(Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports)

Flowers are blooming, temperatures are rising and, fittingly, the spring track and field season is starting to heat up. The Mt. SAC Relays, the second leg of the traditional California spring distance swing, provided a number of World Championship team contenders – notably Brenda Martinez and Abbey D’Agostino – chances to make serious statements about their hopes for Moscow.

We already knew Martinez was in great early season shape having posted several strong performances – a pair of solo races at low key meets in Southern California (4:08.43 1500 meters and 15:35.65 5000 meters) and a dominant win at the BAA Invitational Road Mile. Friday evening’s race at Mt. SAC, however, was her first chance to show off on the big stage, and, boy, did she ever with a solo wire-to-wire 4:04.86 victory. With the run, the UC Riverside alum claimed the World Championship ‘A’ standard and bettered her personal best by tw0 seconds – and it’s only April 19.

Some parades are meant to be rained on, and in this case, some sprinkles need to be dropped before the Brenda Martinez coronation happens. She’s certainly the hot commodity at the moment but making the World team is a completely different ballgame, especially in the physical, tactical U.S. 1500 final against savvy veterans the likes of Morgan Uceny, Shannon Rowbury and Jenny Simpson.

Not unlike Martinez, D’Agostino had demonstrated strong fitness having won the 3k/5k double at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Though her ‘A’ standard time of 15:11.35 wasn’t surprising, the manner in which the Dartmouth junior did it – by grinding down the pace over the second half of the race against competitors who weren’t in the same zip code – was impressive.

The question now isn’t whether D’Agostino is the top 5k runner in the NCAA, it’s whether she’s the top 5k runner in the U.S. We’ll see after some of her top competitors, including Julie Culley, Kim Conley and Julia Lucas, toe the line at Payton Jordan this weekend.

A few other observations of note:

Will Leer – a 5k runner?

The mustached icon Will Leer has taken a step away from his 1500 meter specialty in favor of the 5000 meters thus far in 2013. He finished as the top American at the Carlsbad 5000 two weeks ago and then on Friday won the Mt. SAC 5k in 15:21.55.

Leer appears to be emulating David Torrence’s 2012 tactic of dabbling in the longer event in hopes of giving himself options come championship season. The only difference – Torrence achieved the 5k ‘A’ standard to legitimately have a shot in a notoriously tactical 5k at USA’s, while Leer did not get that ‘A’ standard time of 13:18.00. Assuming Leer isn’t running Payton Jordan (he isn’t in the accepted entries), Oxy and Pre are his main options left for fast track 5k’s.

Ben True big last lap

Ben True ran a blistering 55 second last lap on his way to a 3:40.07 1500 meter win, his first metric mile race in five years. Still coming off the high of his sixth place finish at World Cross Country, True will face his biggest challenge since Poland in the Payton Jordan 5k against names like Evan Jager and Cam Levins.

Top talent skip early season meets

Mt. SAC didn’t seem to have quite the intrigue of years past. The meet typically plays hosted to a very strong women’s 5000 meter field as well as other top notch distance races, but many of the big names have postponed the start of their competitive track seasons and chose to skip Mt. SAC.

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why this is. In some circumstances, it might be due to an early season injury. Some focused on indoors and cross country and might still be recovering from that peak. Others might feeling a post-Olympic year lull and needed the additional time to bounce back both physically and emotionally.  A final factor to take into account – athletes are allowed to chase standards after USA’s, presenting a lesser sense of urgency to hit those marks early on in the season.

Whatever the reason, the lackluster Mt. SAC meet only means bigger and better things to come for Payton Jordan. Stay tuned for coverage extensive on my favorite meet of the year throughout this week.

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Evan Jager (Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE)

American distance standout Evan Jager will debut in the 3000 meter steeplechase during the Thursday evening distance carnival section of the Mt. Sac Relays.

Jager set personal bests of 3:38.33 for 1500 meters and 13:22.18 for 5000 meters during a breakout 2009 season in which he qualified for the IAAF World Championships in Berlin.

He will face a field that includes 2010 U.S. champion Dan Huling and Texas Tech grad and 8:15 runner Haron Lagat.

The women’s steeplechase features former American record holder Lisa Aguilera, Stanford Invitational winner Lennie Waite and former Princeton All-American Ashley Higginson. Also entered is Washington prep standout Maddie Meyers who last year ran 6:29.20 to break the 2000 meter steeplechase high school record.

Invitational 10,000 meter races are also on Thursday evening’s program.

Arizona’s Stephen Sambu, who holds a personal best of 27:28.64 run at the 2011 Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational, is by far the fastest entrant in the men’s race but likely will not challenge his PR in a weaker field than he faced last year at Stanford. Sambu defeated a strong field in the 5000 meters two weeks ago at the Stanford Invitational in a time of 13:31.51.

Challenging Sambu will be former South Alabama All-American Tony Okello of the Santa Monica Track Club, Olympic Marathon Trials 12th placer Ricky Flynn and a slew of collegiates including Solomon Haile of Arkansas and Dustin Fay from UCLA.

The women’s 10,000 features 32:54 runner Allie Grace of Zap Fitness, Penn State school record holder Kara Millhouse and NCAA cross country fifth place finisher Alex Banfich of Princeton.

Click on links for full entries and meet schedule for the 2012 Mt. Sac Relays.

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Huddle and Simpson face off again (©Kirby Lee-US PRESSWIRE)

The Friday night distance carnival at the Mt. Sac Relays always features strong fields but this year’s women’s 5000 meters should be better than most.

Leading the way are Molly Huddle and Jenny Simpson, the defending champion and runner-up, respectively.

Huddle, the American record holder for 5000 meters, won her first U.S. title in 2011 but was injured prior to the World Championships and was unable to make it out of the rounds in Daegu. She recently finished second at the USA Cross Country Championships.

Coming off her world title last season, Simpson had a strong indoor season that included wins in the mile and 3000 meters at the USA Indoor Championships. Simpson’s 5000 meter best of 15:01.70 was run back in 2009.

A few other professionals entered in the race are coming off recent success. Sara Hall defeated Huddle to win her first U.S. title in cross country on February 11. Nike Oregon Project’s Jackie Areson ran a blistering last 400 meters to win the 5000 meters at last weekend’s Stanford Invitational in an ‘A’ standard 15:18.31. Tara Erdmann, now out of NCAA eligibility at Loyola Marymount, set a big personal best of 32:31.15 in the 10,000 meters at Stanford.

**UPDATE: According to Ken Goe of OregonLive.com, Areson will not run the 5000 and will instead contest the 1500 meters.

Middle distance specialists Brenda Martinez and Anna Pierce will test their strengths at the longer 12 1/2 lap distance.

The battle to be the top collegiate finisher should be a fierce one. Five-time NCAA champion Sheila Reid did not have indoor eligibility for Villanova but is now back for her final collegiate season. She will take on Big East rival Emily Infeld of Georgetown, who is fresh off her indoor 3000 meter title. Neither has run a fast rabbited 5000 meter race of this sort. Also in the field are Dartmouth’s Abbey D’Agostino, the cross country third place finisher, and indoor mile champion Lucy Van Dalen of Stony Brook.

Olympic Games and U.S. Olympic Trials qualifying standards will be targets for many of the competitors. The Olympic ‘A’ standard is 15:20.00 and ‘B’ standard is 15:30.00. The standards for the Olympic Trials are 15:35.00 and 15:50.00, respectively.

Look for the women’s 5000 meters to go off on Friday, April 20 at 7:40 PM.

Click for full list of men’s and women’s accepted entries.

Some of the top entrants:

Angela Bizzarri Brooks
Kim Conley SRA Elite
Julie Culley Asics/NYAC
Abbey D’Agostino Dartmouth
Malindi Elmore Speed River
Tara Erdmann Unattached
Stephanie Garcia New Balance
Megan Goethals Washington
Sara Hall Asics
Molly Huddle Saucony
Emily Infeld Georgetown
Katie Mackey Brooks
Elizabeth Maloy New Balance
Brenda Martinez New Balance
Alissa McKaig Zap Fitness
Anna Pierce Nike
Beverly Ramos New Balance/PUR
Sheila Reid Villanova
Jenny Simpson New Balance
Emily Sisson Providence
Lucy Van Dalen Stony Brook
Christin Wurth-Thomas ICR

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