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Alistair
Cragg, Nick Willis set up Saturday clash with Friday wins at NCAA
Indoor Track & Field Championships
by
Parker Morse
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Dathan
Ritzenhein led the 5,000m early on...
(All photos: Alison Wade/New York Road Runners)
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...But
Alistair Cragg dominated in the end.
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University
of Arkansas senior Alistair Cragg came through for the first leg
of his high-pressure 5,000m/3,000m double by winning his third-consecutive
5,000m title on the first night of competition at the 2004 NCAA
Indoor Track & Field Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Shortly afterward, University of Michigan sophomore Nick Willis,
who anchored the winning distance relay, made it clear that Cragg's
return in the 3,000m on Saturday would not be easy.
Dathan
Ritzenhein of Colorado, expected to be one of Cragg's main challengers
in the longer event, set the pace early with Cragg, Ian Dobson of
Stanford, and Richard Kiplagat of Iona in single file behind. Ryan
Andrus of Oregon and Matt Tegenkamp of Wisconsin were also visible
near the front as Ritzenhein, running easily, pulled the field through
cookie-cutter kilometers of 2:48.53 and 5:36.05. With the laps-to-go
counter sinking towards single digits, the Tyson Center crowd was
chanting, "Cragg! Cragg! Cragg! Cragg!" but the only movement
was in the middle of the pack, with Tegenkamp moving into fifth
and the rest of the field alternately bunching and stringing out
behind the first five.
"The
pace felt really slow, but every time I went around I looked at
Coach [McDonnell] and he said to stay there," said Cragg.
Not
long after the halfway point, with just under 12 laps remaining,
Cragg moved to the front. Dobson moved aggressively to cover the
move, and Kiplagat followed, dropping Ritzenhein abruptly to fourth
before he could stop his slide. Cragg didn't break away, however,
and the pace remained the same with him leading the newly reshuffled
pack. Cragg, Dobson, Kiplagat, Ritzenhein, and Tegenkamp were now
clear of the rest of the field, with Simon Bairu leading the chase
pack.
Cragg
appeared satisfied with the lead and didn't add much to the pace
as they passed 3K in 8:23.18 (a 2:45 after a 2:48 and 2:47). Ritzenhein,
recovered, positioned himself to cover the next move, and Bairu
moved up from the pursuit to the lead pack before Cragg surged again
with six laps remaining.
Ritzenhein
moved first to cover this move, tearing into second, but by the
time they hit 4K (11:04.44 for Cragg, a 2:41) Cragg had a three-second
lead and Dobson was breathing down Ritzenhein's neck. Cragg, comfortably
in the lead and not apparently straining, used the television monitor
and occasional looks over his shoulder to maintain only as much
lead as he felt comfortable with. "I was scared, because it
was earlier than expected, but I felt comfortable," he reported.
"I don't know if they were [intimidated by the surge] but I
know on [Ritzenhein's] best day he would have been with me."
Ritzenhein
was, instead, struggling to fight off the combined closing drives
of Dobson and Kiplagat. Dobson went by first, on the backstretch
of the final lap, but Kiplagat could not get by until the homestretch.
Cragg's final margin of victory was just over a second (13:39.63
to 13:40.91 for Dobson) with Kiplagat third in 13:41.67 and Ritzenhein
fourth in 13:44.06. Tegenkamp and Bairu took fifth and sixth for
Wisconsin, with Andrus and Providence's Adam Sutton rounding out
the scoring.
Less
than an hour later, Cragg's principal rival for Saturday's 3,000m,
Nick Willis, lined up to anchor the DMR for Michigan. Nate Brannen
set up Michigan with a strong 1,200m leg (reportedly 2:54.5), running
easily in traffic for 800m before breaking free of the pack. Brannen
handed off in first place, with Arkansas' Sam Vazquez several meters
back. Arkansas' Terry Gatson closed the gap on the 400m leg, handing
off slightly slightly behind Michigan's Darnell Talbert, but essentially
simultaneously. Arkansas' James Hatch ran a 1:47.4 for 800m to give
the baton to Mike Taylor with a lead.
Willis
got the stick from Andrew Ellerton a few meters behind Taylor, and
he closed the lead within two laps. He then sat on Taylor's shoulder
as they passed 800m in 2:00 and reached 1,200 in 3:04. Meanwhile,
Martin Robeck of Minnesota was pulling a pack including Tom Parlapiano
of Villanova and Chris Lukezic of Georgetown ever closer to the
two leaders. With 400m to go, Willis demolished Taylor in just a
turn, arriving in the backstretch with a dominating lead and essentially
throwing Taylor to the pursuing wolves. Willis reportedly wound
up running 3:57.5 for his 1,600m leg, and around 54 seconds for
his final 400; however, he was so comfortably in the lead in the
final lap that he was able to wave the baton to Michigan fans on
the backstretch. Taylor hung on to second place for Arkansas, while
Parlapiano and Lukezic kicked past Robeck to secure third and fourth
for Villanova (9:32.86) and Georgetown (9:33.21), respectively.
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Anchored
by Nick Willis, Michigan won the DMR with a collegiate record-breaking
9:27.77.
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Michigan's
final time, 9:27.77, was good for a collegiate record (beating Stanford's
9:28.83 from 2000) and Arkansas (9:31.12) was within three seconds
of the old record.
Cragg,
the defending champion at 3,000m as well, owns the collegiate record
at 3,000m, but had to reclaim it this February from Willis, who
broke Cragg's 2003 mark in January. "I can't afford to build
up anybody in my mind," Cragg said tonight. "Adrian Blincoe
had almost the same stats [last year]." Blincoe, however, didn't
have the gift Cragg and Willis share, of being able to separate
almost effortlessly from the chasing pack. Cragg also bears the
weight of his team's title hopes on his shoulders. After Friday's
events, Arkansas led with 23 points, a scant two ahead of Texas
and Florida (both with 21).
Earlier
in the evening, rounds of the men's 800m and mile set fields for
Saturday's finals. Brannen, Moise Joseph of Florida, and Jackson
Langat of TCU advanced from the first heat, after Connecticut's
Logan Jones forced the pace early before fading. Mike Inge of Kent
State posted the night's fastest qualifier, 1:47.77, leading the
second heat from start to finish. Peter Etoot followed Inge in,
and Dmitrijs Milkevics of Nebraska, Christian Smith of Kansas State
and Sherridan Kirk of Auburn all advanced on time from the second
heat. Marc Sylvester was the most surprising casualty of the qualifying
round, stepping off the track before finishing the second lap, with
the recurrence of a calf injury.
Chris
Mulvaney spurred a lot of noise in the bleachers in the first round
of the mile, but ran a conservative race to qualify behind Sean
Jefferson (Indiana) and Scott McGowan (Montana). David Freeman of
Kentucky and Washington's Eric Garner also advanced on time. The
second heat was wilder than the first, with numerous lead changes
in the second half as BYU's Nathan Robison fought for (and defended)
the lead, eventually leading Jason Woolhouse of Oklahoma State and
Erik Schmidt of Navy in automatically. Steve Sherer of Michigan
State and Eastern Michigan's Jordan Desilets advanced on time, but
Desilets' teammate Gavin Thompson, who led much of the first half
of the race, faded to last in the final quarter and did not advance.
(Posted
March 13, 2004)
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