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Before this week, nobody had ever won the men's 1,500m and 5,000m at the same USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Now Bernard Lagat has done it, and he will testify that it is not easy. "In Kenya, they would wait for my move, because I am Lagat," he said, comparing the 1,500m final to those in his native Kenya. "Here, even the young guys challenge me." Still, Lagat raised the possibility of attempting the double again. "I will be here next year to qualify for Osaka," he said, "and in Eugene in 2008."
Lagat claimed the 5,000m was the tougher race of his double, both because it followed only a few hours after his 1,500m qualifying heat, and because of the stitch which struck him late in the race. "I am still sore," he said, kneading his side. Lagat led the 1,500m from the first lap, stringing out the pack with a brisk pace. He explained, "Sometimes when it's slow, you get into trouble. I wasn't giving up my spot, though: I kept it to the end."
As he mentioned, Lagat was not without challengers. 2005 runner-up Chris Lukezic held on to Lagat through most of the race, and in the backstretch of the final lap, 2000 Olympic Trials winner Gabe Jennings moved up to his old Pac-10 rival's shoulder. "It was just like I'd fantasized," said Jennings afterward. "I saw myself sitting on Lagat with 200 to go. Doesn't everyone? But I listened to the fantasy when I should've listened to my racing instinct. I should've gunned it." Jennings was nonetheless thrilled with his second-place finish - 3:39.42 to Lagat's 3:39.29, with Texas sophomore Leonel Manzano third in 3:39.49 - and declared it the return of his competitive instinct. "The phoenix has risen," Jennings declared.
Posted by Parker Morse at 10:22 p.m. | Tags: Race Reports, 2006 USA Outdoor T&F Champs | Comments (0)
Khadevis "KD" Robinson was disappointed with his winning performance in the 800m final at the 2006 USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. "I heard the first lap split of 51 and I was so upset with myself," he told reporters after the race. "We wanted that to be a 50. I wanted to run 1:43.5." Robinson settled for 1:44.13 and a commanding win over hard-charging Nick Symmonds (1:45.83). "The times and the talent are here in the U.S.," said Robinson, pointing to Symmonds, a recent college grad, Jebreh Harris (1:45.91), and Sam Burley (1:45.93). "We want more races and more respect. I'm learning to adapt to racing in Europe; then I can run with the best in the world." Robinson works as a subsitute teacher and personal trainer as well as working with his own youth track program. "Youth track keeps me excited."
"Division III is getting it done this weekend," announced Nick Symmonds, the NCAA Division III champion at both 800m and 1,500m, noting the 400m victory of DIII alumnus Andrew Rock on Saturday. Symmonds was wearing a "BK" singlet from his high school, Bishop Kelly in Boise, Idaho for his coach, Tom Shanahan. "I wanted to run a 52-53 first lap, then pray the wheels were there in the last 100. Fortunately, they were." Symmonds' second-place finish was his first loss in an 800m final in six years. "My goal coming in was to make the final," Symmonds said, adding, "Nobody can keep up with KD right now."
Posted by Parker Morse at 10:03 p.m. | Tags: Race Reports, 2006 USA Outdoor T&F Champs | Comments (2)
The women's 800m final didn't just go down to the wire - it went down to the tartan, as Hazel Clark dove for the line to edge Alice Schmidt, 1:59.94 to 2:00.00.
Clark and Schmidt covered most of the race in just that position: Clark leading on the rail and Schmidt just off her right shoulder. In the homestretch, Schmidt drifted out but wasn't able to hold a substantial enough lead on Clark. "You can sense something happening by the loudspeaker," Clark said, explaining how she knew Schmidt was close. "I was definitely hurt when I hit the ground."
Posted by Parker Morse at 9:56 p.m. | Tags: Race Reports, 2006 USA Outdoor T&F Champs | Comments (0)
"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 | Comments (0)
We just added an interview with Matt Tegenkamp, who finished second to Bernard Lagat in an exciting 5,000 on Friday night. You might wonder why the accompanying photo is 3+ years old. I do not own most of my photos, and I am working on rebuilding a collection of photos that I do own. In the meantime, Chris Fox kindly let us use his photo of Tegenkamp winning Big Tens in 2002.
Speaking of photos that I can't post here, my photos of the USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships are now posted here (women) and here (men). I'll be adding the day five photos later today (the races haven't happened yet) and the captions within the next several days.
Other good sources of photos from this meet are:
TrackAndFieldPhoto.com
TrackShark.com
David Daer's Photos
PrettySporty.com
PhotoRun.net (coming soon)
Posted by Alison Wade at 2:04 p.m. | Tags: Running Photos, Athlete Features, 2006 USA Outdoor T&F Champs | Comments (0)
Treneire Clement found that being the defending US Champion at 1,500m came with more pressure than being an underdog - but that having won a title before came with its own rewards.
"I was better prepared this year," said Clement after winning her second title in 4:10.44 over Lindsey Gallo (4:10.72). "I think it's more mental than anything else."
Since moving to Knoxville to train under coach J.J. Clark, Clement says, "We've improved on everything. I surprise myself all the time with workouts, and my coach helps me keep me goals high." Clement's training partner, two-time 800m Olympian Hazel Clark, is another factor in her fitness. "I was intimidated by Hazel at first," said Clement, "but I'm keeping up with her more in workouts. I'm closing in."
Clement was the one who took the lead early in the race, which she hadn't planned on, but after leading two laps (in 1:08 and 2:20) Anne Shadle moved to the front, and Christin Wurth covered the move. Clement was able to take the role of pursuer, and with the pack now strung out there was less chance of getting in trouble, her main concern when the pack was still close. "We plan to be prepared for anything, because in European races anything can happen."
Gallo, who chased Clement when she made her winning move with 200m remaining, was pleased with her performance. "It felt really good," she said. "I haven't been really fit all season, but my plan was to be ready to respond to any move."
Posted by Parker Morse at 9:19 p.m. | Tags: Race Reports, 2006 USA Outdoor T&F Champs | Comments (0)
Lisa Galaviz would not have picked herself for the USA Steeplechase champion. "Carrie Messner won in Brazil in 9:41, so I expected her to win," Galaviz said after taking the victory in 9:57.58. "I'm surprised I won, between the heat and my training."
Galaviz's training suffered due to a strain in her glutes earlier this year, and she wasn't confident enough in her preparation to pursue Messner's brisk early pace. When Messner began to struggle in the heat during the closing laps, though, Galaviz was there to take the opportunity. "It's a slower time than I expected the winner to run," she said.
After being part of the US team for the first-ever World Championship steeplechase last year, Galaviz has found herself, along with other female steeplechasers, in increased demand around the track circuit. "I ran at Stanford, Qatar, and Brazil so far this year. The preliminaries were my fourth race, and this was my fifth." Galaviz plans a four-week training break before heading back to Europe for at least two races, at Heusden-Zolder, Belgium, and Thessaloniki, Greece, but now with the national championship she may find other doors open.
Another athlete who can expect to find new doors opening is runner-up Kristin Anderson. Anderson, the 2005 NCAA Division II steeple champ, who finished out her eligibility at Central Missouri State University in December and was competing unattached. "I won Division II with a 10:31 last year," she said. "I had to run a last chance meet to get qualified for this one; I didn't expect to make the final, and I didn't expect to place second. I'm still looking for a coach," said Anderson afterward. "I knew I had a lot of people praying for me, and I decided I had to take risks and not leave anything on the track." Anderson moved from fifth to second in the last lap, and almost caught Galaviz at the line. "I want to keep running until it's not fun anymore," she said. (Look for more on Anderson on this site soon.)
Posted by Parker Morse at 6:47 p.m. | Tags: Athlete Features, 2006 USA Outdoor T&F Champs | Comments (2)
A.J. Acosta wanted to sit down before he wanted to talk. "I feel like everything's been drained from me," he said. "I felt good until 200 to go."
Feeling good or not, it was in the last 200m of the men's 1,500m final that Acosta reeled in surprising Ohioan Samuel Borchers (who is finishing up his junior year) and punched his ticket for the World Junior Championships with a 3:45.95 victory. Andrew Bumbalough of Georgetown, already the 5,000m champion, nipped Borchers at the line for second, 3:46.13 to 3:46.32.
"I went with 450 to go," said Acosta, "and he went by me with 300 to go. I had to reel him in, then I just powered through the line. I really wanted that USA gear."
Acosta has a busy schedule this summer, with two more races in the next few weeks (including a sub-4:00 mile attempt) and now his World Junior race in August, before heading to Oregon in the fall. "[Coach] Vin Lananna is very much in favor of us running junior meets," said Acosta. "We'll have to talk about the fall; maybe I'll redshirt cross country, maybe I won't."
Posted by Parker Morse at 4:19 p.m. | Tags: Race Reports, 2006 USA Outdoor T&F Champs | Comments (1)
New Jersey's Danielle Tauro, the new USA Junior Champion at 1,500m with a 4:24.53, isn't too concerned about her time. "I'm not about the time," she said after the race. "I'm about winning."
That goes for the IAAF World Junior Championships in Beijing, though Tauro, only a high school junior, isn't setting unreasonable goals for her first big international meet. "Last year, after I finished third at this meet, we made goals for this year, and they included coming back and winning, and making the team for the World Championships. I'd like a fast time in Beijing to be a goal, but I'll see how I feel. A PB is always a goal."
Tauro's win against a crowded and talented field wasn't easy. "It was a little scary in the pack," she said of the early going. "I was trying not to fall." On the backstretch of the third lap, "I pushed my way out," she explained, and led the final lap, holding off a challenge from Baylor's Erin Bedell. "I dug really deep for that."
Now, like Bedell, Tauro must extend her season into August for the Worlds. "I'll train with my [high school] cross country team this summer," she said, "but I'll be doing shorter, faster workouts. The summer won't really be geared towards cross country."
Posted by Parker Morse at 3:50 p.m. | Tags: Race Reports, 2006 USA Outdoor T&F Champs | Comments (0)
Tiffany McWilliams, a former NCAA 1,500m champion from Mississippi State, was hit by a truck on Friday afternoon while running from her downtown Indianapolis hotel to the track.
McWilliams was crossing in a crosswalk just a few blocks from her hotel when the truck's driver pulled around the right side of a vehicle stopped in the left-turn lane and hit McWilliams while trying to make his turn through the intersection. Heptathlete Hyleas Fountain saw the accident and called McWilliams' coach at the track.
McWilliams was hit and bruised in the thigh, and also suffered abrasions from hitting the pavement. The truck's hood was reportedly dented.
McWilliams has not yet scratched from tonight's 1,500m final. Coach Al Schmidt said, "I don't think she should run, her agent doesn't think she should run, and her sponsor is OK with her not running, but she wants to warm up and give it a shot. She doesn't want people to think she's avoiding competition."
Schmidt explained that while McWilliams didn't suffer any broken bones, the full extent of her injuries may not yet be apparent.
"I hope [the driver] has good insurance," he added.
Posted by Parker Morse at 3:36 p.m. | Tags: Athlete Features, 2006 USA Outdoor T&F Champs | Comments (2)