LetsRun.com's Flash Recap of Day 4 at The 2012 US Olympic Track & Field Trials

LetsRun.com
June 25, 2012

Below is our unedited, flash recap of Day 4 which we wrote up as it happened. We're going to edit and finalize everything it later tonight. But we just wanted to get something up in case you couldn't watch the Trials.

DAY FOUR RECAPS (Monday, June 25)
Women’s 3K Steeple Semis:  Top 5+ 4
HEAT ONE:
Defending USA champion Emma Coburn took the lead at the first barrier and seemed intent on making things honest.  Running in a light rain but no wind, it seemed to be ideal distance running conditions.  Wearing her Colorado uniform (Coburn still has eligibility) she was in the lead at 73.3 on the first lap with Colorado’s current NCAA champion in the event, Shalaya Kipp, right with her.  The two training partners seemed intent on making the pace honest.   Also with the two Buffs was Nicole Bush, who famously broke her leg at the 2009 USA meet in Eugene when the women’s water barrier was set at the wrong height.

Coburn continued to lead through two laps, with a 77.7.  At roughly 3:14-3:15 at the 1000, it appeared that the two Coloradoans might be intent on going for 9:43.00, the Olympic A standard, a time that Kipp does not yet have.  The third lap was 76.6 so things continued to roll with Coburn establishing a roughly five meter lead on Kipp and Mason Cathey of Saucony.

As Coburn hit four laps with a 76.9 lap (5:04.6), there were six well clear of the field:  Coburn, Kipp, Cathey, Delilah DoCresenzo, Dartmouth’s Alexi Pappas and Shayla Houlihan.  Pre-race Letsrun.com darkhorse Becky Wade of Rice lurked in seventh.

Coburn hit the fifth lap in 77.9 and had a 15 meter lead on Kipp and Cather.  Kipp hit roughly 2K in 6:24 and clearly there was a chance for the Olympic A.

With 600 to go, Coburn had just run 78.8 and things were strung out:  20 meters back to Cathey and Kipp, then another 15 to Deliliah then 15 back to Lisa Aguilera and Wade.  With a lap to go, both Cathey and Kipp had a chance to get the A but came up just a couple seconds short.   Hey there Delilah moved up nicely in the last two laps but seemed intent to comfortably finish in the top five as others chased fast times.  In the end, it was Coburn at 9:43.19 with Kipp nearly three seconds back at 9:46.17 while Cathey had a PR of 9:47.32.  DiCrescenzo was fourth in 9:49.15 while Wade grabbed the final auto spot in 9:50.66.




HEAT TWO:
Sara Hall and Princeton grad Ashley Higginson set the pace early with Illinois State’s Aisha Praught (who was robbed of a stab at an NCAA title with a bad fall in the prelims at Drake) and Carrie Dimoff and 2011 World team member and 2010 NCAA champion Bridget Franek right with them.  A first lap of 74.3 kept things honest in this heat as well.

Hall and Higginson took the field through 78.0 on the second lap and the field safely navigated the water jump again.  The leaders hit 1000 at roughly 3:15 and Stephanie Garcia had joined the action as well.  With a 77.6 third lap, things were starting to string out but several runners were still in position for the top five.

Hall was in the lead and good thing for her:  as the race went on, her stutters on nearly every barrier became more pronounced, especially in comparison to the more fluid Higginson and very effortless Franek.  In a crowd, that inability to hurdle would will be a huge liability for Hall; in the lead, she seems to get away with it.  

At four laps in 5:07.5 (78.1), Higginson surged to the lead, looking very strong.  Right behind was Hall, Franek, Garcia and Praught (the 2012 indoor NCAA mile runner-up).

Higginson looked very good coming into 5 laps splitting 6:25.7.  She also lacks the A standard.  Would she be able to give a run the last two laps?

Coming into two laps to go, there was a clear breakaway for four runners as Franek established herself for the first time, followed by Higginson, Garcia and Hall.  10 meters back was Jamie Cheever and Praught.

Franek, who has been very up and down this season, looked extremely good, splitting 77.8 for the sixth lap and now had a slight lead on the other leaders.

With 200 to go, Hall was still stuttering, but she was moving up very nicely, a clear second on Higginson and Garcia.  Franek crossed the line first very controlled in 9:44.05; Hall was only half a second back.  Higginson PRed at 9:45.21 while Garcia was fourth in 9:48.17.  Carrie Dimoff had an inspired last lap to grab the final auto qualifying slot.





Men’s 3K Steeple Semis:  Top 5+ 4
HEAT ONE:
Steve Slattery turned back the clock to his prime and had the lead after the first lap in 67.4.  RIiht on his heels was the future of the event:  Evan Jager...and a bit further back, Donn Cabral of Princeton, the 2012 NCAA Champion.  A 69.0 second lap did nothing to string out the field but Slattery was still in the lead.  At roughly 2:55 at the 1000, nothing about the pace suggested that this was going to be anything but a tactical sprint for the top five automatic qualifying positions.

As the group hit three laps, defending national champ Billy Nelson and Jager were side by side in the lead as the lap was run in 70.8. The fourth lap was little better (70.2) as the pack went through in 4:37.4.   

Things started to get interesting in the fifth lap as Nelson towed them through in 68.1  With  1000 to go, David Adams had the lead, with Jager and Cory Leslie right behind.  At 600 to go, Jager took control, followed by Leslie and Michigan’s Craig Forys.  Far back most of the race, Cabral made a strong move into the top five but Nelson was dropped, 20 meters back of the top six, which also included Josh McAdams.

With 100 to go, Jager eased comfortably to the finish line as Cabral surged strongly to get second.   Jager was 8:30.60, with Cabral only .04 back.  In third, Forys crossed in 8:30.85, while Leslie ran 8:31.08, and McAdams hit 8:31.65 to round out the top five.  With collegians in 2-3-4 and a relative newcomer to the event taking the win, seeing defending champ Nelson back in sixth seemed to indicate a changing of the guard was in the works at this year’s Trials.  Nelson, would however, hold on to grab the final qualifying spot in the final.




HEAT TWO:
Ben Bruce and Dan Huling had the early lead as this heat was out much more briskly, splitting 64.4.  Huling ran a 66.6 second lap and the pace continued to be honest and quick with the pack strung out significantly by the time the leaders hit the 1000, which they crossed in roughly 2:49, six seconds ahead of the heat one pace.

The third lap was 67.6 and a group of eight remained in contact with Huling.  A 67.8 meant a four-lap split of 4:26.3, now 11 seconds better than heat one.  A 68.1 brought the field through roughly 2K in 5:34.3.   Behind Huling was Donald Cowart, Bruce, Alcorn, Brian Ollinger and Augustus Mairyo.  About 30 meters behind this lead group of six lurked trail and Xterra standout Max King.  A pair of 68s set the group up for the final water jump and a sprint for a spot in the finals.  

In the end, Huling ran 29.00, Bruce was .11 back and Alcorn and Maiyo also were under 8:30.  Ollinger was fifth in 8:30.01 and Cowart and King both grabbed positions in the final.





Women’s 5000 Top 6+4
HEAT ONE:
Saucony’s Amanda Dunne brought the field through an extremely pedestrian 40 seconds at 200 and then 81.0 at 400.  The pace continued to be extremely slow as the field went through 800 in 2:45.3.  Needless to say, everyone was still in the mix at 3:28.15 for 1000 meters.

Coming off of 1100 meters, Renee Metivier Baillie put in a HUGE move, opening up a 40 meter lead at 1200 going through at 4:06.7.  In the space of 200 meters, she put over three seconds on the field with a roughly 75 second lap from 1000 to 1400.

Baillie hit the 1600 at 5:20.9 with a 74.9 and now had a five second lead.  She hit 2K with a 77.3 lap and Lisa Uhl moved into the lead of the chase pack which now was only three seconds back and within 200 meters the pack had swallowed her up.  As the pack hit 2400, Uhl surged to the lead and Julie Culley was right with her.  Baillie was in third with 2012 NCAA Champion Abbey D’Agostino of Dartmouth lurking in fourth and Cal’s Deborah Maier in fifth.

The leaders hit 9:43.24 at 3000, meaning their last 1000 was a respectable 3:05.

As the pack hit 3200 in 10:19.0, Uhl was metronomical at 72 pace, and was followed by Culley, D’Agostino, Maier, a resurgent Brie Felnagle and Julia Lucas.

With three laps to go, the lead pack was eight and also included Kathy Kroeger of Stanford, Georgetown’s Emily Infeld and Providence’s Emily Sisson.

By 4K, Lucas had moved into third as the pack hit 12:46.2.  The last kilo was down to 3:03.

Lucas moved confidently to the lead with 800 to go, with Culley in second.  Sadly for Letsrun fanboys, Felnagle was not dropped.

With a lap to go, Uhl hung on for sixth, 10 meters ahead of Kroeger and Sisson.   The lead pack of Culley, Lucas, D’Agostino, Maier and Infeld were all together as D’Agostino finished strongly for the win as the final 1000 was run in 2:57.  A major casualty was Jackie Areson, who never seemed to be in contention.


81.0 (Dunne)
84.3 (Dunne)
81.4 (Baillie)
74.9 (Baillie - 5:20.9)
77.3 (Baillie)
75.7 (Uhl)
72.6 (Uhl)
72.6 (Uhl - 10:19.1, 4:59.2)
73.4 (Uhl)
73.8 (Uhl)
72.6 (Lucas)
69.0 (Culley - 15:07.8 - 4:48.7)
33.0 (D’Agostino - 15:41.18)




HEAT TWO:
Heat two didn’t start out much faster than heat one as Lauren Fleshman, who has struggled with injuries this year, took the field through 200 in 39 seconds.  (Incidentally, this field was short two as three-time Olympian Jenn Rhines was a late-scratch.)  But by 400 the pace was a tad more honest, as the pack hit the first lap in 78.0.  Molly Huddle, Amy Hastings,Tara Erdmann and Kim Conley were in close pursuit as the second heat hit 800 10 seconds ahead of the pace set in heat one.

As they hit 1000 in 3:15.04, Alisha Williams and Hastings took over the lead.  The pace didn’t increase enough to shake things up, however, and all twelve women stayed very much in the hunt as the field hit the 1600 in 5:12.0, with Huddle now sharing the pacing duties with Hastings.  

The pack hit 2K with a slower lap of 79.3 and 6:31.3 for a 3:16 kilo.  Everyone was still in the hunt as the controlled, even tempo had some runners out into the second lane.  10K Olympian Hastings looked particularly composed.  

Coming into 2800, Magdalena Lewy Boulet made a play for the lead, which seemed to force Huddle’s hand as she then took the lead at 78.1.  3K was split at 9:46 (3:15 last 1000) and all of a sudden the second heat was slower than heat one, which had started out so pedestrian.

A 75.3 by Huddle brought the still tightly bunched pack through 3200 in 10:23.5.  The pace continued to pick up as Huddle then ran 7.37 with Kim Conley on her shoulder and Erdman and Liz Maloy in close contact.  

The pack was through 4K in 74.4 and 12:51.6.  After a string of 3:15-3:16 first three 1K splits, that was a 3:05 and now things began to open up.  Huddle remained in control with Conley and Maloy looking very strong right on her heels.

A 72.5 by Huddle further ratcheted up the intensity and a group of three (Huddle, Maloy, Conley) had a three meter gap on Erdman with a lap to go.  A larger chase pack fought for the final spots. Maloy came on at the end to take the win in 15:46.00 as an extremely strong-looking Huddle eased up, finishing only .05 back.  Conley hung on for third and Erdman was a strong fourth while Alisha Willianm was fifth and an inspired Fleshman had a great kick to grab the last auto qualifying spot in sixth.






78.0 (Fleshman)
77.3 (Fleshman)
78.2 (Hastings)
78.7 (Hastings - 5:12.0)
79.3 (Hastings)
78.8 (Hastings)
78.1 (Huddle)
75.3 (Huddle - 10:23.5, 5:11.5)
73.7 (Huddle)
74.4 (Huddle)
72.6 (Huddle)
67.3 (Huddle - 15:11.1, 4:47.6)
34.4 (Maloy - 15:46.00)





Women’s 800 FINAL

After dominating her first two round races with aggressive front-running, it was no surprise that Alysia Montano was out hard in 26.55 at 200 with the field, led by Alice Schmidt, trailing at 27.38.

Montano appeared to be way too fast but she kept pressing on and was followed by Schmidt, Wright, Beckwith and Gall, who were 20 meters back at halfway.  Montano split 55.88 at 400.  Meanwhile, Maggie Vessey was DFL but began to move up with 300 to go.

Montano split 1:26.59 at 600 with Beckwith and Schmidt beginning to close down but Montano continued to long strong hitting the Bowerman Turn.  Nevertheless, after all the aggressive front-running, in the last 50 meters, things began to turn and there was big doubt as to whether Montano could hold on.

She did, crossing in 1:59.08 for the win and her first Olympic berth, a remarkable comeback after watching the 2008 Trials in a wheelchair.  And the race for the remaining two spots brought high drama.  Gall closed very well on the outside to get second in 1:59.24.  With 15 meters to go, Beckwith was still in third but veteran Schmidt made a convincing move on the inside to grab the final qualifying spot in 1:59.46, just .22 ahead of Beckwith, to make her second straight team in the 800.  Phoebe Wright was also close, fifth in 1:59.72.






Men’s 5000 Top 6+4
HEAT ONE:

Elliott Heath took the lead out slowly crossing 400 in 69.3.  Lurking in the back, content to run relaxed, was Galen Rupp.  After a second lap 70.3, Jacob Riley took the lead and the pace picked up a tad as the group went through 1K in 2:53.76.

Going into four laps, Mo Trafeh made a strong push and had the lead at 1600 in 4:37.4.  Sitting on his shoulders was Robert Cheseret.  A 64.9 lap led by Trafeh opened things up considerably as the leaders went through 2K in 5:42.3.

As they hit halfway, it was Trafeh, Scotty Bauhs, Riley, Heath, Cheseret, Andrew Bumbalough and Adam Webb, along with Oregon’s Trevor Dunbar.

Trafeh hit 3K in 8:25.86.

The lead didn’t change at 3200 but Rupp began to move up the field, moving on to Webb’s shoulder.  With less than a mile to go, Bauhs took the lead (Dunbar on his shoulder), although he looked to be in difficulty.   Even with the lead change, the pace slowed to 70.9.  As the pace continued to stay slow, Rupp emerged into the top three for the first time. As they hit 1K to go he seemed poised to pounce.

With two to go, Rupp was on Bauhs’ shoulder.  Further back, Webb was on the back end of the pack and looked to be in terrible position.  He started to move up with 700 to go but it was quickly apparent that he didn’t have the engine to go with the field.

Rupp took the lead with 600 to go as the pace dropped to 61.6.  Webb appeared all-out and tight in the back.

As Rupp accelerated, Bumbalough went right with him and they seemed to take the final 200 seriously as they raced each other to the line with a sub-56 last lap...Bumbalough out-leaning Rupp.  Dunbar held on for third, while Trafeh and Cheseret grabbed the final two auto spots.  Heath hung for a time qualifier.

Webb was WAY back, finishing DFL in this heat in 14:01.25.

69.3 (Heath)
70.3 (Heath)
68.8 (Riley)
69.2 (Trafeh - 4:37.4)
64.9 (Trafeh)
65.2 (Trafeh)
65.6 (Trafeh)
66.6 (Trafeh - 8:59.6, 4:21.8)
70.9 (Bauhs)
69.7 (Bauhs)
61.7 (Rupp)
57.0 (Rupp (13:18.8, 4:19.2)
28.5 (Bumbalough - 13:46.80)





HEAT TWO:
Ian Dobson went to the lead, taking the field through in 67.2.   The pace continued to be faster than heat one as Ben True took the lead at 800 with a 68.2 split.  True kept the pace true, hitting 64.2 on the third lap as the field was strung out single-file.  Behind the front-running True as they hit the mile was Dobson, Brandon Bethke, Bernard Lagat, Lopez Lomong, Hassan Mead and Ryan Hill.

True split the 1600 in 4:26.2 with a 66.4 lap and had a very slight two stride lead.  By midway, True started to slow (68.0 and then a 67.7) and his slight lead had evaporated.  He was doing a nice job pacing, however, and the pack had as yet disgorged no one.

True brought the group through 3K in 8:22.28, three seconds faster than heat one.   True then hit 3200 in 8:55.1.  At 9:29 with 4 laps to go, everyone seemed pleased with their position and willing to wait for a big finish.  

Closing in on 1K to go, Lagat and Lomon moved up a spot into third and fourth and True hit 4K at 11:07.3.

With two to go, Lagat took the lead with Lomong on his shoulder and True responded well, staying in third.  Bethke sat in fourth and Mead was fifth  Lagat led a 64.7 to get to 600 to go.

With one to go, more than six still remained.  (It appeared to be a jog for Lagat and Lomong).

With 300 to go, Lomong took the lead, with Lagat effortlessly in tow and the pair finished easily in 1-2, closing in an easy looking 62.7 and 27.9.  True, Hill and Mead took the remaining auto spots.   George Furst, Brent Vaughan and Dobson took the remaining time qualifying spots.


67.2 (Dobson)
68.2 (True)
64.2 (True)
66.4 (True - 4:26.2)
68.0 (True)
67.7 (True)
66.8 (True)
66.7 (True - 8:55.1, 4:28.9)
66.3 (True)
66.0 (True)
64.7 (Lagat)
62.8 (Lomong - 13:14.7, 4:19.6)
27.8 (Lomong, 13:42.81)





Men’s 800 FINAL

Even though it was his first  Olympic Trials Final, Charles Jock was not going to change the way he runs...and that meant hard and from the front, taking through the field through 200 in 24.27.  He was followed by Duane Solomon and Oregon’s Elijah Greer as they split 400 in 49.87.  UCSB’s Ryan Martin was fourth and Symmonds (who split 400 at 51.31) began to close the gap at 500.  Khadevis Robinson was way back with 250 to go, seemingly entirely out of contact.

But after the rapid early pace, the veterans would prevail.

Solomon took the lead at 600 in 1:16.52, with Symmonds already closing hard.  Coming into the Bowerman Turn, Symmonds charged hard for the win, with an outstanding finish in a seasonal best 1:43.92.  

And it was KD who also ran the right way, rolling through the pack over the last 200, moving up from 7th to place second in a 1:44.64, closing his last 200 in 26.83, best in the field.  Solomon, who was out hard with Jock and then was the leader at 650, held on to place third, picking the right meet to set a PR and get the A standard, crossing the line in 1:44.65.  A mere .25 back was Ryan Martin and Tyler Mulder finished fifth.  Jock faded to a disappointing eighth.

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