Posted: June 12, 2005

Athletics: NCAA Championships Day 4: Last Champions Crowned

From David Monti

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

By Mike Scott

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (11-Jun) -- Great competition was the order of the day as the 2005 NCAA Division I Men's & Women's Outdoor Track & Field Championships -- hosted by California State University - Sacramento in Hornet Stadium -- concluded in front of 10,200 fans on a beautiful California evening.

Colorado's Stephen Pifer set a fast pace from the starter's gun and led the men's 1500-meter field through swift splits of 57.5 and 1:56.84, with the field following closely behind. Georgetown's Chris Lukezic surged to the fore during the third lap and made a bid to break from the field, passing 1200 in 2:54.7. Behind Lukezic, Brigham Young's Bryan Lindsay and Texas frosh Leonel Manzano moved out of the chase pack and began to close on the leader. Manzano captured the lead coming into the homestretch and pulled away to win in a swift 3:37.13, the second fastest time by an American in 2005. Lindsay claimed runner-up honors in 3:38.31, while American University's Sean Duffy grabbed the bronze in 3:38.46. Arkansas' Adam Perkins closed strongly for fourth in 3:38.54, while Florida's Shane Stroup finished fifth in 3:38.57 and Lukezic sixth in 3:38.58.

Unlike the men's 1500-meters, no one wanted to set the early pace in the women's 1500-meters. Southern California's Iryna Vashchuk, North Carolina's Erin Donohue, and Nebraska's Anne Shadle paced the field through 400 in 69.70. NCAA indoor champ Shadle accelerated during the next lap to lead the field through 800 in 2:16.03, with North Arizona's Johanna Nilsson -- a former NCAA indoor champ -- and Donohue in close pursuit. Shadle surged again just before 1200, passed in 3:22.19, to put some daylight between her and Nilsson, Vashchuk, and Donohue. Shadle continued to pull away down the homestretch to complete the indoor/outdoor double, winning in 4:11.47. Nilsson held on for second in 4:13.36, while Stanford's Ari Lambie closed strongly to claim third in 4:13.64. Donohue finished fourth in 4:14.57, while Brigham Young frosh Heidi Magill placed fifth in 4:15.57, and Michigan's Lindsay Gallo sixth in 4:15.83.

Men's 800-meter co-favorite Jonathon Johnson (Texas Tech) led the other favorite Dmitrijis Milkevics (Nebraska) through 400. Milkevics accelerated well over the final 200 to win in a stadium record 1:44.74. Florida A&M's Kevin Hicks finished second in 1:44.94, while Auburn's Sherridan Kirk placed third in 1:45.43. Kansas' Jeremy Mims' claimed fourth in 1:45.86, while Michigan's Andrew Ellerton placed fifth in 1:46.25 and Johnson sixth in 1:46.43.

Nebraska's Egle Uljas and Brigham Young's Aneta Lemiesz led the field in the women's 800-meters through the first lap in 60.47. Favorite Aneita Denton (Arkansas) closed strongly to win in 2:02.84. Cal Poly's Maggie Vessey claimed second in 2:03.10 a step ahead of Akron's Beata Rudzinska, third in 2:03.14. Michgan's Katie Erdman placed fourth in 2:03.86, Oral Roberts' Mable Kunihira fifth in 2:05.98, and Cal's Alysia Johnson sixth in 2:06.88. Lemiesz and Uljas tripped and fell to the track in the final meters of the home stretch then finally got to their feet and walked across the finish; Uljas was subsequently disqualified.

10,000-meter champ Robert Chesert led a closely bunched men's 5000-meters field through the first 1000 in 2:43.89. Wisconsin's Matt Tegenkamp and Chris Solinsky assumed pacemaking duties to lead Stanford's Ian Dobson and Ryan Hall as well as Chesert through 2000 in 5:24.81. Dobson and Hall took over the pace shortly thereafter, passing 3000 in 8:04.84 with only the Wisconsin duo of Tegenkamp and Solinsky still in contact. Hall and Dobson continued to force the pace as they opened a gap over their pursuers, passing 4000 in 10:46.68, while Colorado's Brent Vaughn and Michigan's Nick Willis caught and passed Tegenkamp and Solinsky. Hall and Dobson pulled away to a comfortable 1-2 finish win 13:22.32 and 13:22.54 respectively, with Hall taking the title with a spurt in the final meters. Hall's time was a collegiate leading mark and established a new stadium record. Willis closed well over the final 400 to nail down third in 13:27.54, while Vaughn claimed fourth in 13:40.11, Tegenkamp fifth in 13:41.07, and Chesert sixth in 13:41.88.

The women's 5000-meters was a slow tactical affair, with no athlete willing to force the pace. Almost by default, Michigan's Rebecca Walter led the field through 1000 and 2000 splits of 3:25.12 and 7:09.33 respectively. NC State's Julia Lucas took over pacemaking duties at 2400 and led through 3000 in 10:32.48. Stanford's Teresa McWalters forced the pace during the next kilo, passing 4000 in 13:34.07 while teammate Sara Bei and West Virginia's Megan Metcalfe were the only athletes still in contention. Bei and Metcalfe sat on McWalters until 300 to go, when both sprinted for the lead. Bei had a step on Metcalfe going into the final turn, but Metcalfe rallied in the final meters to surge past Bei for the win. Metcalfe claimed the championship in 16:31.88 while Bei finished a step behind in 16:32.42. McWalters held on for the bronze in 16:38.44, while Colorado's Renee Metiever placed fourth in 16:43.15. Notre Dame's Stephanie Madia finished fifth in 16:43.98, while Yale frosh Lindsay Donaldson claimed sixth in 16:45.84 to earn All American honors for all three seasons during her inaugural collegiate campaign.

In the team battle, a world-leading 19.91 200-meter run by Arkansas' Wallace Spearman -- backed up by a third-place finish by teammate Tyson Gay, who had recorded a 19.93 in the semifinal -- clinched the 41st NCAA team title for John McDonnell's Razorbacks, with a 60-point total, comfortably ahead of SEC rival Florida's 49 points. Spearman and Gay had also contributed towards the Razorback's win on Friday in the 4x100-meter relay.

On the women's side, Texas won the final event -- the women's 4x400-meter relay -- in a collegiate leading 3:27.13 to move ahead of UCLA and win the team title with 55 points. UCLA finished in a tie for second with South Carolina, with both schools totaling 48 points.