Women's 1500 Clement Three Peats *Video
Tiffany McWilliams did the early pace making taking the field through 400 in 66.06 and 800 in 2:12.15 as the top 3 was McWilliams, Christin Wurth and two-time defending US champ Treniere Clement with Erin Donohue in 4th. With 400 to go (3: 03.0 approx), Wurth went to the lead at the bell as 1200 was passed in 3:19.15. Wurth's move was a powerful drive for home, but Clement stayed close and would pass her coming off the final bend to comfortably and impressively capture her 3rd straight US title.
Wurth ended up a comfortable 2nd with former UNC star Erin Donohue 3rd.
Donohue
held on gamely for the 3rd spot as with 50 meters to go it looked like
she might be out of gas but she kept pumping her arms and fighting in
her own unique Erin Donohue style which in our minds out to be trademarked as
she's been 'gutting out' impressive performances like that since high
school, and it is obvious to the crowd just how hard she is working.
McWiliams kept fighting to the very end after losing her lead and finished a very respectable 4th.
Shayne Culpepper finished
a disappointing next to last in 4:22 and never was a factor. We didn't
get to find out what was ailing her unfortunately.
Women 1500 Meter Run ================================================================ World: W 3:50.46 9/11/1993 Yunxia Qu, CHN American: A 3:57.12 7/26/1983 Mary Slaney, Athletics West
Meet: M 4:01.01 7/16/2000 Regina Jacobs, Mizuno Name Year Team Finals ================================================================ Finals 1 Treniere Clement Nike 4:07.04 2 Christin Wurth Nike 4:07.86 3 Erin Donohue Nike 4:08.22 4 Tiffany McWilliams adidas 4:08.86 5 Sara Hall Asics 4:08.99 6 Lindsey Gallo Reebok 4:11.00 7 Amy Mortimer Reebok 4:11.97 8 Jenelle Deatherage Reebok 4:12.49 9 Natalie Picchetti Georgia 4:16.59 10 Anne Shadle Reebok 4:17.83 11 Shayne Culpepper Nike 4:22.35 12 Mary Jayne Harrelson Nike 4:26.74
Women's Steeple The collegians (or collegians of a few weeks ago) showed tonight
that the steeplechase belongs to a new group of young Americans.
With an outside water jump the race consisted of 7 full laps and about
6.5 seconds of running. After 5 full laps, the race was a 3 person
battle up front between the 2006 NCAA champ, Jenny Barringer of
Colorado, the 2007 NCAA champ, Anna Willard (formerly of Michigan and
Brown, now running for Nike) and 2007 NCAA runner-up, Lindsey Anderson
(formerly of Weber St., now running for Nike). Heading into the bell,
the race was a two person dual between Barringer and Willard.
At this point, most casual fans would probably assume that Willard, who
ran a 2:03.94 800 earlier this year, would ultimately come out on top
as she has a great kick. However, we noticed Willard had struggled
mightily on the next to last water jump and as the duo headed into the
last water jump were thinking "this might decide the race." It
certainly did as Willard had a lot of trouble landing in the water and
lost nearly all of her momentum as Barringer surged to a 5 meter lead
or so. From a virtual stand-still, it took a while for Willard to get
going but she did ultimately come back on Barringer with a huge effort
but Barringer was able to hold her off in a sensational finish as the
two became the 2nd and 3rd fastest Americans ever.
After the race, Willard told us that she actually struggled on each of
the last 3 water jumps. In her prelim race two days ago, Willard said
she jammed her left ankle and it was bothering her heading into today's
race. She said on the first 4 jumps, she consciously jumped off her
left foot and landed on her right, which is the opposite of what she
normally does. However, as she tired, she said instinct took over and
she reverted to her normal form which caused her to come to a virtual
standstill when she landed on her injured left foot.
Willard said she'll be going to Europe and will run a bunch of races,
but only one steeple. She's hoping to get the American record in that
race (9:29.32).
After the race, Barringer said she obviously was "really thrilled" with
her performance particularly given the fact that at NCAAs she had to
stop as her shoe was knocked off and never could get back in the race
and finished 7th. Even though Barringer knew the incident was "a stroke
of bad luck", she said it really got to her head a little bit. This whole week her preparation was focused on the mental
side of remaining confident and believing in herself.
Barringer isn't sure if she'll run worlds as she very much wants to win
an NCAA cross country title and realizes she only has two more chances
at it. Barringer was 43rd as a true freshman in 2005 and runner-up last
fall as a sophomore. If she doesn't go, former Arizona State star Lisa
Galaviz will get to go to worlds. Galaviz, the 2006 USA champ, moved up
nicely over the last few laps to grab fourth after running much of the
race in the middle of the pack back in 6th or 7th.
Lastly, we'll end our coverage of the steeple with an interesting
tidbit. Barringer's nickname is "Puddles" as her family gave her that
name as she had a stuffed duck she took everywhere with her. The name
pre-dated her picking up the steeplechase but it's certainly a great
nickname for a steepler.
Women 3000 Meter Steeplechase ================================================================ World: W 9:01.59 7/4/2004 Gulnara Samitova, RUS American: A 9:29.32 7/31/2004 Briana Shook, Toledo
Meet: M 9:39.35 7/15/2004 Ann Gaffigan, Nebraska Name Year Team Finals ================================================================ Finals 1 Jennifer Barringer Colorado 9:34.64M 2 Anna Willard Nike 9:34.72M 3 Lindsey Anderson Nike 9:40.74 4 Lisa Galaviz Nike 9:43.54 5 Desiraye Osburn New Balance 9:47.24 6 Liz Wort Duke 9:53.20 7 Kristin Anderson Nike 9:53.95 8 Kelly Strong Asics 9:53.99 9 Kara June Asics Aggies 9:59.91 10 Amanda Lorenzen unattached 10:01.82 11 Dawn Cromer unattached 10:03.23 12 Bridget Franek Penn State 10:10.36 13 Carrie Messner-Vickers Asics 10:15.07 14 Brianna Dahm Oregon TC 10:17.45
Junior Men's 1500-
This is the one junior race that we actually made sure we got to the
track in time to see as we expected to see a dual between AJ "The
Nation" Acosta and Matt Centrowitz ("Centro Jr.") and that's exactly
what we got. Sam Borchers, who won the mile in 4:03 at the Nike Outdoor
Nationals last week, also had a nice showing.
The race started slow for 800 (65.05, 2:08.84) before things heated
up as the next lap was a 61 (3:09.01). Centro Jr. went to the lead with
about 250 to go and Borchers went after him as they went into the final
turn. Coming off the final turn, Centrowitz
pulled away a bit but Acosta was charging hard from behind in the final
100 and the two waged an epic fight over the final 20-30 meters. It
looked like Acosta's momentum would give him the win but once
Centrowitz got passed, he somehow managed to repsond and come back on Acosta and make a lung for the tape. It was super close as Acosta ended up defending his title from a
year ago by the slimmest of margins - 3:49.53 to 3:49.54. And proving life is not fair for the rest of the college coaches in America, the two will
be teammates for Vin Lananna's Oregon Ducks next year.
The last 800 was roughly 1:55.8 to 1:56.0 with the last lap being a 54 high to 55 flat. Last 300 was 40.3.
Men 1500 Meter Run =============================================================== World: W 3:30.24 7/19/2002 Cornelius Chirchir, KEN American: A 3:36.1h 6/17/1966 Jim Ryun, Kansas Meet: M 3:
42.8h 6/15/1974 Tom Byers, Ohio TC Name Year Team Finals =============================================================== Finals 1 Andrew Acosta Oregon 3:49.53 2 Matthew Centrowitz unattached 3:49.54 3 Samuel Borchers Miami Valley TC 3:50.23 4 Michael Chinchar Federal Way 3:51.45 5 Benjamin Blankenship unattached 3:51.50 6 Mark Amirault unattached 3:53.09 7 Cory Leslie unattached 3:53.72 8 Craig Forys unattached 3:53.97 9 Andrew Richardson unattached 3:54.03 10 Sean Keveren unattached 3:55.46 11 Matthew Dettman unattached 3:57.16 12 Trevon Rainford unattached 4:13.81
Junior Girls 1500 - California
sophomore Jordan Hasay put on a great show as she set a US age 15
national record with her 4:16.98 meet record win. Hasay ran a 68.5 last
lap to pull away away from gutsy Danielle Tauro who gave such a good
effort that she fell over about 40 meters from the finish (but got up
and finished).
Hasay's 4:16.98 was the
fastest 1500 by a junior girl in the US in 25 years. She broke two very
good women's marks in the process as 3 time Olympian Suzy Favor
Hamilton had the US age 15 record and 3-time world cross country
champion and 1992 Olympic 10k bronze medalist, Lynn Jennings, had the
previous meet record.
Women 1500 Meter Run ================================================================ World: W 3:51.34 10/18/1997 Yinglai Lang, CHN American: A 4:09.10 6/6/1987 Suzy Favor, Wisconsin Meet: M 4:
18.1h 6/14/1977 Lynn Jennings, Liberty AC Name Year Team Finals ================================================================ Finals 1 Jordan Hasay San Luis Dis 4:16.98M 2 Jessica Pixler Seattle Pacific 4:20.93 3 Nichole Jones Baylor 4:23.35 4 Sarah Mccurdy unattached 4:29.38 5 Lauren Bonds unattached 4:30.22 6 Danielle Tauro unattached 4:30.24 7 Shannon Murakami unattached 4:31.90 8 Leah Rosenfeld Penn State 4:34.58 9 Melissa Owens Portland Sta 4:36.00 10 Renee Tomlin Georgetown 4:38.79 11 Ashley Verplank unattached 4:43.63 -- Alison Smith Mach Los Track Club DNF -- Elizabeth Hynes unattached DNS -- Caitlin Lane unattached DNS -- Lauren Gregory unattached DNS
