This is the CITIUS MAG Newsletter by Chris Chavez. If you’ve been forwarded this email or stumbled upon a link online, you can sign up and subscribe here:

Happy Friday, friends. It might be Super Bowl weekend but we’ve got plenty of track and field on tap to enjoy before we dive into buffalo chicken dip and pigs in a blanket on Sunday.

Here’s what you need to watch in track and field this weekend and how to watch…Keep your eyes peeled to my Twitter account, the CITIUS MAG Twitter account and the CITIUS MAG Instagram for results, photos, graphics and more.

FRIDAY ACTION

Vanessa Fraser Returns to Boston

Race time: 7:15 p.m. ET | Full meet schedule

Where? BU David Hemery Valentine Invitational at Boston University Track & Tennis Center, Boston

Live results can be found here.

How to watch: Stream it on Flotrack with a subscription.

The last time Bowerman Track Club’s Vanessa Fraser competed at Boston University, she ran 14:48.51 for 5,000m. While some of her teammates attack that distance, she will be opting for the 3,000m to race against 2020 NCAA cross country champion Mercy Chelangat and 2021 NCAA cross country All-American Lauren Ryan. 2021 was a comeback season for Fraser after undergoing surgery on both of her feet in May 2020 where she had damaged tissue removed from both of her Achilles and had her heel bones shaved to cut back on some of the pain she felt while training. She wasn’t quite back in 2021 and ran a season’s best of 15:17.26 in early June before taking 13th in the Olympic Trials. We’ll learn a bit more about where she’s at.

COOPER TEARE AND COLE HOCKER GO AMERICAN RECORD HUNTING

Race time: 8:30 p.m. ET | Full meet schedule

Location: Windy City Invitational in Chicago’s new Gately Park, Chicago, Ill

Live results can be found here.

How to watch: Stream it on the Beer Mile YouTube channel. We will have boots on the ground as well so stay tuned for our coverage.

Cooper Teare first teased the idea of chasing Bernard Lagat’s indoor American record of 3:49.89 when he jumped on the CITIUS MAG Podcast in December. 

He told us: “I really want to develop more of that 1,500-meter/mile speed. Hopefully, after that, we’ll have another crack at a quick mile like we did last year at Arkansas – who knows, maybe go for an American record there. We were pretty close last year so hopefully, if things keep trending the right way, we’ll have a shot at that.” 

Teare currently sits at number three on the American all-time list with his collegiate record of 3:50.39 set last year. Hocker is just behind him, with his 3:50.55 mark coming from the same race. (Teare is 3–0 against Hocker in 1,500-mile races.) Both former Ducks are coming off the loss to Geordie Beamish in the men’s 3,000m at the Millrose Games. After the race, Teare said they had not touched much speedwork and did their first track workout in the week leading up to the Millrose Games. Still, they were able to close that race in 26 seconds.

Hocker was optimistic about setting the goal for this attempt at the American record saying, “We’re trying to take a jab, a real legitimate attempt at that American record indoors. Based on where we were last year at this point, we’re ahead of that, and last year we were able to run 3:50.”

You might be wondering why they’ve decided to go all the way to Chicago for this time trial and not do it in a race against other professional runners at a place like BU or The Podium in Spokane. As first-year professionals that stuck with Oregon coach Ben Thomas, they’re hoping to keep things as familiar as possible and stay close to the team.

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EYES ON SHALANE’S AMERICAN RECORD

Race time: 9:05 p.m. ET | Full meet schedule

Where? BU David Hemery Valentine Invitational at Boston University Track & Tennis Center, Boston

Live results can be found here.

How to watch: Stream it on Flotrack with a subscription.

Shalane Flanagan is in Boston on coaching duties, which could entail witnessing one of her athletes overtaking her still-standing American indoor 5,000m record (14:47.62). The last time Elise Cranny raced an indoor 5,000m race it was on this same track in December of 2018 — she finished fifth in 15:24.32. That was still a year and a half before she truly broke out and ran 14:48.02 outdoors in June 2020. From there, she went on to win the U.S. Olympic Trials, then took 13th at the Tokyo Olympics (14:55.98). This is Cranny’s season opener so there aren’t any results to gauge where exactly she’s at after a big training block in Flagstaff, Ariz., but if she’s anywhere close to Gabriela DeBues Stafford, that’s a good sign. 

Last week, we saw the Canadian star break the national record in the 3,000m with an 8:33.91 win at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix. Flanagan’s indoor 5,000m record is the overall North American record, too, and sits at No. 9 on the all-time world indoor list. If DeBues-Stafford or Cranny were to break Flanagan’s mark while also dipping under 14:40, they could be in the top 5 ever. The sad part is that whereas Flanagan ran her record in a race (where Ethiopia's Sentayehu Ejigu beat her by a lean at the finish line) in front of 5,000 fans at the Reggie Lewis Track and Field Center at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games, COVID restrictions have forced BU to not allow any fans into the facility for a potentially-historic race.

DONAVAN BRAZIER INCHES CLOSER TO THE 800

Race time: 10:07 p.m. ET | Full meet schedule

Location: The Podium in Spokane, Wash. 

Live results can be found here.

How to watch: Stream it with a pay-per-view ticket from Tracklandia for $7.99. If you’re a high school coach, Hayward Magic has purchased tickets for you to share with your athletes. Fill out this form to claim your batch.

In this week’s edition of The Lap Count, Kyle Merber asked Union Athletics Club coach Pete Julian why should fans care about a meet like this that doesn’t have a prestigious history behind it. In so many words, Julian said it’s all about winning, and he wants to let the racing attract fans and people.

“You can do both things where Donavan Brazier is going for the 600m world record, but he also has to beat Isaiah Harris in the process,” Julian said. “Only one guy will get the record and that’s important for us because we don’t want to set up time trial races”

The record right now is Brazier’s world best of 1:13.77 from the 2019 U.S. Indoor Track and Field Championships on Staten Island. Now with a brand new facility, fresh off a 46.55 400m personal best at Millrose Games and a challenge from Isaiah Harris of the Brooks Beast, Brazier could lower his own mark. That alone is worth the $7.99 pay-per-view ticket. 

LUIS GRIJALVA DIPS DOWN TO THE 1,500M

Race time: 10:12 p.m. ET | Full meet schedule

Location: The Podium in Spokane, Wash. 

Live results can be found here.

How to watch: Stream it with a pay-per-view ticket from Tracklandia for $7.99. If you’re a high school coach, Hayward Magic has purchased tickets for you to share with your athletes. Fill out this form to claim your batch.

This week’s podcast guest was Guatemalan Olympian Luis Grijalva who shared a bit about his backstory going back to moving to the United States as a one-year-old, the opportunities that sports and his education presented him and the lasting legacy that he hopes being able to compete at the Olympics was able to provide inspiration to many of the other Dreamers in America. Catch him in action against a Brooks Beasts contingent that includes Brannon Kidder, Henry Wynne, Izaic Yokrs, Waleed Suliman and Union Athletics Club’s Charlie Hunter.

JOSH KERR VS. CRAIG ENGELS IN AN 800

Race time: 10:41 p.m. ET | Full meet schedule

Location: The Podium in Spokane, Wash. 

Live results can be found here.

How to watch: Stream it with a pay-per-view ticket from Tracklandia for $7.99. If you’re a high school coach, Hayward Magic has purchased tickets for you to share with your athletes. Fill out this form to claim your batch.

The last time Josh Kerr and Craig Engels raced in an 800 was in 2019 and Engels came out on top. However, Kerr is 3–0 in their last three races, with the most recent being the Millrose Games where he was second in 3:52.27, while Engles faded back to 10th in 4:01.30. For the 800, Kerr’s personal best is 1:45.35, and while he called out Mo Farah and Peter Elliot in a recent Instagram post letting them know their 1,500 and mile British records might not be long for the world, the British indoor 800m record of 1:43.63 by Elliot Giles set last year may be a tall order for now. In any case, enjoy some good ol’ fashioned head-to-head racing.

Women’s DMR World Best Will Be Close

Race time: 11:00 p.m. ET | Full meet schedule

Location: The Podium in Spokane, Wash. 

Live results can be found here.

How to watch: Stream it with a pay-per-view ticket from Tracklandia for $7.99. If you’re a high school coach, Hayward Magic has purchased tickets for you to share with your athletes. Fill out this form to claim your batch.

New Balance showcased its post-Rio Olympics stars at the 2017 New Balance Indoor Grand Prix with Emma Coburn, Sydney McLaughlin, Brenda Martinez and Jenny Simpson breaking the indoor DMR world best with a 10:40.31. 

On its Instagram account, Union Athletics Club announced it will send Ella Donaghu, Raevyn Rogers, Sinclaire Johnson and Shannon Osika out to try and break that mark.

It’s going to be close. Coburn led off the 2017 squad with a 3:18.40 1200m leg and handed off to Sydney McLaughlin, who ran 52.32 for the 400m. Brenda Martinez clocked a 2:01.94 (which would’ve been a world-leading mark in a normal race at the time.) for the 800m leg, before Jenny Simpson closed it out with a 4:27.66 1600m. New Balance (and Team USA) fans rejoiced.

In the CITIUS MAG Slack channel, we estimated maybe 3:12 - 51 - 2:02 - 4:28 splits, which would put them at 10:43 — just outside of the mark. But we were being a bit conservative with our guesses, so it’s going to be close.

SATURDAY ACTION

Christian Coleman, Matthew Boling Race For The First Time

Race time: 1:55 p.m. ET | Full meet schedule

Location: Clemson Indoor Track and Field Complex, Clemson (South Carolina)

Live results can be found here.

How to watch: Stream it online with WatchESPN.

It feels like a much lighter week with the sprints but we have a star-studded matchup on the schedule in South Carolina that appears to be flying a bit under the radar. At Clemson’s Tiger Paw Invitational on Saturday, 100m world champion Christian Coleman will face off against NCAA indoor 200m champion Matthew Boling. Obviously, you’d take the professional with a 19.85 personal best over the collegian with a 20.06 personal best, but you never know what can happen. This will be Coleman’s first 200m indoor race since 2017, when he ran 20.11 to win that year’s NCAA indoor championship. He hasn’t lost an indoor 200m race since Jan. 23, 2016. If you want a little trivia fact and are wondering who beat him? It was Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake, who was part of Great Britain’s Olympic silver medal-winning 4x100m team in 2021. 

If you want to think about exposure, Boling has nearly 990K followers on TikTok and generates nearly half a million views on his videos there. He’s been a lightning rod for social media attention with the younger demographic of fans since he was in high school. Him beating Coleman could get major eyeballs drawn to the sport, but it won’t be easy.

WE SET SOME LINES FOR A STACKED 5,000M

Race time: 8:35 p.m. ET | Full meet schedule

Location: BU David Hemery Valentine Invitational at Boston University Track & Tennis Center, Boston

Live results can be found here.

How to watch: Stream it on Flotrack with a subscription.

Bowerman Track Club is not here to play. This stacked men’s field is headlined by Olympic silver medalist Moh Ahmed racing for the first time since Tokyo. Based on Instagram stories, the team has been putting in hard work in Flagstaff and now they’ll get to show it off. Also pushing Ahmed will be Wody Kincaid, Grant Fisher, Marc Scott, Evan Jager, Sean McGorty and Kieran Tuntivate, and as they do in most races, there should be lots of lap trading toward the front to string this out and make it fast. 

Could they even challenge Galen Rupp’s 13:01.26 record from 2014 on the same track? We’ve decided to set the line at 13:02.50 for the winning time considering there are others who can make it fast like Emmanuel Bor, Hillary Bor, Willy Fink and Sam Chelanga who wouldn’t want the pace to lag. The over/under for men to hit the World Championship qualifying mark for Eugene (13:13.50) is 4.5 qualifiers. Grab a friend, Crack a soda pop, break out a couple of dollars and have some fun!

That’s it from me today. As always, thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this, learned something new, or have any questions or commentary on anything featured in this issue, feel free to hit my inbox by replying or writing to [email protected]

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Chris Chavez | Twitter | Instagram | Strava