American Record: Bob Kennedy, 12:58.21
2007 U.S. Champion: Bernard Lagat, 13:30.73
2004 Olympic Trials Champion: Tim Broe, 13:27.36
Top 5 Seed Times
1.) Matt Tegenkamp, 13:07.41
2.) Chris Solinsky, 13:12.24
3.) Bolota Asmerom, 13:15.16
4.) Bernard Lagat, 13:16.29
5.) Brent Vaughn, 13:18.46
Bet against Bernard Lagat at your own peril. The Washington State University product has won the past two U.S. Championships and, oh yeah, the gold last summer at the World Championships. He’s also one of the cagiest competitors on the track.
Competing for the two spots behind the 33-year-old favorite are a handful of young hopefuls and returning veterans.
The two fastest seed times belong to recent University of Wisconsin graduates Matt Tegenkamp and Chris Solinsky. Tegenkamp finished less than a second behind Lagat at last summer’s World Championships, but was fourth, just .03 seconds away from the bronze medal.
Bolota Asmerom was a 2000 Olympian at 5,000m for Eritrea and now runs for Oregon Track Club Elite.
A dark horse in the field might be Villanova’s Bobby Curtis, the NCAA 5,000m champion who ran away from Colorado’s Brent Vaughn in the final lap of the race.
Josh Rohatinsky and Adam Goucher of the Nike Oregon Project could also make some noise. Goucher was an Olympian in this event in 2000.