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"It never gets old," Daniel Lincoln announced in the mixed zone after winning his third-consecutive U.S. championship in the steeplechase. "Ask my coach, John McDonnell; he has 41 NCAA Championships, and he says the same thing." Lincoln now has a U.S. championship to match all three of his NCAA steeplechase titles, and he joked, "Maybe I should've entered the 10,000m," the event where he won his fourth NCAA championship.
After years of deferral, Lincoln finally started medical school last fall at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock. He credits his years as an athlete with helping him in Gross Anatomy: "I already knew everything in the legs, because it's all hurt at one time or another."
Lincoln will head to Europe immediately for four races, and says he still holds Henry Marsh's American Record of 8:09.17 as a goal. "I'm not sure if I've jinxed myself talking about it so much."
The championship final was won with a big move with three laps remaining, when Lincoln simply powered away from the field, then stayed away. "I've had bad experiences making not-decisive moves," he explained. Runner-up Steve Slattery found himself caught in the pack, and had to go around to pursue Lincoln; he was able to hold the gap, but not close it. "I'm in shape to run way faster," Slattery said, "and if we can run low 8:20s after pretty much jogging the first four laps, that shows it." Slattery will also race in Europe, shooting for an 8:15. "I'm getting ready to go to the wall, to latch on to a train of Kenyans and hang on as long as I can."
Third-place finisher Daniel Huling, a recent graduate of Miami of Ohio, opted to steeple at USATFs after running the 5,000m at the recent NCAA championships. Between the two meets, his training was "terrible, worse than high school," he said. "I had two workouts that kept my confidence up." Huling hopes to move to Columbus to train under Robert Gary, who is retiring from the event.
Posted by Parker Morse at 9:24 p.m. | Tags: Race Reports, 2006 USA Outdoor T&F Champs