February 25, 2008

Rob Myers takes his second indoor title

Rob Myers won the men's 1,500m Sunday evening at the AT&T USA Indoor Track & Field Championships in 3:40.89, just .09s slower than his own meet record for the event, set in 2004. Myers has posted fast times in competition in recent years, but this race marked his return to the podium's top step in the absence of such event-dominating names as Bernard Lagat and Alan Webb.

Myers entered this year's national championship as the favorite, unlike 2004, when he was an unknown Ohio State senior and the first question asked of him by the media was, "Who are you?" He ran the race with the sort of tactical command that might be expected of Lagat himself, sitting in second and letting others make the pace until he felt comfortable taking charge. Once Myers took the lead, he never relinquished it, pulling well clear of his last challengers as they entered the final homestretch.

The 800m finals were also contested on Sunday, with Khadevis Robinson winning the men's final by .01 seconds over Nick Symmonds, and Nicole Teter making a return to the victory stand by outlasting Nicole Cook in the women's final. 

Myers, who can expect an uphill battle to earn an Olympic team spot this summer with two legitimate medal contenders in his event, will be taking his chance to represent the USA at the IAAF World Indoor Championships next month in Valencia, Spain. "I haven't sacrificed any training for outdoors" by running a full indoor season, said Myers, who is still coached by Ohio State coach Robert Gary and trains with steeplechasers Brian Olinger and Daniel Huling.

The second team spot will go to Stanford redshirt Russell Brown, a native of New Hampshire who enjoyed a hometown reception at the Reggie Lewis Center on Sunday evening. Brown, who qualified for this meet with a 3:58 mile on the oversized track at the University of Washington earlier this month, has a 3:37.56 outdoor PR and was third in the 2007 NCAA Outdoor final. In 2004, Brown ran the World Junior Championships 1,500m, where he placed fifth in his heat and did not advance to the final.

Posted by Parker Morse at 10:18 a.m. | Tags: Race Reports, 2008 USA Indoor T&F Champs | Comments (0)

February 24, 2008

Shannon Rowbury, Matt Tegenkamp and Christin Wurth-Thomas take U.S. titles

Shannon Rowbury and Christin Wurth-Thomas won their first national titles Saturday, February 23rd at the AT&T USA Indoor Track and Field Championships, and Matt Tegenkamp defended his title in the 3,000m, but only Wurth-Thomas is certain to take a spot at the IAAF World Indoor Championships to be held next month in Valencia, Spain.

The three distance finals happened in quick succession at the end of the first day of competition at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood. The women's 3,000m was first, and Rowbury waited for the last 400 to open up her stride and run away from Jen Rhines, the pacesetter for most of the race. Rowbury won in 8:55.19. Rhines, who had hoped to push hard enough in the middle of the race to burn off challengers like Rowbury, finished in 8:59.98, which until five seconds earlier would have been faster than Rowbury's PR.

Neither Rowbury nor Rhines was certain on Saturday evening if they would compete at the World Indoor Championships. Rhines, who had made Valencia her goal earlier in the season, was disappointed by her form and troubled by a recent calf injury. She said she and her coach (and husband), Terrence Mahon, would re-evaluate before committing to Valencia. Rowbury was also uncertain, explaining that her need to run an Olympic "A" standard in the 5,000m would take priority for the spring, and she, too, would consult with her coach (in this case, John Cook) before committing to the Worlds.

Behind them, both Julie Culley (third, 9:00.14) and Katie McGregor (fourth, 9:03.34) ran the qualifying standard for Worlds as well, and they would be the next athletes considered; Amy Hastings (sixth) also has the mark from a previous race and would next in line.

Matt Tegenkamp surprised nobody by running away from the men's 3,000m field, with his former Wisconsin teammate and current training partner Chris Solinsky right behind, but again, both Solinsky and Tegenkamp professed uncertainty about their plans for Valencia. "We'll need to talk to [Coach] Jerry [Schumacher] about whether that's a good idea," said Solinsky. "We're still building," said Tegenkamp. "I've only done two track workouts so far, so I'm not sure if it's a good idea to take a week out of my schedule and race in Europe."

"The focus this year is the Olympics, and making the team at the Trials will be a fight, too."

Behind Tegenkamp and Solinsky, both Jonathon Riley (third) and Steve Slattery (sixth) have qualifying marks for Worlds and would be asked if Tegenkamp and Solinsky don't take their spots.

The women's 1,500m, on the other hand, has little such uncertainty. Wurth, who stepped up the pace with five laps remaining and built a three-second margin of victory over Jenelle Deatherage, won in 4:14.21 to 4:17.38. Both plan to compete in Valencia. For Deatherage, this will be her first international team; Wurth, who is planning her own Olympic campaign, hopes to nail down an Olympic "A" standard at the Worlds. She also sees a little bit of Cold War in the Worlds meet. "We're going after the Russians," she said, alluding to the Russian dominance of the 2008 performance list. Russian women are six of the 10 fastest this year in the 1,500m with 11 of the 15 fastest marks--but only two athletes per country will be allowed to run in Valencia.

Posted by Parker Morse at 2:11 p.m. | Tags: Race Reports, 2008 USA Indoor T&F Champs | Comments (0)