NCAA 2008 Track and Field Championships: Day 2 Recap and Video

Thursday saw the first finals at the 2008 NCAA Track and Field Championships in Des Moines, Iowa and they did not disappoint.

Iowa's hometown hero Lisa Koll of Iowa State dominated the women's 10,000m and got a standing ovation from the hometown fans, Shadrack Songok defended his 10,000m crown in an exciting race with Arkansas' Shawn Forrest, Brittney Reese jumped a world leader and nearly broke the meet record in the long jump, Ngonidzashe Makusha of Florida State (and Botswanna) soared in the long jump going 27'2.5", the fourth longest jump in the world this year, and Ashton Eaton of Oregon went over 8,000 points in the decathlon.

Women's 10,000m: Lisa Koll Rolls Before Hometown Fans
The women's 10,000m was the Lisa Koll show. Koll from nearby Fort Dodge, Iowa ran with the pack for one lap, and then was off on her own, as she absolutely dominated this race to the delight of the Iowa fans. (The fans get really behind anyone from Iowa, they went nuts earlier in the day when the N. Iowa 4*400 team made the finals).

Koll has a great concept of pace as her splits were super consistent. Her first mile (1600) was 5:14 (16:21) pace, she hit the 5k right at 16:21 (the pack was 16:57) and she finished in 32:44 (she slowed a little the fifth mile).

The Iowa fans were super appreciative of Koll's dominant effort. They gave her a standing ovation at the bell, then again at the finish, and again at the awards ceremony. Koll finished nearly a minute up on everyone in the field.

Providence's Danette Doetzel, a former junior XC star for Canada (14th at World Junior XCs) was second and freshman Alexandra Gits (4th at Footlocker's in 2006) was 3rd, as everyone behind Koll was strung out by the end.

Koll who was NCAA runner-up in the 5000m really emerged as a national star with her 32:11.13 10k at Stanford on April 4th, an American collegiate record. She was swarmed by the local media afterwards as you can see in the video interview and here.

Up next in 2 weeks is the Olympic Trials where she said her goal is to make the team in the 10,000m (she'll have to run under 31:45.00 as well). She knows it's a long shot, but is hoping for the perfect race.

She was super pleased to get her first NCAA crown before the Drake crowd. Nothing is bigger than the Drake Relays for an Iowa high schooler and Koll never won at Drake as a high schooler. She said, "I wanted to run fast tonight because the weather was perfect. The crowd helped a lot. Being at Drake, at nationals, and having the crowd cheer as loud as they did was amazing. To finally have the chance and the opportunity was great. It was something really special."

Mens 10,000m: Songok Defends in Exciting Finish
The men's 10,000m was the most exciting race of the night.

Arkansas' James Strang (transfer from Colorado) and Shawn Forrest (an Aussie) took out the race hard at the beginning and opened up a big lead on the rest of the field during the first mile. Soon they slowed down (9:03 at 2 miles, we missed the 1600m split talking to Lisa Koll). A chase pack caught them and soon there was 9 and then 10 guys who would run together until the final mile. The pace slowed even more once everyone got together (70-72 second laps).

A 68 second lap from three laps to two laps to go, dropped the pack down to 6 people. NCAA indoor 5k champ and defending 10k champ Shadrack Songok then took over at the front and a 60.2 second lap narrowed it down to three, Songok, Forrest, and Eastern Kentucky's Jacob Korir at the bell.

Songok and Forrest would separate from Korir on the backstretch of the final lap and battle for the win down the straight. Songok veered into lane two to keep Forrest from passing him, so Forrest tried to come by him on the inside but in the end Songok just had too much left as he held off Forrest to defend his NCAA title (68, 60.2, 58.3 for the last 3 laps) (the final 200 is in the 3 minute highlight video)

This was Songok's last outdoor NCAA track race (he has XC and indoors left) and he called this win more satisfying than last year's as a result (interview below). He was hoping to qualify for the Kenyan Olympic Trials but does not believe he will get in based on the times he has run. Forrest knew he was fit coming in, and was pleased to finish 2nd at famed coach John McDonnell's final NCAA meet. Interviews below.

The other distance races of the evening were the semifinals of the men's and women's 800 and 1500.

Women's 800: Alysia Johnson Out
The biggest news in the semis is what didn't happen, as defending NCAA and USATF champ Alysia Johnson didn't start her semi final after looking great yesterday in round 1. Johnson apparently is suffering from a yet undiagnosed foot ailment. She had pain yesterday, but ran, got an MRI that was negative, but decided to pass on racing today, so hopefully she can be 100% at the Olympic Trials in 2 plus weeks.

Cal coach Tony Sandoval had the following statement, "Alysia's foot was sore, but she could have run today. It would have been sorer if she ran today, and then even more if she ran in the final. She would have had to take some time off to let her foot heal with the Olympic Trials just a couple weeks away. We had her foot checked out and she's fine. We just didn't want to risk anything with the trials right around the corner."

In heat 1, 2006 indoor champ Heather Dorniden (Minnesota's first NCAA indoor champ, and the girl famous for falling at Big 10s in the 600 and still making the final), led the field through 300 in 60.10. It was still tightly bunched heading into the final 100. Michigan's Geena Gall was the strongest the last 100, as she, Latavia Thomas of LSU and Dorniden got the 3 automatic qualifying spots.

In heat 2 without the missing Johnson, Penn's Jesse Carlin led at 400 (61.06) with Western Michigan's Becky Horne. Horne led coming onto the homestretch but Oregon's Zoe Buckman got the win as Horn and Anna Layman got the auto qualifying spots.

Heat 1 featured the 2 favorites for the final, the NCAA leader Jacob Hernandez, and the kid (man giant) wonder Andrew Wheating (Wheating did not run track until his senior year of high school). Hernandez and Wheating gave us an entertaining preview of Saturday's final.

Hernandez led the field through the first 400 (52.69) as Wheating hung back. Hernandez led into and down the homestretch as Wheating unleashed his famous kick. Wheating passed Hernandez before the line, but this was just the semis. The real fireworks are on Saturday.

In heat 2, Duane Solomon led the field at 400 (52.39) and would lead at the finish as well. The crowd loved Northern Iowa's Tyler Mulder who got the 2nd automatic qualifying spot as Austin Abbot had a good finish for the final auto spot.

Golden Coachman who was fourth at NCAAs last year and 7th at USATFs and is an Iraq war vet did not make the final. Coachman came back from Iraq and had to lose 40 lbs to get into racing shape. (For more on him, click here) We still need to do a profile on him like we said last year.

Women's 1500 Semis: Brie Felnagle is Back
Felnagle struggled in the final at the East region, but she showed her illness is behind her on Thursday as she won her semi. West Virginia's Kerri Bland led at 400 (68.3) as Sarah Bowman was on her shoulder. Things stayed the same at 800 (2:19). Dacia Barr of Arkansas was in the lead at 1200 (3:26) as the racing was on. Felnagle was back to her old self as she got the win. Lauren Hagans of Baylor, Barr, and Bowman got the automatic qualifying spots.

North Carolina's Megan Kaltenbach, a total high school sensation, had to be helped off the track as she appeared to be injured, in what we think was her last college race.

Semi #2 featured Sally Kipyego attempting to do the 5k, 1500 double this year (after doing the 5k, 10k double last year), NCAA indoor 3k champ Susan Kuijken, and Kujiken's teammate, NCAA indoor mile champ Hannah England.

William & Mary's Emily Anderson led through 400 (69.1) and 800 (2:22) but the group was tight. There was a fall at 1150 meters and 2 went down (we believe Elizabeth Maloy of Georgetown and Natalie Picchetti of Georgia). The main players avoided the fall.

Indoor champ England looked great down the stretch and got the win as Kipyego moved up. Kujiken appeared to be struggling just a bit as she only got the last automatic spot. Oklahoma's Jessica Eldrige must have been tangled up in the fall (but did not go down) but she petitioned and was put in the final.
*1500 semi results

Men's 1500: AJ Nation ~~Out or Is He?~~ In
Please don't tell us you expected anything different. Leo Manzano won his heat and controlled the race like he always does. Back on the first lap (Garrett Heath in the lead 58 seconds), Manzano moved up around 500m in and then stayed near the front and controlled the race when it mattered. 1:59.8 at 800, Manzano was in the front and out of trouble, when a fall occurred with 480 to go (his teammate Darren Brown fell as did Army's John Mickowski, Brown was put in the final on appeal). Manzano pulled away and made his 3:41.7 look like a walk in the park.

In heat 2, Laef Barnes of UCLA led the first lap (59.1) and at 800 (200.4) as AJ Acosta was close. 10 guys were still in it at 1200 and it came down to the kick. Georgetown's Andrew Bumbalough got the win, Wisconsin frosh Evan Jager was 2nd, his teammate Jack Bolas 3rd, (joining teammate Craig Miller from heat 1 in the final). AJ Acosta ~~was the biggest casualty not to make the final by 3/1000th of a second. update:~~ AJ Acosta originally missed the final by 3/1000th of a second but Rojo pointed out there is an NCAA rule saying if there is room on the track he should be put in the final, so Acosta is now in the final thanks to Rojo.

Heat  1 Preliminaries                                                               
  1 Leonel Manzano            SR Texas                  3:41.70Q                    
  2 Garrett Heath             JR Stanford               3:42.21Q                    
  3 Craig Miller              SO Wisconsin              3:42.47Q 3:42.462           
  4 Dorian Ulrey              SO Northern Iowa          3:43.10Q                    
  5 Kurt Benninger            SR Notre Dame             3:43.86q 3:43.856           
  6 John Richardson           SR Kentucky               3:44.27                     
  7 Lee Emanuel               JR New Mexico             3:44.58                     
  8 John Kosgei               SO LSU                    3:46.05                     
  9 Russell Brown             SR Stanford               3:46.48                     
 10 Matthew Elliott           SR Winthrop               3:52.68                     
 11 Matt Debole               SR Georgetown             3:54.25  q-advanced to final
 12 John Mickowski            SR Army                   4:03.68                     
 13 Darren Brown              SR Texas                  4:08.32  q-advanced to final
Heat  2 Preliminaries                                                               
  1 Andrew Bumbalough         JR Georgetown             3:42.28Q                    
  2 Evan Jager                FR Wisconsin              3:42.41Q                    
  3 Jack Bolas                SO Wisconsin              3:42.43Q                    
  4 David Torrence            SR California             3:42.47Q 3:42.461           
  5 Jeff See                  JR Ohio State             3:42.51q                    
  6 Mark Davidson             FR Tulsa                  3:43.32q                    
  7 Andrew Jesien             JR Virginia               3:43.66q                    
  8 Andrew Acosta             SO Oregon                 3:43.86  3:43.859           
  9 Kyle Miller               JR Texas                  3:43.88                     
 10 Peter VanderWesthuizen    SR Nebraska               3:45.53                     
 11 Laef Barnes               JR UCLA                   3:48.58                     
 12 Mark Matusak              SO California             3:51.58                     
 13 Michael Kerrigan          SR Villanova              3:53.54

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