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LetsRun.com 2009 NCAA Outdoor Championships Day 2 Recap Rupp Takes A Thrilling 10,000m Final Over Shawn Forrest 10,000m finals, decathlon finals, 1,500m and 800m semifinals, long jump and shot put finals, many other semis and prelims. LetsRun.com (Distance races first) Men's 10,000m: Rupp Turns Back Chelanga And Forrest In what was one of the most exciting 10,000m championship races ever seen at the NCAA championships, Galen Rupp could not be weakened and ran away with another convincing win in front of a roaring late-night crowd at John McDonnell Field. But the win is only a small part of the story in this epic race. Arkansas' Shawn Forrest and Liberty's Samuel Chelanga threw down from the opening gun, running 31 seconds for the first 200m and 63 for the first 400. Exchanging the lead every few laps, the two sub-28:00 runners tried desperately to get away from the heavily favored Rupp, whom almost 70 percent of LetsRun.com poll respondents thought would win both the 5,000m and 10,000m this weekend. Rupp had to decide early not to let these two determined foes get away, and he quickly went to work closing the gap. But thanks to an opening 2,000m passed in under 5:30 (sub-27:30 pace), Rupp still had ground to make up. Lap times shifted between 65 and 68 as Chelanga and Forrest pounded away, but at about 2,500m, their worst nightmare came true as Rupp had caught the leading duo. From that point on, the fans were treated to a great RACE. No rabbits, and no choice for the underdogs but to throw down an erratic pace, hoping to somehow rattle or tire Rupp. But it was not to be. 5,000m passed in 13:59 (as fast as the 5,000m heats the night before), and despite the PA announcer's exclamations about the NCAA championship record of 28:01 going down, we knew there was no chance of that. After 5,000m it appeared that the spirits of Chelanga and Forrest were broken. Mile 4 slowed to 4:40. Mile 5 was even slower. But these miles weren't dull, as every few minutes one of the two doomed runners would go into a sprint like in a cycling race, run until they were caught and tired, and then slowed back down. The pace became so ridiculous at the front that with 5 laps to go, the leaders lapped a runner from Washington, and the lapped runner passed them right back. That happened because the pace on the front had slowed to 75 seconds per lap for a couple laps. Despite an exhausting experience, Chelanga and Forrest fought amazingly late into the race. Chelanga threw down again with 1,200m to go, running a 30-second 200. But at that point, Rupp had had enough. He pulled even with the lead for the first time in the contest, and went right to the lead. From running 74 and 75 in the 22nd and 23rd laps, suddenly Rupp was clicking off 30, 28, 28 and finally a 32 (while jogging and stopping right before the finish) to close in 1:59 (and 3:01 for the last 1,200m!) and get a well-deserved win. Rupp's had an absolutely incredible 2009, so good in fact, it is hard to fathom that this was his first NCAA outdoor title. In the final lap, Rupp looked behind several times, and each time he got a good look at a man running a gutsy race. Arkansas' Shawn Forrest was absolutely tearing up the last 800m despite a gruelling race for which he did a tremendous amount of work. He was still sprinting after Rupp with 100m to go. Galen didn't, and really couldn't, slow down too much until there were 30m to go, when he could finally relax, look around, wave to the standing, shouting crowds and enjoy an amazing victory. We at LetsRun expressed differing opinions on Forrest in our pre-race predictions. One of us thought he would only be around with a mile to go. One of us thought he would take second over Chelanga. But none of us thought he would make the race and be a factor to the very end. After all of his pace changes he ran about 2:03 for his last 800m. The scary thing is Rupp probably could have closed in close to 1:55 if he had to. We're allowed to show 3 minutes of video highlights a day, and we enjoyed the last minutes of the men's 10k so much, here are the final 3 laps in their entirety. Despite all of the race developments, it really was over about a quarter of the way through. Once Rupp caught up, everyone knew it was over. This probably isn't a fair assessment as it takes his greatness for granted, but he looked that good and never really was in any trouble. He ran very smart, patient and relaxed and looked like he could have run a 4:00 mile at the end of the 10,000m. Afterwards, Chelenga and Forrest indicated that they did not discuss beforehand a plan to push the pace. Chelenga told Runnerspace, "We decided we were going to make it an honest race." Shawn Forrest told Flotrack, "I think it just happened that way. I didn't want things to slow down. I think it's an unwritten rule (to alternate the lead)." Afterwards, Galen Rupp was gracious and humble when discussing his first NCAA outdoor title which he did with remarkable ease. He told the throng of reporters assembled around him (captured in the Flotrack video to the right), "It's no big deal. Give them credit for going out and having the guts to do that. It's hard to do in a meet like this. It's a little humid and it's hard to lead from the front like that." (he also indicated he ate at Taco Bell on Wednesday night) Rupp's attention is now on Friday's 5k final and the team battle, where Oregon's triple crown bid took a big blow with #1 seed Matt Centrowitz, Jr inishing dead last in his semifinal 1,500m with a foot injury (read more below). Rupp told the Oregonian, "It's going to test our character. With any great championship team, it's never going to be smooth sailing. We're going to have to come back and pick up some points where we weren't expected to." More: On the boards: 200 Meter Splits For The Entire 10k One 200 was run in a crazy-sllow 42 seconds. 1,600m splits for the leaders: Event 8 Men 10000 Meter Run ======================================================================= Final Only. Two waterfall, one turn, start (18 - 8) American: 27:13.98 5/4/2001 Meb Keflezghi, Nike College Best: 27:22.47 6/11/1978 Henry Rono, Washington State NCAA Meet: 28:01.30 6/1/1979 Suleiman Nyambui, Texas-El Paso Name Year School Finals Points ======================================================================= Finals 1 Galen Rupp SR Oregon 28:21.45 10 2 Shawn Forrest SR Arkansas 28:24.53 8 3 Sam Chelanga SO Liberty 28:35.40 6 4 Patrick Smyth SR Notre Dame 29:08.13 5 5 Andrew Ledwith SR Iona 29:10.97 4 6 James Strang SR Arkansas 29:11.65 3 7 Girma Mecheso FR Auburn 29:12.99 2 8 Jake Riley SO Stanford 29:14.53 1 9 Ahmed Osman FR Northern Arizona 29:18.23 10 John Beattie JR Tulsa 29:19.97 11 Luke Puskedra FR Oregon 29:20.18 Women's 10,000m Final: Danette Doetzel Surprises Danette Doetzel pulled the big upset on Thursday night. Last year's NCAA runner-up ascending to the throne usually isn't a big upset but it was on Thursday as last year, Doetzel finished 59 seconds behind the winner - Iowa State's Lisa Koll. Koll was in the race on Thursday and was the heavy favorite. After pushing the lead early, the American Collegiate record holder Koll of Iowa State faded midway through the race and eventually was passed at the line for 8th place. With Koll out of the picture, last year's runner-up, Providence's Danette Doetzel, looked amazing in the final laps, closing the last 1,000m in 3:00 to run far away from Brigham Young's Cecily Lemmon, West Virginia's Clara Grandt and Washington's Anita Campbell and get the coveted NCAA championship. Farther back in the chase pack, Oregon's Mattie Bridgmon ran a superb race to catch stragglers. She ended up in 7th, becoming the latest Oregon woman to step up and help the team cause. Her 2 points helped the Oregon women move a little bit closer to an NCAA team championship. Bridgmon was only 5th at the PAC-10 championships after injury problems, but rallied to be the second PAC-10 runner cross the line in this race. After the race, Koll indicated to Flotrack a bout of plantar fasciitis flared up before the Big 12 Conference meet and hampered her training. Doetzel was more than ready to rise to the occasion over the final 2 laps. As she says in the interview to the right, "I hung in there and stayed cool and when I saw him (coach Ray Treacy) wave the hand that means go and I just went." Event 28 Women 10000 Meter Run ======================================================================= Final Only. Two waterfall, one turn, start (18 - 9) American: 30:22.22 8/15/2008 Shalane Flanagan, Nike College Best: 31:25.45 5/4/2008 Sally Kipyego, Texas Tech NCAA Meet: 32:28.57 6/1/1998 Sylvia Mosqueda, Cal State Los An Name Year School Finals Points ======================================================================= Finals 1 Danette Doetzel SR Providence 33:25.71 10 2 Cecily Lemmon SO Brigham Young 33:39.97 8 3 Anita Campbell JR Washington 33:43.33 6 4 Clara Grandt JR West Virginia 33:45.16 5 5 Alex Becker JR Tulsa 34:00.82 4 6 Catherine White SO Arkansas 34:15.26 3 7 Mattie Bridgmon JR Oregon 34:18.20 2 8 Michelle Corrigan SR New Mexico 34:20.24 1 9 Lisa Koll JR Iowa State 34:20.64 1,500m Men Semifinals: Centro Jr Drops Out, Rest Of Favorites Get Through Providence's David McCarthy took it out with indoor mile champion Lee Emanuel in second. 600m in, McCarthy pulled out and Emanuel took over the pacemaking duties up front. They got out very quickly in 1:57 through 800m and 2:56 through 1,200m. The early pacemakers paid a price in that they didn't get the wins in their section, but they got a better reward for their efforts: almost assured qualifying spots in the final. McCarthy faded back to fifth, still running 3:41, while the top 3 went to Wisconsin's Craig Miller, who looked great and won the heat, while Washington's 5-time All-American Austin Abbott finished second and Emanuel grabbed third, all three of them breaking 3:40 in the first heat. Ohio State's Jeff See finished 4th in 3:40, getting in on time and Oregon received good news as Jordan McNamara ran 3:42 and advanced on time as well in 6th. The second and third heats had to hate seeing tonight's first heat run so fast. Abdi Hassan of Arizona dropped out with 400m to go, holding his leg. Heat 1 Preliminaries 1 Craig Miller JR Wisconsin 3:39.36Q 2 Austin Abbott SR Washington 3:39.63Q 3 Lee Emanuel SR New Mexico 3:39.91Q 4 Jeff See SR Ohio State 3:40.46q 5 David McCarthy FR Providence 3:41.71q 6 Jordan McNamara JR Oregon 3:42.09q 7 Justin Duncan SO Tulsa 3:45.91 8 Andrew Jesien SR Virginia 3:47.25 - Abdi Hassan FR Arizona DNF Heat 2 Heat 2 was stacked. Three of the top six from last year's NCAA final were in this heat. After the fast heat 1, the runners decided like all top milers that they could outkick everyone else in the field. Colorado State's Wil Buchanan reluctantly elected to lead the pack for the first 800m, which was covered in about 2:03. Arkansas' returning second-placer from the 2008 NCAA, Dorian Ulrey, sat in second most of the race while dangerous kicker Liam Boylan-Pett of Georgetown lurked behind the field in last place. Also near the front were Jack Bolas and Elliot Heath. It was anyone's race but Buchanan's at the bell. After a charge to the front by the Razorbacks Ulrey and McClary, Heath was able to pull away at the end with Ulrey getting second and Boylan-Pett kicking up for the precious third spot. Behind him, nobody else would make the final as the heat was just too slow. The top 3 ran 3:44 in this heat while the other heats had the top 3 run 3:39 and 3:41. Heath closed in 53.32 the final lap. (Lap by lap splits here) Heat 2 Preliminaries 1 Garrett Heath SR Stanford 3:44.22Q 2 Dorian Ulrey JR Arkansas 3:44.58Q 3 Liam Boylan-Pett SR Georgetown 3:44.86Q 4 Jack Bolas JR Wisconsin 3:45.13 5 Chad Hall SO Riverside 3:46.68 6 Andy McClary SR Arkansas 3:47.50 7 Jim Wyner SR Cornell 3:47.72 8 Wil Buchanan JR Colorado State 3:58.31 Heat 3 - Centro Crawls Homes And Makes The Team Battle Interesting Minnesota's Ben Blankenship took the heat out. German Fernandez stayed back in 3rd or 4th most of the race before putting on a kick with 200m to go to win the heat. But the big story was Oregon freshman Matt Centrowitz Jr., dominant in the 1,500m all year, slowing greatly in the last 200m to finish way back in last. The LetsRun.com rumors of Centrowitz not being 100% healthy were correct. Behind Fernandez were Matt Gibney of Villanova and Michael Coe of Cal, who ran really well. Oregon's loss of eight to ten points from Centrowitz makes the team competition a lot tighter. It looks like Oregon is a point behind A&M now in TFN's form chart. Oregon coach Vin Lananna told the Oregonian, "We're pretty concerned (losing the points). But it's the same as any championship meet. You have to be able to roll with it. Hopefully we'll pick it up somewhere else." Centro's injury is an inflammed left foot and Nike could not solve the problem: "We've been trying to nurse it along all week. We thought we had him in good shape, playing around with some shoes." Heat 3 Preliminaries 1 German Fernandez FR Oklahoma State 3:41.39Q 2 Michael Coe SO California 3:41.60Q 3 Matthew Gibney SO Villanova 3:41.70Q 4 Felix Kiboiywo JR Auburn 3:42.18 5 Ben Blankenship SO Minnesota 3:42.47 6 Dan Castle SR Air Force 3:44.08 7 E.C. Gibbs SR Georgia Tech 3:47.13 8 Kris Gauson JR Butler 3:47.58 9 Matthew Centrowitz FR Oregon 3:53.19
Going out quickly in 51-low, the first heat was led by LSU's Richard Jones. Andrew Wheating relaxed in the back, moving up to 5th with 400m to go. He took the lead in the charge for home and won the heat in the best time of the day, 1:46.10. His 1:46-low effort looked ridiculously relaxed. In second came Penn State's Ryan Foster, running a 1-second PR for the second day in a row, also in 1:46.78 (before yesterday, the Aussie had never broken 1:48). Right behind him was fast-closing Sean Tully of Villanova, who has run smart races in both rounds thus far. All three time qualifiers came from heat one as their early pace wasn't quite as fast as the second heat, which clearly went out too fast. Irek Sekretarski from USC finished in 1:47.11 for 4th in the heat and closed very fast. Heat 1 Semi-Finals 1 Andrew Wheating JR Oregon 1:46.21Q 2 Ryan Foster SO Penn State 1:46.78Q 3 Sean Tully SR Villanova 1:46.84Q 4 Irek Sekretarski SR Southern California 1:47.11q 5 Richard Jones SO LSU 1:47.27q 6 Jason Collett SR Kansas State 1:47.39q 7 Carlos Phillips SR Florida 1:47.48 8 Lance Roller FR Virginia 1:48.31 -- Zach Beth SO Wisconsin DQ Rule 5.2.b Heat 2 Heat 2 got out really fast, passing the 400m in just over 50 seconds. Texas 800m stud Tevan Everett was able to persevere the overly ambitious pace to run 1:46.97 for the win ahead of Tyler Mulder and Chris Gowell of Baylor, who came 6-wide to gain the last auto spot ahead of Donte Holmes. Alex McClary of Arkansas finished a disappointing 8th in 1:49 and didn't advance. Heat 2 Semi-Finals 1 Tevan Everett SR Texas 1:46.97Q 2 Tyler Mulder SR Northern Iowa 1:47.17Q 3 Chris Gowell JR Baylor 1:47.32Q 4 Donte Holmes SO Delaware State 1:47.61 5 Dominic Tanui SR Texas-El Paso 1:47.91 6 Cory Primm SO UCLA 1:47.95 7 Adam Hairston JR Iowa 1:49.12 8 Alex McClary SR Arkansas 1:49.72 9 Robert Novak SR Seton Hall 1:53.52 1,500m Women Semifinals Kailey Campbell of Washington got a big lead on the pack after pushing the group through the first 400m in 63. But the pack caught her with 380m to go and left her behind. All three time qualifiers ended up coming from this heat thanks to the fast opening half. Emily Infield became the first of two Infields to make the NCAA 1,500m final. Lauren Centrowitz and Christine Babcock are two of the bigger names from this heat to qualify for the final.
Heat 1 Preliminaries 1 Heidi Dahl SR E. Tenn St. 4:14.92Q 2 Emily Infeld FR Georgetown 4:15.48Q 3 Lauren Centrowitz SR Stanford 4:15.54Q 4 Morgane Gay FR Virginia 4:15.56q 5 Christine Babcock FR Washington 4:16.10q 6 Lucy VanDalen FR Stony Brook-SUNY 4:16.11q 7 Elizabeth Yetzer SO Minnesota 4:18.11 8 Kailey Campbell JR Washington 4:20.10 9 Lauren Bonds JR Kansas 4:26.73 Heat 2 After a moderate opening pace, Florida State's Susan Kuijken moved to the lead with 400 to go on Georgetown's Maggie Infield's shoulder. Oregon's Alex Kosinski was in third with 400m to go. The third lap was 69 seconds after a pretty slow start. Infield ran great on the front the whole way. She held of Kuijken on the final turn and they went 1-2. Michigan's Danielle Tauro came up for third while Kosinski was beaten out for 4th. Kosinski's 4:19.02 will not make the
final for Oregon. This heat was slower than the first heat. Heat 2 Preliminaries 1 Maggie Infeld SR Georgetown 4:16.73Q 2 Susan Kuijken SR Florida State 4:17.97Q 3 Danielle Tauro SO Michigan 4:18.66Q 4 Alexandra Kosinski SO Oregon 4:19.02 5 Katie Palmer SO Brigham Young 4:20.57 6 Gladys Kipsang JR Texas Tech 4:22.47 7 Ashley Gibson JR New Mexico 4:23.99 8 Sheila Reid FR Villanova 4:25.61 9 Tarah McKay JR Louisville 4:27.01 Heat 3 Tennessee's Sarah Bowman and Riverside's Brenda Martinez went 1-2 going through 300m and slowing down. Their first 400m was 70 seconds as the two leaders had no desire to push the pace. Their next 400 was about 73 coming through with 2 laps to go, before Bowman started pushing the pace 800m into the race. The field was immediately strung out behind the 1,500m star Bowman as they pushed towards the bell lap. Bowman and Martinez ran the last lap together as Martinez got the win over Bowman with Duke's Molly Lehman in third getting the last automatic spot. Heat 3 Preliminaries 1 Brenda Martinez JR Riverside 4:16.67Q 2 Sarah Bowman SR Tennessee 4:17.06Q 3 Molly Lehman SR Duke 4:17.20Q 4 Jillian Rosen SO Arkansas 4:18.56 5 Alicia Follmar SR Stanford 4:18.69 6 Renee Tomlin SO Georgetown 4:20.20 7 Lisa Egami JR Washington State 4:23.15 8 Betsy Flood FR Iowa 4:24.11 9 Ellen Dougherty JR Villanova 4:25.64 800m Women Semifinals Geena Gall took heat one in 2:02.28, basically leading wire to wire for Michigan. She outclassed three very good 800m runners in LaTavia Thomas, Lacey Cramer and Pilar McShine, who all made the final. Heat 1 Semi-Finals 1 Geena Gall SR Michigan 2:02.28Q 2 LaTavia Thomas JR LSU 2:03.37Q 3 Lacey Cramer FR Brigham Young 2:03.41Q 4 Pilar McShine JR Florida State 2:03.47q 5 Kayann Thompson JR LSU 2:03.99 6 Zoe Buckman JR Oregon 2:04.68 7 Asia Diaz SR Texas Tech 2:06.16 8 Clarisse Moh SR Seton Hall 2:06.48 9 Angelina Blackmon SR NC State 2:07.68 Heat 2 Tennessee's Phoebe Wright came on with 150m left to charge around the outside of the pack straight for the wire and win in 2:02.56. Teammate Chanelle Price (right) did not fare as well, fading from the top 3 to finish in 6th, missing out on the final. North Dakota St.'s Laura Hermanson looked great closing easily for second, while LSU got their second finalist in Brittany Hall. Heather Dorniden of Minnesota is a perennial threat in this event and got in on time.
Heat 2 Semi-Finals 1 Phoebe Wright JR Tennessee 2:02.56Q 2 Laura Hermanson SR North Dakota State 2:03.19Q 3 Brittany Hall SO LSU 2:03.73Q 4 Heather Dorniden SR Minnesota 2:03.77q 5 Dominique Jackson SO North Carolina 2:03.89q 6 Chanelle Price FR Tennessee 2:04.30 7 Lea Wallace SO Sacramento State 2:07.27 8 Kate Grace SO Yale 2:08.50 -- Molly Beckwith JR Indiana DQ Rule 5.2.b Men's Long Jump: Makusha Does It In second was Middle Tennessee State's Stanley Gbagbeke. Arkansas had 2 scorers in 7th and 8th while Texas A&M, pushing for a possible team win, scored 4th with Julian Reid.
Williams went into the last round in third based on her second-best performance of 4.14m, but pulled out a 6.35m to take home the championship as Florida State swept the long jump titles. Youngblood came as close as one can come to winning the championship, but her 6 team points give a big boost to the Oregon women's team chances. 1. Kimberly Williams FSU 6.54 (6.35) 200m Women Trials And Semifinals: Porscha Lucas #2 in World Texas A&M's Porscha Lucas ran the fastest qualifying time of the first round with a 22.52. Her time puts her as the 5th-fastest world performer in 2009. The wind was 1.8, so the time stands. Men's Decathlon: Eaton Wins For Oregon Overwhelming favorite Ashton Eaton of Oregon won the competition, but not without some bumps along the way. The final placing at the top was never really in question, but Eaton's margin was only 200 points at the end as he had some struggles in the long jump and pole vault. Eaton had a clutch 3rd attempt in the long jump or else he would be sitting way back in the standings after 2 fouls in his first two attempts. With his win combined with Rupp's, Oregon picked up a total of 20 points on the day and leads the competition heading in to day 3. 4 x 400m Men Semifinals: Can Baylor Keep It Alive? Baylor, riding a 42-straight 4 x 400m winning streak, arrived at the first exchange in second behind Western Kentucky. They took the lead heading into the 2nd exchange. Baylor and Texas A&M ran neck-and-neck for the third leg, but Baylor had Quentin Iglehart-Summers on the anchor and he let the Texas A&M anchor get a 5m lead on him with 200m to go. But QIS had the right plan solidly in his head as he absolutely powered home in the last 100m after fading back to third and raising a lot of doubt in the spectators' minds. The crowds rose to their feet for the preliminary stretch run and before they knew it Baylor was in thier customary position in the 4 x 400m, first! QIS, who split 44.5 in the midwest regional 4 x 400m win, ran 46.43 in the prelims at regionals and didn't even make the final. Florida State, with the Borlee twins both in the 400 semis, had the top time of the night in heat 3 with a 3:03.13. Florida State will be tough to beat but if both Borlees make the finals of the 400, Baylor's chances at extending its streak increase. Heat 1 Preliminaries 1 Baylor 3:04.29Q 1) Zwede Hewitt FR 2) Marcus Boyd SO 3) JT Scheuerman JR 4) Quentin Iglehart-Summers SR 2 Texas A&M 3:04.76Q 1) Tran Howell SO 2) Bryan Miller SO 3) Kyle Dykhuizen SO 4) Justin Oliver SR 3 Southern California 3:04.89q 1) Jason Price JR 2) Nate Anderson JR 3) Joey Hughes FR 4) Duane Walker FR 4 LSU 3:05.09q 1) Robert Simmons FR 2) Richard Jones SO 3) Jamar Howard SO 4) Armanti Hayes JR Heat 2 Preliminaries 1 Florida 3:04.64Q 1) R.J. Anderson SR 2) Calvin Smith JR 3) LaMarr Davis SO 4) Christian Taylor FR 2 Texas Tech 3:05.11Q 1) Brandon Washington SO 2) Rodney Mims SR 3) Tim Foster JR 4) Lamont Adams SO 3 TCU 3:05.48 1) Clemore Henry JR 2) Mychal Dungey SO 3) Dell Guy JR 4) Matt Love SO Heat 3 Preliminaries 1 Florida State 3:03.13Q 1) Kevin Williams SO 2) Brandon OConnor FR 3) Kevin Borlee FR 4) Jonathan Borlee FR 2 Mississippi State 3:03.14Q 1) Trey Charles FR 2) Dwight Mullings JR 3) Emmanual Mayers SO 4) John Bailey SR 3 South Carolina 3:04.01q 1) Obakeng Ngwigwa JR 2) Johnny Dutch SO 3) Aaron Anderson SO 4) Quentin Moore JR Women's Shot Put Finals Men's Shot Put Finals 100 Hurdles Women First Round 110 Hurdles Men First Round 200m Men's Trials and Semifinals Western Kentucky senior Gavin Smellie ran the fastest first round qualifying time, winning heat 1 with a 20.65.
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