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By Mike Scott
Des Moines, Ia. (13-Jun) -– Jenny Barringer (Colorado) and Kyle Alcorn (Arizona State) won the women's and men's steeple under clear skies at the NCAA Division I Men's & Women's Outdoor Track & Field Championships hosted by Drake University here, while Sally Kipyego (Texas Tech) and Bobby Curtis (Villanova) achieved redemption for last spring's runner-up finishes with wins at 5000. Several key records were broken.
Barringer, the 2007 USA steeplechase champion who finished only seventh at last year's NCAA meet after losing a shoe during the second lap, avoided repeating that mishap by bolting into the lead with the sound of the starter's pistol, covering the first lap in a swift 72 seconds. She was clearly trying for more than just the win.
“I went into this race wanting to run hard from the start,” said Barringer, “so I was out of traffic and I wouldn’t risk getting my shoe clipped. That was the main motivation for me.”
Texas Tech's Irene Kimaiyo, who beat Barringer in Boulder at last month's Big 12 Championships, led the pursuers which included Penn State's Bridget Franek, Weber State's Sariah Long, and Southern Methodist's Silje Fjortoft. They never got close to the lead.
Barringer continued to pull away from the pack, passing two laps in 2:29 and four laps in 5:03. Her lead continued to grow, and it became apparent that she was after both Lisa Galaviz's U.S. record of 9:28.75, her own U.S. collegiate best of 9:33.95 (set in Paris at DecaNation last year), and Anna Willard's NCAA Championships record of 9:38.08. Her own U.S. all-comer mark of 9:34.64 and the Drake Stadium record of 9:44.31 would just be a throw-ins.
“I said to myself ‘go for it,’” said Barringer who finished well clear of the field in 9:29.20, shattering all of the above marks but Galaviz's. “How many times are you on a great track with warm weather and the crowd going wild? I didn’t even know until I finished that I was close to the American record. I felt really strong and felt God’s pleasure the whole time. This is what I do and I love doing it.”
Behind Barringer, Fjortoft had joined Kimaiyo and Franek with three laps to go. Kimaiyo drifted backwards while Fjortoft pressed the pace and began to edge away from Franek. The SMU freshman held on to claim silver in 9:55.54, while Franek claimed bronze in 9:58.74. Surprising Lindsay Allen (Stanford) captured fourth in 10:05.26, a fraction of an inch ahead of Kimaiyo in 10:05.29.
The men's steeplechase involved a much closer finish. Florida State's Luke Gunn and Colorado's Billy Nelson pulled the tightly bunched pack through early splits of 68, 2:19 (two laps), and 4:36 (four laps). Among the pack were defending champion Barnabus Kirui (Ole Miss), Arkansas's Peter Kosgei, Arizona State's Kyle Alcorn, and UTEP's Patrick Mutai.
Gunn still led at five laps (passed in 5:44), with Kosgei, Nelson, and Alcorn right on his heels. Alcorn surged into the lead with a lap and a half remaining and started to string out the pack, passing the bell with a lap to go in 7:27 and a 20-meter lead. However, Alcorn appeared to struggle over the next 200 while Nelson closed on him in hot pursuit. Nelson closed within two strides by the final barrier, but Alcorn found the strength to get to the line first in 8:28.26, breaking a 31-year old Drake Stadium record held by the venerable Henry Marsh.
“It did not click (with me) that I could win until with two laps to go,” said Alcorn. “I was not sure how much everyone else had left. With about 800 to go, Peter Kosgei of Arkansas and Billy Nelson of Colorado took off - and Billy has good closing speed - so I went with them. I took the lead with 600 to go.”
Nelson claimed second just behind in 8:28.85, while Gunn finished third in 8:34.41. Iowa State's Hillary Bor placed fourth in 8:36.84, while Kosgei grabbed fifth in 8:37.61.
KIPYEGO DOMINATES 5000M
Texas Tech's Sally Kipyego must have been reading from the same highly successful playbook that Barringer and last night's 10,000m champ Lisa Koll used over the past two days to overpower their competition: run from the front. Kipyego shot to the lead at the start and blasted away from the field with a 69-sec opening circuit. She had a 50-meter lead through the first kilometer (3:01), while Stanford's Teresa McWalters, Oregon's Nicole Blood, Virginia Tech's Tasmin Fanning, Florida's Rebecca Lowe, and Texas A&M's Christina Munoz ran at the front of the chase pack.
Lapping some of the trailing runners, Kipyego got to the finish in 15:15.08 to break the NCAA championship meet record established by Wake Forest's Michelle Sikes last spring where Kipyego had finished second. The win was Kipyego's seventh NCAA crown in a mere two-year career.
“I really wanted to win last year and I didn’t,” said Kipyego who will also compete in tomorrow's 1500m final here. “The 5000 is my favorite race of the entire NCAA meet. This is my last outdoor championship and I wanted to make sure that I got the title today.”
Illinois's Angela Bizzarri moved first at the bell, but Oregon's Blood quickly passed her to move into the lead. Bizzari passed her back and managed to edge away to claim second in 15:46.08, a 30-second personal best. Blood finished a couple strides behind in 15:49.22. McWalters finished fourth in 15:50.18, while Lowe placed fifth in 15:50.73.
VAUGHN UPSET BY CURTIS IN MEN'S 5000M
Colorado's Brent Vaughn, Stephen Pifer, and Kenyon Neuman entered the race with a team plan: set an honest pace.
So, the Buffalo trio opened with a 65 first lap and traded pacemaking duties for the first eight laps, passing one kilometer in 2:45, 2-K in 5:31, and 3-K in 8:19.
Villanova's Bobby Curtis, Northern Arizona's David McNeill, and Notre Dame's Patrick Smyth stayed near the front, trailing the three Buffs closely. Vaughn continued to press the pace through 4-K (11:05), dropping all contenders except Curtis, last year's NCAA 5000 runner-up. Curtis continued to draft off Vaughn until the bell, when he spurted to the front and ran away to win in 13:33.93.
“My coach Marcus Sullivan told me not to go until you know you have it won,” said Curtis. “The pace was fast enough to string out the pack single file, but it slowed down so the miler types could recover. I was tying up on the final stretch, but felt great.”
Pifer caught the struggling Vaughn in the final meters to finish second in 13:39.34 ahead of Vaughn's 13:39.44.
The 2008 NCAA championships concludes on Saturday with 18 finals, including the men's and women's 800 and men's and women's 1500.
PHOTOS BY MIKE SCOTT: Billy Nelson can't catch Kyle Alcorn in the men's steeple and Sally Kipyego runs away with the 5000m title
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