NCAA OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, May 29-June 1, 2002

ALL PHOTOS ALISON WADE/NEW YORK ROAD RUNNERS

DAY ONE: PAGE ONE | PAGE TWO | PAGE THREE | PAGE FOUR | PAGE FIVE (800m Preliminaries, 10,000m Final)
DAY TWO: PAGE ONE | PAGE TWO | PAGE THREE | PAGE FOUR (1,500m Preliminaries, Steeplechase Preliminaries)
DAY THREE: PAGE ONE | PAGE TWO | PAGE THREE | PAGE FOUR (800m Final, 5,000m Final)
DAY FOUR: PAGE ONE | PAGE TWO | PAGE THREE | PAGE FOUR (1,500m Final, Steeplechase Final)

Nicole Cook and Lauren Simmons enter the track for the 800 final.	Southern California senior Aleksandra Deren.	Freshman Nicole Cook.	Florida junior Kristina Bratton.	Cal senior Erin Belger.
Georgetown senior Tyrona Heath.	On the first lap, it's (L-R) Simmons, Alice Schmidt, Bratton, Deren and Cook.	After the top seed, Tiffany Burgess failed to qualify for the final, the race was pretty wide open.	North Carolina sophomore Alice Schmidt led through 400 meters in 63 seconds.	Behind Schmidt it's Deren, Cook, Bratton, Belger and Simmons.
The pack heads around the first turn and everyone is still in contention.	Up the home stretch Alice Schmidt led, with Lauren Simmons and Erin Belger challenging.	Both Simmons and Belger had made tremendous improvements in their times this season and were on a roll...	...But Alice Schmidt hung on to win her first national title in 2:04.73.	Simmons, a senior at Princeton, came up for second (2:05.09).
Belger tumbled to the track as she leaned for the finish line.	Belger finished third in 2:05.09, just .01 behind Simmons.	Belger catches her breath.	Alice Schmidt flashes a smile at her family/fans.	Schmidt stops to sign an autograph as she exits the track.

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