DRAMATIC FINISHES IN 10,000M FINALS HIGHLIGHT TRIALS DAY 1 By David Monti with Ken Nakamura (c) 2000 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved SACRAMENTO (14-Jul) -- All the fans who left Hornet Stadium after Michael Johnson qualifed in his 400m heat missed some great sprinting and close finishes in the men's and women's 10,000m finals on the first day of the U.S. Olympic Trials for Athletics. The men's race was thrown out of kilter when the overwhelming favorite, Bob Kennedy, withdrew. When the huge field of 34 athletes took to the track they were greeted by surprisingly cool temperatures and a light breeze. It was anybody's race. Although Teddy Mitchell jumped to the front from the gun, he was soon overtaken by former University of Arizona star, Abdi Abdiriham. Abdi lead through 2800m and was overtaken by former Michigan State distance man, Jim Jurcevich at 3000m (8:28.81). A pack of 11 contenders soon separated themselves, and by 4000m (11:18.61) Abdi was in the lead again, with Alan Culpepper, Brad and Brent Hauser and Jurcevich in tow. In the 17th lap, Mebrahtom Keflezighi made a major surge and broke open the race. He ran the 8th kilometer in 2:44.50, and it looked like he had enough speed to go sub-28:10, the Olympic "A" standard which he needed to be guaranteed a spot on the team tonight. The former NCAA 5000m and 10,000m champion kept accelerating, and appeared to have the race won, when Alan Culpepper barreled down on him in the home straight and tried to outlean him at the line. Meb got the win, by just 3/100ths of a second, and locked up his trip to Sydney with a 28:03.32 clocking. Abdi defended his third place position, while Shawn Found got around Jurcevich in the home straight to take fourth. In the women's race, Deena Drossin lived up to her billing as the race favorite, winning a tactical, but fast, race. Kim Fitchen and Natalie Nalepa did most of the early leading through 3000m (9:40.67), when Annette Peters took over. There were several lead changes, as the race see-sawed through 5000m in 16:09.61 with Fitchen and Jen Rhines at the front. They were closely followed by Nalepa, Anne Marie Lauck, Sylvia Mosqueda and Blake Russell. Drossin was near the back of the pack, waiting. Late in the 9th kilometer, Drossin made her bid for victory. She surged hard, with Hickman trying to cover her move. But the double U.S. XC champion quickly opened up a gap on the others, leaving Hickman solidly in second, and Rhines and Lauck to battle for third. On the back straight of the final lap, Rhines and Lauck began to gain on Hickman. Rhines pressed and got around Hickman on the far turn. Hickman kept battling, and the two crossed the line in a blur, some seven seconds behind the winner, Drosson. Lauck finished fourth just three seconds behind Hickman. Despite finishing fourth, Lauck's Olympic hopes were not entirely dashed. Drossin confirmed to RRW that she will run the 5000m, while Rhines said she was done. Hickman was still undecided, but seemed to be leaning away from the event. If Drossin finishes in the top-3 in the 5000, which is likely, she will abdicate one of the team berths, probably the 10,000m. As coach Vigil told RRW last week, "It's her favorite event." That would leave the door open for Lauck. 10,000m Final: 1 502 Mebrahtom Keflezighi Nike 28:03.32 2 209 Alan Culpepper adidas 28:03.35 3 11 Abdihakim Abdi Nike 28:19.08 4 304 Shawn Found U.S. Army 28:33.73 5 384 Brad Hauser Stanford 28:36.53 6 497 James Jurcevich Hansons RS 28:39.20 7 257 Matt Downin Wisconsin 28:45.58 8 233 Rodney Dehaven New Balance 28:48.98 9 49 Jason Balkman Stanford 28:50.90 10 831 Ryan Shay Notre Dame 28:51.74 11 495 Peter Julian adidas 28:57.45 12 1070 Gary Stolz Nike 29:11.97 13 922 Eric Tollefson Asics 29:13.72 14 47 Kyle Baker Unattached 29:21.89 15 468 Chad Johnson Unattached 29:28.47 16 68 Andrew Begley Unattached 29:28.79 17 479 Weldon Johnson Unattached 29:29.40 18 815 Steven Schell Michigan St 29:30.19 19 255 Keith Dowling adidas 29:31.67 20 234 Peter DeLaCerda Reebok 29:32.92 21 655 Michael Mykytok Unattached 29:33.36 22 340 Chris Graff Reebok 29:36.12 23 674 Nathan Nutter Nike 29:42.28 24 212 Adam Dailey Arkansas 30:01.51 25 541 Jason Lehmkuhle Unattached 30:32.29 26 635 Teddy Mitchell New Balance 30:52.49 27 60 Brad Barquist Nike 31:16.25 - 726 Eric Polonski New Balance DNF - 785 Nick Rogers Nike DNF - 251 Michael Donnelly New Balance DNF - 618 Dan Middleman New York AC DNF - 385 Brent Hauser Stanford DNF - 877 Stetson Steele Iowa DNF - 896 Nolan Swanson Nike DNF - 1065 Terrance Mahon adidas DNS - 505 Bob Kennedy Nike DNS 10,000m Final: 1 260 Deena Drossin Reebok T 31:51.05 2 765 Jen Rhines adidas 31:58.34 3 411 Libbie Hickman Nike 31:58.68 4 529 Anne Marie Lauck Nike 32:01.86 5 711 Annette Peters Asics 32:09.49 6 648 Sylvia Mosqueda Unattached 32:18.36 7 799 Blake Russell New Balance 32:20.26 8 66 Kristin Beaney Reebok 32:22.72 9 296 Kim Fitchen Nike 32:41.08 10 200 Jennifer Crain adidas 32:44.70 11 658 Natalie Nalepa New Balance 32:45.36 12 691 Erica Palmer Wisconsin 32:50.29 13 605 Katie McGregor adidas 33:10.14 14 303 Kate Fonshell Asics 33:30.99 15 320 Donna Garcia Reebok 33:36.98 16 1038 Rachel Sauder Asics 33:40.39 17 48 Laura Baker New Balance 33:40.87 18 841 Marty Shue Reebok 34:11.46 19 288 Melody Fairchild Nike 34:12.48 20 405 Marty Hernandez BYU 34:15.18 21 92 Michelle Borgert Asics 34:25.92 22 158 Tara Chaplin Arizona 34:38.28 23 298 Lynn Fitzsimmons Unattached 35:40.97 - 878 Shelly Steely Asics DNF - 1048 Leigh Daniel Texas Tech DNS - 1049 Christine McNamara Unattached DNS Runners in Red ran in the 2000 Freihofer Event Runners in Green ran in the 1999 Freihofer Event Runners in Pink ran in the 1998 Freihofer Event Runners in Blue ran in the 1997 Freihofer Event