C Mantz Running

NCAA cross country championships

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Location:

Provo,UT,USA

Member Since:

May 18, 2010

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

NCAA Champ

Running Accomplishments:

Pre-high school: I ran a lot of local 5ks and a few half marathons.  I didn't do a ton of training, but I just had fun, and I got more serious about it as high school got closer.

High school: I enjoyed running a lot, especially cross country.  I originally did track to keep my in shape for cross country.  I ran at Footlocker Nationals, the Adidas Dream mile, Brooks PR Invitational, world xc junior championships, and a few local 5ks. 

PRs: 800: 1:56.80-State Track 2014

1600: 4:10-State Track 2014/Mile: Sea Level-Adidas Grand Prix-4:07

3200:Alititude(~4500ft): 8:57.99-State Track 2014-2 Mile:8:53 at Brooks PR Invitational

5K: New Balance Indoor Nationals(2014) - 14:24

10K:USA Junior Track Championships (2014)-31:01

15K: Blacksmith Fork Freedom Run (aided) 48:10(2013).

Half Marathon: 
Utah Valley Half - 1:11:24(aided)(2012)

Post-mission:

1,500m-3:45

3k-7:50 

5k-13:29

10k-28:18

NCAA finishes:

Cross Country: 10th(2018);

Indoor: 3k-7th(2019) 5k-10th(2019);

Outdoor: 10k-22nd(2018), 4th(2019), 5k-7th(2019)

Long-Term Running Goals:

Make sure I have fun, not get burned out, and get faster.

School records in the 5km and 10km.  

Personal:

Served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints from July 2015-July 2017.  I gained 30 lbs. during the service and came back out of shape; however I knew that if the Lord wanted me to once again run competitively, he would bless me to return to fitness. 

I graduated from Sky View High School in Smithfield, Utah. I currently run for Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.  

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Race: NCAA cross country championships (6.214 Miles) 00:29:17, Place overall: 10, Place in age division: 10
Total Distance
13.00

good race, led a lot, died with 800 to go. I’ll write more later. 

AM-Woke up fairly relaxed, not really thinking much about the race.  There have been times where I've overthought races and this was not going to be one of them. Ate a big breakfast and treated this race like the other races this season.  Got to the course about an hour and half before the race. Warmed up slower than usual (probably close to 9 minute pace, we usually are just under 8 min. pace) and i was pretty cold, but not too bad.  Stretched, did strides, and were at the start line just like any other race.  Due to my lack of abilities of acceleraing quickly, I started on the back line, just like every other race this season. 

The start was fast!  I was our 7th guy, and there were other teams that seemed to be ahead of almost all of our guys.  There was so much snow being kicked up that it was quite annoying, and getting nice footing was near impossible. We started on the far left side of the course, which was ideal.  At 500m or so, Ashley cheered us on and Clayton yelled "That's my wife!" Then Clayson yelled, "She's pregnat, you're going to be a dad!" As they both said a couple of other short jokes, I decided to move up.  I was hurting. This was fast.  I looked up right before 1km, and saw we were in the high 2:30s, low 2:40s(I was probably at 2:43-45).  I told myself to slow down.  There is no way I could keep that up on this course in perfect conditions.  So, I slowed, but eventually so did everyone else. I didn't like the snow getting kicked up in front of me, so I moved to the outside and eventually got to the front before the first short/steep hill.  I was on the outside, and surprisingly the grip and footing were great.  We came down the hill, and I just relaxed.  We cam across 2km around 5:40, so it was pretty quick.  I was at the front at this time, and just told myself to relax.  I was feeling pretty good here, but 10k is a long race. 

We hit 3km and I could feel a bit of fatigue settle in, and just told myself to be there at 8km and see what happens.  I stayed a consistent pace.  At 4km, there is a hairpin turn, and Tyler Day of NAU and I were next to each other, and I slipped a bit, nothing bad, but it took me out of my rythym.  I continued to relax, but it was still frustrating.  At 5km we were around 14:40.  I still felt good.  People passed me here, but didn't surge, so I just enjoyed some time running behind them.  As we were heading on the big loop, I tried to run close to the line because it was cleared, and it gave me an advantage over those running in the snow in the middle of the course.  I felt like it helped me relax and get into more of a rythym, a lot of people did this behind me, but others around me were running in the middle.  I got back into the lead somewhere around here. Coming around the field just a bit after 6km, I started slipping a lot.  It was frustrating as I felt a lot of energy was wasted. When we hit the gradual hill around 6.5 km, I started hurting a decent amount and had a thought of "this is where I lost ground at pre-nats, so I'll probably get dropped here."  I cut that thought out of my mind quickly. At the last hill (about 7.2km or so), I slipped again and was stuck on the inside and couldn't get any good footing. I slipped a bit going down the hill, and was pretty fatigued here.  I tried to run next to the line where the snow was plowed again, but the spectators were on the patch of grass, on the course, cheering.  I had to go to the middle, and it was slick.  Given, my competitors were there as well, but that was part of my strategy. 

The final 2km I was surprised to still be at the front.  I was trying to hold on to the same pace I had been running before, but no one was getting much ahead of me or challenging me hard for the lead.  Morgan McDonald took it on the final hill, but then let me have it back with ease with 1200m to go(I took the inside of the turn, so I got ahead of him here).  I was just waiting for the pack to pass me, and sure enough, about 30-40 seconds after hitting 9km in first, 7 guys passed me like a wall. I stayed with them until about 400m to go, and then told myself to save my kick for the final 200m.  I was hurting a lot in those last 400m and was ready to be done.  As I was trying to push with 400m to go, I kept slipping and it was the most frustrating part of the race. Joe Klecker and John Dressel both passed me here, and I came across the line in 10th.  I was happy about it, as that had been my season goal (top-10).  I looked back and was scared when I didn't see any teammates.  Then I saw Rory and McMillan. Then a little bit later, Clayson, and a little later, Jake.  I had no idea how we did place-wise, but Colorado had 3 guys in the top-11, so I thought they may have beat us, and NAU seemed to finish well, so I thought we may have bonked again, but nope, we got 2nd.  

Overall, I'm happy about this race, I would've loved to get the win, but I'm not fit enough currently for the individual win and the team would've needed to run our best day to win(it was an average day for us), but to get second is still a great accomplishment for us.  It was a great season, and lots of great memories with this team.  Later I found out the reason I was slipping so much was one of my shoes had nearly (4/6) all the spikes screw out of it over the course of the race. Good learning experience, hope to improve every year.  On to track!

PM-4 easy miles on a beautiful trail as the sun was setting.

Comments
From Rob Murphy on Sat, Nov 17, 2018 at 14:02:26 from 67.177.30.39

I watched every second. Very inspiring!

From Sasha Pachev on Sat, Nov 17, 2018 at 17:07:50 from 72.250.218.114

Congratulations on the top 10 finish, 2nd place team, and being the fastest on it!

I am curious about your thoughts on how this course compares to the track. Do you think 29:10 on this course is worth sub-28:00 on the track all things ideal?

From Glory in the long run on Sat, Nov 17, 2018 at 17:18:33 from 67.2.61.45

You must have bitten the bullet and paid flotrack Rob. Good for you, can I come over to your house?

Great race Conner. You should know that the letsrun founders credit you with having big cajones. You took it out there and didn't back down. You are an inspiration to your teammates, to me and I hope to yourself.

From jeffmc on Sat, Nov 17, 2018 at 18:15:51 from 24.11.5.249

Great job! It was fun looking up the results in real time and seeing you right at the front the entire race

From Holt on Sat, Nov 17, 2018 at 19:05:25 from 166.144.207.131

I remember when I first heard about you...

I was in a run with Paul Peterson and he said that there was this kid up in Cache Valley that was crushing everything as a 10(ish) year old and was going to be an all-American (he may have even said NCAA champ).

Anyway - congrats! Watching you run has always inspired me

From Shawn H on Sat, Nov 17, 2018 at 23:48:24 from 104.143.92.234

Great job, Conner! Top 10! I knew you’d really move up in cross country.

From fiddy on Sun, Nov 18, 2018 at 19:41:44 from 73.53.95.221

When you made your move to get to the front it looked like a suicide surge, but you just refused to give up. Awesome race, and what you said about being up front helping the footing seems like a good strategy.

They interviewed the Morgan Mcdonald after the race and they mentioned his 13:15 5k. This was the caliber of runner you were competing against out there, so you have nothing to feel bad about.

From Garrett Rogers on Mon, Nov 19, 2018 at 15:02:26 from 192.222.30.128

One of your friends went on a Mission in my home ward. I really enjoy cross country and for the past few months have been keeping up with you. I can't remember his name, maybe my dad does. Good job on the race

From jtshad on Mon, Nov 19, 2018 at 18:01:29 from 67.2.195.53

Congrats on a great race and strong season.

From Jon on Tue, Nov 20, 2018 at 12:05:18 from 165.156.40.32

Top 10 at nationals, 2nd team overall, with a bum shoe. Awesome. Good job!

From Conner Mantz on Sat, Nov 24, 2018 at 07:06:05 from 67.2.212.252

Thanks everyone! I love the support this blog has.

Sasha, I don’t really know what it would compare to because my best 10km is 28:57, however I do feel like this was a more impressive and hard run.

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