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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)
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)
Sally Kipyego of Texas Tech said, even before the race, that the biggest difference between the 2006 NCAA Cross Country Championships, when she won the first of her now-lengthy series of NCAA titles, and the 2007 edition was that the extra year's experience gave her more confidence in her own ability to win the race. And this year, instead of tearing away from the pack early in the race, Kipyego sat back. "I wanted to start slowly and move up," she explained afterward.
Still, Kipyego feared the strong finish of 2007 USA steeplechase champion Jenny Barringer, the only NCAA athlete who has been within 10 seconds of beating Kipyego this season. "I knew Jenny would finish strong, and I wanted to be away from her before the end of the race." So on the long hill that makes up the Terre Haute course's backstretch, she pulled away from the competition. By the halfway mark of the 6k course, Kipyego was alone, and she stayed that way until the finish. Her lead over Barringer, who pulled away from Florida State's Susan Kuijken and Iowa's Diane Nukuri in the last 2k, would be 17 seconds. Kipyego's winning time of 19:30.90 broke Jenny Barringer's course record by approximately 18 seconds.
"[Barringer] motivates me to work a bit harder," said Kipyego. "Having such good comptition makes me who I am." Kipyego, who was accepted into Texas Tech's nursing program this year, now carries an academic schedule which requires her to do three quarters of her workouts by herself. "My coaches work around my schedule, and sometimes my team waits to run with me," she explained. "It's been good for me to see that I can manage two things at once if I work for it."
Barringer echoed Kipyego's words, saying, "She's getting better and I'm getting better. I wouldn't be as good as I am without her."
Once again, Stanford's women arrived in Terre Haute strongly favored, and, as coach Peter Tegen said, "We wanted to make sure we didn't do anything, for lack of a better word, cute, or acrobatic. We wanted to avoid mistakes, not chase after individual honors." And for the most part, they did; West regional champion Teresa McWalters and regular contender Arianna Lambie ran together, a few seconds off the lead, through halfway, with the rest of the team, led by Lauren Centrowitz, also working together. At that point, Tegen said, it looked like a solid performance, and with a mile to go Stanford looked untouchable. "Except for something like a lightning strike," Tegen qualified himself, wryly.
But then McWalters began to unravel, struggling up the homestretch as other runners streamed by, and eventually crawled across the finish line. Lambie finished ninth overall (scoring 8 points after non-scoring individuals were removed) and McWalters was eventually credited with 62nd, almost a minute behind. But McWalters still scored for Stanford, as their fifth finisher, and as it happened, they would have won even if she had not. They scored 145 points to Oregon's 177 (led by Nicole Blood, who finished just ahead of Lambie).
Tegen noted that with Stanford's third-consecutive title, Lambie now had the rare (if not unique) distinction of having contributed to four national team titles in four years of competition; her redshirt season coincided with Stanford's one loss in the last five cross country seasons.
Posted by Parker Morse at 6:39 p.m. | Tags: Race Reports, 2007 NCAA Cross Country | Comments (0)
Josh McDougal hasn't lost many races in his four-year NCAA cross country career, but most of his losses have come here in Terre Haute. The Liberty University senior has come to the NCAA Championships here as a contender for the individual title four times, but in his previous three appearances, McDougal was 13th, fourth, and 27th, respectively.
This year, McDougal stuck with the lead pack through the early parts of the race. Around the 7k mark, he made a move to thin down the pack, which at that point included Oregon's Galen Rupp, Lopez Lomong of Northern Arizona, and Jacob Korir of Eastern Kentucky. Rupp covered that move and then pushed the pace himself, which thinned the pack down to two.
"I moved again in the second loop," said McDougal, but even though Rupp fell 10 or 15 meters behind, "I knew it wasn't over."
Rupp battled back, pulling even with McDougal again on the 500m-long finishing stretch and forcing McDougal to reach deep for one more finishing drive. Perhaps Rupp was a bit less rested after his long summer track campaign, or had used too much of his finishing speed catching up; perhaps McDougal remembered the 400 repeats which he said he'd been doing three or four seconds faster this year than ever before. Wherever it came from, it was enough to put McDougal ahead by one second, finally, for the win in his last chance at the cross country crown.
When it came to team scoring, though, McDougal was a non-scoring individual, so Rupp scored only one point for Oregon. Behind him, teammate Shadrack Kiptoo-Biwott was ninth, good for six points, and a trio of sophomores (Diego Mercado, Kenny Klotz, and Diego's twin brother Danny Mercado) wrapped up the scoring to give Oregon 85 points and their first men's team victory in 30 years. Behind them, third-ranked Iona brought in a tight pack (with just a 33-second 1-5 spread) to score 113 points for second; the Cowboys of Oklahoma State were a surprising third with 180 points.
Oregon coach Vin Lananna said his team, comprised entirely of juniors and sophomores, was "poised to create another chapter" in the Oregon story. "I asked them to be aggressive from the beginning. Winning or not winning was less important. I told them what was more important was establishing the identity of this Oregon program. They're young, and they have even bigger and better things ahead of them."
Posted by Parker Morse at 6:37 p.m. | Tags: Race Reports, 2007 NCAA Cross Country | Comments (0)
The press conference the day before the NCAA Cross Country Championships is largely for the convenience of reporters from daily newspapers who are writing meet previews for Monday papers, and it seldom, if ever, reveals any new news about the top individuals or teams. The athletes and coaches are usually deliberately vague about any plans or expectations beyond the obvious. "I'd like to have my top athletes scoring as few points as possible," said Mark Wetmore about Colorado's men. Mick Byrne of Iona, asked what he would have to do to finally bring a men's team title to New York from Indiana State University's Terre Haute course, looked over at Wetmore and Oregon's Vin Lananna and said, "Beat these guys."
Florida State's first-year women's coach Karen Harvey, who arrived in Tallahassee from the University of Illinois, was one breath of fresh air in the room. Asked about what was left for a coach to do before the race, she exposed her own stress level. "I probably won't sleep tonight," she admitted. "I'll talk to each runner individually this afternoon about goals, and the team together. I'll try to keep them calm and focused on goals. But it's out of [the coaches'] hands now."
Harvey also took a question about the development of women's running in the NCAA head on. "When I was at Michigan," Harvey said, "there was a lot of talent in the front, much of it developed by Coach [Peter] Tegen [who was sitting just down the table from Harvey]. Now, that talent is going deeper and deeper in the race."
Tegen, who had previously been relatively quiet, then noted that the improved depth has brought problems as well. "There have always been doubts about the qualifying procedure: did we get them all, did we get the best. As parity grows between the teams, questions about the qualifying procedure are going to come up. The system is good, and it works, but that may not always be true."
The men expected to contend for the individual title were also more candid than usual. It started with Josh McDougal's confession that his 2006 performance (27th) was "really disappointing." "My first year, I ran like a freshman," he recalled, about the first time he arrived in Terre Haute off an undefeated season. "Sophomore year, I had things more dialed in. But last year, I just fell apart. [But] I think I can say that this year I'm in the best shape of my life."
Lopez Lomong, who raced McDougal when both were in high school in New York, also had a burst of candor, spilling most of his race plan, unless he was bluffing. "I don't want to hammer at the start," he said. "I want to stay back and just chill for a while." Lomong, McDougal, and Shadrack Songok all agreed that the real racing, even with faster, drier course conditions than 2006's mud-fest, would begin between after the 7k mark of the 10k men's course. "People start to run out of patience around there," explained McDougal. "That's where things thin down to two or three guys who are really contesting the title. Before that, it's a much larger pack."
It's unlikely that anyone's race plans will change based on the "secrets" spilled in the press conference, however. "It's hard to correct any weaknesses at this point," Songok observed. "We can't go out and do another speed workout now. There's not much you can do but try to stay healthy."
Posted by Parker Morse at 8:37 p.m. | Tags: 2007 NCAA Cross Country | Comments (5)
Alan Webb won national titles at 1,500m in 2004 and 2005, so his victory Sunday afternoon at the USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Indianapolis can't really be called an "upset." Nonetheless, Webb's 3:34.82 victory not only set a meet record, erasing Steve Scott's 3:34.92 from 1982 (the year before Webb was born), but also toppled defending champion, American record holder (and Friday's 5,000m champion) Bernard Lagat.
Lagat, as it turned out, had taken the risk of setting up his own rival. Webb and Lagat had planned before the race to keep the pace brisk, and the pair led through a 57.6 first 400m, and a 1:56.2 800m split, leaving previous national champions like Gabe Jennings and Rob Myers in their wake. Lagat moved at the 800m mark, and Webb stuck to him, with Webb's training partner Chris Lukezic and University of Texas junior Leonel Manzano also remaining in touch. This pack of four stuck together through the 1,200m mark, but with 200m remaining Webb was challenging Lagat - who has two Olympic medals at this distance - for the lead. On the homestretch, the challenge stuck, and Webb flew into the lead, pumping his fists as he saw he would reach the tape first. From behind, Manzano surprised Lagat to take second in 3:35.29; Lagat wound up third in 3:35.55.
"I like to be a challenge to the young guys of the U.S.," said Lagat. "If they're trying to get a 3:29 out of me, or 'to beat Lagat,' that's good for all of us." Lagat left open the possibility of running both the 1,500m and 5,000m in Osaka.
"I told myself to stay calm, stay calm," said Manzano, "then all of the sudden something in me said, 'go now.' And I went. I just wanted to stay with the pack and make sure they didn't get away from me; when I crossed the line, I thought, 'Did that just happen?'"
"The two of us would rather have it be man-on-man running 3:35 than a big field," said Webb. "I'd rather be on the team and risk not winning. By the time I got to the last stretch, I felt great."
Posted by Parker Morse at 6:31 p.m. | Tags: Race Reports, 2007 USA Outdoor T&F Champs | Comments (0)
Khadevis Robinson won his fourth 800m title on Sunday at the USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Indianapolis. Robinson followed a pattern he set in his semi-final of getting away from the pack early and holding a hot pace longer than anyone else, such that runner-up Nick Symmonds observed, "When I reached the homestretch, I knew I was going to take second." Robinson won in 1:44.37 with Symmonds in 1:45.17 and USC's Duane Solomon third in 1:45.69.
"I figured if I made it a 1:44 race, they would have to run a PR to beat me," Robinson explained. "And if they could do that, they would be having a great day--after all, if I ran a PR by a second and a half, I'd be at 1:42 flat."
Posted by Parker Morse at 5:41 p.m. | Tags: Race Reports, 2007 USA Outdoor T&F Champs | Comments (0)
The University of California's Alysia Johnson, NCAA champion two weeks ago, won the women's 800m title at the USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Indianapolis with a time of 1:59.47. Johnson, who just finished her junior year of college, went out with early pacesetter Chanelle Price, who covered the first lap in 57.9, then pressed her advantage over defending champion Hazel Clark, in pursuit, and Alice Schmidt. Clark and Schmidt pressed Johnson to the line, but Johnson held them off, with a .13-second advantage over Clark in 1:59.60 and Schmidt just an eyelash back in 1:59.63.
"We've been planning my season on running at the Worlds all along," said Johnson. "I've been confident all along, and running my second sub-2:00 this year is at the top of my list of good races right now."
Posted by Parker Morse at 4:52 p.m. | Tags: Race Reports, 2007 USA Outdoor T&F Champs | Comments (0)
Josh McAdams was NCAA champion in 2006, but he didn't expect to make the transition to USA champion quite as quickly. On a drizzly Sunday afternoon in Indianapolis, McAdams challenged and then ran away from American record holder Daniel Lincoln to win the USA Outdoor Track & Field Championship in 8:24.46, winning his first senior national title and punching his ticket for the World Championships in Osaka.
Lincoln opened a gap on the field with a lap and a half remaining in the race, and McAdams was the only one to cover it. McAdams challenged once on the curve just after the bell, then again on the backstretch, and the second time he opened a lead on Lincoln. Lincoln, the three-time defending champion, faded to fifth (8:28.32) in the homestretch, and recent Arizona State grad Aaron Aguayo stormed by to take second in 8:27.01, with Thomas Brooks of the Oregon Track Club third in 8:27.34; Anthony Famiglietti was fourth in 8:27.64.
"The last 200 was all guts," said Aguayo. "Coming in, I thought anything in the top seven would be good. I was in fifth coming over the final barrier, and I just ran right through the tape."
Aguayo and Brooks only have the "B" qualifying standard, so Famiglietti, the current alternate, will take Brooks' place if neither can run under 8:24.60 before August 1st.
McAdams admits disregarding his coach's advice: "Coach Eyestone said if the pace was slower than 70 or 71 [per lap] to go ahead and take it, but we were a lot slower and I sat back. If we'd had to close in 2:00 [for the last two laps] I would've been ready."
Posted by Parker Morse at 1:22 p.m. | Tags: Race Reports, 2007 USA Outdoor T&F Champs | Comments (0)
Nebraskan Emily Sisson ran 16:48.67 to win the women's junior 5,000m Saturday at the USA Junior Track & Field Championships in Indianapolis. Sisson closed an early lead opened by Marissa Treece to recreate a lead pack of four (with Alex Gits and Karen Summers) before beating Gits by less than two seconds.
"I want to peak at the races that mean the most to me," said Sisson, "and this race means a lot to me. I really wanted to peak here. It's only my second time in this race [on the track] and it hurt a lot to kick at the end." Sisson is a freshman at Omaha's Marian High School, and she finished third at the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships last fall.
Posted by Parker Morse at 12:04 p.m. | Tags: Race Reports, 2007 USA Outdoor T&F Champs | Comments (0)