Interview: Brian Sell

by Parker Morse

The Olympic team spots went to others, but the dominant face in the development of the 2004 U.S. Men's Olympic Marathon Trials was Brian Sell, 25, of the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project. Sell took over the lead from Teddy Mitchell in the fifth mile, and running alone, built a lead of as much as 69 seconds in the middle stages of the race.

Even though bold solo moves such as Sell's almost never work, Sell looked strong enough to fool even seasoned marathon watchers into thinking maybe this time the risky tactic would pay off. The marathon was not fooled, however, and when the pack of Culpepper, Keflezighi, and Browne overtook Sell with barely five miles remaining, they blew past so aggressively that Sell barely noticed his teammate Trent Briney passing just a few seconds later. Sell was eventually reduced to a shuffle, sliding to 13th place, nearly six minutes off the winners (2:17:19) — but still a PR by 2:38.

Press-conference moderator Keith Brantly was generous in his praise of Sell's race, as were his teammates Trent Briney and Clint Verran (fourth and fifth, respectively). Brantly recalled his own race at the 1992 Olympic Trials, where, along with Bill Reifsnyder, Brantly drove to an extensive early lead before being passed by the eventual Olympic team of Steve Spence, Ed Eyestone, and Bob Kempainen.

Briney praised Sell's agressive tactics: "As Americans, on the world scene, that's probably what we need. To go out there and test ourselves. I was so proud to have Brian as a teammate."

Verran was similarly supportive: "He's an amazing runner. He was more fit than I was coming into this race, I can tell you that. The one weakness he has is that he's too aggressive... I thought physically he could do it. If there's anyone I know who could pull that off, it would be Brian Sell. To tell you the truth, I was cheering for him. In my mind, I was like, I don't know what's going to happen in my race, but I think Brian Sell's going to win the Olympic Trials. He's an amazing athlete, and you're going to see unbelievable things from him."

Sell's coach, Kevin Hanson, while admitting that he wouldn't have wanted Sell to lead so early, also said, "In order for it not to be the status quo, somebody has to do something. I'm always surprised to see somebody sitting on [Hicham] El Guerrouj. What are they thinking? They're going to sit on the best kicker in the world? So something had to be different, somebody had to make those three favorites think differently. And Brian did that. I think they've all admitted that."

[See also: Pre-Trials interview with Brian Sell]

Q: Was that a PR for you today?
Brian Sell: Yes, it was. I ran 2:20 in Chicago, and 2:17 something today. So it was a PR, but it was an ugly PR.

Q: You were just trying to make the qualifying time in Chicago, so you didn't hit the wall as hard.
BS: Oh, I hit the wall. We went through 18 miles as a group, just on 2:22 pace. At 18 miles, Nick Cordes and I were allowed to go. I picked it up to about 5:05 or so, and ended up running 2:19, 2:20. The last two miles were not as bad as today, but they were pretty bad.

Q: Did you have that feeling of holding the pace, but knowing you'd be in trouble in a few miles? Or did you not know because you were already there?
BS: A few of the real crowded miles on the loop, I hit in 4:51 or 4:53. The plan was 5:02s. I knew 5:02 would be OK, but 4:51 probably was a little quick. I think it ended up coming up to bite me in the end.

Q: We were thinking, if you could make it to 23 in the lead, you could go the rest of the way on guts. Did you feel chased, or did you feel like if you made it to a certain point, you'd be all right?
BS: At sixteen or so, I still had a minute lead, my coach was saying. Then I heard 45, then 30. I was still nailing splits, I wasn't slowing down, so I knew those guys were rolling. I knew then it was only a matter of time.

Q: The difference between what your watch is telling you and what your head is telling you?
BS: Yeah. When those guys blew by me, it really messed with my head.

Q: Were you surprised that Trent was the teammate that passed you first?
BS: Yeah, I was. I was actually surprised that any of my teammates were there, because Kevin [Hanson] said at one point, 'There's a group of six back there duking it out.' He didn't say any of these guys were in the pack. I was really surprised that he was up there.

Q: Clint said he'd been doing workouts with your group.
BS: I knew they both had the ability, I was surprised because Kevin didn't say anything [about them being there].

(Interview conducted February 7, 2004, and posted February 10, 2004.)