Where Your Dreams Become Reality
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Where Your Dreams Become Reality |
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Boit and Jackson Win NCAA 10k Titles By Mike Scott (c) 2006 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved SACRAMENTO, Calif. (08-Jun-2006) -- Arkansas' Josphat Boit and Arizona State's Victoria Jackson used similar race plans to run away from the field to win their respective 10,000-meter races on the second day of the NCAA Division I Track & Field Championships at Sacramento State University's Hornet Stadium. The women's 10,000 was the first track final of this year's championships, starting at 7:20pm with the thermometer reading 75-degrees. Boston University's Andrea Walkonen immediately moved into the lead and by the mile (passed in 5:05), the BU sophomore had pulled Auburn's Angela Homan and Oklahoma State's Mary Davies along as the trio seperated themselves from the rest of the field. The chase group of Arizona State's Jackson and Amy Hastings, Duke's Clara Horowitz, Harvard's Lindsey Scherf, and Wisconsin's Katrina Rundhaug trailed the leaders by about 30 meters. The leading trio extended their lead to about 45 meters by 3k, which they passed in 9:48, but the chase pack --now consisting of Hastings, Jackson, Horowitz, and Rundhaug-- gradually closed on the leaders and only trailed them by a couple seconds at 5k (passed by Walkonen in 16:33). Over the next lap, the chase pack caught up to the leaders. Homen then led for a couple laps, while Walkonen drifted back and eventually stepped off the track a couple laps later. Davies surged a couple laps later, pulling Jackson and Horowitz away from the rest of the contenders. Jackson waited until 8k before assuming the lead and edging away from Davies and Horowitz. Jackson, who completed her collegiate eligibility while finishing a PhD at Arizona State, extended her lead and cruised home in 32:54.72. "I wanted to go with 2 miles remaining, but decided to wait a few more laps due to the wind," said the winner. "I wanted the pace to be a little faster, but I really just followed the same race plan that Sarah Slattery used to win here last year." Horowitz claimed second in 33:00.85, comfortably ahead of Davies' 33:08.00. Hastings claimed fourth in 33:41.14, while Homan rallied for fifth in 33:47.14. CAUTIOUS START FOR MEN Following a false start (apparently not charged to anyone), Indian senior Stephen Haas led the tightly bunched men's 10,000 field through the first 3000 in a pedestrian 8:44, with virtually the entire field still in contact and all the major contenders drifting along in the pack. Just before 4000, Wisconsin's Stuart Eagan made a planned surge to start spreading out the pack. Quickly ten athletes --Wisconsin's Eagan, Tim Nelson, and Simon Bairu (the 2004 and 2005 NCAA cross country champ), Arkansas' Boit and Marc Rodrigues, Providence's Martin Fagan, Texas-Pan America's Westly Keating, Weber State's Seth Pilkington, Georgetown's Rod Koborsi, and Stanford's Nef Araia-- separated themselves from the field, passing 4k in 11:31 and 5k in 14:28. Bairu --who was working together with his Wisconsin teammates-- surged with just over 9 laps to go. "We [Wisconsin's Bairu, Eagan, and Nelson] came into the race with a race plan," recounted Bairu post-race. "Eagan would surge with 16 laps remaining to seperate the lead pack, while I would make a move with 9 laps to go." Bairu's move dropped Keating, Eagan, and Araia, leaving Fagan, Boit, Rodrigues, Koborsi, Nelson, and Pilkington in contention. At 7k (passed in 20:11), Arkansas' Boit, who is doubling here in both the 5000 and 10,000, surged strongly to quickly gap the field and by 8k (reached in 22:54) the Razorback had opened up an 8 second lead over Bairu, Fagan, and Rodriquez. "My plan was to sit back and let others lead," said Boit after the race. "But since I have the 5000 tommorrow, I didn't want to kick and injure my hamstring. So I just decided to go -- it felt easy." Boit led Bairu and Fagan by 7 seconds at 9k (passed in 25:50), with Fagan --a sub 4:00 miler-- biding his time on Bairu's shoulder. Boit held on to win in 28:37.64, making him the seventh Arkansas winner in this event since 1987. Fagan waiting until the bell lap before sprinting ahead of Bairu, pulling ahead to claim runner up honors 28:41.41 to 28:43.37. "They played right into my hand with the slow pace," said Fagan. "I just sat back and sprinted into second in the final lap." Other than the 10,000 races, the first two days of the NCAA championships consisted of qualifying action. On Wednesday, Providence's Mary Cullen (16:05.12) and Notre Dame's Molly Huddle (16:07.44) won their respective heats of the women's 5000 to set up what's expected to be an excellent two-way battle. The two last clashed at the Big East 10,000 five weeks ago, where Cullen led for 23 laps before Huddle sprinted away to a narrow win. Other top qualifiers include Michigan frosh Alyson Kohlmeier (16:07.68) and Julia Lucas (16:09.79). In the men's 5000, the first heat appeared to be quite loaded with Arizona's Richard Cheseret, Iona's Richard Kiplagat, Arkansas' Josphat Boit, Oregon's Galen Rupp all on the track. While Kiplagat won in 14:02.21 and Cheseret and Boit easily advanced, the big news was that Rupp, last year's 10,000 runner up as a frosh who had struggled earlier this season, made a major surge midway through the race, then faded badly over the final laps to miss qualifying. Texas' Shadrack Songok (13:55.32) won a faster second heat (five under 14:00, with two more faster than the heat one winner) that saw all major contenders advance. In the men's steeplechase prelims, Arizona State's Aaron Aguayo (8:38.28) led Florida State's Andrew Lemoncello (8:38.55) and Ohio State's Brian Olinger (8:39.33) in the first heat, while defending champ Mircea Bogdan (UTEP) led BYU's Josh McAdams in the second heat 8:40.58 to 8:40.71. Mideast regional champ Ebba Stenback (Toledo) edged out Midwest regional champ Jenny Barringer (Colorado) 10:11.38-10:12.38 in the first heat of the women's steeple, while last year's runner-up Cassie Hunt (Illinios) qualified in fourth in 10:12.71. Tennessee-Chattanooga's Shannon Wommack (10:08.20) took heat two over UNC's Cassie King, while yearly leader Emily Brown (Minnesota) advanced in fourth in 10:09.73. The women's 1500 field has no clear favorite this year. Villanova's Marina Muncan (4:16.17) won Thursday's heat one over Michigan's Nicole Edwards (4:17.08), while Oregon's Amber McGown (4:18.41) edged out Villanova's Frances Koons (4:18.67) in the second heat. Yearly leader Jemissa Hess (NC State) was the major qualifying casuality in the prelims, finishing a non-qualifying 10th in heat two. Defending men's 1500 champ Leonel Manzano (Texas) comfortably advanced to finals, finishing third in the much faster heat one behind South Alabama's Vincent Rono (3:40.20) and Florida State's Tom Lancashire (3:40.62). NCAA indoor champ Christian Smith (Kansas State) won the slower second heat in 3:48.12 over Stanford's Russell Brown (3:48.24) while Arizona's Robert Cheseret (3:48.34) -- the 2005 NCAA 10,000 champ -- narrowly kept his chances alive for a 1500/5000 double victory by claiming the final qualifying spot in the second heat. Fast half-miles were the order of the day on Thursday in the semifinal round of the men's 800. Freshman Joseph Lomong (Northern Arizona) won the first semi in 1:47.00 to lead 5 under 1:48.00, with all five advancing to the final; NCAA indoor champ Jackson Langat was a non-qualifying 7th in the first semi. Washington's Ryan Brown (1:47.41) won the second semi, with three more athletes also breaking 1:48.00. However yearly leader Shaun Smith (Oral Roberts; 1:47.77) was a non-qualifying fourth in the second heat. Women's 800 semis saw California's Alysia Johnson win heat one in 2:04.76 after the start was recalled due to the discovery that hurdles were still on the track from the previous event. Minnesota's Heather Dorniden won the second semi in 2:04.98, just ahead of Oregon's Rebekah Noble (2:05.49).
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Cross Country Spikes 10% off Injured?
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