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Lead Stories: Friday, December 5, 2008

Full house watches Webb win mile at Reebok Grand Prix

Posted June 4th, 2007 at 8:31 AM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

alan webb reebok indoor games 2007 With a boisterous crowd of 5,000 filling the grandstand at Ichan Stadium, Alan Webb won the first significant mile of the season with an overwhelming kick, handing both Bernard Lagat and Craig Mottram with rare defeats at the third annual Reebok Grand Prix on Manhattan’s Randall’s Island.

The win provided Webb, 24, with much-needed dose of redemption. In his last race in front of New York City fans, he watched from well behind as Lagat and Mottram finished 1-2 in the Wanamaker Mile at the 100th Millrose Games last February. It is a race which Webb remembers all too well.

“The last time I was in New York City wasn’t my finest hour,” said Webb after the race.

But tonight, he timed his effort to perfection. Pacemakers Moise Joseph and Justus Koech became separated from the field after the 57+ second first lap, so Lagat decided to control the contenders’ pack and ended up doing a lot of the work. Both Webb and Mottram kept Lagat in sight as did Suleiman Simotwo. Lagat built a slight lead going into the final lap of the race, but did not want to get ahead of himself.
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Stuczynski clears 16 feet, Gay flirts with WR at Reebok Grand Prix

Posted June 4th, 2007 at 6:45 AM by Jeanie Rebb

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

Jenn Stuczynski became the #2 woman on the all-time list in the women’s pole vault, while Tyson Gay came within a slight breeze of breaking a world record Saturday night at the Reebok Grand Prix. A sell-out Icahn Stadium crowd of 4,990 fans from around New York and the world cheered performances in warm, muggy conditions.

Stucyznski soars again

Jenn Stuczynski Stuczynski became the first American to clear 16 feet in the women’s vault with her winning leap of 5.88 meters/16 feet, 0 inches to set her second American record and world leader in two weeks.

She broke Stacy Dragila’s 3-year-old American record on May 20 at the adidas Track Classic (4.84m/15-10.5). Two weeks later in New York, she had the bar set at 16 feet and took two solid tries that failed.

On her third attempt at the height, Stuczynski gave the bar a brush, but it stayed up, giving her the American record as well as the U.S. all-comers record. She then raised the bar to 6.03m/16-6 in an unsuccessful attempt to break Yelena Isinbayeva’s world record. Shuying Gao of China was second with a national and Asian record of 4.64m/15-2.75. Dragila withdrew from the competition with a sore left Achilles tendon.
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Flanagan Breaks U.S. 5000m Record at Mt. SAC Relays

Posted April 14th, 2007 at 11:15 AM by David Monti

Section: News & Results

Former University of North Carolina star Shalane Flanagan took down Regina Jacobs’s U.S. 5000m record yesterday at the 49th Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, Calif. Running in favorable weather conditions, she crossed the finish line in 14:44.80, well inside Jacobs’s mark of 14:45.35 set at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Sacramento in July, 2000.

“I really have to give credit to my support system,” said Flanagan in an interview with Flocasts.com. “I had a great pacer tonight, Erin Donohue, college teammate and friend. She really just set up the pins and I knocked them down.”
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World record holder Defar to lead elite field at Carlsbad

Posted March 29th, 2007 at 11:17 AM by David Monti

Section: News & Results

Meseret Defar, the Race Results Weekly Runner of the Year for 2006 and the world record holder for both 5000m on the track and 5 km on the road, will return to Carlsbad this Sunday to defend her title.

The event, which will be the 22nd annual, has hosted 16 world records, including Defar’s 14:46 from last year.

“I am coming back to the Carlsbad 5000 to break my record,” Defar said in a prepared statement circulated by event organizers, Elite Racing. “I feel I can run closer to 14:40.”
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