Posted: June 26, 2006

Athletics: Newbies Torres, Rudolph Earn USA 10,000 Titles

By Charlie Mahler, Running USA wire

INDIANAPOLIS - (June 23, 2006) - Jorge Torres and Amy Rudolph made late bids to secure their career-first USA 10,000 meter titles at the AT&T USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

Winning 10,000 meter races on the track usually requires patience, but the situation here demanded something of another order. Rained out on Thursday night when severe thunderstorms rocked the area, the fields finally took to the track at the end of the session Friday, culminating a distance running carnival of championship proportions. Temperatures dropped from the high- to mid-70s during the evening, with dew points in the high 50s.

In a men's race that most expected to be another edition of the Meb vs. Abdi duel - between them, Team Running USA's Meb Keflezighi and Abdi Abdirahman have won five titles - Torres, running in his first-ever 10,000 meter race, ran away from 2004 Olympians Keflezighi and Dan Browne over the last half mile to earn his first USA track title. Torres ran 28:14.43 in his debut with Keflezighi and Browne second and third respectively in 28:18.74 and 28:19.32.

The 2002 NCAA Cross Country champion, who gained access to the event by petition, stayed mostly aloof of the back-and-forth early lead changes between defending champ Abdirahman and three-time USA 10,000 meter champion Keflezighi that colored the early-going.

Abdirahman, who would drop out of the race with a strained calf with a mile to go, led the race by 20 meters at the mile, hit in 4:30. He had taken the lead back from Keflezighi at two miles which the lead group passed in 9:05. Abdirahman led again at 5000 meters (14:14), but Torres and Keflezighi had done some of the pace work to get there.

Abdi and Meb traded the lead in the next six laps while Torres, Browne, Anthony Famiglietti and the surprising Jason Lehmkuhle followed. Seven laps from home, with Lehmkuhle already off the back, Torres, 25, took the lead and turned the pressure up enough to shake Famiglietti.

With four contenders remaining, Keflezighi took the lead a final time with roughly 1200 to go, just as Abdirahman was forced to abandon, but Torres regained control shortly thereafter. Browne had a notion of taking the lead with 800 meters to go, but soon found himself falling out of the group. Keflezighi hung until the final 200 meters before letting go of the former Colorado Buffalo.

"I knew I was in decent shape coming into this," said Torres, the 2005 USA 8K champion. "I can't say I knew I was going to win. This is my first 10K on the track, and with 1K to go I knew I was in contention to win it. It was a good way to win my first national championship."

"I feel like I was meant for distances like the 10K," Torres continued, "but I have not said goodbye to the 5K. Look for me next year at the Trials for the marathon."

Women's champ Rudolph had to wait a long time to win her first USA track title - that extra day and the better part of a professional career. But, in her first attempt at 10,000 meters at a USA Championship, the Providence grad out-kicked Sara Slattery to win in 32:25.56.

Slattery clocked 32:29.97, while the surprising Samia Akbar was third in 32:41.84.

Rudolph and Slattery sat on defending champ Katie McGregor for 22 laps before taking hold of the race themselves. The Team USA Minnesota athlete took the leaders thru the mile in 5:02 and 5000 in 16:08, but lost a little bit of tempo each lap. Slattery, another former Colorado star, finally shocked the pace that had lagged to over 80 seconds a lap with 71 second circuits in an attempt to run away from Rudolph. The veteran Rudolph, 32, stuck until the final turn and then pulled away in the sprint for home.

"My plan was to take it at three laps to go and run 70, 70, 70 or whatever it took to win," runner-up Slattery explained. "Amy was strong at the end. It probably wasn't the best race situation for Katie [McGregor] either. I feel like a bad sport in some ways, that she had to lead that way, because I've had to do that before and it's not fun."

The rejuvenated Rudolph, a two-time Olympian, knew the wait-see plan was part of the game.

"I really wanted to win tonight so I waited as long as possible. When Sara went, she went hard and it was a hard last three laps, and never did I think I'd win until I crossed the line."

"It took me eleven years," Rudolph remembered, "but I finally won an outdoor title and I'm really excited. It's a whole different ballgame [the 10,000], but I'm loving it so far, learning a lot, I'm adapting to the training really well, so I'm excited about the next couple years."

USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships - World Cup Qualifier, Indianapolis, IN, Friday, June 23, 2006

MEN's 10,000 Meters
1) Jorge Torres, CO, 28:14.43, $4000
2) Meb Keflezighi, CA, 28:18.74, $3000
3) Dan Browne, OR, 28:19.32, $2000
4) Anthony Famiglietti, NY, 28:27.73, $1000
5) Jason Lehmkuhle, MN, 28:44.14, $500
6) Brandon Leslie, NM, 28:50.12
7) Jason Hartmann, CO, 29:03.30
8) Fernando Cabada, VA, 29:06.96
9) Stuart Eagon, WI, 29:10.19
10) Fasil Bizuneh, CA, 29:11.91

WOMEN's 10,000 Meters
1) Amy Rudolph, RI, 32:25.56, $4000
2) Sara Slattery, CO, 32:29.97, $3000
3) Samia Akbar, VA, 32:41.84, $2000
4) Katie McGregor, MN, 32:49.62, $1000
5) Victoria Jackson, AZ, 33:14.76, $500
6) Melissa Cook, TX, 33:30.08
7) Rebecca Walter, MI, 33:58.18
8) Emily Mortensen, CO, 34:02.23
9) Heather Gibson, CA, 34:11.21
10) Angela Homan, AL, 34:19.41

Find full results at: USATF.org.

Ryan Lamppa, Running USA Media Director
(805) 696-6232; Fax = (805) 659-0016
Ryan@RunningUSA.org
www.RunningUSA.org.

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