BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, December 07 — Following in the footsteps of her predecessor as NCAA cross country champion, Alabama’s Doris Lemngole rode her fall fitness three weeks longer to a Collegiate Indoor Record in the 5000.
At the Colyear-Danville Opener a year ago, Parker Valby had set the first of her three 5000 CRs, indoors and out. This time, soph Lemngole, with former Tide teammate Hilda Olemomoi her company the whole way, was timed in 14:52.57, 0.22 faster than the CR set by Parker Valby at the NCAA Indoor last March.
Spared for the time-being after Lemngole’s effort this year was Valby’s absolute CR (14:52.18) run at the NCAA in June.
Olemomoi, now a Florida senior, finished just outside Valby’s time with 14:52.84, as New Mexico’s Pamela Kosgei (15:00.36) and Stanford’s Amy Bunnage (15:00.75) moved to performer positions 4 and 5 on the all-time collegiate indoor list.
From the gun, nothing was left to chance for the talent-rich 21-racer field. The BYU-affiliated pair of Carmen Alder and Riley Chamberlain were tapped to pace the record chase and the split at 1600 (4:50.44) was just 0.68 behind Valby’s NCAA Indoor rhythm (4:49.76).
Chamberlain stepped off a lap after 2K (6:04.51) leaving it to the racers with the tempo tuned to an even-pace 15:14. The lead pack, as yet, had plenty of horses to push things along.
Pro Emily Venters went to the front followed in single file by Lemngole, Kosgei, Olemomoi and Bunnage. The order among the collegiate quartet exactly matched the NCAA XC finish order. The race was on.
Venters transformed a previous diet of 36- and 37-point laps into a stream of 10 straight circuits at 35-seconds-and-change. At 4K the race ran on time for a 15:04 finish yet a speedup was expected.
Two laps later, with just under 800 to run, Kosgei led Lemngole and Olemomoi past Venters into a 3-woman break at a rate now below 35 seconds per circuit. With 400 left Lemngole and Olemomoi surged yet harder and left behind first-year collegian Kosgei. The Alabama Kenyan’s split up front with 2 to go (12:39.91) trailed Valby’s at that juncture (12:35.54) and a hammer-down push was called for to get the record. Lemngole had one in her pocket.
Navigating past lapped runners galore on the run-in, Lemngole with Olemomoi ever close, laid down a 32.84 penultimate lap before kicking into a 30.65 final circuit that…
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