Women's 1,500: Lucy Van Dalen Advances After Fall, As Reid And Hasay Save Fireworks For 5,000 And 1,500 Finals

Heat 1 Preliminaries1 159 Renee Tomlin SR Georgetown 4:18.34Q 2 430 Lucy Van Dalen JR Stony Brook 4:18.50Q 3 136 Cory McGee FR Florida 4:18.52Q 4 121 Kate Van Buskirk SR Duke 4:18.71Q 5 144 Hannah Brooks SR Florida State 4:18.94Q 6 524 Amanda Mergaert SO Utah 4:19.96 7 155 Madeline Chambers FR Georgetown 4:21.32 8 263 Nikki Swenson SR Minnesota 4:23.32 9 78 Kirsty Legg SO Butler 4:23.81 10 549 Keri Bland SR West Virginia 4:24.00 11 449 Brittany Sheffey JR Tennessee 4:26.49 12 457 Betzy Jimenez SR Texas 4:31.14

Heat 2 Preliminaries 1 530 Morgane Gay JR Virginia 4:14.72Q 2 350 Becca Friday SO Oregon 4:15.17Q 354 Jordan Hasay SO Oregon 4:15.86Q 4 527 Sheila Reid JR Villanova 4:16.69Q 5 44 Kristen Gillespie JR Arkansas 4:17.00Q 6 393 Lea Wallace SR Sacramento St. 4:17.65q 7 158 Rachel Schneider SO Georgetown 4:18.52q 8 293 Ashley Miller JR Nebraska 4:18.53q 9 179 Stephanie Morgan SO Illinois 4:25.44 10 543 Katie Flood FR Washington 4:25.75 11 288 Katrina Drennen JR Montana 4:25.86 2 48 Jillian Rosen JR Arkansas 4:30.42

Lucy Van Dalen Qualifies After Fall

Heat 1 - The results don't tell the whole story about this heat. The stats show that everyone who ran under 64 seconds for their last 400 advanced. The only real "name" casualty of the evening came in this heat, as indoor 6th placer Keri Bland of West Virginia, who was 5th entering the bell, struggled over the final 400 and didn't advance after running 68 for her final 400.

However, the story of heat one was that there was a fall after a slow opening 800, but that didn't stop Stony Brook's Lucy Van Dalen from advancing. After two opening laps of 71 and change, the field hit 800 in 2:23 and the slow pace resulted in a fall that took down Van Dalen and Tennessee's Brittany Sheffey. Van Dalen popped up and got right back in it, though, and was in a qualifying position at the bell (4th) and ended up in 2nd after a 63.13 last lap.

Heat 2 - The time qualifiers came out of heat 2 as this heat was faster from the gun (300 in 51 and 1,100 in 3:10 versus 53 at 300 and 3:15 at 1,100 for heat 1). But the real story of heat two was that the three top seeds in Lea Wallace of Sacramento State, Jordan Hasay of Oregon and Sheila Reid of Villanova were all in this heat. What did the mini-preview of the women's 5,000 final (between Hasay and Reid) and 1,500 reveal (between Hasay, Reid and Wallace)? Well, it revealed that Lea Wallace, who is the only person trying the 1,500/800 double at NCAAs, looked absolutely awful. She advanced only on time as she ended up 6th in 4:17.65. Reid and Hasay didn't really seem to test each other and were content to advance in a heat that was won by UVA's Morgane Gay.

Quick Thought #1 - Anyone who was picking Lea Wallace to win Friday's 800 final had better re-think their picks, as Wallace did not look good. We know a lot can change in one day (after all Wallace looked great in winning her 800 final the day before) but Wallace's stock for the 800 final should be going way, way down.

Quick Thought #2 - Kudos to Lucy van Dalen for qualifying after a fall the old fashioned way - by getting up and catching up and making it thanks to her own two legs instead of begging for the officials to place her in the final, as so many are apt to do these days at NCAAs and USAs. Van Dalen told us, "I didn't panic. I had a good sense of the pace. It was fine. It all worked out."

Men's 1,500: Favorites Advance Except For Last Year's Runner-Up AJ Acosta

Heat 1 Preliminaries 1 948 Matthew Centrowitz JR Oregon 3:48.67Q 2 880 Patrick Casey SO Montana State 3:49.05Q 3 656 Erik van Ingen JR Binghamton 3:49.07Q 4 976 Julian Matthews JR Providence 3:49.24Q 5 711 Dumisane Hlaselo JR Florida 3:49.26Q 6 1129 Michael Hammond JR Virginia Tech 3:49.45 7 946 A.J. Acosta SR Oregon 3:49.81 8 1101 Blake Shaw JR USC 3:50.39 9 636 Duncan Phillips JR Arkansas 3:50.61 10 934 Jake Edwards SR Ohio State 3:51.07 11 916 Eric Jenkins FR Northeastern 3:51.21 12 899 David Bishop SR New Mexico 3:52.30

Heat 2 Preliminaries 1 639 Dorian Ulrey SR Arkansas 3:42.44Q 2 665 Miles Batty JR BYU 3:42.84Q 3 1077 Chris O'Hare SO Tulsa 3:43.03Q 4 1119 Matthew Gibney SR Villanova 3:43.06Q 5 931 Jeremy Rae SO Notre Dame 3:43.35Q 6 625 Darius Terry JR Arizona State 3:44.46q 7 932 Johnathan Shawel JR Notre Dame 3:44.82q 8 1123 Brett Johnson SO Virginia 3:47.96 9 803 Don Wasinger JR Kansas 3:57.85 - advanced --- 663 Kris Gauson SR Butler DNF --- 616 Abdi Hassan JR Arizona DNF - advanced --- 960 Ryan Foster SR Penn State DQ

Most of the big names from 2011 all advanced in the men's 1,500, as the top 5 from the indoor mile at NCAAs all moved forward. Notable casualties included indoor 7th placer Michael Hammond of Virginia Tech and 2011 outdoor 1,500 #2 guy Duncan Phillips of Arkansas. Last year's runner-up AJ Acosta, who has been struggling for much of 2011, didn't make it as well.

Heat 1 - Heat 1 was tactical, as 300 was hit in 47 and 1,100 in 2:54. The dash for qualification was pretty fast over the final 400. LetsRun.com favorite Matt Centrowitz looked great throughout, closing in 54.08 to get the win. Binghamton's Erik van Ingen had the fastest last lap of 53.47 to finish 3rd. Last year's runner-up AJ Acosta looked to be dead in the water at the bell, running in next to last more than a second behind Patrick Casey of Montana State, but Acosta kicked pretty well, as his last 400 of 54.26 was 5th best in the field. But that kick wasn't enough to get him to the final and the collegiate career of AJ and "The Nation" came to an end. Acosta refused to speak to the media after the race.

Heat 2 - Many of the big names were in heat 2, as it featured the top three from the NCAA indoor mile in Miles Batty, Chris O'Hare and Ryan Foster, plus Penn Relays hero Matthew Gibney of Villanova and LetsRun.com favorite Dorian Ulrey of Arkansas.

The pace was pretty honest from the gun, as 700 was hit in 1:46 and at this point, O'Hare and Ulrey decided that they wanted the pace to get even faster, so they hit 1,100 in 2:44 thanks to a 58-second lap. Ulrey would run a 57.49 final 400 50 win the heat.

Just after the runners hit the bell, there was a pile-up that took down Kansas' Don Wasinger, Arizona's Abdi Hassan, and Foster. After the race was over, Foster would be DQed for causing the fall and Hassan and Wasinger were placed in the final. As a result, for the second straight day, there was a very upset Penn State Nittany Lion in the media mixed zone. If you listen to our interview of Erik van Ingen, you can hear someone whom we believe to be Foster punching something (the wall?) at least three times.

Quick Thought #1 - After watching the two prelims, we feel very confident in thinking the final is going to come down to a battle royale between Centrowitz and Ulrey.

Quick Thought #2 - Our interview with Miles Batty is worth listening to. After the race, Batty said, "I felt we were cruising out there. I didn't have to use my kicking legs yet. Hopefully we'll save them for Saturday."

"I'm not overconfident. A lot of people look at the descending order lists and see a 3-second lead and the indoor champion and think it's a given, but it's definitely not, as anyone who actually follows the 1,500 knows. (Today) there were a lot of guys who were going to be in the mix - Acosta and Phillips - that didn't make it through, but there are still a lot of big names out there who are ready to go."

That being said, please listen to the Erik van Ingen interview. At the 1:30 mark (and 2:14 as well), you hear someone punching something in the background and van Ingen quips a classic line - "You win some and lose some, eh."

As for the final, van Ingen said, "I'm just going to bring it like everyone else."

We did catch up with Foster a bit later, and he was understandably upset to see his NCAA career come to an end, particularly since he said he was feeling great when he went down in a fall (when we spoke to Foster, he didn't know he'd later be DQed for his role in the pile-up). "It's a terrible feeling. I've got the rest of my life to think of what could've been ... you take a fall like that with 350 go - there's no coming back probably the worst day of my life ... see you, NCAA."

Ryan Foster Gets DQed	Ryan Foster Talks
Erik van Ingen	2011 NCAA Indoor Champ Miles Batty

Women's Steeple: Coburn And Garcia Impress

Heat 1 Preliminaries 1 529 Stephanie Garcia SR Virginia 10:00.27Q 2 106 Shalaya Kipp SO Colorado 10:02.09Q 3 135 Genevieve LaCaze JR Florida 10:04.68Q4 356 Claire Michel SR Oregon 10:06.63Q 5 209 Rebeka Stowe JR Kansas 10:07.90Q 6 431 Katie Hursey JR Syracuse 10:09.30Q 7 398 Klara Bodinson SO SMU 10:10.20 8 23 Hannah Moen JR Arizona 10:13.97 9 17 Margaret Callahan SR Arizona 10:22.88 10 108 Meghan Cunningham JR Connecticut 10:26.18 11 414 Nicole Rozario JR South Florida 10:31.01 2 287 Kara DeWalt SR Montana 11:00.30

Heat 2 Preliminaries 1 105 Emma Coburn JR Colorado 10:00.43Q 2 391 Nicol Traynor JR Richmond 10:02.94Q 3 98 Alyssa Kulik JR Clemson 10:03.23Q 4 215 Martina Tresch SO Kansas State 10:03.50Q 5 384 Ashley Higginson SR Princeton 10:03.63Q 6 362 Melanie Thompson FR Oregon 10:03.74Q 7 175 Chantelle SR Illinois 10:04.00q 8 186 Sarah Pease SR Indiana 10:05.89q 9 397 Eva Krchova SO San Francisco 10:09.82 10 90 Keara Thomas SR Charlotte 10:30.15 11 538 Samantha Dow SO Virginia Tech 10:38.91 12 319 Ecaterina Gheorghiu JR North Florida 10:39.70

Not a whole lot to report, as the top six on the 2011 NCAA descending order list all advanced.

Quick Thought #1 - The heavy favorite in the race, Emma Coburn of Colorado, won heat 2 comfortably in 10:00 as heat 1 was won comfortably in 10:00 as well by Virginia's Stephanie Garcia. When asked of a potential showdown in the final between the two heat winners in the final, both Coburn and Garcia mentioned that they have never raced each other on the track. Coburn also went more in-depth and said that Garcia's PR of 9:55 is similar to what Coburn's PR was heading into NCAAs last year (9:56) when Coburn ended up second.

Stephanie Garcia	Ashley Higginson On Comeback Trail From Stress Fractures
NCAA Favorite Emma Coburn

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