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2004
NCAA OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS
by Parker Morse The fourth day of the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships offered few surprises in the women's distances, as top seeds won each final. More excitement came from the team race, where UCLA held off LSU by a single point in the final relay. Mississippi State's Tiffany McWilliams dominated the 1,500m, setting the pace from the gun as usual. Somewhat less usual was the pack behind Williams. As they passed 400m in 63.5, McWilliams was followed closely by Villanova's Marina Muncan, Michigan's Lindsey Gallo, and Georgetown's Treniere Clement. McWilliams continued to apply pressure with second and third laps of 67.0 and 68.6 before finally pulling away at the bell to win in 4:11.59. Clement in second ran a PR 4:12.21, with Muncan third in 4:13.84, and Gallo fourth in 4:15.33. Hilary Edmondson of Wisconsin, who had run more conservatively in the early stages, closed fast to take fifth in 4:16.64. "As a graduating senior, I felt like I had nothing to lose," explained Clement. "My plan was to go after her, and whatever happened, happened." "It was nice" having competition closer than usual, McWilliams added. "It makes me nervous to have people so close, but it also gets the adrenaline going. It's more exciting. My third lap was a bit slower than I wanted it to be, so I may have picked it up for the last lap." "I'm glad this part's over with, but I have a long way to go," said McWilliams. She confirmed that a nagging foot injury might affect her Olympic Trials preparation. "Coach is talking about taking a week off to take care of it," she said. "I want to think there's still more work I can do to get ready." Ida Nilsson of Northern Arizona became the first-ever women's steeplechase champion from a school other than BYU. Nilsson followed Toledo's Briana Shook from the start, then took the lead with four laps to go. Nilsson increased her lead with each lap to finish in 9:48.29 with Shook second in 9:49.44. BYU's two runners, Michaela Mannova and Kassi Andersen, finished third and fourth in 9:56.66 and 9:58.38; in fifth was a new member of the sub-10 club as Nebraska's Ann Gaffigan ran a PR 9:59.75. "She usually gets out fast," Nilsson said of Shook. "I wanted to stick with her and see where it took me. On the last lap, once I got a gap, I wanted to keep it up. I was feeling so horrible on the last lap, I couldn't be nervous. I think we could have run faster if it had been cooler." Neisha Bernard-Thomas has nothing to regret in LSU's single-point loss of the team race. Not only did she run a leg of the Lady Tigers' school-record 4x400m relay, but she set out to an early lead in the 800m, passing the halfway point in 1:01.4, and while challenged repeatedly by Tennessee's Kameisha Bennett (second, 2:03.11) she held on to the lead to win in 2:02.86. Defending champion Alice Schmidt of UNC closed fast to take third in 2:03.79, but not fast enough to reach Bernard-Thomas and Bennett. "I felt like I was ready for the meet," said Schmidt. "It was a really fast race, and now I know I should have gone on the backstretch where I was feeling some strength, instead of waiting. I'm not going to leave this meet unhappy. I would have loved to have won, but third is awesome too." The women's 5,000m proved a replay of the indoor race, as Kim Smith of Providence College jumped to the front and opened a nearly 100m lead within the first kilometer. The rest of the race was just a workout for Smith, as she eventually won in a relatively pedestrian (for Smith) 15:48.86. Sara Bei of Stanford outsprinted Molly Huddle of Notre Dame for second (16:24.90 to 16:25.44) out of a large pack which let Smith go from the start, and appeared to be simply racing for second. The lead of that pack shifted early in the race, including Huddle, Emmily Chelanga of Iona, Clara Horowitz of Duke, and Renee Metiever of Colorado, but Huddle took over by 3K and made a strong move with two laps remaining which was covered only by Bei. Chelanga was fourth in 16:33.97, with Horowitz fifth (16:37.60) and Metiever sixth (16:40.26). "The plan was just to go out fast, then sit back," explained Smith. "We didn't consider time; I just wanted to get away." "I'm going to go to Europe to race next. I'll run a 5K in London, then the Olympics. If nobody else in New Zealand gets either the 'A' standard or the 'B' standard, I get to go. The next fastest time is 16:03, so... We've got a really good training group in Providence, with Amy Rudolph and Marie Davenport. We're all training hard this summer. It works pretty well." "I don't think anyone would try to go with [Smith] the way she's running now," said runner-up Bei. "I thought I should just focus on my race. I was fourth for most of it. I was trying to be confident in my finishing ability. I want to give God the glory, because I did not feel good out there today, and He renewed my strength." UCLA held the lead with 64 points going in to the final relay, with LSU and Nebraska tied at 58 points each. Nebraska didn't have a relay, so UCLA needed to score at least five points to be out of reach of an LSU victory. LSU got the needed victory, but UCLA also got the fourth-place finish and the five points they needed to hold on to the victory, their fifth national title in outdoor track. (Updated June 14, 2004)
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