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Jennifer Barringer, a sophomore from the University of Colorado, won a narrow women's steeplechase victory over Anna Willard, the NCAA champion in collegiate-record time two weeks ago, Saturday at the USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Indianapolis.
Barringer's time of 9:34.64 was a meet record, a PR by 10 seconds, and the second-fastest ever by an American woman. Williard, whose collegiate record was eclipsed by Barringer, also PRed in 9:34.72.
At the NCAA meet, Barringer, then the defending champion, lost one of her spikes when she was inadvertantly clipped by a competitor; the time she lost took her out of contention, but she worked her way back up to seventh. Indianapolis became something of a rematch, as Barringer and Willard followed Lindsey Anderson for five of the seven laps before breaking away. Barringer finally claimed an advantage on the final water barrier, which was enough to hold off Willard's closing speed and earn her the victory.
"It's tough coming in with the top seed," admitted Willard. "You have everything to lose and nothing to gain. I jammed my left ankle on the fourth water jump in the prelims. I usually jump with my right and land with my left. On the first ones [today] I switched, but as you get tired you go back to what you're used to."
"The one stride on the last water barrier was it," agreed Barringer. "Two strides before the barrier I knew it would be perfect. Every little bit counts in the steeplechase, and that last 100m was as fast as Jenny Barringer goes. My coach gave me some splits to run, but after the first lap, they were right out the window. Now we have a benchmark for considering what I'm capable of going forward."
Now, she has to decide between racing the steeple in Osaka, and preparing for the collegiate cross country season.
"This is a big decision that I'll have to go to my coaches with. Osaka is a big deal, but I want to win a cross country title and I want to guard my chances to do that."
Posted by Parker Morse at 11:51 a.m. | Tags: Race Reports, 2007 USA Outdoor T&F Champs