Bernard Lagat breaks own American record in 5000 at Herculis meeting...

FONTVIELLE, Monaco--Washington State University hall of famer Bernard Lagat (left/photo by Paul Merca) finished second in the men's 5000 meter run in an American record time of 12:53.60, improving his previous American record of 12:54.12 in the process.

Lagat survived the tightly bunched pack that produced a very physical race, while fellow Americans Galen Rupp and Chris Solinsky did not fare as well and were unable to finish. First Rupp was tripped-up in the crowd and tumbled to the track, then Solinsky was forced off the track by Imane Merga of Ethiopia with less than 800m to go.

Lagat ran at the front of the pack from the early stages of the race, and stayed to the inside with a field that ran five abreast at times.

With 400 to go, Lagat was in his customary position in the top 3, but could not close the gap between winner Mo Farah of Great Britain, who currently trains in Beaverton as part of the Nike Oregon Project. Farah won in a British record time of 12:53.11.

Courtesy of the IAAF and UniversalSports.com, here is video of the last part of the race:



In his first professional race on the European circuit, Washington State's three-time NCAA champion Jeshua Anderson finished sixth in the 400 meter hurdles against a very stacked field, running a time of 49.43.

Positioned in lane 7, Anderson got out well, but did not respond to the challenge of Olympic champ Angelo Taylor on his inside.

Taylor won the race with a time of 47.97, with Bershawn Jackson second at 48.22, current Samsung Diamond League leader David Greene of Great Britain third at 48.43

Aretha Thurmond finished fourth in the women's discus with a toss of 199-2 (60.71m), and is currently in third overall in the season-long Samsung Diamond League standings in the event.

Nadine Muller of Germany took command of the competition with her winning toss of 216-2 (65.90m), and now has the lead in the Samsung Diamond League standings.

In the women's high jump, Sweden's Ebba Jungmark, a former NCAA champ from Washington State finished seventh with a leap of 6-0 3/4 (1.85m).

In the women's javelin, Kara Patterson from Vancouver finished a disappointing eighth with a toss of 182-7 (55.67m), as the Czech Republic's Barbora Spotakova won with a world leading throw of 227-10 (69.45m).

In the women's 1500, former Husky Ingvill Måkestad was 14th in 4:08.01, as Maryam Jamal of Burundi won in a world leading time of 4:00.59.

Brad Walker's woes continued as the former Husky failed to clear a height in the pole vault.

Complete results from the Herculis meeting are available here.