GOETHALS DOES IT AGAIN, ROSA SHOWS HIS STRENGTH AT NIKE INDOOR NATIONALS
By Chris Lotsbom
(c) 2010 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved - used with permission

BOSTON (13-Mar) -- Megan Goethals has done it again.  Her finishing kick has won yet another national title, this time at the Nike Indoor Nationals at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center here.  Goethals, the 17 year-old senior from Rochester, Mich., put in a massive surge with about 100 meters to go in the two mile, ultimately catching Chesterfield, Missouri's Emily Sisson for first place.  The race was a near replica of her performance at the 2009 Foot Locker National Cross Country Championships where Goethals won by 7/100ths of a second, all of which was gained in the final meters. 

From the gun, the lead pack of Goethals, Sisson, New York state 3000m champion Aisling Cuffe, and Virginia's Joanna Stevens took the lead, breaking away from the rest of the field.  After passing through the half mile in 2:32.2, the pack began to string out behind Sisson. 

Hitting the mile in 5:03, Sisson had increased her lead to about 10 meters.  Behind her, Goethals, Cuffe, and Stevens were together, working to try and reel in the Wisconsin-bound Sisson, who placed second in the junior division at the USA Cross Country Championships last month.

Not until 600m to go would anyone come anywhere close to Sisson who still had a margin of about five meters.  That's when Goethals, about to be passed by Cuffe, surged. 

"When I was hurting, I thought of how amazing it felt when I passed [Chelsey Sveinsson] at Foot Lockers and how satisfied I was," said Goethals. "That's what kept me going."

Also going through her mind was what she would have to say to her future coach at the University of Washington, Greg Metcalf, if she did not win.

"I did not want to tell Coach Metcalf, 'Oh yeah, I kind of fell behind a little and got third.'"

It ended up coming down to the final meter, where Goethals barely out-leaned Sisson, beating her by seven one-hundredths of a second, 10:10.14 to 10:10:21.  With her time, Goethals takes over the meet record, which was set by Jordan Hasay one year ago. 

"I was so happy because 10:10 was the goal I had set for myself at the beginning of the season for the 3200m.  That's ten seconds faster than I ran at Nike Outdoors last year."
 
Behind, Goethals and Sisson were immediately followed by Cuffe and Stevens in 10:11.65 and 10:12.21, respectively.  All four set personal bests.

Goethals's goal now is to gear up for her outdoor season, where she will go for her third national championship of the year at the newly-named New Balance National Outdoor Championships.

On the boy's side, the two mile was owned by junior Jim Rosa of Plainsboro, N.J.  Taking control after about 800m, Rosa passed through the mile in 4:31.4 and never looked back.  Finishing in 9:00.36, Rosa won his first national title. 

When asked if he was a little disappointed that he couldn't crack the 9-minute barrier, Rosa said: "It's a national championship, I can't be disappointed at all.  It was a great way to end the season, before this point [the season] was pretty awful."

Finishing second and third were Jake Hurysz of North Carolina in 9:02.29 and Clint McKelvey of Tennessee in 9:06.59.

Other Meet Highlights included...

In the rarely run 4 x mile relay, Kinetic RC (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) ran 20:15.06, the fourth-fastest time ever indoors.  Made up of Brianne Bellon, Amanda Borroughs, Keelin Hollowood, and Margaret MacDonald, the team won by a margin of nine seconds.  The night before (Friday), the same Kinetic team won the distance medley relay in a meet record of 11:38.60.

Kinetic RC's New York counterpart, Manlius TC (Fayettville-Manlius, N.Y.), ran a blazing 4 x 800m women's relay, finishing with the tenth-fastest time ever, 9:02.80.  On Manlius's anchor leg, the sophomore Katie Sischo ran a strong 2:11.5 split, all alone in the lead. 

"I saw my teammates out there killing it.  I just wanted to do it for them," said Sischo. 

The men's 4 x mile was won by Blacksburg Track Club in a time of 17:45.63, and the distance medley relay by Hamden Track Club in 10:07.58.

On Friday, the men's 5000m was won in 14:19.82 by Kirubel Erassa, a senior from Grayson Track Club.  His time breaks Brad Hudson's 26 year-old Senior record, which was 14:29.80.  The women's 5000m was won by junior Linds Crevoiserat of Glastonbury Track Club.

The meet will conclude on Sunday, as the mile and 800m finals will be run, in addition to many sprint and field events.

ENDS