Abdirahman, Kastor Win 10,000m Titles at 2007 USATF Champs By David Monti (c) 2007 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
INDIANAPOLIS
(21-Jun) -- There were two familiar faces in the winner's circle
tonight as the first finals were contested at the AT&T USA Outdoor
Championships at the Michael A. Carroll Stadium at Indiana
University-Purdue University here. Abdi Abdirahman of Tucson, Ariz.,
and Deena Kastor of Mammoth Lakes, Calif., won their third and sixth
U.S. 10,000m titles, respectively, in dramatically different fashion.
For
Abdirahman, 30, who won the same title in 2001 and 2005, he had the
challenge of maintaining control of a stacked field of contenders,
including defending champion Jorge Torres, two-time champion Alan
Culpepper, national half-marathon record holder Ryan Hall, U.S. 10,000m
list leader Galen Rupp, and 2005 U.S. 12-K cross country champion
Dathan Ritzenhein.
The 5000m split of 14:14.60 was ample
evidence that the race would not be won from a hard pace, but rather by
the stongest closer. Abdirahman, Ritzenhein, Hall, Rupp, Torres and
Josh McDougal had wiggled away from the rest of the field, but
Abdirahman and Ritzenhein decided it was time to thin the pack. Working
together, they surprisingly dropped Hall --running his first race after
his 2:08:24 marathon debut at London last April-- Torres and McDougal.
"I
didn't feel comfortable out there," said Hall who faded to finish
seventh in 28:51.77. "This is my first time back since London and it
was tough."
Before 7000m (19:49.9), McDougal dropped out and
Ritzenhein was on the front with Abdirahman, while Rupp was having
difficulty staying close. The two Nike athletes were clearly working
together, a spontaneous collaboration.
"We didn't plan a thing," said Abdirahman after the race.
Abdirahman
and Ritzenhein appeared to have successfully dropped Rupp by the 8-K
mark (22:38.1), and the University of Oregon star looked to be sagging.
"The
heat started to catch up with men, honestly," said Rupp who ran a U.S.
collegiate record of 27:33.48 earlier this year. "I just tried to tell
myself to hang in there."
The battle was down to "Abdi" and
"Ritz" for the title... or was it? Just before the 9-K mark,
Abdirahman looked at Ritzenhein and could see his rival was struggling.
His head tilting back, Ritzenhein began to slow markedly. Abdirahman
went through the 9000m mark alone (25:27.2), then powered to the finish
line with a 65.6 second closing lap to stop the clock at 28:13.51.
"I'm not ready to hand over yet," said Abdirahman putting his younger challengers on notice.
Meanwhile
Rupp, urged on by the shouts from his training advisor Alberto Salazar,
was coming back to life, and was catching the fading Ritzenhein. With
about 250 meters to go, he moved into second place, punching his ticket
for the IAAF World Championships in Osaka with his 28:23.31 finish
time. Ritzenhein, who recorded a very slow final lap of 77.4 seconds,
was able to just hang on for third in 28:31.88, as a fast-closing Alan
Culpepper tried to chase him down in the finish straight.
"I
still get scared," said Rupp who was nervous before the race. "You
can't take anything for granted. I looked at this as another chance to
work on finishing."
Ritzenhein had to be helped off of the track
by medical volunteers, beaten down by the warm and humid conditions,
and did not speak to the press immediately. His coach, Brad Hudson,
later said he was overcome by the heat, but that the medical team had
checked him out, and he was fine.
Although he finished fourth,
Alan Culpepper may very well be headed to Osaka. Abdirahman told the
media that he had not made up his mind yet about whether he should stay
home and train for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Men's Marathon in
November in New York City, or compete in the IAAF World Championships.
"I don't know yet," Abdirahman told reporters. "I'm going to talk to my coach."
KASTOR AGAINST THE CLOCK
For
Kastor, her only rival was the clock. By 2000m she was already alone,
and her mission was a simple one: break 32:00.00 and achieve at least
the IAAF World Championships "B" standard which would assure her a
place on the U.S. team (this year's rules allow nations to take two "A"
qualifers and one "B" qualifier). With Kara Goucher and Katie McGregor
the only athletes in the field who had achieved the "A" standard of
31:40.00, getting under 32:00 was good enough for Kastor.
She
was on pace through 5000m in 15:56.44, but the humid conditions
--completely different than her training base in Mammoth Lakes which is
notoriously dry-- made it tough for her to hold her speed through the
second half.
"C'mon, Deena!" shouted her coach Terrence Mahon during the final laps. "You gotta kick. Let's go!"
Kastor had enough left to finish in 31:57.00, locking up her spot on the U.S. team for Osaka.
"I
was running for the win out there, but I had my eye on the clock," said
the 34 year-old Kastor, an Olympic bronze medalist. "The conditions
were tough," she added.
Kara Goucher ran a strong final
kilometer, breaking away from the chase pack and making her first world
championships team on the track with a 32:33.80 second place finish.
Elated, she hugged her husband Adam and sobbed briefly before speaking
with the press.
"I've been sick on and off since Cross Country,"
she said referring to the U.S. Cross Country Championships last
February. "I knew I was fit. I knew it was the sickness which was in
my way."
Katie McGregor, who finished fourth last year, won a
spirited battle with former Stanford star Alicia Craig to take third
position and her second world championships team, 32:44.69 to Craig's
32:50.63.
FAVORITES ADVANCE IN QUALIFYING
There were
few surprises in today's qualifying rounds. In the women's 800m, Hazel
Clark, Nikeya Green, Alice Schmidt, Alysia Johnson and Nicole Teter all
advanced, while Nick Symmonds, Khadevis Robinson, and Jonathan Johnson
also moved to the next round on the men's side at the same distance.
NCAA women's steeplechase champion Anna Willard won the second heat of her event here, and made it look easy.
"It
was good," said Willard of her heat. "I'm just hoping to go out
strong. I like to not have a right plan going int the finals. I feel
like in the steeple you can't rule anybody out."
In the women's
1500m prelim, the big casualty was the University of North Carolina's
Brie Felnagle, the recently crowned NCAA champion at the distance. She
finished ninth in the second heat, and did not advance. Treniere
Clement, Shayne Culpepper and Sara Hall all advanced from that heat.
In the first heat, Erin Donahue won with a powerful last 200m over
Tiffany McWilliams, 4:09.81 to 4:09.93. Amy Mortimer was third, also
advancing.