Day 1 Distance Recap at 2010 USATF Championships

ALBUQUERQUE – Day one of the USATF Indoor National Track and Field Championships started off slowly but ended with a bang.  Both the first rounds of the women’s 60m dash and 60m hurdles were canceled, which left many fans sitting around waiting for some action.  Those who came were eventually rewarded with an exciting exploit in the Men’s 35lb weight throw.  Pre-meet favorite, A.G. Kruger, fulfilled expectations with an enormous throw of 24.99m (82ft) which places him at number 10 all time indoor.  Next up was the Men’s high jump final with three men jumping over the 7.5 ft barrier, with Jesse Williams ultimately topping out in  2.34m (7ft8in). 

LetsRun.com readers care most about the distance races and Saturday had both the women's and men's 3k finals.

Men’s 3000m: Lagat Kicks to Easy Win Over Rupp on Last Lap Off of Slow Pace

The Men’s 3000m final, the most built up event of the National Championships, proved to be one of the least exciting of the evening.  Many big guns lined up at the 8PM start time, but none threw down the way they were capable of.  Seemingly running scared due to the moderate altitude, the men jogged a pedestrian opening quarter in around seventy-two seconds, passing 1k in 2:59.  The first mile was covered in around 4:40 with Lagat at front, shadowed by the green of Solinsky and Rupp.  The pace increased the last one thousand meters with Lagat and the Oregon duo separating themselves from Scotty Bauhs.  Lagat looked incredibly smooth, as he always does, pulling away from Rupp the last 150m to win comfortably in 8:12.60 with Rupp second in 8:13.49 after time trialing an 8:04 3k this past Monday.  After, Lagat looked barely winded as he raised his children on the victory podium.   
 
For More Coverage of this race with quotes see David Monti's recap.

 Finals
  1 Bernard Lagat                Nike                   8:12.60
  2 Galen Rupp                   Nike/OTC Elite         8:13.49
  3 Chris Solinsky               OTC/Nike               8:13.85
  4 Scott Bauhs                  adidas                 8:15.76
  5 Aaron Braun                  Adams State College    8:17.40
  6 Ian Burrell                  McMillan Elite         8:23.08
  7 Brian Medigovich             Adams State College    8:23.14
  8 Aucencio Martinez            Boulder RC/adid        8:24.82
  9 Jordan Horn                  McMillan Elite         8:27.17
 10 Jonathan Pierce              Asics                  8:27.28
 11 Kyle King                    unattached             8:27.33
 12 Mark Fruin                   Team Ind Brooks        8:32.34
 13 Thomas Morgan                ZAP Fitness            8:36.51
 14 Nate Jenkins                 Saucony                8:41.24
 15 Eric Garner                  unattached             8:42.98

Women’s 3000m: Renee Metivier Baillie Wins Thriller

The Women’s 3000m proved to be the greatest crowd pleaser of the evening.  Running with “balls” as Craig Mottram would say, Renee Metivier Baillie took the lead from the gun and charged a 32 second opening lap.  The rest of the field ran timidly 50m back with Shannon Rowbury, the pre-race favorite, leading the chase pack.  Baillie held her lead fairly well, but with three laps remaining began to look fatigued and struggled to maintain the pace.  The duo of Rowbury and Sara Hall began to close in and with 200m to go they were ten meters off of Baillie.  With 100m and one bend to go Hall and Rowbury ran even with Baillie who was struggling to maintain her stride.  Urged on by the loud Albuquerque crowd, Baillie made one final charge the last 25m to dart ahead of Hall who dove at the finish line. Winning by 2/100^th of a second, Baillie took her first indoor 3000m title.  Baillie turned in a true and courageous effort and is certainly a new crowd favorite. 

For More Coverage of this race with quotes see David Monti's recap.

Finals
  1 Renee Metivier Baillie       unattached             9:14.90
  2 Sara Hall                    Asics                  9:14.92
  3 Shannon Rowbury              Nike                   9:15.41
  4 Desiree Davila               Hansons-Brooks         9:21.05
  5 Delilah DiCrescenzo          Puma                   9:29.54
  6 Shayla Houlihan              unattached             9:33.20
  7 Toni Salucci                 Adidas Ralei           9:33.72
  8 Alisha Williams              Boulder RC/adid        9:34.51
  9 Frances Koons                unattached             9:35.30
 10 Tanya Zeferjahn              unattached             9:50.88
 11 Karen Dimoff                 Bowerman AC           10:09.08

Women’s 800m Prelims:

The prelims of the Women’s 800m played to form with the pre-race favorites all qualifying comfortably.  Anna Pierce (formerly Willard) did not don her normal colored hair streak as she comfortably stormed ahead in the last 100m in heat two to a 2:03.17, placing her a full second ahead of Erin Donohue. 

Pierce looks to be rounding into great form and if she runs the way she did Saturday on Sunday, she will surely lock up her spot for the Doha team.   

Heat  1 Preliminaries
  1 Heather Dorniden             Team USA Minnesota     2:05.70Q
  2 Angee Henry                  Team Neb Brooks        2:05.78q
  3 Aja Jackson                  P2 Elite Track Club    2:07.59
  4 Chantee McBride              unattached             2:15.18
Heat  2 Preliminaries
  1 Anna Pierce                  Nike                   2:03.17Q
  2 Erin Donohue                 Nike                   2:04.85q
  3 Laura Januszewski            unattached             2:06.35q
  4 Perry Fields                 unattached             2:09.87
 -- Treniere Moser               Nike                       DNS
Heat  3 Preliminaries
  1 Alysia Johnson               Nike                   2:06.29Q
  2 Lauren Johnson               unattached             2:08.56
  3 Victoria Martinez            unattached             2:08.80
  4 Mary Quiett                  DePaul University      2:08.93
  5 Jesse Carlin                 unattached             2:09.01
                    

Men’s 800m Prelims: 

Like the women, the men’s 800m prelims went pretty much to form with the exception of 2004 Olympian Jonathan Johnson and former Big 12 Champ and NCAA All-American, Jacob Hernandez failing to qualify for the finals. 

Nick Symmonds, donning a Prefontaine-like mustache, charged patiently into the lead around the final bend to secure the win in his heat and a place in the final.  Symmonds looked incredibly smooth and strong and will be hard pressed to beat in the final.   

Heat  1 Preliminaries
  1 Nick Symmonds                Nike/OTC Elite         1:47.59Q
  2 Tyler Mulder                 Nike/OTC Elite         1:47.80q
  3 Mark Wieczorek               Oregon TC Elite        1:48.47q
  4 Jason Collett                unattached             1:49.49
  5 Rob Novak                    NYAC                   1:49.76
  6 Josh Slamka                  Wisconsin R R T        1:50.89
Heat  2 Preliminaries
  1 Brian Gagnon                 unattached             1:49.75Q
  2 Jacob Hernandez              Nike                   1:49.87
  3 Liam Boylan-Pett             unattached             1:51.01
  4 Brandon Shaw                 unattached             1:51.05
  5 Peter Najem                  unattached             1:52.11
Heat  3 Preliminaries
  1 Khadevis Robinson            Nike                   1:49.92Q
  2 Tetlo Emmen                  unattached             1:50.24
  3 Nick Lara                    unattached             1:50.42
  4 Kevin Hicks                  unattached             1:50.62
  5 Sean Tully                   NYAC                   1:50.99
  6 Larry Brooks                 unattached             1:52.19
Heat  4 Preliminaries
  1 Duane Solomon                unattached             1:49.33Q
  2 Jonathan Johnson             unattached             1:50.12
  3 Ryan Brown                   Asics                  1:51.48
  4 James O'Brien                Indiana Invaders       1:53.15
  5 Dustin Emrani                Central Park TC        1:57.13
                    

Day 2:
Day two of the Indoor National Championships will be highlighted with the Men’s 1500m and Leo Manzano looking to capture the National title along with two very strong 800m finals fields. 

More USATF Coverage: Race Results Weekly Recap of Day 1 With Quotes
*LRC Day 1 Distance Recap: Lagat Over Rupp, Metivier Baillie Over Rowbury
*USATF Recap of Day 1: Amber Campbell 3rd Best Weight Throw Ever, Jesse Williams Goes 7'8" in High Jump
*USATF Day 2 Recap: Christian Cantwell Dominates Shot, Carmelita Jeter, Ivory Williams Win Sprints, Terrence Trammell Wins Hurdles, Batman Wins 400, Allyson Felix 3rd in 400
*Day 2 Distance Recap: Lagat over Rupp, Metivier Baillie over Rowbury
*Results here

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