Mt. SAC Relays: Distance Carnival Highlights
Posted April 19th, 2008 at 5:39 PM by Stephanie Lowe
Section: News & Results, Track & Field, College, High School
The 50th Annual Mt. SAC Relays are underway this weekend in Walnut, Calif. The meet includes top high school, collegiate and professional track and field athletes. The Relays began Thursday, April 17, and will conclude Sunday, April 20.
Friday’s exciting Distance Carnival and Invitational was covered live on Flotrack and the Mt. SAC website. The highlights of the evening were the men’s invitational 3000-meter steeplechase and the women’s invitational 5000-meter run.
Anthony “Fam” Famiglietti won the steeplechase with a time of 8:26.94, barely missing the meet record of 8:26.6 set by Marc Davis in 1993. He led the race from the starting line and finished ten seconds ahead of runner-up Jordan Fife’s finish time of 8:36.69.
Famiglietti might have expended the fraction of a second he needed for the record when he waved to the crowd as he ran to the finish line, but he seemed to enjoy entertaining the spectators. Famiglietti ran his victory “lap” in the stands immediately after he finished the race. He then ran up to the press box to give live post-race commentary with the Flotrack announcers.
The women’s invitational 5000 was a close race, but Texas Tech’s Sally Kipyego out-kicked Lauren Fleshman in the final 200 meters to win with a time of 15:11.88.
Kipyego led most of the race with Fleshman tucked in behind her. Fleshman tried to conserve energy this way in order to sprint past Kipyego when the opportunity arose. As soon as Fleshman threatened Kipyego’s position, the real race began. However, Kipyego had a stronger kick than Fleshman, who finished in 15:12.55.
In a post-race interview, Fleshman described the race as being “seriously painful” and compared it to childbirth, stating that she can forget how much it hurt and move on.
“I get exponentially tougher with each [race],” Fleshman said in an interview. “I get used to the pain. I can welcome it in a race.”
The 5000-meter invitational men’s race had a somewhat surprising outcome. Collis Birmingham won the race in 13:21.12 ahead of second-place finisher Mark Carroll’s 13:28.09. One of the favorites to win the race, Liberty’s Josh McDougal, faded to 12th place in 13:37.13.
A disappointed McDougal told Flotrack that he had some tightness in his right leg that has bothered him since indoor track nationals.
“I’m not getting any response out of [the leg]. It’s just locking up,” McDougal said. “I wish I was injured. I wish I was out of shape because I would know what I could do, but right now I’m kind of at the end of my rope because I’ve never been here before in my life and I don’t know how to get rid of this problem.”
More information, schedules and results for the 2008 Mt. SAC Relays can be found online at mtsacrelays.com. For archived videos of the races and post-race athlete interviews, including Anthony Famiglietti’s victory lap, visit flotrack.org.
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Tags: 3000, 5000, Anthony Famiglietti, Collis Birmingham, Fam, flotrack, Josh McDougal, lauren fleshman, marc davis, Mark Carroll, mt. sac, Mt. SAC Relays, Sally Kipyego, steeplechase
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The Final Sprint