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Scott Raczko's DC Elite Gets 2 Wins at Indoor Nationals
By David Monti
(c) 2007 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved


BOSTON (25-Feb) -- They call themselves DC Elite and now they can also call themselves national champions.

Out of a small and informal training group based in Reston, Va., Nikeya Green and Alan Webb captured their first U.S. indoor titles putting a big smile on the face of DC Elite coach, Scott Raczko.

"It's a great group of people," said Raczko whose charges also includes Keira Carlstrom, who finished fifth in the women's mile yesterday, and Samia Akbar, who focuses on longer distances and road running and did not compete in these championships.

Green, who finished last at the 2006 U.S. Indoor Championships in the 800m, won a kicker's race which was led for the first three laps by Frances Santin of the Santa Monica Track Club.  Green stayed tucked in the pack as they split 400m in 59.39; she was waiting for her moment to strike, remembering Raczko's words to remain patient.

"The fourth lap was 'go for it,'" said Green, who used her strength to pull away to a comfortable win in 2:02.68, a U.S. indoor leader, over Christin Wurth, who had doubled back after finishing third in the mile yesterday.

Green's return to form is a point of pride for Raczko who is best known as Webb's coach.  In her last year of college at Wake Forest in 2004, Green finished sixth at the NCAA Division I Championships in the 800m, and showed a lot of promise.  But at the U.S. Outdoor Championships just a few weeks later, she was eliminated in the first round. She didn't run the rest of the summer, and basically stopped stopped training for more than a year.  She was working full-time at Ryan Homes in an administrative job, when she came to Raczko at the end of 2005 and asked if he would coach her.  Raczko knew Green's college coach, Andy Bennet, and they had talked about Nikeya, previously.  He decided to take her on.

"She really sacrificed a lot," said Raczko who remembers that Green was trying to run at an elite level while working full-time.  He remembers having to meet her sometimes late at night for workouts because of her busy schedule.  Now she works part-time at a running store and has a sponsorhip deal with Reebok.

"It meant the world to me," said Green of Raczko's willingness to coach her and stick with it.  "I've been so happy with him as a coach."

So has Webb who, unlike Green, was the favorite to win the men's mile.  Off of a very slow opening quarter of 62.8 seconds, and an even slower first half of 2:06.6, Webb won what became a two-man race against Gabe Jennings with a powerful 27.4 second last lap.  His finish time was a pokey 4:01.07, but like Green, he stuck to the plan laid out by Raczko.

"I honestly didn't care how slow it was," said Webb who said the Raczko did not want him to lead the race.  He said he needed to continue to build his racing skills so he could win in all kinds of races.  "My goal is always to be at the front of the race, no matter what the pace."

Gabe Jennings, who made the race by picking up the pace with three laps to go, ended up third in 4:01.93, passed by 2004 U.S. indoor 1500m champion Rob Myers in the final 50m.  Myers was clocked at 4:01.78.

"I can give a better fight than that," said Jennings who said he was very nervous prior to the start of the race.

Nick Symmonds also won a kicker's race, living up to his top billing in the 800m, by prevailing over Sam Burley, 1:48.73 to 1:49.42.  Floyd Thompson set up a fast second half with a tepid 53.60 400m split.  That kept Symmonds in his comfort zone, ready to take control in the last two laps.

"That's really comfortable," said the always talkative Symmonds after the race.  "A 53 lap is great for me."

Symmonds trailed slighty at the bell, but exploded out of turn 2.  But so did Burley, his biggest threat for the title.  "You never want to see Sam Burley over your shoulder," Symmonds said.

Coming down the backstretch, the two athletes were side by side, with Burley on the outside.  Burley looked strong, but didn't quite have Symmond's speed in the final 100m.  Symmonds ran the last 200m in 26.1 seconds to wrap up a very successful indoor season, in which he won three of four races, set a personal best in the mile, and won his first national title.

"Almost a great race," said Burley of his runner-up effort.

As for Raczko, it looked like his athletes would be treating him to dinner.

"I got dinner tonight," said Webb with a big smile.  "I won 2500 bucks so dinner's on me, I guess."


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