Travis Landreth - Cross Country, Track, and Running Analysis



Travis Eliot Landreth              Remember these two ???        Sanchez and Powell's epic duel
This page is now dedicated to the memory of Travis Landreth.

     Travis was a "nearly great" Massachusetts runner from Newburyport, once
nicknamed the "Beast from the East" winning the NCAA X-country East Regionals.  He died
tragically from heart problems  during a run with the Nike Farm team on January 12,2001 in
California .  He was an All-American who ran for UConn (just happens to be my Alma Mater).
     Travis is the "epitomy" of what a high school distance runner should
strive to be.   He was very good in high school -  4:26 mile, 9:30 2 mile, 2:00 800 but
he had to work extremely hard for those times and was "totally" dedicated.  But "extremely hard" was not
good enough for Travis, at the end of his sophomore year in college
he did  "mega" mileage out in Oregon, and came back to be undefeated in eastern competition
in X-Country that fall.  He was a "Prefontaine" front runner type who took it out from the gun!
Unfortunately, running out fast with the top Kenyan collegiates in the NCAA finals burnt him
out early and he finished "only" in the top 30.

                This web page is mostly for male High School distance runners,  I started it when my oldest
son became a "good" high school runner.  Coincidentally, he had the same exact footlocker time as
Travis.  Like most good high school runners the increased workload in college, and the "big fish" to
"small fish" syndrome took its toll and he dropped out of running after a couple of years.
                    But Travis kept it up and became a "GREAT RUNNER"!!!

         It is hopeful that the lists and information on this web site inspires other high school runners
                to achieve their best !!!
 
             "To give anything less than my best would be to sacrifice the Gift"
                                                            - Steve Prefontaine

             "..running to him was real .... the way he did it the realest thing he knew. It was all joy
                and woe, hard as diamond; it made him weary beyond comprehension.  But it also
                                                        made hime free... "
                                                            -- John L. Parker,   Once a Runner

            "... I would rather be ashes than dust!  I would rather that the spark should burn out in a
                brilliant blaze that it should be stilled by dry rot.  I would rather be a superb meteor, every
                every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.
                            The proper function of man is to live, not to exist.
                I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them.
                               I shall use my time. "
                                                -- Jack London

        Please consider the Travis Landreth Trail run and Scholarship fund
                    http://xenia.unh.edu/wcrc/travapp.htm
 

New 2000 Boys Middle Distance not finished (6-19-00)
1999 Boys Middle Distance updated (8-7-99)
Best Web Track Calculator does T&F conversions (12-18-99)
A Great assortment of various US Distance running lists
Where to get more X-country and Track info
Calculate better splits for the runners in the 1999 Boston Marathon click here
Taunting Information
Mass HS XC Hall of Fame
XC Prediction program (Deep Blue does XC)
Ivy league XC information
High School XC/Track review page.

Track Calculator & Runpaces are available to download programs to download

About this Page

I was going to do this project about 4 years ago!
There were only a handful of coaches that ever sent me data, hence this project is on "the back burner" until I finish my thesis. Sorry... if there was overwhelming interest I might do some more work on it .... later ...peh 7/15/98

This system someday will fully automatically analyzse XC team data and races. It will calculate course difficulty factors and use that info to calculate performaces. It will maintain a database on courses , teams and runners.... all automatically. Coaches will use PDA's like a Newton to time and log XC-race data. Each runner will have a tiny "locater" transmitter which will automatically time the runner as it crosses the finish line. Additionally, the locater will display the location of all the runners during the race on a "virtual" course displayed on the PDA. Hence, for those "off in the woods" courses coaches and spectators will know the runners postion at all times. After the race, the data will be automatically "sent" to this web server, update the database, calculate performances, statistics, and retransmit all the information to other coaches, league reps, ..etc Top performances weekly will be transmitted to newspapers. ...... for an additional service fee a remotely controlled small helicopter will video the race and tranmit live pictures back to the start/finish..... copies of the race will be available for $29.95.

The system is not quite finished,.... ........ but it is possible that if you email me some team data I MIGHT do some analysis. 

Plots

If so here are some of the plots you might get... These gif plots have been converted from Foxpro for Windows Screen dumps.

If you would like to e-mail me your data.. here's how. 

Other Info

If you want to know about U.Mass Lowell.
 Please e- mail all comments to phoffman@cs.uml.edu
about Patrick Hoffman.
Other running links.

Revision History