2003 NCAA OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Distance Event Recap

By Parker Morse

Tiffany McWilliams on her way to a meet-record-breaking win in the 1,500m. (Photo: Alison Wade/New York Road Runners)

10,000m
Sabrina Monro took the early lead, but Vicky Gill of Florida State took over before the kilometer mark and led the early going. They reached 1k in 3:18, 2k in 6:35 (a 3:17), 3k in 9:57 (a 3:22) and 4k in 13:20 (a 3:23). At first Gill's pace strung out the pack, but by 4k there were eleven, including Gill, both Kate and Laura O'Neill, Kristin Price, Alicia Craig, Jamie Krzyminski, Annie Bersagel, Debbie Thornhill, Monro, and Sarah Folse. At this point, Kate and Laura O'Neill moved to the front and started pushing. The pack strung out immediately, and within a kilometer it was down to seven: the twins, Price and Craig, Gill, Bersagel, and Krzyminski. The fifth kilometer was a 3:18, and they reached halfway in 16:38.

Gill was the next off the pack as they ran 3:17 for the sixth kilometer. 3:16 for the seventh, then another 3:16 chipped Bersagel off the lead as they reached twenty laps in 26:25. At the halfway point of each lap, a Stanford crowd banged in the bleachers and chanted, "Alicia's just jogging." On the next lap, Craig moved up between the O'Neills, and with three to go, she moved in to the lead. Kate O'Neill followed, with the other three struggling in their wake. After a series of 77- and 78-second laps, Craig ran 72, 73 and finally 75, covering the ninth kilometer in 3:10 and the tenth in 3:05. She won in 32:40.03, a Stanford school record. Kate O'Neill was second in 32:47.07, with Price third in 32:50.01 and Laura O'Neill fourth in 32:52.26. Jamie Krzyminski was right behind Laura in 32:52.87. Vicky Gill, who had a hard time in the middle of the race, finished strong, moving back into sixth and finishing in 33:09.35.

5,000m
It wasn't too surprising to see Shalane Flanagan, Lauren Fleshman and Sara Gorton in a tight pack pulling away from this race. Molly Huddle, Mary Cullen and Sara Bei ran together in the second pack, with Everlyne Lagat adrift by herself and Anna Blue leading the bulk of the field in eighth. The raucous Stanford section alternated chanting "Fleshman! Fleshman!" with "Sara BEI! Sara BEI!" With three laps to go, the trio was lapping runners, and Bei began to fall back from Huddle and Cullen. Approaching the bell, Fleshman made her move to the lead, and Gorton fell back. With 300 to go, Fleshman made a gap, and ran away to her third consecutive championship in 15:24.06, a meet record by thirteen seconds. Flanagan PRed in second with 15:30.60, and Gorton was third in 15:40.13. Huddle closed well in front of Cullen, 15:55.96 to 15:58.47. Anna Blue moved strongly from the back, making her way to sixth (16:21.92) by the end. Lagat fell back to ninth, and Bei all the way to thirteenth.

3,000m Steeplechase
Lisa Aguilera had the time credentials coming in to the final, and she was the one who took the early lead with Ida Nilsson on her shoulder. Carol Henry moved up to take the lead in the second lap, with Nilsson, Aguilera, Letiwe Marakurwa, Brianna Dahm and Roisin McGettigan following. Henry held the lead until two laps to go, when Nilsson took off. Kassi Anderson, who had been on and off the back of the pack until then, was the only one to cover Nilsson's move. Marakurwa led the pursuit of the two leaders. At the bell it was Nilsson and Anderson, with McGettigan now free of the pack and overtaking. Nilsson and Anderson reached the water barrier together, and Anderson got out quickest and opened a lead down the homestretch to win in 9:44.95, another meet record and the third consecutive win for BYU steeplechasers. No other school has won an NCAA steeplechase title.

Nilsson was second in 9:46.74, and McGettigan third in 9:50.12, followed by Marakurwa, Aguilera, then Dawn Cleary and Henry.

1,500m
Everybody knew what Tiffany McWilliams was going to do in the final, particularly after her 4:10.60 preliminary round, the fastest prelim ever run in the NCAA. Sure enough, McWilliams went out hard, covering the first 400m in 64.2 and opening a fifteen-meter gap back to Christin Wurth and defending champion Lena Nilsson. Malindi Elmore ran fourth. McWilliams slowed some in the second lap, reaching 800m in 2:11. With two laps to go, Lena Nilsson moved to second and began closing on McWilliams, and with 600 to go Johanna Nilsson moved into third and also began closing in. At the bell (3:00) Lena was in contact, and she and McWilliams reached 1,200m in 3:17.3 Nilsson moved to the front on the backstretch, but when they reached the corner she had not established a gap on McWilliams. McWilliams moved up on the homestretch, finding a kick somewhere after her relentless front-running, and broke away to win in 4:06.75, breaking Suzy Favor Hamilton's thirteen-year-old meet record of 4:08. Nilsson was second in 4:09.86, and Wurth held on for third in 4:10.49, just in front of Courtney Inman (4:10.93). 2003 NCAA Indoor mile champion Johanna Nilsson fell back to twelfth, 4:18.13.

800m
Nicole Cook took the lead when the 800m broke from lanes, but the pack was shuffled on the homestretch and they passed the bell (59.4) with defending champion Alice Schmidt and Becky Lyne in the front, and the other six bunched up nearly three lanes wide behind them. Schmidt and Lyne opened a small gap on the backstretch, but Laura Gerber and Cook covered the move with 600 to go, and they entered the homestretch four wide.

Schmidt found the power to put herself securely in front in the final meters, following her coaches instructions to race five meters past the line. She won in 2:01.16. Neisha Bernard-Thomas of LSU managed to outlean Lyne for second, 2:01.75 to 2:01.76. Gerber was fourth in 2:02.25, and Cook wound up sixth in 2:04.02