Posted: June 9, 2005

Athletics: NCAA Championships Day 1 Recap

From David Monti

© 2005 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

By Mike Scott

Sacramento, Calif. (08-Jun) -- Rainy conditions marred the first day of competition at the 2005 NCAA Division I Men's & Women's Outdoor Track & Field Championships, hosted by California State University - Sacramento in Hornet Stadium. Unlike last year's meet in Austin, where Day 1 competition was suspended after the first couple of events due to torrential downpours and lightening, the 60-degree (F) temperatures and light rain proved only to be a nuisance to participants and spectators and only slightly delayed the meet.

The relatively cool, damp conditions, while not ideal for the sprint prelims conducted early in the evening, made for near perfect conditions for the prelims in the steeplechase and 5000-meters.

In the women's steeplechase, Colorado's Natalie Florence and Oklahoma State's Barbora Kuncova paced the first heat through the opening laps. Butler University's Victoria Mitchell, the 2005 collegiate leader, edged away from Kuncova and Florence over the final straight to win that heat in the night's fastest time, 10:07.02, with Kunconva (10:07.31) and Florence (10:08.31) notching the 2nd and 3rd fastest times. North Carolina's Cassie King led much of the race in heat 2 through a slower early pace, with most of the pack close behind. In a mass sprint for the finish that saw the top six finish within 0.52 seconds, Tennessee-Chattanooga's Shannon Wommack edged out Providence's Fiona Crombie 10:08.52 to 10:08.64 for the heat win.

Cal Poly's Ben Bruce forced the pace in the first heat of the men's steeple, leading virtually all the way until he was challenged by UTEP's Patrick Mutai with 200 remaining. Bruce surged hard into the final water jump to regain the lead and ended up falling into the pit; Bruce quickly regained his feet and sprinted hard down the straight to claim the final automatic qualifying spot in 8:34.92 in that heat, which was won by Florida State's Andrew Lemoncello in 8:34.28. Arkansas's Peter Kosgei took over the lead in the second heat of the steeple after a slow opening lap and led the field all the way to the finish, running 8:32.97 for the fastest time of the evening, just ahead of UTEP's Mircea Bogdan, the collegiate leader, who claimed runner-up honors in 8:33.51.

In heat one of the men's 5000, the field was content to jog through the first four laps in 4:59.9 before Colorado's Brent Vaughn started forcing the pace with 8 laps remaining. Eight athletes remained in contention with 1000 remaining -- and those 8 stuck tightly together as the field entered the final lap. Vaughn made strong move on the back stretch to retake the lead, which he held on to win in 14:21.04. Six more athletes finished with 0.79 seconds of Vaughn. The second heat, which had the benefit of observing the slow pace of the first heat, went out more strong with a 4:33.2 split at the mile. Despite the swift pace, the field stayed tightly bunched, knowing that most of them would advance to the final due to the faster pace. Michigan's Nick Willis moved up from dead last place over the final three laps to sixth with 400m to go, then demonstrated that he will be a contender in the final with a blistering surge on the back stretch and around the final turn that put him in the lead. Willis then relaxed down the homestretch, trading comments with Stanford's Ian Dobson, the collegiate leader, as the two grabbed the top two places in 13:54.24 and 13:54.30 respectively.

The evening closed with the women's 5000-meters. Collegiate leader Sara Bei (Stanford) followed the early pacemaking of Notre Dame's Stephanie Madia before sprinting away over the last 200 to win heat one in 16:12.57. Illinois' Jamie Turilli claimed second in that heat in 16:13.53, while Madia was third in 16:14.5; Iona's Salome Kosgei, the 5th fastest seed, finished a non-qualifying 10th in 16:40.80. NCAA indoor 3000 champ Renee Metiever (Colorado) led the 2nd heat through 10 laps before the field reeled her in; NCAA East Region champ Megan Metcalfe (West Virginia/Canada) edged out Yale freshman Lindsay Donaldson 16:18.71 to 16:19.28, with four more athletes spread out across the track in a blanket finish within 0.89 seconds of Metcalfe.

Earlier in the evening, Michigan's Andrew Ellerton led the qualifiers in the men's 800 with a 1:47.88 heat winning effort, while collegiate leader Jonathon Johnson was content to advance with a 1:48.13 effort from the same heat. Kansas State's Lysaira Roman-DelValle notched the fastest time in the women's 800 prelims with a 2:04.85 effort, while collegiate leader Aneita Denton (Arkansas) advanced with a 2:05.73.

Competition resumes on Thursday with eagerly anticipated finals slated in the men's and women's 10,000. The women's 10,000 could be an East Coast affair, with Columbia's Caroline Bierbaum, Harvard's Lindsay Scherf, and Providence's Mary Cullen among the top seed; also in the field is two-time defending champion Alicia Craig running in her last NCAA competition. The men's 10,000 will be important to the men's team race, with Arkansas' Josphat Boit and Peter Kosgei matching up with NCAA harrier champ Simon Bairu and Oregon frosh Galen Rupp.