Jacob Burcham wins USA Youth Champs and qualifies for World Champs

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Burcham wins USA Youth Champs and qualifies for World Champs
By Nicole Lemal (run.nicole.wvu@gmail.com)
Tristaterunnur.com
June 30, 2011

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — Nothing panned out the way Cabell Midland High School sophomore Jake Burcham expected on Wednesday morning at the World Youth Trials and USA Youth Champs.

Coach Chris Parsons was hoping to see Kingwood High School junior Justin Brinkley from Texas set the pace so that Burcham could follow him.

Brinkley didn't. Instead he keyed off Burcham.

Both Burcham and Parsons were also expecting the pace to go out quick, but the first two laps were relatively slow - with 65 and 70 second laps respectively.

Panic mode may have set in for some other runners but not Burcham.

Right then he knew he needed to take action.

"About the 700 and 600 meter mark, Jacob made a move and then from that point he just totally controlled the race until the end," Parsons said.

Those last 700 meters were equivalent to a sub two minute 800 meter. With his last lap in 57 seconds, he was clocked at 3:58.34, helping him edge out Brinkley by a second.

"I was expecting it to go faster because I was watching that Justin Brinkley guy race at his state meet and he took out pretty fast in that state meet, but he didn't today," Burcham said. "I just went with it."

Having such a fast 800 meter personal record of 1:54.01, which was set at the West Virginia State Track Meet, is what Burcham credits for his win.

"I think it helped," Burcham said. "I was confident and I had a faster kick than the other kids that I was racing against, so it was good to have."

Winning that race, he was confident he earned a trip to Lille, France to compete in the 2011 IAAF World Junior Championships. Much to his surprise, he was not on the list of qualifiers at first.

Shortly after returning to his hotel room the officials called him back into the meeting to notify him that he was going to France.

"It was just a mishap of understanding exactly how fast he has really run this year because today was just a tactical race," Parsons said.

Tactics were definitely a factor for this elite sophomore, who recently ran a mile equivalent to a 4:05 or 4:06 1,600 meter in The Dream Mile held in N.Y. earlier this month. Based on his recent personal record, coach and athlete were expecting him to run at least 3:50 or even faster in this 1,500 meter race.

The fact that he was able to readjust his race strategy against the country's elite field showed untapped potential.

"They wouldn't consider you being selected if they didn't think you had an opportunity to score," Parsons said.

The top eight finishers score, but Burcham has much bigger fish to fry. He is going after placing in the top three.

"My ultimate goal would be to get a medal, get one for first, second or third," Burcham said. "But I don't know how realistic that is. I think I'll pr. Well, I will pr in 1500, but I think I will run sub 3:50 just because there will be guys in front of me."

Depending on how the race unfolds, Parsons feels anything is possible.

"Never say never with this kid," Parsons said. "He can pull stuff. Running against people that quick, it should pull his fast time out of him. But if he could just make it to the finals, finish in the top eight, score for his team and then see how high he can score - I think those are some good goals for him."

Especially after such a long season already. Six weeks of training added on to a high school track season can be exhausting and overwhelming for any runner. But as long as he continues to stay in shape aerobically, Parsons thinks he is capable of doing great things in France.

"I admire him for taking that challenge and continuing to do his running at this level. Like I told him, an opportunity like this, making it on a USA team that gets to travel across seas, that doesn't come along all the time. So that's something kind to neat for him to say, while he's in high school he made it. I'm real proud of him and I'll be looking forward to going next week and flying over and watching him compete against the best in the world. It'll be an exciting trip."

Burcham will race on July 7.

Related Article:Burcham vying for a trip to France

IAAF World Youth Championships - Lille - France, 6 - 10 July 2011