Goucher Surprises, Lagat Wins Again at Millrose Games
Posted February 2nd, 2008 at 2:30 PM by David Monti
Section: News & Results, Track & Field
Kara Goucher hadn’t run on a banked track since 1999, but she had apparently been watching Bernard Lagat roll up his five previous Wanamaker Mile victories here. Goucher, last summer’s IAAF World Championships bronze medalist at 10,000m, stepped way down in distance to win the mile in her first-ever Millrose appearance, while Lagat, the reigning 1500m and 5000m world champion, notched his sixth. They appeared to be equally happy.
“This is good,” said Goucher of her narrow victory over Sara Hall. “This is why I’m running these races. I didn’t know if I could win here, but I wanted to be competitive.”
Hall was running aggressively in the final lap of the race and was leading through the final two turns, but Goucher felt as though the race still wasn’t over. Coming out of the final turn, she took the inside line towards the finish, just pipping Hall at the tape by 8/100ths of a second.
“I said, ‘There’s my chance on the inside, and I went for it,’” she remembered telling herself.
Goucher clocked 4:36.03, a personal best, to Hall’s 4:36.11. Russia’s Liliya Shobukhova was third in 4:37.10.
For Lagat, winning at Madison Square Garden never gets old. He loves how the organizers dim the house lights prior to the Wanamaker Mile, how the national anthen is performed, how the athletes are introduced and run a half lap to the starting line, followed by spotlights. It’s Broadway meets athletics.
“You have to be in love with that track,” he said of the quirky 145.5 meter oval with its tight, steeply banked curves. “It is the Millrose Games. It’s the Wanamaker Mile. Let’s go do it.”
Like last year, Lagat had to overcome a credible challenge from Australia’s Craig Mottram. But this year, some sluggish pacesetting by Trinidad’s Sheridan Kirk played to Lagat’s favor. Kirk only got the field through half-way in 1:59.1, and then made an abrupt move to pull off the track on the backstraight, momentarily tangling with Mottram.
“I wasn’t sure when the pacemaker was going to get out,” said Mottram.
With four laps to go, Mottram was in the lead, but off of a slower pace he was at a disadvantage to the quick-kicking Lagat. Lagat decided not to wait too long, and on the backstraight of the pentultimate lap, he zoomed past Mottram to take the lead for good.
“He surprised me,” said Mottram who was looking a little anxious after the race because he had to catch a plane at JFK in less than two hours. “He came by very quickly.”
A sub-57 second last quarter was enough to give Lagat yet another Millrose win, putting him just one shy of Eamonn Coughlan’s seven Wanamaker victories.
“We’ll share the Chairmanship of the Boards,” said Lagat who stated he would definitely return next year to try to win his seventh Wanamaker Mile. “I’m confirming it. Right now, it’s official.”
Lagat clocked 3:57.51 to Mottram’s 3:57.90. New Zealand’s Nick Willis came home third in 3:58.14, followed by 21 year-old Galen Rupp in 4:02.17.
The boy’s and girl’s high school miles offered compelling drama. The girls were up first, and Jillian Smith of Manahawkin, N.J. won her second race in as many weeks, allowing Carmel’s Kristin Reese to lead the first nine laps, before taking the lead with two laps to go, and running away from the field. Her 4:50.87 winning time put her well ahead of second place Cory McGee who had passed a tiring Reese on the last lap. McGee was timed at 4:55.52 to Reese’s 4:56.21.
“I’m really psyched,” said Smith who would’t characterize her victory as a blowout. “I wouldn’t call it easy,” she said.
On the boy’s side, Kyle Merber of Dix Hills, N.Y., came back from a third place finish in Boston the week before, perfectly executing his race plan and holding off the race’s biggest kicker, Robby Andrews of Manalapan, N.J. over the final lap. Merber, who is headed to Columbia University next fall, clocked 4:13.86 to Andrews’s 4:14.60.
“With three laps to go I saw my chance and I went with it,” said Merber. “I know Bobby always closes fast.”
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The best mark of the meet was by Adam Nelson in the men’s shotput. Nelson heaved a world-leading 22.07 meters, a new Millrose Games record.
(c) 2008 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Used with permission.
Related Stories:
- Millrose Games’ Wanamaker Mile: Lagat vs. Mottram
- Lagat and Mottram Set for Millrose Rematch
- Kara Goucher to Run Women’s Mile at Millrose Games
- Two World Champs Added To The Millrose Games Lineup
- Lagat, Mottram Rematch Set for Millrose Games
Tags: adam nelson, Bernard Lagat, Craig Mottram, Kara Goucher, Kyle Merber, Madison Square Garden, msg, New York City, robby andrews, sara hall
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