Fast Times at the 2023 Boston University John Thomas Terrier Classic
The Boston University (BU) indoor track is arguably the fastest indoor track in the world, with many indoor records being run on it. This past weekend BU hosted the John Thomas Terrier Classic, the first large track meet of the indoor season. This past weekend did not break this trend with records being set in the 3,000m and 5,000m races.
In the 3,000m race, Yared Nuguse of On Athletics Club won in a time of 7:28.23, breaking Galen Rupp’s American indoor 3,000m record by two seconds. To put his time into context Nuguse ran a sub-four-minute mile pace for the duration of the race. This made him the ninth fastest to ever run the indoor 3,000m, putting him ahead of marathon world record holder Eliud Kipchoge. What makes this more impressive is that Nuguse is only 23 years old, leaving him time to keep improving. He has already made an Olympic team, qualifying in the 1500m run after getting third at the US Championships. This is his first indoor season since graduating from the University of Notre Dame, setting NCAA records in the 1,500m and 3,000m distances. However, both marks have been broken since.
Yared Nuguse’s NCAA 3,000m record was broken in the same race by Drew Bosley of Northern Arizona University, who ran a time of 7:36.42. This is an impressive performance for two main reasons. First, Bosley is not at a stage of his training where he is focusing on running fast times. Instead, since it is the beginning of the indoor track and field season, he is focusing on training, resulting in his body not being as well rested. For example, he ran 14 miles the day before his record-setting race. Secondly, Bosley paced this race perfectly. In an interview with Citius Mag, Bosley said that he ran 30-second laps for every lap except for one, where he ran a 29-second lap demonstrating incredible discipline and concentration.
In the 5,000m run, Woody Kincaid broke Grant Fisher’s American Indoor 5,000m run in a time of 12:51.61. This time places Kincaid fourth all-time and is the fastest time run since Isiah Kiplangat ran 12:53.29 in 2011. This was a spectacular race by Kincaid, who closed the final 200m in 26 seconds, five seconds faster than Joe Klecker, who got second, barely missing Fisher’s old record by a second. This was Kincaid’s first race since leaving Bowerman Track Club, where he had spent the last six years of his career. He spent the fall training himself and has recently been coached by Mike Smith, the Northern Arizona University Head Coach. Evidently, this decision has played out well for Kincaid, as this is the first American Record of his career.
This past weekend further set the precedent that BU indoor track is the place to go if you want to run fast times. It also showed that American distance running is starting to get much faster and ready to vie for titles on the world stage.