Cherokee's Krieger all alone in 10,000 race
By REUBEN FRANK
Burlington County Times

 
It wasn't a race in the truest sense. Heck, it wasn't a race in any sense.

Keith Krieger finished first.

He also finished last.

"It was different," Krieger said.

That's an understatement.

Krieger, second in the Meet of Champions in cross country, found himself in a rut during indoor and outdoor track. With unparalleled endurance but only modest foot speed, he found himself leading most races, only to have guys sit and kick on him at the end.

"My last few races, I was coming out of them really depressed," Krieger said. "I just wanted to try something different."

That something was the 10,000-meter run. Krieger and Cherokee High School coach Steve Shaklee figured Krieger would have no trouble running 10,000 meters in 32:45, the qualifying standard for Junior Nationals.

So on Monday, Krieger entered the 10,000 at the Tuppeny Twilight Invitational, a low-key gathering at Villanova University that serves mainly as a last-chance meet for college runners seeking NCAA qualifiers and local club runners looking for good competition.

"I really had no idea what to expect," Krieger said. "I didn't know what I could run and I didn't really know how to approach the race. We didn't know who would be there, how fast they would go out or anything."

The 10,000 was the last race of the night, starting at about 9 p.m. in cold and windy conditions in a deserted Villanova Stadium.

When Krieger arrived at the starting line, there were only five other runners lined up, including one woman. Krieger and two college runners quickly settled into a lead pack, going out very fast - 4:52 at the mile and 9:48 at the two-mile.

That's eight seconds faster than Krieger ran to win the County Open 3,200 last year.

And he had 4.2 miles to go.

"I was a little nervous," he said. "It was faster than I wanted, but I wasn't dying. I felt OK."

Former Cherokee teammate Marc Pelerin, now a Villanova freshman, raced earlier in the evening and stuck around to support Krieger in his 10K debut.

"He went out like an idiot," Pelerin said with a laugh. "But he had to. He either had to go out way too fast and settle in with those guys or go out slower and have nobody to run with. He definitely did the right thing."

Eight laps into a 25-lap race, this was uncharted waters for Krieger. He had never raced longer than two miles on the track and at about 21/2 miles, the two guys he was running with separated, leaving him alone.

But Krieger kept cranking out quality laps, hitting three miles in 14:50 and four miles in 20:00.

Then things got really weird.

With two miles left, Krieger noticed he was alone.

Everybody else in the field - except the woman - had dropped out. That's the thing about chasing qualifying times. If you're off pace, there's no reason to finish.

"When the last guy dropped out, I was thinking, 'What's going on here?' '' Krieger said. "It was weird. The last couple miles it felt more like a workout than a race."

Krieger, showing remarkable focus, reeled off sub-80 lap after sub-80 lap, covering his fifth mile in 5:12 and his sixth in 5:16 before closing with a 71.9 final 400.

With maybe 20 people watching in a 12,500-seat Division 1-AA football stadium, Krieger crossed the finish line in 31:39.9, more than a minute faster than the junior national standard.

"It was really incredible what he did," said Pelerin, who has qualified for Junior Nationals in the 5,000. "It's a little intimidating - he's never run anything on the track longer than two miles, he's going up against college guys, it's freezing and windy. And then everybody drops out and he's out there by himself.

"But he ran smart. He just went out there clicking off 76s and 77s by himself. That's hard to do. I couldn't do it. You need a lot of focus to do that. It's hard enough running a 10,000 with a bunch of people. To do it by himself was amazing.

"I wanted to jump in there and run a few laps with him, but I just had a hoagie."

Krieger will be back down to 3,200 duty tomorrow, when he defends his County Open title, and at sectionals, states and the Meet of Champions.

But once he gets to Duke, he'll be a pure 10,000 guy. His true calling.

"That's my race," he said. "The longer the distance, the better I am."