Brett Riley does 8 events at Rice All-Comers Meet

At the RunSport/Rice University All-Comers Meet Friday night, Houston's Brett Riley (who races for the On The Run Racing Team) and Dan Steiner competed in the event's "decathlon". It wasn't exactly a decathlon because there were only eight (8) events but the premise was that they had to compete in every event that somebody signed up for.

So the duo competed in the 400-meter hurdles, 100 meters, 800 meters, 400 meters, 200 meters, the mile, the 3K and the 4 x 400-meter relay.

The Tornados Running Club's Leno Rios competed in the 200, 400 and 800 meters as well as the mile. (Leno wasn't quotable after the mile race. He admittedly was pretty spent!)

400-Meter Hurdles: I didn't get the times for both Brett and Dan, but Brett barely beat Dan coming down the stretch. Rice University head track and cross country coach Jon Warren was overheard by all near the start of the 100 meter event commenting about the guys' two-footed landing on the other side of the hurdles. (Brett, 1-0)

100-Meter Dash: The guys, of course, were running in heats with some fast guys, including world record holder Bill Collins. Dan beat Brett in this event, 14.00 seconds to 14.19. (Tie, 1-1)

200-Meter Dash: Rios got the better of both Brett and Dan. Leno covered the distance in 28.71 seconds while Brett defeated Dan, 30.61 seconds to 32.21. (Brett, 2-1)

400-Meter Dash: This event all three had Bill Collins running against them and the elder statesman took them all. Collins, running in lane 4, nailed a 54.24 second time while Rios again edged the two "decathletes". Leno finished in 61.54, Dan in 63.05 and Brett in 63.78. (Tie, 2-2)

800-Meter Dash: Leno was good for one more, but masters Clydesdale (and one of the best)runner Ken Yanowski entered this event too. Leno ran the 800 meters in 2:13.25 while Dan once again narrowedly edged Riley, 2:19.78 to 2:19.86. Yanowski stopped the clock in 2:24.49. (Dan, 3-2)

1-Mile Run: There were at least 20-plus entrants that ran in one heat. Cornelio Garibay led the entire way before being outkicked by St. Pius X junior-to-be Joey D'Eramo and another high schooler James Webb in the last 25 meters. D'Eramo won the event with a time of 4:43.66 while Webb and Garibay followed in 4:44.15 and 4:44.35, respectively.

Riley edged his fellow club mate Thomas King, Jr. (the former UT-Pan American distance runner), 4:49.69 to 4:51.68. Yanowski came across in 5:40.58 and was followed in by Dan Steiner (5:51.89), Leno Rios (5:55.53) and Thomas King's son, Nicholas, in 5:58.87. (Tie, 3-3)

3,000 Meters: Ino Cantu was using this event as a tune-up for the USATF Masters Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Charlotte, North Carolina early next month. Within the last week, he was worried he might have injured himself and put his trip in jeopardy. But since Ino was out there, so too had to be Brett and Dan. King, D'Eramo, his younger brother, Jake, and Adam Santos also all joined in.

With little surprise, Riley covered the 3K in 10:15.57. King was second in 10:54.17 while Joey D'Eramo in some cool down laps finished third in 11:21.51. Steiner was fourth in 11:31.76 while Cantu turned in a nice performance of 12:18.47 (which, if he held it, would have been a 20:30 5,000 meters). The younger D'Eramo and Santos finished neck-and-neck in 12:46.00 and 12:46.18, respectively. (Riley, 4-3)

4 X 400-Meter Relay: The duo recruited Tommy King and his daughter, Sydney, as they raced two other teams - both made up of high school aged kids. Sydney led off the first leg followed by Dad, Riley and Steiner. The squad covered the 1,600 meters in 4:42.12.

There was one other story Friday night that I saw; however, I'll be developing it into a future "Talking The Talk" column in Runner Triathlete News.