6/30/08 Day Four
Woke up tired today – there was a lot of activity the last three days. I actually slept in until about 8 am. I walked over to the bridge, across the river and did an easy 2-mile run on the east loop of Pre’s trail. The trail has been resurfaced and all of the mile markers replaced — it was in great shape and full of runners. I saw several people from the dorms and just a lot of runners in general. Everyone was taking the opportunity to run in the Mecca of US running.
The events started early today, with the Decathlon hurdles at 11:30 am, and the Men’s 5000 meter final scheduled for 9:40 pm. Since I was not in one of the covered areas in the grand stands I decided 7 pm was a good time to arrive.
400m: In the men’s semi-finals Wariner and Merritt were in the same heat, finishing 1-2 with times of 44:66 and 44:76 respectively. They both eased up at the end, obviously saving themselves for the final.
High Jump: My seat was in the south stands straight on from the pole vault runway and at the corner of the high jump pit. The women’s high jump was very competitive in this qualifying round, with Amy Acuff, who would be on her 5th team if she qualifies, a crowd favorite.
Steeplechase: Two semifinal heats of the women’s steeplechase. After watching her in Boulder and talking to her at the airport I was definitely rooting for Jenny Barringer in the second heat. Although not as fast as the 9:29 collegiate record set two weeks ago, Barringer went to the front and never looked back, her time of 9:48 setting a new Hayward field record.
Lisa Galaviz, she with the pink striped hair and the current American record holder finished third, easily in the first heat with a time of 9:52. The finals could be exciting Thursday night.
800m: The women’s race was interesting from start to finish. They allowed all four runners who had fallen in the semifinal heat to advance to the finals, creating a field of 12 to start. Hazel Clark, doing what she does best and taking out the field wire to wire, to finish first with a time of 1:59:82, followed closely by Alice Schmidt, and Kamisa Schmidt. Nicole Teter, one of the favorites, finished a close 4th. When 4 women went to the podium for the awards, it was obvious something was up. Kamisha Schmidt, the 3rd place finisher had not yet run an “A” standard time, which meant Teter was on the team going to Beijing.
The men’s 800 went out incredibly fast with Khadevis Robinson (4 time US champion) taking the field out in under 50 seconds. As the second lap moved through the first turn, two of the Oregon runners started moving up on the field. Wheating, a sophomore at U of O, on the outside and Nick Symmonds on the inside, along with Jeb Harris a former Oregon 400 meter runner who was moving up to the 800 and who showed a huge kick in the prelims. As they cam out of the Final turn it was tightly bunched and Symmonds looked boxed on the inside. With about 70 meters to go a hole opened and Symmonds went, at the same time Wheating was making his move on the outside. The crowd, already loud, went nuts. It was like being hit by a wall of sound. Symmonds finished first, followed by Wheating, both with lifetime bests, and with a diving finish. Christian Smith beat Robinson to the line making it an Oregon sweep. I’ve been to an Avalanche-Redwings playoff game, and a Lakers-Kings western conference championship game and I’ve never heard anything as loud as that crowd.
5000m: After that finish the semifinals in the women’s 5000 was quiet with 16 out of the 19 runners moving on to the finals. Shalane Flanagan and Kara Goucher the first 2 finishers in the 10,000 won the two heats of the 5,000, respectively 15:35:86 & 15:32:22.
The men’s 5000 went out at a respectable pace and stayed bunched for the first 2 miles. With three Colorado runners in the field — Goucher, Vaughn, & Pifer — I had to root for the home team, although I was sure Bernard Lagat was going to make it. Pifer and Vaughn lead at various points, but with just over half a mile to go Lagat surged and none of the Colorado runners were up to the task. A pack of 5 went into the final turn with Lagat shifting into a higher gear to win, Matt Tegenkamp was second and Ian Dobson was third. The crowd already excited by the 800 cheered the runners through almost the entire 5,000; you could hear the cheers moving around the stadium keeping time with the lead pack.
What a great night of running. This has been a wonderful four days. It’s after 10 pm, time to go back to the dorm and call it a night.