Moore shakes off pressure to catch Lockhart

By Parker Morse

Tim Moore battles with Bobby Lockhart down the home stretch. (MensRacing.com Photo)

Was it a post-Webb-and-Ritzenhein vacuum? This year's field lacked the big names of last year's, but instead there were a crowd of valid contenders and faster times under worse conditions.

Through the first mile the West boys (Nurani Sheikh, Yong-Sung Leal, Billy Nelson and Jesse Fayant) led the pack in 4:40, with Nelson pulling hardest. The entire pack was crowded into twelve seconds. Bobby Lockhart (the South region winner) and Tim Moore (the Midwest winner) moved to the front in the second mile. At the two-mile mark, it was Moore and Lockhart side by side in 9:33, with unheralded Milos Mitric dogging their heels.

Mitric, a Yugoslavian exchange student in Asheville, North Carolina, was something of a surprise, having placed eighth at the South Regional. "I didn't want to focus a lot on the Regional race," Mitric said afterward. Mitric expects that he will miss the World Junior Cross-Country meet in Dublin, since his federation cannot afford to fly him back to Yugoslavia for the Trials.

For the third mile it was Lockhart and Moore, with three more right behind them. Moore pressed a little, trying to shake Lockhart, but they arrived in the finishing straight together and traded the lead three or four times down the straightaway. Finally Moore took the lead and held it, winning in 14:50.4; Lockhart crossed in 14:51.5. Six runners finished within ten seconds of Moore, with Chris Solinsky, Sheikh, Tim Ross and Mitric placing third through sixth.

"I figured I'd just hang with the front pack for a while," said Moore afterward, "And then just go by feeling. I can't even remember the second mile. I just wasn't paying attention. When he took the lead, I was thinking, I should hold on to him and wait until I got closer, because I knew if I would have took off with him, he probably would've kicked on by me. I figured I might as well conserve my energy and see what I've got at the end.

"It was a great race. We just both killed each other, and that's what it's all about."

"I started picking it up a little bit in the last half-mile," said Lockhart. "I guess Tim came with me. I didn't really know who was with me before. Then Tim and I were back and forth, back and forth. I knew it was going to be a tough race to win, and I knew that Moore was a tough competitor. He's been running really well. It was a tough battle, it came down to the end, and I guess he had a little bit more in him today."

Anyone expecting a performance let-down with last year's stars gone would be disappointed. Despite the humid conditions and temperatures placed in the high seventies, the top three runners all beat Alan Webb's second-place time from last year, and the top five beat Ryan Hall's third-place time. Times were noticably faster throughout the top ten. Only one year, the perfect year when Ritzenhein ran the course record, was faster. Clearly, the standards have been raised.

Solinsky, the top-placing underclassman in either race, said he'd planned on a top-five finish. Like Moore, who finished tenth last year, he will enter his senior year with the "top returner" label. "Last year at this time I thought I'd put a lot of pressure on myself," said Moore.

"I just told myself before the race, you're not going to back down mentally," said Moore. "You're going to keep going. I couldn't catch [Moore and Lockhart], but hey, there's next year."

Moore, Solinsky and Ross, all from the Midwest region, powered a narrow Midwest team win over the West. The South was third behind the Lockhart-Mitric lead-off, with the Northeast in fourth.