Day 1 NCAAs: 800m and Women's Steeplechase Heats
By LetsRun.com with Tom Davis
June 6, 2012
Men's 800m Heat's: 1:46.62 Doesn't Make The Final And Casimir Loxsom Can't Catch A Break
In our race preview we said that it was ridiculous that the three fastest NCAA runners this year (Charles Jock, Ryan Martin, and Casimir Loxsom) were all in the first heat together as only two could get the automatic qualifier. We also said that the third heat was still pretty good, while heat 2 was the easiest. Well, that pretty much dictated how the races went as last year's NCAA 4th placer/former World Junior Championships silver medallist, Loxsom, went out in the first heat, the second heat was by far the slowest, and heat 3 had four of the 5 fastest times.
Heat 1: As usual, Jock led wire to wire, bringing the field through in 51.97 with Loxsom in 2nd and Martin in 5th. Going into the last turn Loxsom moved a bit to the outside on Jock's shoulder, as Martin moved into 3rd. On the home stretch Jock pulled away and Martin moved past Loxsom to take 2nd. Martin had the fastest second lap in the field (53.87); Jock looked very smooth as he dominated this race in 1:46.24.
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Heat 2: LSU's Howard Shepard led the first lap out in a much slower 53.61 with everyone else close. With 200 to go Georgia's Aaron Evans and Villanova's Samuel Ellison started to make their moves and pulled away on the homestretch; Evans took it in 1:48.24. Duke's Curtis Beach (who is also in the long jump competition and had jumped before the race) made up a lot of ground in the last 100, but couldn't catch the first two. Interesting to note that the top 3 in this heat were 6th, 5th, and 7th after the first lap, while 1st and 2nd at the bell finished last and second to last.
| Heat 2 | [View Splits] |
| Place | Athlete Name | Yr | Affiliation | Time | Qual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aaron Evans | SR | Georgia | 1:48.24 | Q |
| 2 | Samuel Ellison | SO | Villanova | 1:48.40 | Q |
| 3 | Curtis Beach | SO | Duke | 1:48.70 | |
| 4 | Felix Kitur | SR | Va. Military Institute | 1:48.94 | |
| 5 | Shawn Roberts | JR | Georgia Tech | 1:49.83 | |
| 6 | Harry McFann | SO | Columbia | 1:50.91 | |
| 7 | Howard Shepard | JR | LSU | 1:51.49 | |
| 8 | Darrin Gibson | JR | Florida State | 2:11.40 |
Heat 3: The last heat was both the fastest and the most exciting as it went out hard and there were a lot of position changes over the final 100 meters. It went out in 51.33 with Erik Sowinski, Harun Abda, and Edward Kemboi at the front (Elijah Greer was in 5th). At 200 to go Kemboi and Abda were leading and everyone was still in it as Greer went way wide trying to pass on the outside. Then it was a mad rush in the final 100. Kemboi had some room, but as runners shifted positions, Sowinski was able to fight through traffic and grab the win (1:46.09) as Kemboi was 2nd and Greer had the fastest closing lap to get 3rd. Sowinski might have had the fastest finishing time for the day, but Greer probably actually ran faster for 800 meters as he ran so much on the outside of a large pack, while Sowinski was on the rail the whole time.
| Heat 3 | [View Splits] |
| Place | Athlete Name | Yr | Affiliation | Time | Qual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Erik Sowinski | SR | Iowa | 1:46.09 | Q |
| 2 | Edward Kemboi | SO | Iowa State | 1:46.20 | Q |
| 3 | Elijah Greer | JR | Oregon | 1:46.22 | q |
| 4 | Ricky West | JR | Missouri | 1:46.41 | q |
| 5 | David Pachuta | SR | Minnesota | 1:46.62 | |
| 6 | Harun Abda | JR | Minnesota | 1:46.65 | |
| 7 | Boru Guyota | SO | Oregon | 1:48.01 | |
| 8 | James Eichberger | JR | Arizona | 1:48.52 |
*Merged results here.
Women's 800m Heat's: All The Favorites Advance And Some Contenders Emerge
The women's heats were less tactically exciting than the men's as they were all more or less won by leading wire-to-wire. However, they did lead to some of the fastest times in the NCAA this season and set up what should be a very exciting final for Friday.
Heat 1: Heat 1: LSU's Charlene Lipsey led start to finish, taking the pack through in 60.08 with North Carolina's Tasha Stanley in 2nd. Megan Malasarte of Georgia would move up to take 2nd over a hard closing Heather Wilson of Conneticut. Like Greer in the men's 3rd heat, Wilson (who was 5th indoors) spent a ton of time running way outside (even on the first lap) and it probably cost her a place in the final as she missed by .05.
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Heat 2: This was a quick heat as the NCAA leader/indoor champ, Nachell Mackie of BYU, led from the gun with a 58.91 opening lap and a 2:02.58 finishing time (which was still faster than the second fastest NCAA woman had run this year). BC's Caroline King tried to hang with her the whole way and even moved outside to pass with a little less than 200 to go. While Mackie ran off the rail to make King go wide, Oregon's defending champion Anne Kessering (who just ran a 2:02.72 PR at Pre this past weekend) took advantage and moved up and tried to pass Macki on the inside. Mackie held her off for the win and King faded a bit, but held on to 3rd. Indoor 4th placer Kathy Klump was 4th and got the last qualifier on time.
| Heat 2 | [View Splits] |
| Place | Athlete Name | Yr | Affiliation | Time | Qual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nachelle Mackie | JR | BYU | 2:02.58 | Q |
| 2 | Anne Kesselring | JR | Oregon | 2:02.66 | Q |
| 3 | Caroline King | SR | Boston College | 2:03.03 | q |
| 4 | Kathy Klump | SR | Cincinnati | 2:03.35 | q |
| 5 | Justine Fedronic | JR | Stanford | 2:03.54 | |
| 6 | Renisha Robinson | SR | Sacramento St. | 2:05.15 | |
| 7 | Chelsea Cox | SO | Georgetown | 2:06.16 | |
| 8 | Claudia Francis | FR | Oregon | 2:12.74 |
Heat 3: Ranked number 3 coming in, Chanelle Price absolutely dominated this heat as she took it out in a quick 58.64 and held on for a 2:01.66 (still slower than the 2:01.61 she ran in hs, but good for the second fastest in the NCAA this year). Behind her it was a fight for second as Oregon sophomore, Laura Roesler, was 4th at the bell and 3rd at 600, but closed very fast the last 150 to put almost 2 seconds on 3rd place Kendra Chambers. Roesler's 62.44 was by far the fastest closing split of the day and her 2:02.09 took almost a full second off her PR, making her the 3rd fastest collegiate this year (TFRRS had her only 25th before Regionals). Add her to the list of contenders for Friday's final.
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*Merged results here.
Women's Steeplechase: Illinois State's 2nd Ranked Aisha Praught Goes Down And Fails To Make The Final
Heat 1: The first heat was led from start to finish by the NCAA leader and heavy favorite, Colorado's Shayla Kipp. Kipp kept about half a step on the rest of the pack throughout the race and looked comfortable throughout. Afterward she said, "It was my plan to go out and lead. I wanted to see what I was doing. Blind barriers are not that much fun. I felt good and I expended as little energy as possible." She won in a smooth looking 9:59.18 as the top 5 automatic qualifiers separated themselves from the rest of the field.
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Heat 2: The second heat was won by 5th ranked Amber Henry in 10:06.08, but by a small margin as the gap 1-4 was only .82 seconds. The big drama here was Illinois State's Aisha Praught falling hard on the barrier at the 1000m mark. She ended up on the inside of the track and would struggle to get up, but got back in and ran a strong race to finish 9th. Praught had the second fastest time coming in, so now it's that much less likely that anyone will challenge the dominant Kipp in Friday's final. After the race, heat winner Henry said, "I knew I'd have a lot speed at the end, so I decided to push it the last 200 meters. I wanted to go and see what I could do. I did not think that I would win."
| Place | Athlete Name | Yr | Affiliation | Time | Qual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Amber Henry | JR | Weber State | 10:06.08 | Q |
| 2 | Astrid Leutert | SR | Florida State | 10:06.22 | Q |
| 3 | Genevieve LaCaze | SR | Florida | 10:06.78 | Q |
| 4 | Colleen Quigley | FR | Florida State | 10:06.90 | Q |
| 5 | Leah O'Connor | FR | Michigan State | 10:08.97 | Q |
| 6 | Nicole Peters | SR | Colorado St. | 10:12.61 | q |
| 7 | Genna Hartung | JR | Cornell | 10:12.69 | q |
| 8 | Caroline Hogardh | FR | Northern Arizona | 10:22.82 | |
| 9 | Kate Kujawa | SO | Oklahoma State | 10:34.47 | |
| 10 | Aisha Praught | SR | Illinois State | 10:35.93 | |
| 11 | Katie Hursey | SR | Syracuse | 10:36.27 | |
| 12 | Samantha Dow | JR | Virginia Tech | 10:49.92 |
*Merged results here.
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