Goucher gets two wins at UW Indoor Preview...

2008 US Olympian Kara Goucher, leading Ari Lambie & Jessica Pixler (photo by Randy Miyazaki/trackandfieldphoto.com) highlighted Saturday’s UW Indoor Preview meet by winning the mile, then surprising those in attendance by jumping into the 3000 meter run 45 minutes later and stealing the victory away from training partner and Olympic teammate Amy Yoder Begley.

In the mile run, Goucher, the Olympian at 5000 and 10000 meters in Beijing last year, and 2007 world championship bronze medalist, let former Colorado standout Sara Vaughn take the lead, before taking command around the 700 meter mark, to win going away in 4:39.51.

45 minutes later, Goucher was entered in the women’s 3000 by her coach Alberto Salazar. In the 3000, she let training partner Amy Yoder Begley go ahead, while running in a pack that included former Stanford star Ari Lambie, and Seattle Pacific’s two time NCAA Division II cross country champion Jessica Pixler.

With approximately 1000 meters to go, Goucher, who ran the fastest debut time by an American in finishing third in last November's New York Marathon, separated herself from the pack and chased down Yoder Begley, forging ahead to win the 3000 in a time of 9:03.47, almost five seconds ahead of Yoder Begley, who ran 9:08.01.

It turned out that coach Salazar originally had Goucher run a track workout after the mile at Husky Stadium consisting of 5 x 1600 meters, but after some negotiating between coach and athlete, Salazar entered his charge in the 3000, with the understanding that she would run 2 x 1600 after the 3000.

Afterwards, Goucher told paulmerca.blogspot.com that she's currently running around 90 miles per week, and that after races at the Millrose Games and the Reebok Boston Indoor Games, the mileage will increase as she prepares for the Boston Marathon in April.

In an otherwise ordinary meet, one of the better marks of the day was set by two time US indoor champ Akiba McKinney in the long jump, as she jumped 21-0 to repel the challenge of Oregon’s Jamesha Youngblood, who jumped 20-6 1/2.

Former Husky Norris Frederick opened his 2009 season on a strong note, winning the long jump with a mark of 25-8 1/4. 2008 NCAA high jump runner-up Grant Lindsey won his specialty with a clearance of 7-2 1/2.

If there was one disappointing race, it was in the men’s mile, as Olympian Galen Rupp’s attempt at breaking four minutes in the mile was sabotaged by a 67 second first lap, and a lack of a pacemaker.

Rupp, the University of Oregon senior won the race in 4:10.13 over Dempsey Indoor facility record holder Steve Sherer, after Sherer’s game attempt to put the race back on sub-4 pace failed. For his effort, Sherer, who ran 3:56.00 at the Dempsey last year, was rewarded with a sub par 4:10.17 mark.

To Rupp's credit, he ran a personal best of 1:51.33 and finished fourth in the 800 meters an hour earlier -- driving eight seconds off a long-standing time from high school in an event he hasn't run since he was at Central Catholic. His previous best was a pedestrian 1:59.7

To see the complete results, please click here.

To read the University of Washington’s meet recap, please click here.

Here's the preview that I did for media partner runnerspace.com at the beginning of the meet and the link to their UW Indoor Preview page: