Joe Falcon also is America's next great distance runner, and lately he has been taking aim at bigger game - a berth on the U.S. Olympic team.
Falcon is a slighty built, 5-6, 118-pound senior with a tattoo of an Arkansas Razorback on his right arm. He will anchor Arkansas' distance-medley and 4 x 1,500-meter relay teams at the Penn Relays this weekend, and if his recent performances are any indication, the fans at Franklin Field could be in for quite a show.
Two weeks ago at the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Falcon sent shock waves through the track world when he ran a world-best 3:35.84 in the 1,500
meters. His time was the equivalent of a 3:53 mile.
Before that, there was his first-place finish at the NCAA cross country championships in Charlottesville, Va., that sparked the Razorbacks to the team title. And then there was his sensational double victory last month at the NCAA indoor meet in Oklahoma City, where he won the mile in 3:59.78, then came back an hour later to win the 3,000 meters in 7:55.80 as the Hogs stole their second national championship of the season.
Frighteningly, according to McDonnell, the best is yet to come.
"He's already the best 1,500-meter runner I've ever had in college," McDonnell said. "He can run the 5,000 and 10,000 meters. His range is phenomenal. He's got the type of speed that will one day make him one of our great long-distance runners."
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Joe Falcon is on the verge of greatness these days, but it didn't start out that way. He almost followed in the footsteps of his mother, Pat, and became a tennis player.
"My mom played professional tennis," Falcon said, "so I started playing tennis when I was 4."
