2012 NCAA 3000m: Chris Derrick Pushes Lawi Lalang to the Line, Emily Infeld Wins Her First Title

By LetsRun.com
March 10, 2012

Recaps of the 3000ms at the 2012 NCAA Track and Field Championships in Boise, Idaho below.

Men's 3000m: Chris Derrick Comes Really Close, But Lawi Lalang Completes the Double

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

After last night's exciting 5000m where Chris Derrick of Stanford tried very hard to defeat Lawi Lalang of Arizona State, but came up short on the final lap, Derrick and Lalang were back in the men's 3000m on Saturday night to battle again. The outcome was the same, a Lalang victory, but this time Derrick pushed Lalang all the way until the line.

Diego Estrada of NAU did the early leading and took the field out hard before settling in at the 1600 in 4:14.34.  He was followed by Arizona State's Lalang and Stephen Sambu (third in the 5000m last night).

After another quarter mile, Lalang decided he had enough. He went to the lead and Derrick immediately went with him. As Derrick stalked right behind Lalang some of the main contenders including Sambu, Ryan Hill of NC State, Cam Levins of Southern Utah, and Paul Chelimo of UNC Greensboro hung close. They couldn't hang on for long and soon with 600m to go it was a two man race.

On the backstretch with about 550m to go Lalang drifted wide and Derrick went by him on the inside. Derrick pushed the pace and led with a quarter to go. Sambu went back in front on the backstretch with 300 to go and they were neck and neck at the bell. Derrick stalked Lalang the final lap as Lalang could not drop him. As they came off the final bend Derrick went wide and attempted to pass Lalang. He just couldn't do it as Lalang edged him by .17, 7:46.64 to 7:46.81.

Cam Levins was third  in 7:49.79, Paul Chelimo got 4th, and Ryan Hill, who earlier this year ran the fastest 3000m by an American collegian, was 5th, Stephen Sambu 6th, Diego Estrada 7th, and last year's champ Leonard Korir was 8th.

Quick takes: If you were impressed with Derrick last night, he raised the stakes tonight. Last night he ended up getting beat by 1.7 seconds tonight it was .17 seconds.

Cam Levins with his 4th place in the 5000 and the 3rd place here had a great meet outscoring Stephen Sambu .

Last year's champ Elliott Heat was a non-factor in 11th. He's got an NCAA title, yet Chris Derrick doesn't. Timing sometimes is everything. We're sure Derrick will try, try again outdoors. Beating Lalang seems like a real possibility now.


Damn!

Lalang deserves some props for doing what we all expected him to do - win twice. He just missed Adam Goucher's NCAA meet record of 7:46.03.

1 Lawi Lalang SO Arizona 7:46.64   10       
 2 Chris Derrick JR Stanford 7:46.81          
 3 Cameron Levins SR Southern Utah 7:49.78          
 4 Paul Chelimo SO UNC-Greensboro 7:50.26          
 5 Ryan Hill JR North Carolina St. 7:50.44          
 6 Stephen Sambu JR Arizona 7:53.08          
 7 Diego Estrada JR Northern Arizona 7:53.39          
 8 Leonard Korir SR Iona 7:54.22          
 9 Thomas Farrell JR Oklahoma State 7:55.09            
 10 Trevor Dunbar SO Oregon 7:56.24            
 11 Elliott Heath SR Stanford 8:00.67            
 12 George Alex SR Oklahoma 8:00.86            
 13 Ross Millington JR New Mexico 8:08.73            
 14 Ben Hubers SR Indiana 8:13.74            
 15 Andrew Bayer JR Indiana 8:16.95            
 16 Mitch Goose SR Iona 8:22.70            
 DNS Miles Batty SR BYU              

*Lap by lap splits

Women's 3000m: Emily Infeld Outkicks 10 Women

This one came down to the wire as four women, two time NCAA champ Jordan Hasay of Oregon, last night's 5000m winner, Betsy Saina of Iowa State, last night's 5000m runner-up Deborah Maier of Cal, and Emily Infeld battled for the win around the final bend.  In the end it was the least credentialed of them all, Georgetown's Infeld who got the win.

This race was super evenly paced at 5:00 per 1600m pace until the sprinting for the title began with 400m left. At that point roughly 10 women were still in contention. The field was running 4 wide on the backstretch with 300m to go. At the bell, seven women were still within .31 of the leader Jordan Hasay. Hasay was leading in lane 2, but that allowed Deborah Maier pass her on the inside on the turn.

Heading into the final turn Maier led, with Hasay on her outside. Emily Infeld moved up on the inside but she was boxed in by Hasay on her outside.  Fortunately for Infeld, Hasay was running out of steam after running the mile earlier in the day. Infeld was able to dart through the whole that opened up by Hasay moving back. Infeld would kick by Maier on the final stretch for the win. Maier was second, Saina passed Hasay for 3rd.

QT: We predicted big things for Infeld at this meet and after coming up short in the DMR last night she delivered the goods here.

Jordan Hasay won the mile and 3000m last year and was second in the DMR. This year she didn't run the DMR and was only 3rd and 4th in the mile and 3000m, yet the Oregon women won the team title going away. If we told you coming in Deborah Maier would outscore Hasay by 5 points, you probably would have thought the Ducks were in trouble. The Ducks were so good they would have won if Hasay hadn't even run the meet.

Speaking of Maier she had a great meet with 2 runner-up finishes.

 1 Emily Infeld JR Georgetown 9:15.44   10       
 2 Deborah Maier JR California 9:15.74          
 3 Betsy Saina JR Iowa State 9:16.16          
 4 Jordan Hasay JR Oregon 9:16.42          
 5 Tara Erdmann SR Loyola Marymount 9:16.87          
 6 Kathy Kroeger SO Stanford 9:17.21          
 7 Aliphine Tuliamuk JR Wichita State 9:17.99          
 8 Abbey D'Agostino SO Dartmouth 9:18.54          
 9 Katie Flood SO Washington 9:19.69            
 10 Lucy Van Dalen SR Stony Brook 9:20.27            
 11 Megan Goethals SO Washington 9:24.68            
 12 Emily Sisson FR Providence 9:25.13            
 13 Hannah Kiser SO Idaho 9:26.88            
 14 Aisling Cuffe FR Stanford 9:27.57            
 15 Waverly Neer FR Columbia 9:33.32            
 16 Chelsea Reilly SR California 9:42.25            
 17 Amanda Winslow JR Florida State 9:57.91            
 DNS Dani Stack JR Iowa State              

*Lap by lap splits

More NCAAs:

LRC Mile, 800 and Team Recaps: Chris O'Hare Goes Wire to Wire, Jordan Hasay Tries To, Mason McHenry Surprises in 800, Nachelle Mackie Gets Another BYU 800 Win, Oregon, Florida Three Peat After beind edged out last year, Chris O'Hare went wire to wire to win the mile, while Jordan Hasay tried to go wire-to-wire but just came up short. In the 800s ASU's Mason McHenry showed what running your best when it matters can do for you, and Nachelle Mackie made it two years in a row for BYU wire to wire victories. In the team competition Florida three peated thanks to Jeff Demps (60m three peat), Tony McQuay (45.77 400) and Omar Craddock (triple jump win). Oregon three peated on the women's side and was led by Jordan Hasay's 11 points, and English Gardner winning the 60 and Brianne Theisen the pentathlon.

 More From
 Saturday: Beach Wins Hep with 6138 points and 2:23.63 1000!
*Brits go 1 & 2 in NCAA men's mile

Friday:
LRC 5,000s: Chris Derrick Puts Up A Brave Fight In 5,000m As Lawi Lalang Wins The Title, Betsy Saina Holds Off Deborah Maier Chris Derrick may not have won the men's 5,000m on Friday night but he earned a lot of people's respect with the way he challenged the fastest-ever 5,000m runner in the NCAAs, Lawi Lalang. In the end, Lalang had too much the final 200. On the women's side, Betsy Saina got her first NCAA title despite a tough challenge from Deborah Maier.
O
TB: Chris Derrick... WHAT A RUN!!!!!! *CMON DERICK, DO IT FOR AMERICA!!! *Debbie Maier is Rockin it!

LRC DMRs: Notre Dame Surprises And Katie Flood Lives Up To The Hype To Get Washington The Title Notre Dame's Jeremy Rae holds off IU's Andy Bayer and BYU's Miles Batty to get the win. Katie Flood runs fastest women's mile of the day to get Washington the win over Oregon, Dartmouth, and Georgetown.

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