Please note the time change for the ESPN2 broadcast of the adidas Boston Indoor Games
USA Track & Field's Golden Spike Tour got off to a phenomenal
start
Sunday at the adidas Boston Indoor Games, with four records
falling and
$60,000 in bonus money being paid out.
Regina Jacobs (pictured) set a world record in the adidas
women's 2 mile,
Tim Broe and
David Krummenacker set American records in the Visa men's 3,000
meters and
adidas men's 1,000 meters, respectively; and Jolanda Ceplak of
Slovenia
broke an American all-comers record in the US Airways women's
800m Sunday in
a tremendous day of competition at the Reggie Lewis Center.
Jacobs earned a
$10,000 bonus for her performance, with Broe and Krummenacker
each winning
$25,000 bonuses.
Broe began the record deluge for the Americans, running 7:39.23
to break the
legendary Steve Scott's 3,000m AR of 7:39.94, set in 1981. Broe,
the 2001
U.S. indoor 3,000m and 4,000m cross country champion, led
Leonard Mucheru of
Kenya through the mile in 4:08.8. With 700m to go, Mucheru, a
sub-3:50
miler, took the lead. Broe took the lead again with 400m left,
but Mucheru
had more left with a lap to go and sprinted to the win in
7:37.46.
Undaunted, Broe drew from the roaring crowd to hold his American
record
pace. "It's difficult when someone passes you, but the crowd got
me so
pumped up," Broe said. "I just thrived off it the last 3 laps."
Thirty minutes later, Jacobs took the track in pursuit of Lynn
Jennings'
1986 world and American record of 9:28.15 in the 2 mile. After
coming
through the mile in 4:41 - six seconds ahead of record pace -
she slowed and
was right on pace with 400m to go. A final 200m run in 32
seconds gave her
the record with five seconds to spare, finishing in 9:23.38.
Meseret Defar
of Ethiopia was second at 9:34.03.
It was Jacobs' second record at the Reggie Lewis Center, where
she ran
2:35.29 for an American record at 1,000m in 2000. Jacobs also
holds U.S.
outdoor records at 1,000 and 5,000 meters. "I come back here, it
seems,
every year to break a record," Jacobs said. "I have to say I'm
really happy.
I always know this was one of the fastest indoor tracks out
there."
Also benefiting from the fast track was Krummenacker, who
sprinted past
Laban Rotich of Kenya in the final lap of the 1,000m to win in
2:17.85,
breaking Ocky Clark's 1989 AR of 2:18.19. Rotich was second in
2:19.05. "I
feel wonderful," said Krummenacker, the 2001 US Outdoor champion
at 800m.
"Today I said I was going to chase after the record or die
trying."
Providing one of the most surprising - and also one of the most
dominating -
performances earlier in the day was Ceplak in the women's 800m.
The Olympic
and World Championships semifinalist seized the race from the
start and
stormed to a win in 1:57.79, the fastest time ever run by a
woman on U.S.
soil indoors and a personal record by more than two seconds.
American Nicole
Teter was second in 2:01.54.
Equally dominating was Kenyan Bernard Legat in the adidas Joe
Concannon men'
s mile. The World Championships silver medalist and Olympic
bronze medalist
came through 800m in 1:55.9 and went on to win in 3:55.16, an
indoor
personal best. Canadian Kevin Sullivan was second in 3:55.80,
with American
Brian Berryhill third in 3:57.11.
Former world indoor champion Jearl Miles-Clark won impressively
in the SoBe
Sports System women's 400m, overtaking early leader Karen
Shinkins of
Ireland to win in 52.48 seconds. LaTasha Colander-Richardson was
second in
53.44.
In the sprints, Chandra Sturrup of the Bahamas had a strong
start and won
going away in the SoBe Sports System women's 60m, finishing in
7.10 seconds.
Chryste Gaines was second in 7.27. Racing for the first time
since the World
Outdoor Championships, Jon Drummond beat a deep field in the
Verizon men's
60m, running 6.60 seconds to beat world indoor 200m Shawn
Crawford, also
timed in 6.60. World indoor 60m champion Tim Harden was third in
6.64.
Olympic bronze medalist Melissa Morrison won her sixth
consecutive Boston
title in the Verizon women's 60m hurdles, running 8.04 to finish
ahead of
Joyce Bates, second in 8.11.
In a heated US Airways men's pole vault competition, Jeff
Hartwig sailed
through the competition with no misses, clearing a best of
5.70m/18 feet,
8.25. World indoor silver medalist Tye Harvey and world indoor
gold medalist
both matched that height, but Harvey had missed once at the
winning height
and Johnson twice, relegating them to second and third,
respectively.
Amy Acuff opened her season with a win in the US Airways women's
high jump,
clearing 1.90m/6-2.75 to beat Nicole Forrester of Canada, who
cleared the
height on her third attempt.
Men's relays were won handily, with the University of Arkansas
winning the
BAA distance medley in 9:38.21. Connecticut was second at
9:41.28. The Nike
team of James Davis, Leonard Byrd, Brandon Couts and Alvin
Harrison won the
American Track & Field men's 4x400m relay in a time of 3:05.66.
Couts
recorded the fastest split of the day at 45.67. The adidas team
of Calvin
Davis, Antonio Pettigrew, Joey Woody and Jerome Young was second
in 3:08.84.
Doug Martyn won the KeySpan Energy Delivery masters mile in
4:24.67.