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L-R
at the start of the mile final: Lauren King, Kerry Meagher, Shannon
Rowbury, and Marlies Overbeeke.
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As
usual, Tiffany McWilliams went out hard early. Hilary Edmondson
of Wisconsin was the only runner who...
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...made
an effort to go after McWilliams. McWilliams finished second in
this meet last year, but won the 1,500m title outdoors with this
strategy.
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Michigan's
Lindsey Gallo (right) and Georgetown's Treniere Clement led the
main pack.
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McWilliams
had started off the season a little slower than in 2003, but she
was looking just as good, if not better than '03, in March.
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Most
of the runners in the field chose a more conservative approach.
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Defending
champion Johanna Nilsson started out in the back of the pack but
eventually worked her way up...
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...and
was right behind McWilliams with one lap to go. Nilsson had to expend
a lot of energy to catch...
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...McWilliams.
Nilsson challenged McWilliams around the final turn, but McWilliams
was able to hang on...
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...and
win in 4:32.24. Reversing last year's order of finish, Nilsson was
second in 4:32.72. Treniere Clement had a great race in third (4:35.16).
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L-R
at the start of the 800m final: Beata Rudzinska, Nicole Cook, Neisha
Bernard-Thomas, Alice Schmidt, and Kamille Bratton.
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Nicole
Cook went to the lead early on and Michigan's Katie Erdman ran close
behind in second.
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Beata
Rudzinska (left) started out in the back and had to work hard to
catch up to Cook on the second lap.
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Cook
managed to hold onto her lead and won convincingly over Neisha Bernard-Thomas
(2:03.27 to 2:04.36).
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The
start of the 3,000m final. Top seed Kim Smith would try to double
back from her Friday night 5,000m win (a collegiate record-breaking
15:14.18).
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Smith
shot like a rocket off the starting line and just past the 200m
mark she already had this much of a lead.
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Michaela
Mannova led the pack, Megan Metcalfe and Ida Nilsson followed.
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Smith
ran her first 200 in 31 and first 400 in 66 before settling in to
a still-record-setting pace.
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Nilsson
eventually took over second place, Metcalfe, Mannova, and Sara Bei
followed.
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It
ended up being a good meet for front-runners in the women's distance
events. Every individual who won led wire-to-wire.
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Ida
Nilsson led Sara Bei late in the race.
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Kim
Smith won in an amazing 8:49.18, breaking PattiSue Plummer's 21-year-old
record by more than four seconds.
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Like
in Friday night's DMR, Sara Bei once again exhibited an excellent
kick, finishing second in a PR 9:05.02.
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