Talbot 4th in 1,500 heat, advances to East Regional quarters
Silas Talbot
The Dartmouth College senior finished fourth in his heat and punched his ticket to the next qualifying round in the men’s 1,500 meters at today’s East Regional in Jacksonville, Fla.
He finished in 3 minutes, 50.64 seconds and outsprinted runners from Indiana State, Villanova and Duke to secure his spot in Saturday’s quarterfinals.
Talbot, of Service High, predicted a slow race with a hard kick – and that’s exactly what happened.
“I’ve been working on my closing speed,” he told me.
That killer kick came in handy for the Alaskan runner, although he can run much faster. His qualifying time was five seconds faster, in large part because he has focused solely on the 1,500 this season.
“I’ve managed to cut my PR down two seconds,” he said.
A regional race isn’t always about speed, though. Runners tend to use more brains than brawn.
“Nobody is necessarily trying to win; they just want to make it to the next round,” he said.
Talbot is a three-time NCAA All-American nordic skier with Olympic aspirations. He plans to put his running career on hold after college to put all of his energy into skiing.
“I think I have a big more room to grow there, and I enjoy the culture and the community of the sport a bit more,” he said. “It has certainly been a tough choice, however.”
Talbot will graduate next month with a degree in Engineering Sciences, but to be fully accredited Bachelor of Engineering he will have to stick around campus for another year.
Nonetheless, his Dartmouth sports career is over after his final 1,500 race.
“That is definitely sad,” he said. “It will be weird being around campus next year and not being on a team, but I will likely continue to train with the Dartmouth ski team for most of the year and maybe jump in a few open races in the fall.”