2002 USA Outdoor Championships - Day Two Report

By Parker Morse

Saturday evening's distance finals were shorter and more electric than Friday evening's. Two of America's finest distance runners met on middle ground in the women's 5,000m, as 1,500m Olympic finalist Marla Runyan defended her 5,000m title against 10,000m Olympic finalist Deena Drossin, the road 5k world record holder.

Drossin, who had been on a tear earlier this spring, bolted from the pack early and set a sub-15 pace in the first laps. "There were a lot of girls in this race I wanted to run away from," said Drossin afterward. Runyan followed cautiously at first, but when Drossin's lap times began to lag, Runyan moved up into contact. By the final mile, Runyan was on Drossin's shoulder, and they took the bell nearly neck and neck. Here Runyan's middle-distance experience proved decisive, and she ran a 65-second last lap to Drossin's 71, taking the title in 15:07.19.

"I wasn't feeling very light and fluid in my warmup," said Drossin. "I just felt tired out there."

"I didn't think it would come down to the last lap because I thought Deena would be so far ahead I wouldn't be able to catch her," said Runyan. "I didn't know how hard the pace was going to go out. I tried to take the lead a couple of times, but every time I moved up she picked it up just a little bit, and I'd think, I don't want to work that hard right now, I'll hold back. It wasn't an easy race."

Behind Runyan and Drossin, the race for third dwindled to Amy Rudolph, Cheri Kenah and Carrie Tollefson. Tollefson finally made the decisive move because, she said afterward, "I heard my father saying, make a move, and I thought, I'm dying out here, I might as well."

The men's 5,000m final was loaded with big names doubling back from the 10,000m, including Meb Keflezighi and Alan Culpepper, first and third in the longer race. "I always wanted a 5,000m national championship," said Meb. Knowing Culpepper's kick, Keflezighi wanted to get away as early as he could, and sat right behind the leader until it was time for him to push the pace himself. As the pack dwindled to six and then five, Culpepper hung on, along with Bolota Asmeron, Stanford junior Louis Luchini, and Matt Lane.

As the pace got progressively more ferocious, Alan Culpepper, third to Meb and Abdi in nearly every meeting since 2000, was able to cover every move and eventually push himself into the lead. Culpepper won his first track title since 1999 in 13:27.52, with Keflezighi and Lane following him in in 13:30.05 and 13:30.58, respectively. Lane, who ended a string of fourth-place championship finishes stretching back to the 2000 Olympic Trials, joked, "I feel like a schmuck for not running the 10,000m. I came in too fresh, I guess."

"I think tonight is a real testament to how tough these guys are in the ten," said Culpepper of his rivals. "I've tried all different tactics, I've tried ramping up my training, but these guys are really tough. To get a win is really nice, I needed a win to validate all the work I've put in, but I didn't expect it to come in the five."

In the men's 800m, the semifinals claimed Bryan Woodward and Trinity Gray as David Krummenacker and Derrick Peterson led qualifying for the final. Peterson, edged by Krummenacker in last year's final, said that last year's experience at the Edmonton World Championships motivated him to set the 2003 Worlds as his goal. "I think rounds play to my strengths, with my distance background," said the former high school miler.

Nicole Teter and Mary Jayne Harrelson easily won their qualifying semis in the women's 800m, with Jen Toomey and Hazel Clark also advancing. Teter, who ran the indoor AR at 800m earlier this year, said she hoped to beat that time -- currently her best indoor or out -- during this year's track campaign. Both round winners said they missed the chance to run a Friday-night round. "I was more nervous today than I would have been if I had raced last night," said Teter.

JUNIORS

The Junior National meet wrapped up on Saturday afternoon with eight distance finals.

Richard Smith, of Virginia's South Lakes High School, won the 800m in 1:48.94, outlasting Tennessee freshman Frank Francois (1:48.99) in a ferocious stretch run. Smith, who was part of a national-record DMR with Alan Webb last year, wants to join Francois and Mark Sylvester at Tennessee next year.

Kristina Shelton ignored the front-running early charge of Whitney Schmucker in the women's 800m, allowing Schmucker a ten-meter gap before reeling her in and passing her with half a lap remaining. Schmucker held on for second. "I knew I had to run my race," said Shelton. "This year I've had problems running everyone else's races. I just split sixty-two like I was supposed to, took it out hard, and ran my race."

The women's 1,500m went to Kathryn Andersen of BYU, who went to the lead after 800m of running and delivered 69- and 67-second laps to string out the field and finish in 4:24.04. "Yesterday [in the heats], I was in the middle and I got tripped around a lot," said Andersen.

The first-ever junior women's 3000m steeplechase championship went to Shiloh Whiting of the University of Arkansas, who was ninth in this year's NCAA final. She ran 10:42.09 and led most of the race, fending off a late challenge from Heidi Bouwhuis of Weber State. Bouwhuis finished second in 10:45.13. Daniel Lyon of Sultana High School won the men's steeple in 9:18.67, pulling away from a tightly bunched field in the final laps.

Favored Chris Lukezic of Washington delivered in the men's 1,500m, going early to the front when he felt the pace lagging and scoring a 3:47.32 victory, which qualified him for the World Junior championships. Lukezic said after the race that his main goal was beating the standard for the world meet, 3:48.00. "It turned a little tactical early on, so I went to the front to keep the pace quick," he said. Lukezic will run for Georgetown next year, joining two other Hoyas who placed in the distance races at this meet.

One of those was Rod Koborsi, whose 14:30.56 made him the first runner not from Stanford to win the junior 5,000m since 1996. Koborsi, who ran for the U.S. junior team at the world cross country championships in March, followed the strategy which brought teammate Charlie Millioen silver in the 10,000m on Friday night: patience.

"Coach wanted me to stay with the pack and with about a thousand to go, make my move," he said. "It was on and off at the beginning, so it took me a while to get into the race. I really felt comfortable in the last mile."

In the women's 3,000m, Jill Miller of Wake Forest did the bulk of the early pace work, whittling the pack down until it was herself, the twins Jackie and Laura Zeigle, and Stanford freshman Sara Bei. At the race entered the final laps, Miller was absorbed into the leading pack, and at the start of the final lap it was Bei breaking free, escaping the pack by five seconds to win in 9:32.98. After working for most of the race, Miller still produced enough kick to take second in 9:37.72, with Laura Zeigle third in 9:39.14 and Jackie fourth in 9:41.23.