Conner Mantz was the Boston Marathon's top American man with a personal-best time, but he still wanted more
Mantz's coach, Ed Eyestone, was more effusive in his praise for his pupil's brilliant run, which took nearly three minutes off Mantz's personal best.
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'I reminded him,' Eyestone said, 'I told him, 'Hey, bud, we were going to be ecstatic with a top-three finish. You were four seconds out of second [place]. So essentially, I mean, you did everything.'
'The fact that he ended up with a huge PR and fourth place in what I think could be considered the most competitive, deepest Boston [field], is a very, very good day.'
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Mantz was the prerace favorite to finish as top American coming off an excellent buildup, which saw the Brigham Young grad break Hall's American record in the half-marathon with performances of 59:17 in Houston and 59:15 in New York.
Connor Mantz was outsprinted by Tanzania's Alphonce Felix Simbu (left) and Kenya's CyBrian Kotut down the stretch.
Charles Krupa/Associated Press
Mantz was near the front of the pack through much of the race, which saw the elite men go through the half-marathon mark in 1:01:52. The group slowly thinned through 20 miles — defending champion Sisay Lemma was among the casualties of the Newton hills — before Kenya's John Korir dropped the hammer.
Mantz was the only chaser who initially tried to cover Korir's big move, but faced with a big headwind and Korir's changing gears, the American chose to remain patient and let Korir go.
Eyestone was pleased first with Mantz's determination, then his patience.
'[Mantz] was the guy who kind of put his head down and refused to just say, you know, go quietly into the good night,' Eyestone said. 'He's a winner, and he wants to win. He wants to be up there, he wants to cover moves. But I think after a time, he realized, 'Oh, wow, this is not coming back, at least not right now.' '
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With Korir long gone, Mantz still had a shot at both a podium spot and the fastest American performance in history. He often was the one pushing the pace of a three-man chase pack with Kenya's CyBrian Kotut and Tanzania's Alphonce Felix Simbu, as the trio went three-wide down Boylston Street.
In the end, Kotut and Simbu had a little bit more, with Mantz having to settle for fourth, a PR, and a historically fast time.
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'Yeah, it's a great [time],' Mantz said. 'There was little part of me, when I was struggling those last few miles, I was just thinking, 'OK, even if I end up fifth, I want to beat Ryan Hall's mark.'
'But you never know the weather, you never know who's going to be in the field. So I really like the idea of chasing podium finishes. That's what excites me.'
Amin Touri can be reached at
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