2005 USATF Day 3 Distance Recap: Dan Lincoln Wins Steeple, Webb Repeats in 1500, Treniere Clement Gets Her First US Title
LetsRun.com
June 25, 2005

Alan Webb repeated as US champ by the narrowest of margins over his training partner Chris Lukezic, Treniere Clement got her first US title in the women's 1500m, and Dan Lincoln got his second straight steeplechase title. Recaps and quotes below.

Women's 1500
Erin Donohue - the recent UNC grad - had the lead for the first 150 before the always front-running Tiffany McWilliams took the lead. McWilliams passed 400 in 65.3 and would lead until 700 when 2005 NCAA indoor and outdoor champ Anne Shadle (formerly of Nebraska - now running for Reebok) took the lead, passing 800 in 2:11.7. Just after 800, Treniere Clement moved into second and sat on Shadle's shoulder.

Coming into the bell (3:02.5), Shadle and Clement were still 1-2 and Amy Mortimer, who had a made a big move up from the back the previous 100, was in third but it was still just about anyone's race. At 1200 (3:19.1), six women were in contention for the win. Christine Wurth who had moved up on the inside after 1100 had the lead and was followed by Shandle/Clement who were side by side and then Sara Schwald in 4th and then Mortimer/Jen Toomey were side by side in 5th/6th.  The battle intensified as Toomey and Mortimer both moved up and just prior to 200 to go, Toomey took the lead. She was followed by Mortimer and Clement. With 150 to go, those 3 were clear of the others and battling it out for the win.  Coming off the final turn, Clement started to move up, and she passed Toomey half-way down the homestretch and held on for a win. Clement's kick was very impressive and in hind-sight it seemed as if she was totally in control the whole time - even when she let Toomey and Mortimer pass her just prior to 200 go and tucked into 3rd. Sarah Schwald made up ground in the last 100 on Mortimer but couldn't get 3rd.

The win represented a nice PR for Clement (she had run 4:08.87 earlier this year for 5th on this track at The Home Depot center in May after running 4:11.11 last year), who is really flourishing this year under the coaching of JJ Clark after running collegiately for Georgetown.  Last year after earning runner-up honors at NCAAs for the Hoyas, Clement ran a school record 2:02.35 for 800 in Zurich, but this year she has taken it to another level as she broke 2:00 (1:59.59) earlier in the year and now has her first national title.  The win also in our mind is sweet justice and makes up for a travesty at last year's Olympic Trials when Clement appeared to a qualifier for the finals in the 1500 (in a nice PR of 4:09ish) before tripping and being sent sprawling just prior the finish line.

The third place finish for Mortimer was a monstrous PR of nearly 4 seconds (4:07.58 versus 4:11.51) from last year.

The only bad news is that none of the top three have the world championship A standard of 4:05.80 so as of now only Clement is going to worlds.

Quotes and Results below:
Treniere Clement, 1st place in a pr of 4:06.73.
On her strong final 200m: "That was the game plan (to leave it to a kick). My speed is my strongest point. I knew if it came down to the line, I could pull it out."

Was this race a breakthrough or just a continuation of her improvement: "It's a little of both. It's definitely a breakthrough because I've come down a lot (in time) since last year, but its just another step. I plan on being low 4s, breaking 4s. "

On whether she's done anything different this year in training, "I focused a little more on my 800 this year. I ran 1:59. My strength, we just kept that going, and I knew my 1500 would come down."

On whether she considered running the 800 here, since she has a World Championship qualifying time in that event but not the 1500: "The 1500 has been the goal since day one so we just kept going with that and whatever I start I like to finish."

On whether she thinks she can get the "A" standard (4:05.80) "I'm definitely in shape to get the "A" standard."

On her first national title, of any kind: "It was way overdue for me today. I knew it was coming. Today was definitely the day."

Full Results below.

Women 1500 Meter Run Open
================================================================
       World: W 3:50.46  9/11/1993   Yunxia Qu, CHN
    American: A 3:57.12  7/26/1983   Mary Slaney, Athletics West
   World "A":   4:05.80
   World "B":   4:08.20
    Name                    Year Team                    Finals
================================================================
Finals
  1 Treniere Clement             Nike                   4:06.73
  2 Jennifer Toomey              Nike                   4:07.39
  3 Amy Mortimer                 Reebok                 4:07.58
  4 Sarah Schwald                Nike                   4:07.88
  5 Lindsey Gallo                Reebok                 4:08.60
  6 Christin Wurth               Nike                   4:08.80
  7 Anne Shadle                  Reebok                 4:08.82
  8 Jenelle Deatherage           Reebok                 4:11.02
  9 Tiffany McWilliams           adidas                 4:14.46
 10 Erin Donohue                 North Carolina         4:15.53
 11 Arianna Lambie               Stanford               4:15.72
 12 Bethany Brewster             Wisconsin Ru           4:28.41

Men's 1500 Recap:
Alan Webb, despite not running a 1500m race before the championships, entered the race as the huge favorite for the second straight year. In the end, he got a narrow victory over his sometimes training partner, Chris Lukezic, of Georgetown.

Dan Wilson led the field through the opening 400m (61.1) followed by 2004 Olympian Charlie Gruber, former US champ Jason Lunn, and Alan Webb in 4th (Lukezic was last). With 800 to go (1:48), Wilson was still in the lead. After 800m in 2:03.9, Charlie Gruber moved to the front followed by Webb. At the bell, Gruber and Webb were still in the front and Rob Myers and Lukezic were stalking behind them. After 3 laps (3:02.1 (58.2)), the field really began to make its mad dash for home.  Jon Rankin, the UCLA star moved up well on the backstretch, and got into 2nd with 200m to go (3:15, 27.1 that 200), but would not be a factor after that. Webb would lead coming into the final stretch but Lukezic moved up on him on the outside and they stayed virtually side by side most of the last half of the straightaway with Webb slightly ahead all the way to the finish. Webb would get the narrow win (by .09, they were 2:48 at the bell so his last lap was 54), Lukezic got some redemption after blowing up at NCAAs as the favorite, and Rob Myers got the final spot for the World Championships (Myers and Lukezic need to still hit the qualifying standard (3:36.2)).

Alan Webb, 3:41.97, first place:
On whether his plan was to wait until the last lap to make a move: "I kind of wanted to make a move earlier but I got pushed around a lot the first half the race. I just wasn't feeling like making a move in the middle of the race. I tried not to panic. When the race went I was ready for it. At that point it was a 400m race."

On whether he was surprised by Lukezic's (who he trains with a lot) second place finish: "I think he's ready to run. If anyone knows that, I know that. I know what he's capable of. I wasn't the least bit surprised. I knew he was disappointed with the NCAA result, so he was that much more motivated. I couldn't have asked for a better result. 1-2."

On why he clicked his watch during the race, and looked at his splits, "The plan was to try and take off with 800 to go. And if I was going to run on my own I wanted to have a gauge (of how fast he was going). If I was going to run on my own I wanted a little help to see where I was, but it didn't feel right, too much pushing in the beginning threw me off a little bit."

Chris Lukezic, 2nd place:
On whether this race made up for his disappointing finish at NCAAs: "I don't think I've ever been more disappointed about a race (than NCAAs). It hit me pretty hard. I ran pretty stupid, but if you run like that you learn a lot from that. That's probably the race I've learned the most from in my life. That race gave me a lot of confidence being able to run 3:38 from the front like that. Coming back here I felt more composed than at NCAAs and a lot of that was due to the fact I didn't run a very smart race at NCAAs. I think I definitely made up for it today."

On moving very close to Webb on the straight but not being able to pass him: "A of that might have been because we train together, and part of that was because I came from the back and had to make up a lot of ground off the turn, and essential had to run in lane 3 the whole last lap. But I don't know I was trying to beat him. I can't complain. He definitely won today. He's definitely the stronger runner today. I'm happy for him. It was great. We train together. For us to go 1-2, I can't think of a better result."

Rob Myers, 3rd place:
On whether he thinks he can get the 'A' standard: "If today wasn't so tactical, if we had gotten out and run hard from the gun and I had got good position, I think it would have been possible today. Today was a rough race.  I struggled the whole time to get in good position. Every time I got in good position someone would come around and cut over. I think I probably made ten moves in that race and typically I want to make one, but that's the nature of the race."

  1 Alan Webb                    Nike                   3:41.97
  2 Christopher Lukezic          Georgetown             3:42.06
  3 Rob Myers                    Reebok                 3:42.27
  4 Scott McGowan                New Balance            3:42.59
  5 Charlie Gruber               Nike                   3:42.89
  6 Jon Rankin                   Unattached             3:43.41
  7 Jason Lunn                   Nike                   3:44.57
  8 Sean Duffy                   American U.            3:45.24
  9 Christopher Estwanik         Nike Farm Team         3:46.19
 10 Sean Jefferson               Indiana                3:47.93
 11 Jason Jabaut                 Nike Farm Team         3:48.49
 12 Daniel Wilson                Asics                  3:55.24

Men's Steeple Recap: Dan Lincoln Gets Steeple Win
A stress fracture of the tibia kept Daniel Lincoln from training until the last week of April, but he showed no signs of that on Saturday as he powered away from Anthony Famiglietti over the final 550 meters to win the 2005 US steeplechase title in 8:17.27.

2 time Olympian Robert Gary led through an opening lap of 64.75, but soon drop off the pace and drop out, as he has been injured much of the year.  Anthony Famiglietti (2002 US Champ and 2004 Olympian) took over the front leading duties at 600m and would lead for most of the remainder of the race.

Fam continued to run predominantly 66 and 67 second splits and the front pack became four, Famiglietti, Daniel Lincoln (2004 US Champion and Olympic finalist), Steve Slattery (2003 US Champ), and Brian Olinger of Ohio State. Olinger would fall back during the second mile and the race was between the winners of the last 3 US championships.

Slattery, who injured his knee on a barrier during Thursday's prelim and said he almost did not start Saturday's final, was the first of the remaining three to drop off the pace, as with 800 meters to go a gap developed .  Famiglietti was still pushing the pace with Lincoln on his heels.  

Going over the water barrier with 550m to go, Lincoln made his move and powered to the front.  By the bell he had opened up a gap on Famiglietti and he would lengthen it and then maintain it to the finish, getting the win in 8:17.27 to Famiglietti's 8:20.49 while Slattery held on for third in 8:25.52. All of the top 3 have the World Championship qualifying standard 8:24.6 (Slattery got the mark last year at the Olympic Trials).

Quotes:
Daniel Lincoln, first place:
On his big move with 550 to go: "I sort of made up my mind at the beginning whether I felt strong or not to make a move and do something out there. Because I was nervous and didn't want to get paralyzed out there...As soon as I made the move, it gave me more confidence after that. I wasn't sure how he would react, but when I made the move and got some clearance, I was confident in my speed from there. It always feels good to win a big race like this and I wanted it really bad."

Lincoln said he was injured February through April and started running the last week of April. He had a stress fracture in the tibia. He mostly was in the pool, but then gradually started doing some running, swimming, and biking, but it was a matter of "getting his legs back under him." He called the Prefontaine race a bit "rough". He has a full plate of races (five of them) planned in Europe this summer. He said, "I'm still looking to have a good season here even though I got a late start."

Anthony Famiglietti, 2nd place in 8:20.49
On his race and feeling a bit flat:
"I was training through this week. I didn't ease on my mileage all that much and on my workoutsI didn't ease up at all. I was pushing through this meet trying to win and make the team and then run a big personal best there (at Worlds). I was pretty sure I could run under 8:20 (today) pretty easily, but I knew Daniel was probably pretty strong. You can never be aware of what's going on with everybody. I kind of figured I could train through the meet, but I knew first place wasn't a sure thing."

On leading most of the race: "I was so happy Robert Gary took the place. I was like 'I can just sit behind him' and then he dropped off. I knew he was hurt. It was frustrating because I knew I would be stuck in the lead to keep the pace going, and those guys were kicking my heels like crazy.

On not being able to drop Lincoln or stay with him at the end: "It just didn't happen (putting down the hammer). With 3 laps to go, it's a good place to go in the steeplechase, I was going to put the hammer down, and I strung it out, but the hammer wasn't there. With 800 to go, 2 laps, that's easy to do in a workout, and I said I'd put the hammer down and then with a lap to go I'll take off with everything I got. Then, Daniel moved going into the water jump (with 550 to go) and I thought I'd have the wheels to stay with him and outkick him, but I was just flat."

Steve Slattery, 3rd place, saying he almost did not run the race because of a knee injury from the prelims: "I hurt my knee pretty bad (in the prelims) and wasn't able to do anything yesterday. But I have this great ART guy I'm friends with, Justin Whittaker, and he got the inflammation out of my knee so I could actually bend it enough to run. So I was just 'lets see what happens'... (I hurt it by) hitting it on a barrier in the prelims."

  1 Daniel Lincoln               Nike                   8:17.27
  2 Anthony Famiglietti          adidas                 8:20.49
  3 Steve Slattery               Nike                   8:25.52
  4 Brian Olinger                Ohio State             8:28.44
  5 Max King                     Team XO                8:33.06
  6 Andy Smith                   North Carolina St.     8:36.33
  7 Lucas Meyer                  Yale                   8:38.30
  8 Joshua McAdams               B Y U                  8:39.81
  9 David Vidal                  Stanford               8:44.22
 10 Jordan Fife                  Indiana State          8:47.56
 11 Tom Burns                    Indiana                8:47.77
 12 Isaiah Festa                 Wisconsin Ru           9:02.94
 -- Robert Gary                  Reebok                     DNF
 -- Aaron Fisher                 Ohio State                 DNF

Men's 1500m Recap

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