7/4/08 Day Six
Fourth of July. Olympic Trials. What could be better?
Hooties 2! I think having two Hooties runs during the trials is a first, but it makes sense, since the first trials event doesn’t start until 5:30 in the afternoon afternoon. I wandered over to the expo around 9 am. My only goal, to run faster than last week. About 70 runners were at the start — same course, the same informal organization as always, just a good opportunity to run.
As I mentioned the best part of Hooties is you never know who will show up. Of note today Jeff Galloway (Munich 72), Mark Conover (Seoul 88), Steve Jones (World Record, Chicago 1985) now living in Boulder, and Doris Brown Heritage (5 time winner, world cross country championships)
By the time the run, awards and post race activities were over it was time for lunch. I saw my friend Ray later in the afternoon and he asked me how Paul McMullen was. Now Paul McMullen was a great miler at Michigan and won the Olympic Trials in 1996, but I gave Ray a really blank look. I had no idea what he was talking about. He just looked at me and said “the guy in the cycling gear you were eating lunch with” I couldn’t believe it, but that’s what was so great about these trials.
Politics are everywhere, even at the trials. Several things had been going on over the past week. Greg Hyatt and his wife Lynn were sitting in the seats next to me. They were staying at a bead and breakfast in Eugene, where Phil Knight also happened to be staying. I heard some interesting stories about what was going on. How the search for the new head of USA T&F was going and other things
The big question for tonight was: Would Jordan Hassay run? Apparently she was scheduled to fly to Poland and run in the Junior World Championships. There was a question of whether USA T&F would allow her to run at the trials.
Several great races on tap tonight so I got over to the track about 7:30 to watch some of the last 200 meter heats and the Women’s High jump. Amy Acuff made her 5th Olympic team.
1500m: The Men’s and women’s semifinals were both contested. Two heats each with 24 runners trying to advance. The top six from each heat would move on.
The men ran first at 8:05, with Webb and Lagat being the obvious favorites. The pack was bunched through 3 laps and shifted gears on the last 400. A pack of 5 finished within a second, Bernard Lagat holding off Rob Meyers to win in 3:43:83. Alan Webb finished 5th and looked like he was struggling a bit.
In the second heat went out faster, and won by Gabe Jennings in 3:40:07 with a finish line sprint. He easily could have finished in the top 4 and relaxed in the final 50 meters, I wonder if it was a smart use of energy? Lopez Lamong finished second, edging out Leonel Manzano in third. Stephen Pifer did not make it into the finals.
The women’s Semifinals were run at 8:25. Shannon Rowbury won the first heat with a time of 4:11:75 the quickest time of the night. (The American Record, held by Mary Slaney is 3:57:12)
The focus of the crowd was on the second heat. Both high school runners toed the line. I guess we know what USA T&F decided. Kristin Wurth took the race out and traded leads with Lindsey Gallo the eventual winner. Hassay tucked into the back of the pack and ran easily for the first three laps, a much better strategy than in the quarter finals. With about 200 meters to go the pace picked up and the field spread out through the top turn. Coming out of the top turn Hassay shifted gears and started picking off runners, moving up towards the leaders. The crowd was definitely supportive, and it got extremely load when she made her move. Picking up a couple of runners in the last 30 meters, Hassay moved into fifth place and a spot in the finals, setting a new American High School Record in 4:14:50 in the process. What a race, the crowd loved it.
5000m: The next race of the evening was the Women’s 5000 final. Sixteen runners had made it to the final. Two of them, Goucher and Flanagan, had made the team on the first night of the Trials in the 10,000. This would be another good race. Shalane Flanagan, Jen Rhines, and Kara Goucher took out the pack running 72-73 seconds per lap. The group started stringing out after the first mile and it was down to a group of six by mid-race. With three laps to go Flanagan surged with Rines and Goucher in a three woman break away. Their average lap time over the last three laps was 66 seconds. Kara Goucher surged again in the final straight, passing a fading Flanagn and Rhines, to win in 15:01:02.
10,000m The men’s 10,000 final was filled with controversy from the start. Adam Goucher was apparently going to run in the final. That was remarkable because he would be the 25th runner, and with more than 24 they are supposed to run heats, and there were apparently seven runners who had run faster times and had not been invited. Furthering the rumors was the fact that he had dropped out of the 5,000 earlier in the trials.
A large group of eleven had separated itself from the rest of the field by the halfway mark. Jorge Torres hanging in with the top 3-4 runners and Ed Torres hanging in with the last 3-4 and Adam Goucher between them. A good day for Colorado so far.
Abdi Abdirahman went to the lead early and never let up. Having run the second fastest 10,000 in US history approximately a month earlier at the Prefontaine Classic he was definitely the favorite. At the mid point of the race Abdirahman surged followed by Galen Rupp and Jorge Torres, creating a large gap between themselves and the other runners in the lead pack. Rupp, a sophomore at Oregon, was clearly a crowd favorite. The cheering gathered in volume over the conclusion of the race, and with about a mile to go the City of Eugene’s fireworks display started across the river north of the stadium. Great entertainment, watching three fit athletes run hard and work on each other to a cheering crowd of 20,000 plus with fireworks in the background. It doesn’t get much better than this.
Rupp went in front of the grand stands with 800 meters to go, but Abdirahman quickly moved back to the lead to finish in 27:41:89 with Rupp on his shoulder and Torres about 5 seconds back. Abdirahman continued to run another 100 meters, Shook hands along the east stand, and finally jumped into the steeplechase water jump at the north end of the track.
As we were exiting the stadium another fireworks display started, south of the stadium for the trials spectators. Track Town USA indeed.