Mullen HS grad Charlie Gruber could be realizing his Olympic Dream. Gruber finished second in the 1500 meters at the 2004 Olympic Trials, gaining a berth on the Olympic Team. However, Charlie still needs to run the Olympic A standard time of 3:36.20 by August 9th to make a trip to Athens.
Also chasing that elusive A standard will be Longmont resident Jason Lunn. If he can run under 3:36.20 by August 9th, then he may have a shot at being on the Olympic team.
In a race race that started out slow (400 passed in 59 seconds), a tightly bunched group of runners fought for their positions on the track. Alan Webb of Reston, VA slowly pushed the pace up a notch, pulling the field through the 800 in 1:57. At this point, Webb sprinted for about 200 meters, putting 30 meters between himself and the rest of the field.
Quick to respond was Gruber, who pulled up to second with former Stanford Card, Michael Stember. As Stember started to fade, Rob Myers, the USATF indoor champion, pulled up along side of Gruber. Gruber would hold him off to finish second, two ticks of the clock behind Webb. Jason Lunn finished fifth. Due to the fact that Jason has already run the Olympic B qualifing time, he will be the alternate.
If Lunn gets the A standard and Gruber does not, then Jason Lunn will be on the Olympic team.
Also competing today was Boulder’s Janet Trujillo. Trujillo finished 12th in the final in 4:18:15. Former CU runner Jorge Torres finished 7th in Friday’s 5000 in 13:41.79. Grand Junction’s Seth Hejny was 13th in the 5000 in 13:51.11. Boulder’s Steve Slattery finished 5th in Thursday’s 3000 steplechase in 8:23.60 while Boulder’s Sandu Rebenciuc was unable to finish the steplechase.
For full results, click here.