Senior finishes first in Meyo Mile, claims world's fastest mile time this year
By ANDY TROEGER
Sports Writer
An impressive performance earlier this month in Boston qualified Luke Watson for the NCAA Championship in the 3,000 meters, and created high expectations for Watson in the running of the Meyo Mile Saturday.
All those expectations were exceeded, as Watson came from behind on the last lap to finish first in the Meyo Mile in front of an energized crowd at the Loftus Sports Center. In the process, he broke the four-minute mile barrier and the school record in the mile, automatically qualified for the NCAA Championship, and ran the fastest mile in the world so far this year in 3:57.83.
In addition to his record time, four other runners broke the four-minute barrier and the top five runners recorded the five fastest miles in the world this year. The top five runners were separated by less than half a second. Watson, who did not make his move until the final lap, did not take the lead until the final 30 meters. Watson credited his competitors for pushing him throughout the race.
"The pacing was perfect," said Watson. "I know this track so well that I know when it's time to make every move and that was an advantage. I like to finish hard [and] I like to beat people in the last 100 or 200 meters. That's always been a strength of mine, and I exploited that today."
"Watson has been just a terrific performer in cross country, indoor, and outdoor," said Irish coach Joe Piane. "He's a many time All-American and a real positive influence. He works extremely hard and everyone else follows his lead."
Two other Irish competitors also provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships in the mile, as Eric Morrison finished at 4:01.90 and Kevin Somok finished at 4:03.82. They must wait for other results around the country to find out whether or not they will make the NCAA field.
"Somok and Morrison train with Luke every day," said Piane. "They know that if they can run with him they're going to run well and we saw that today."
In addition to Watson's record-breaking accomplishments, freshman Molly Huddle shattered the school record in the women's 3,000 meters. Huddle, who automatically qualified for the NCAAs in the event along with teammate Lauren King, broke the old school record by more than fifteen seconds with her 9:14.33 time. She finished second in the race to Nike-sponsored professional Colette Liss, while King finished fifth with 9:19.52.
Selim Nurudeen provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championship with his best 60-meter hurdle time of the season in 7.83. That time easily bettered the NCAA provisional qualifying mark and could put Nurudeen in the NCAA field.
Other strong Irish performances for the men included Vincent Ambrico who won the regular mile, and Chris Staron who finished third in the high jump.
For the women, Emily Loomis tied for first in the high jump, Kymia Love won the 400 meters, Jaime Volkmer tied for first in the pole vault, Tameisha King won the long jump, and the 4x440-yard relay team (Love, King, Tiffany Gunn, and Kristen Dodd) finished second with one of the fastest times in the nation.
"The sub-four minute mile and Chuck Aragon's record (3:59.9 in 1981) have been things I've been chasing for two minutes now with a realistic chance of breaking. I needed all the conditions to come together on the right day, and that's something that really doesn't happen all that often. Today was just perfect. I felt great, the pace was perfect, the race was perfect, the competition was there, and all the elements fell into place."
"We had a wonderful day," said Piane, who credited both the facility and the packed crowd. "We had a couple of ladies [Huddle and King] qualify for the NCAA in the 3,000. Selim is ranked either eighth or ninth in the country [in the 60-meter hurdles] so that's marvelous. Luke's ranked number one in the country. What a day."
All Sports Stories for Monday, February 10, 2003
