional and I talking to some former teammates and former GAG
42:14
athletes also throughout the enclave as another group.
42:19
It was, it was like a, it was a really cool moment.
42:22
And they did with John Smith yesterday.
42:24
Yesterday. Yeah, yeah.
42:25
And it's just like, we need more of that.
42:26
That's like the the heritage and the history and the kids don't
42:31
know how we got here, but before there was double, double
42:35
threshold, there was Gagliano telling you to run 6 by 800.
42:39
And that was like a revolutionary time.
42:42
The heck of the day. Yeah.
42:44
And so it was really cool. Lots of former gag athletes.
42:47
It's really like a fraternity and sorority out there of former
42:51
Gagliano athletes. And so in addition to seeing
42:54
GAGS, you and I went up and said hello to him and his family.
42:58
We all 300. People.
43:01
There were 300 people ticketed just to see gags.
43:03
I mean they what they could have done on Rob Vermilion over the
43:07
Loud. You know, our announcer is a
43:10
former Gagliano athlete. They should have had like a
43:13
thing where it's like stand up if you're a former Gagliano
43:16
athlete. And it would have been crazy how
43:18
many people would have stood up. Yeah, yeah.
43:20
So really, really cool moment. It was special seeing him still
43:24
stay in touch. And yeah, it was great.
43:27
One day, Chris, I feel like maybe your next book that.
43:31
'D be cool. So it's funny enough to connect
43:35
it to the race that we saw unfold.
43:38
One of the big things with Gagliano is always like he had
43:40
this, he has this love for like the NCAA system, like would only
43:44
coach pros and so a couple. He turned down many, especially
43:49
when I was at NJ and Y, because I ran for him for seven years,
43:53
turned down a lot of high school and college phenoms who like he
43:56
he wanted you to stay in the instead of lay and tangents.
44:00
But like I was at Columbia and I was supposed to go to my fifth
44:03
year at Texas and I ran well. And I was like, yeah, should I
44:07
like bypass this year at Texas and like, come join you now.
44:11
And he was like, no, go to Texas.
44:13
You got a scholarship, you're not even paying for it.
44:15
Go. Yeah.
44:16
So like that was the type of guy that he was, the mindset that he
44:19
has, loves the answer to play, believes in the development of
44:21
US athletes. And so when a couple months
44:24
back, I texted her group chat and I was like, random thought.
44:28
I was like, you think if Cooper Luckenhouse approached him as
44:33
like, gags. I want you to coach.
44:34
Me, absolutely. Not, he said.
44:36
Yeah, it's crazy. I was like.
44:37
It wouldn't even be a question. I was thinking, I was like, oh,
44:39
with that level of talent, would Gagliano break his policy?
44:43
No. No because gags I can do.
44:45
I mean I do 2 hours on this. Gagliano actually enjoyed
44:50
coaching like the 149 guy down to 144 more than he enjoyed
44:56
coaching like a 145 guy down to 142 or like that was like he got
45:01
more of a thrill out of the walk on.
45:04
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Who would and?
45:05
We saw that. Over the years, which is sort of
45:07
like the talent NJ and Y would attract.
45:09
And it's like, Oh no, making AUS final was a huge accomplishment.
45:13
You'd be more. Excited.
45:14
Make the trials on. It you'd be more excited for,
45:17
you know, Ford Palmer developing than like Don making another
45:21
Olympic like like it was sometimes as a guy who dad like
45:28
some accolades coming to him. You're like, whoa, what about
45:31
me? But he he liked just seeing
45:34
people improve. And he liked giving people a
45:36
chance, so and also all it says. Is no, he wouldn't have coached.
45:39
Cooper. But what Cooper's got is
45:41
working. So shout out coach Chris Capo
45:43
because Cooper ends up adding his first US outdoor 800 meter
45:47
title 14348 and hilarious comedy made after the race was like
45:52
finally got to run 143 because he totally skipped over that
45:56
over the last two years and so great victory for him.
46:01
Hell of a run by Wes Ferguson in second place.
46:04
I mean, yo, don't sleep. He's doing great.
46:07
He really fantastic. close of the last 100 both days.
46:11
Hobbs ending up third look they tried to make Cooper.
46:15
Work for it. They tried.
46:16
They tried I. Mean major kudos.
46:18
For that move that he had going into 200 meters to go to get to
46:22
the rail first, it was I. The entire crowd went, yeah,
46:29
yeah, like an emotional, like physical reaction to it.
46:32
It was so hard and dominant. It was violent would be the only
46:35
way to describe. But we were sitting in front of
46:37
the stands where like you could see just sort of like this is
46:40
again, the racing maturity that has developed year over year for
46:43
someone like Cooper, like he stuck a hand out and.
46:45
Like. He was.
46:46
He looked like a much smarter racer than he did.
46:50
Sort of. Not that he it was not a smart
46:52
race for last year because he obviously like made the team and
46:54
ran amazingly, but like he knows how to command races now without
46:58
being up in the front of the race.
46:59
I want Seb Co to call Cooper and just say please, please come to
47:07
Budapest. Here's what you were playing.
47:09
Fun fact is like, I don't know if you got a chance to listen to
47:12
this, but World Athletics posted a interview with Seb on like the
47:16
Business of Sport podcast or something like that, where he
47:18
was a guest and they asked him like, who's like your favorite
47:21
athlete? Not your favorite athlete, but
47:23
like who's your, who's one of the most exciting athletes right
47:25
now? He's like, there's a 17 year old
47:26
from the United States. He's like really good.
47:28
So like he's, he already recognizes like, yeah, come
47:32
2028, he might be. Josh Kerr sitting there with his
47:36
hands of like, OK. It was.
47:37
It was. Recorded from what I have to do.
47:42
Yeah, it was recorded before that, but yeah, I mean,
47:44
incredible race by Cooper. When we walk, when you walk into
47:49
the stadium, it's like he's already this star that we're
47:51
propping up and it's really cool.
47:52
Like big blown up version of him when you walk in.
47:56
And so, yeah, I mean, it's delivered so.
48:00
Where do we go from here, Chris? Yeah.
48:03
Tell the fans we have 767 weeks left of the season.
48:10
Yeah, the US Championships is over.
48:12
Well then, Diamond League's on a break until end of August.
48:15
Commonwealth Games starting in a couple days.
48:17
I think it just starts. Yeah, it starts tomorrow.
48:20
Europeans shortly after. Yeah, I mean, I'm looking, I'm
48:24
your. 20s next week. Yeah, I'm looking at my calendar
48:27
in front of me. We got, you know, this is the
48:29
time for like the Americans to stay home and also get, you
48:32
know, some good training in. But there's a bunch of meats,
48:34
Sir Walter Miller taking place the 7th, the Guardian Mile,
48:41
Falmouth Mile, then that's that. Those are spaced out like week
48:45
over week. That takes us to the Los Anne
48:47
Diamond League returning on the 21st of Friday of August, I
48:52
believe so, yeah. I mean, plenty of track left.
48:57
A lot of world rankings crunching coming up.
49:01
Not sure what flights to Budapest are looking like right
49:04
now. It's you want to be at Ultimates
49:07
it's 3. Days, yeah, non-stop, only
49:10
finals. You go out at night, you wake up
49:13
in the morning, you can just sleep in.
49:14
There's nothing. You go to the bed.
49:16
Yeah, yeah, because there's nothing in the morning, because
49:19
we're just finals only. In Prime time baby.
49:22
Accommodations cheap. Yes, Airbnb's are cheap.
49:26
This is not sponsored by Airbnb if you're watching on YouTube.
49:28
We're also not sponsored by Budweiser, we're only sponsored
49:31
by New Balance. So plenty, plenty of
49:37
opportunities to go out and see the best of the.
49:38
Best, I mean, you can take some red eyes and like a single day
49:42
of PTO and see everyone. Ultimate, Ultimate as the kids
49:49
are calling it. So that's what we have to look
49:51
forward to the rest of the summer.
49:53
Overall, it's great having you in New York.
49:56
USA should obviously be two days rather than four days.
49:59
You're going to write about that in life.
50:01
I mean, that might be a sentence long article of the lap count,
50:04
but it was very fun having a great energy today it's.
50:08
Nice for us to sleep in our own beds for once, but I'm gladly.
50:13
We're there. They loved it for a little bit,
50:15
then they were ready to go. They'll grow up to love it just
50:19
like we did. I love track and field.
50:22
It was a great weekend, super fun.
50:26
Yeah. First USA is in New York since
50:28
1991. I wasn't even born yet.
50:32
Crazy, crazy. I remember vividly.
50:35
This is the. First USA is in New York in my
50:38
lifetime. All right, that does it.
50:41
Thanks everyone for tuning in over the last couple days.
50:43
Thanks for following along on CS Max social channels.
50:46
We got more track coming all throughout the summer and that
50:50
says it will be back in just a couple days with more interviews
50:53
and podcasts and all that stuff that you love.
50:56
Peace.