Kim Smith sparks day one of NCAA Indoor Championships with collegiate 5,000m record

by Parker Morse

RELATED LINKS: Day Two Report Women's Photos Men's Photos Interview with Kim Smith

Alicia Craig hung with Kim Smith early on in the 5,000m... (All photos: Alison Wade/New York Road Runners)

...but in the end, Smith dominated, setting a new collegiate record and lapping everyone in the field but Craig.

While Kim Smith didn't come right out and state that Sonia O'Sullivan's 13-year-old collegiate indoor 5,000m record was her goal for the NCAA Championships, but after her blazing 15:18 at the Terrier Classic in January, she admitted that perhaps it might make a good target. She went after it aggressively on Friday night, and chopped off just over three seconds.

Smith leapt to the lead immediately, and by the conclusion of the first lap had opened a wide and rapidly growing gap on the field, with only Stanford's Alicia Craig attempting to hang on. Notre Dame's Molly Huddle used Smith's momentum to get clear of the main pack as well, but by the end of the first kilometer (reached in a scorching 2:57.6) Craig was the only runner in contact, and Huddle was alone. Melissa Gulli (Texas A&M) and Kristin Price (NC State) were also separated between Huddle and the rest of the race.

"Coach [Ray Treacy] told me to start much slower than I did, but I get scared doing that. I find it hard to judge the pace in the first laps. After two or three laps I got into [the pace he wanted]," Smith explained. "He was calling 200 splits. I didn't really know how fast I was running." At 2K she was at 6:00.4, dead on 15:00 pace, and Craig was slipping away.

Even though she slowed down in the third kilometer (9:05.3, a 3:05) she had a nine-second lead on Craig and 24 on Huddle, and had begun lapping athletes. Two laps later she was amid the main pack, and with seven laps remaining she had lapped everyone but Huddle and Craig. Reaching 4K at 12:10.2, she needed only a 3:07 to break the record, and with her closest competition (Craig) 16 seconds behind, she pushed the pace harder. With three laps remaining she lapped Huddle, leaving only Craig on her lap. A 63-second last 400 brought her in at 15:14.18, 3.1 seconds under the old record (15:17.28).

"After running just a couple of ticks away from [the record] in Boston," Smith said, "I started to think it was possible. But my main interest was to win. Getting the record was just an added bonus. I backed off a bit, because I knew I had to race tomorrow, so yes, I think I could go faster."

Saturday night's other distance final was the distance medley relay, which was, ironically, won with sprint strength. Brooke Novak led off for Tennessee, handing off to Dee Dee Trotter in second place. Trotter opened a lead on the 400m leg, and Nicole Cook expanded it to a whopping 11 seconds on the third (800m) leg before handing off to Lindsay Hyatt, who had earlier been the fastest non-qualifier in the qualifying rounds of the mile. Handing off behind Tennessee was Villanova (anchored by Marina Muncan), Stanford (anchored by Sara Bei), and UCLA (anchored by former mile champion Lena Nilsson.) Nilsson set off on a long drive to overtake Hyatt, but that sort of campaign is not the sort of race Nilsson runs best. The gap closed, but not quickly enough for UCLA.

With one lap remaining, Nilsson faded, and Bei pounced. She tore by Nilsson on the backstretch and abruptly chopped Hyatt's lead so significantly that she appeared to be in range, but Hyatt by now was closing with the kind of kick that comes from fear, and she managed to retain Tennessee's lead (albeit reduced to a single second) to the finish line (11:06.07). Bei brought Stanford in second (11:07.15), and UCLA finished third (11:08.70).

Nicole Cook runs the third leg of the DMR for Tennessee.

Cook of Tennessee also dominated the first heat of the 800m, taking the lead when the field broke from lanes and leading Neisha Bernard-Thomas (LSU), Alice Schmidt (UNC), and Katie Erdman (Michigan) through a 2:04.03 finish; all four finished within a second, with Erdman fourth in 2:04.77. Cook's teammate Leslie Treherne stepped over the line early at the start of the second heat, and was disqualified for the false start. On the second start, the field bunched up at the break, with Beata Rudzinska (Akron), and Nikeya Green (Wake Forest) passing the first lap together. The pace fell off once Rudzinska established herself in the front. In the closing lap, Beth Heimann moved up to claim the second automatic qualifying spot, dragging Kamille Bratton (Florida) past Green. Bratton (2:07.00) advanced on time (along with Schmidt, Erdman, and Ashley Patten of Missouri from the first heat) and Green was fourth (2:07.25) and out.

Hyatt led out the first heat of the women's mile, followed by Natalie Hughes of Florida State and Treniere Clement of Georgetown, through three quarters. There defending champion Johanna Nilsson moved into the lead, followed immediately by Wisconsin's Hilary Edmondson and Clement. Nilsson took the heat in 4:38.26, with Clement (4:38.73) and Hughes (4:29.17) taking the other automatic spots ahead of a fading Edmondson (4:39.37). Marlies Overbeeke of Virginia Tech was only a second back (4:40.46), then a gap back to Hyatt (4:44.01) in sixth.

The second heat developed predictably: outdoor champion Tiffany McWilliams moved out to the front and settled. After two laps, McWilliams had opened a gap on the field, which was strung out behind her. McWilliams passed halfway in 2:15 and three quarters in 3:26, well up on the first heat's splits. She maintained her lead to the finish, reached in 4:39.58. Lauren King of Notre took second in 4:41.06 with Michigan's Lindsey Gallo immediately behind in 4:41.10. Kerry Meagher of Notre Dame moved up to fourth in 4:41.18, and Duke's Shannon Rowbury (4:41.27) grabbed the last time-qualifying spot (with the other two going to Edmondson and Overbeeke from the first heat.)