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Jenny Barringer of Colorado, a true freshman running in her first NCAA Outdoor Championship, won the women's 3,000m steeplechase final in 9:53.04 over Cassie Hunt of Illinois (9:55.75).
As she had in the preliminaries on Wednesday, Cassie King of North Carolina took the lead at the start, with Toledo's Ebba Stenback on her shoulder. King set a brisk enough pace at first that the pack didn't bunch up, but when King's pace began to lag, Stenback stepped up to take over with three laps remaining.
Coming up to two laps remaining, Illinois' Cassie Hunt moved up to the lead, bringing Tennessee-Chattanooga's Shannon Wommack along with her. "That's always a tough spot in the race for me," Hunt explained after the race. "I figured I needed to push hard there, and I knew it would be a tough spot for a lot of the others as well."
Stenback and Michigan State's Nicole Bush pursued, but Hunt's lead began to expand. Hunt took the bell with Wommack and Barringer, who had been moving up steadily, leading the pursuit. It was Barringer who had the closing speed to move up even with Hunt, and between the last water barrier and the final dry barrier on the homestretch, Barringer made the pass. Crossing the line, Barringer screamed with joy and disbelief.
"I have to give credit to Coach [Mark] Wetmore," said Barringer. "He was the one who decided to put me in the steeplechase, and had confidence in me. There were days when I went down in the pit and swallowed water, and said this was not for me, but he said he knows a champion when he sees one."
Barringer's 9:53.04 represented a 19-second improvement over her previous best time, the 10:12 she ran in the preliminaries. This final was only her fifth race over the barriers; her first was at Stanford, earlier this spring, and the second at her conference meet, where she finished a distant second behind 10,000m third place finisher, Mary Davies.
"I heard my coach yelling 78, and I knew that was fast," said Barringer. "I didn't think I would win, but I knew I would move up. We've practiced the last lap of the race specifically. It's dangerous, because you're moving faster and your rhythm changes. I felt good and I was ready for it."
Barringer went on to say that she would share her victory with CU miler Stephen Pifer, who fell in his heat of the 1,500m on Thursday and did not advance. "If he had made the final, he would be twins with me right now; we would be sharing a national championship," she said.
Posted by Parker Morse at 11:37 p.m. | Tags: Race Reports, 2006 NCAA Outdoor T&F Champs
bart powell commented, on March 11, 2008 at 11:07 p.m.:
dude cassie is my coach she is the best and always pushes me to do my best she has always kept me in good spirts even wen i hadnt done very good in the race i apreciate it and will never forget her