Lockhart (8:58.06 2M),
Huddle (4:46.42 Mile) Lead the Way
by Stephen (steveu) Underwood
As well as they ran in Orlando last fall, Bobby Lockhart and Molly
Huddle
have yearned for nothing less than the top during their fine careers.
On
Sunday, that national title itch was scratched.
Lockhart capped the distance events at the Nike Indoor Classic
by
whipping a crack field (7 under 9:10) in the 2-mile. His nation-leading
8:58.04 helped make up for being nipped by Tim Moore for the Foot
Locker CC crown last December, as well as getting nipped at the
wire by
Bobby Curtis in the mile here last year and other national disappointments.
Huddle ran second for awhile behind Amber Trotter’s dominant
Orlando
win before winding up fourth and had led early at adidas Outdoor
last
spring, too. But there was no one who could hang close in Landover
as her
nation-leading 4:46.42 mile was 10 seconds clear of the field.
They were just two of Sunday’s big distance winners.
Boy’s Mile/Girls’ 2-Mile:
Bobby Curtis (4:16.14) and Megan Kaltenbach
(10:37.86) repeated their titles from last year.
Boys’/Girls’ 800 meters:
Richard Smith (1:53.97) and Mindy Sullivan
(2:10.42) confirmed their preeminence over four laps, the former
coming
from behind and the latter leading wire-to-wire.
Boys’/Girls’ 4x800 meter relays:
The boys of North Penn HS (Lansdale,
PA) and the girls of Bromfield (MA) HS staged nice comeback
wins in
7:54.96 and 9:14.37 respectively.
Freshman boys and girls miles:
Jeff See (4:22.62) and Chantele Dron
(5:00.22) showed us some of the bright future in their event.
Details, details, details!
Boys’ 2M: Lockhart’s First Big Title: 8:58.04 over
Solinsky, Dalpiaz
It’s likely that few athletes winning at the NIC this weekend
were more
gratified than Bobby Lockhart when he crossed the finish line of
the 2-mile
run. For the first time since at least June 2000, the Handley HS
(Winchester, VA) star wore a big smile on his face after a national
meet.
Dealing with both training for the World Cross-Country meet and
a history
of narrow defeats and disappointing finishes at the highest level,
Lockhart
came through with flying colors Sunday. Facing a field of virtually
everyone who’s shone at 16 laps this winter, he pulled away
at the mile
and rolled to victory in 8:58.04, bettering both his indoor (9:02
3200) and
outdoor (8:57 3200) PRs.
It was a fine race all the way around, with Chris Solinsky’s
huge PR of
9:01.96 edging previous national leader Brian Dalpiaz (9:02.80).
Four
more broke 9:10 and a total of nine were under 9:14, including Ryan
Deak,
whose 9:12.00 is probably the best by a sophomore indoors in many
years.
But the competition wasn’t willing to test Lockhart after the
first mile and
if any of them hoped he would drop back, they were mistaken.
“I felt awesome, like I could have gone 8:52 today,” said
Lockhart. “I’ve
been so close before ... where it’s come down to a kick; I
was definitely
looking to win.”
Billy Nelson sprinted to the fore per usual (yards splits of 31/65
for
220/440), but Lockhart quickly moved into second, then took the
lead after
the 880 (2:14). As the senior passed the next two quarter marks
in 3:22 and
4:29, the consistently hot pace proved too much for a pack that
included
Solinsky, Dalpiaz, Nelson, Peter Meindl, Andy Wigton and Andrew
Keino. Keino and Wigton (who won the New York state title the day
before) eventually fell off, while Shaun Kelley eventually moved
up to
finish 6th.
“I definitely didn’t want to pull the cat out of the
bag,” said Dalpiaz
(Sayville, NY, HS), who has been under 9:05 three times this winter.
“But
I finished up well.”
Said Solinsky (Stevens Point, WI, HS), who PRed indoors by 13 seconds:
“I kept thinking, I can’t let him go. But I’ve gotten
over bronchitis
recently and although I was going all out, I was worried about dying
out there.”
Girls’ Mile: No One Can Stay with Huddle (4:46.42)
As Molly Huddle’s winter routine has included basketball,
she’s been
limited to spectacular all-comer’s meet performances close
to home. The
Notre Dame HS (Elmira, NY) senior has subsequently produced three
nation-leading times. Finally having a chance to compete against
other top
HS girls proved no competition at all. But she did get another national
leader.
Powering out under 70 seconds, Huddle never gave the field a chance
in
racking up a meet-record 4:46.42. In what was basically a separate
race,
super-soph Nikki Bohnsack (Rockford, MI, HS) edged Clara Horowitz
(Head-Royce HS, Oakland, CA) for second, 4:57.10 to 4:57.50.
“I wanted to chop off 10 seconds from that,” admitted
Huddle, dropping
jaws of anyone who was listening. “But I knew it would be impossible
alone. I got a PR though, and that was good.”
Huddle hit splits of 69-2:21-3:34 en route. She now leads the country
in every distance
between 1500 meters and 2 miles this winter.
Meanwhile, Bohnsack and Horowitz exchanged the lead a few times
before the former prevailed on the last lap. “My legs were
pretty tired,”
Bohnsack said, reflecting on four races in two days.
Boys Mile: Curtis (4:16.14) is Back ... and He Hasn’t Lost
His Touch
No one gave defending champ Bobby Curtis much of a chance in the
boys’
mile. Why, he had but a 4:02 1500 to his credit indoors this winter,
while
several others in the field had run between 4:13-4:18 in the 1600
or mile in
recent weeks. But the Xavier HS (Louisville, KY) junior displayed
virtually the same
magic as last year: A stunning kick over the last 3/4-lap or so.
Curtis took
advantage of a modest early pace and knew he’d pulled one out
of the hat at
the end. His finish: 28.5/59.6.
“I’ve done one track workout, but it’s mostly been
easy distance work,”
Curtis said. “I want to make sure I peak outdoors (in June).
This winter has
been more low-key. Someone was telling me before the race to make
sure
it’s not a kicker’s race. But that’s always worked
for me and that was the
game plan.”
Matt DeBole (Mt. Tabor HS, Winston-Salem, VA) tried to do the work
to
get the pace reasonable, moving aggressively to the lead in the
first lap
when runners started to bunch. But it was to little avail as the
pace lagged
to 65.8, 2:10.7 and 3:16.0 at the 440 marks. Curtis was always close,
as
was Alex Tatu and, into the final laps, Cameron Schwehr.
“I thought everyone was going to go with me,” said Debole,
who was
disappointed but not unhappy (“I love being here!”). “I
was like, C’mon
guys, this is a national mile!”
With 200 left, Tatu (Thomas Dale HS, Chester, VA) finally launched
a
kick, with Schwehr and Chris Lukezic going with him. But on the
backstretch, those who were here saw that familiar Curtis acceleration.
While not quite as explosive as last year, when Curtis was in top
shape too
early, he moved up on the leaders, then surged ahead of them on
the final
straight. Tatu was just .17 behind in 4:16.31, followed by Sam Bair
(who
came from way back; 4:16.46), DeBole (4:17.29), Lukezic (4:17.66),
Schwehr (4:17.69) and Jeremy Johnson (4:17.74). That’s four
finishers in
.45 seconds and seven in 1.60).
Girls 2M: Kaltenbach Repeats; Regaining Form (10:37.86)
Megan Kaltenbach has joked about her 2001 cross-country performances
as having been produced not by her, but by an evil twin. In the
girls 2-mile,
the transformation back to the old Megan took another big step.
Having run patiently in mid-pack through the first 3/4-mile, the
Smoky
Hill HS (Aurora, CO) junior caught mid-race leader Laura Stanley
by the
mile, then surged ahead, using a 74-second quarter en route to a
5:25/5:12
negative split.
While 10:37.86 is off her winning time of last year, the big
league surge and win had Kaltenbach thinking about big things to
come.
“I’m excited,” she said, anticipating her return
to meets like Arcadia,
where she won and set her 10:11 PR last year. “I wanted to
go out faster ...
and I thought someone would go with me. But I just wanted to have
a good
race. I just took off a week for shin splints and ... indoors is
kind of more
like a workout for me.”
It was a little too much of a workout for Stanley (Carolina Day
HS,
Asheville, NC), who was 5th at Foot Locker nationals last fall,
leading one
to think that she would duel Kaltenbach to the finish. “So
did I,” she said
after taking third (10:53.95) behind Laura Hodgson (10:52.74). “I
felt
confident ... but she just took off. I went with her for a straight,
but she
was just too fast. Maybe I made my move too early.”
Kristen Coon was an early leader, then 8th-grader Nicole Blood
took over
for 3-4 laps, clicking off 40-42-second laps ahead of a tight pack.
As
Kaltenbach was moving up, Stanley took over at the mile (5:25),
but her
lead was short-lived.
Girls’ 800: Sullivan (2:10.42): Unbeatable at the Beginning
... and the
End
They challenged her at the start and at the finish, but as is her
wont, Mindy
Sullivan controlled the girls 800 from start to finish. She did
the same
thing at the adidas MITC in Nebraska, but wasn’t ecstatic about
the race.
Did this race go more according to plan? “This time it did,”
the Coronado HS (Lubbock, TX) senior said. “I’m pleased.
I realize as I’ve been starting outdoor that when it gets to
the
last 200, I’ve been waiting too long (until last 100) to kick.
This time I started
my kick earlier.”
“I wanted under 2:10,” she said. “But, hey ...”
Sullivan went through 200 at 31 with Danielle Rogers the closest.
Then
Kristina Shelton, the Mesquite, TX sprinter-turned-800-star, presented
the
first real challenge, shadowing her through 400 (63). Shelton and
Rogers would fade to 6th and 8th, but Jennifer Perry (Framingham,
MA, HS) moved hard in the second half of the race, pulling
up on Sullivan in the last straight, but unable to pass her. Still,
her 2:10.93 was a fine effort.
Boys 800: Smith’s Patience, 1:53.97, Win Out
Texan Will Fitts looked like a national class pro the first few
laps of the
boys 800, hitting eye-popping splits of 25.9 and 53.9. But Richard
Smith
and Paul Cross stalked him patiently. At 600, the time was 1:24
and the
margin was shrinking fast. Maintaining his strong pace as Fitts
faltered,
Smith moved into the lead in the final straight and crossed in 1:53.97.
While the victory over an evenly-matched field was certainly satisfying,
the race certainly didn’t unfold as the South Lakes HS (Reston,
VA) senior
had envisioned when he toed the line. “I was a little disappointed
with my time, but it was a crazy race,” he said. “I’ve
been training hard since June and have been pretty confident. The
most important thing was to win, so I’m happy with that.”
Cross (Flanagan HS, Pembroke Pines, FL) took second (1:54.38) and
Fitts
(DeSoto, TX, HS) third (1:54.66).
Boys 4x800 Relay: North Penn Accomplishes Mission; 7:54.96 Win
is
Meet Record
North Penn (Lansdale, PA) overcame a modest early start and the
early
leads of Russellville (AR) HS and Notre Dame HS (Lawrenceville,
NJ) to
roll to a meet record 7:54.96 in the boys 4x800 meter relay. Dan
Michael kept a promise to his teammates and got North Penn the lead
with a 1:58.3 third leg. It was then left for anchor Steve Craig
to run a smooth, even 1:55.3 to wrap it up. A hard last lap gave
the Motor City
Track Club (Mumford HS, Detroit, MI) second in 7:58.61, ahead of
Notre
Dame (7:59.36) and Russellville (7:59.79). Michael and Craig followed
the opening legs of Rich Bennett (2:03.0) and Adam Thomas (1:58.3).
“I knew we were behind a little bit,” said Michael. “I
was just trying to stay
smooth, then I picked it up and started sprinting. It was kind of
redemption
after what happened in the sprint medley yesterday (second man got
clipped and went down).” Said Craig, “We talked before
the race and Dan promised me he’d get the
baton to me in first. I knew if he did, we’d win.”
Girls 4x800: Bromfield Surges From Behind to Win in 9:14.37
Bromfield (MA) HS had what looked to be a questionable-at-best
chance
to win the girls 4x800 relay going into the final leg as the Kinetic
RC
(Saratoga Springs) had a healthy 2-second lead.
But Ari Lambie had the baton from Bromfield and her teammates had
gotten her more than close enough to get back in it. Lambie’s
2:10.4
finished off their 9:14.37, winning by over six seconds as Kinetic
was
second (9:20.41) and Jenks (OK) HS third (9:27.32).
“I was confident,” said Lambie, regarding her thoughts
upon getting the
baton. “I knew my teammates did what they had to do.”
Bromfield also received legs of 2:22 from Pam Rosato, 2:21.7 from
Allie
Yanikoski and 2:19.2 from Diana Morse.
Freshman Miles: National frosh record for See, two others ...
Dron
Hits 5:00.22
On the boys side, the third of three races produced a fine
come-from-behind victory for Jeff See (Middletown, OH) who overtook
4:20-1600 meter runner Derrick Robbins in the final 400 and set
a national
freshman record of 4:22.59 Andy Bilodeau (4:22.63) also moved with
See
and broke the 1975 record of Bobby Goss (4:23.90), as did Robbins
(4:23.84) in third. Robbins ran 4:20-plus for 1600 meters in the
Virginia
state meet a week ago).
Chantele Dron didn’t get in the main heats of the mile, but
she did her best
in dominating the freshman mile, winning in 5:00.22.
Nike Indoor Classic 2002
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