| | Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Regina Jacobs wasn't content with just
winning the women's 5,000 meters at the U.S. Olympic trials -- she
went after her American record and smashed it by more than seven
seconds.
In destroying the rest of the 15-woman field and setting the
first U.S. record of the trials Friday night, the 36-year-old
Jacobs was timed in 14 minutes, 45.35 seconds, fastest in the world
this year by 7 1/2 seconds. Her previous mark of 14:52.49 was set July
4, 1998, at Brunswick, Maine.
|  | | Regina Jacobs, right, runs past Deena Drossin in winning the 5,000 meters in an American record of 14:45.35. |
The world record is 14:28.09 by China's Jiang Bo, set in 1997.
Jacobs, who has world-class range between 800 and 5,000 meters -- she won the 1,500 Sunday -- took command in the 5,000 with 1,500
meters remaining. From that point on, she steadily pulled away from
10,000 trials winner Deena Drossin and beat her by more than 26
seconds.
Having become the first to win two events at the trials, Jacobs
said she would run only the 1,500 in the Olympic Games at Sydney.
"A lot of people say this (the 5,000) is my event and why am I
not doing this," Jacobs said. "But I have a lot of unfinished
business in the 1,500."
That business includes breaking Mary Slaney's 17-year-old
American record of 3:57.12, and getting a gold in the 1,500 in a
major international meet after having won silvers in the past two
World Championships.
Jacobs, who appears to be improving with age, set the American
indoor record for 1,000 meters and won the mile at the USA Indoor
Championships earlier this year.
In Friday night's other finals, Lance Deal won the men's hammer
throw at 256 feet, 9 inches; Adam Goucher rallied to win the men's
5,000 at 13:27.06; Tom Pappas took the decathlon with a
personal-best 8,467 points; and Connie Price-Smith made her fourth
Olympic team, winning the women's shot put at 61-1 1/2.
Deal, the most prolific hammer thrower in the United States over
the past decade, is ending his career in style.
Not only did the American record-holder win the competition, he
had the five best throws among 12 competitors. Runner-up Kevin
McMahon was more than 18 feet back, at 240-6.
The victory earned Deal a ticket to the Olympic Games, where he
won the silver medal in 1996.
The 38-year-old Deal said this is his final year of competition,
and he would like nothing better to cap his career with a gold
medal at Sydney.
"The amount of energy it takes to throw far is too
substantial," Deal said of his decision to retire. "I don't know
whether it's because I'm old, hurt or bored, but I'm ready to move
onto something else."
Deal didn't appear old, hurt or bored Friday night as he won his
eighth national title in his final appearance on American soil.
Only on the final throw of the competition, when Deal's Olympic
berth and victory were assured, did he foul.
Third-place finisher Jud Logan (233-0) did not meet the Olympic
standard of 247-8 and will go to Europe shortly for six meets in 12
days to try and get it.
Price-Smith, 38, had the four longest throws in winning her 22nd
national title indoors and outdoors. She is seeking her first
Olympic medal, with her best finish fifth in 1996.
Stacy Dragila, world record-holder in the women's pole vault, is
taking the event higher and higher. On Sunday, she plans to reach
another plateau.
"I hope I'm at ease like I was going into today," Dragila said
Friday, after clearing 13-2 1/4 during preliminaries to reach the
final.
"I felt fast, I felt light and quick. If I go into Sunday
feeling like I did today, I think you're going to see another world
record."
Dragila set the world record of 15-1 3/4 at Phoenix on May 6, then
cleared 15-5 at Santa Barbara, Calif., last month, but the mark was
unacceptable as a world record because the competition was held
over an illegal runway on the beach.
The acrobatic Dragila, a former rodeo performer and occasional
heptathlete, also broke the world indoor record three times this
year, with a best of 15-1 3/4 at the USA Championships in Atlanta.
She also has the distinction of having won the inaugural world
indoor title in 1997 and the inaugural world outdoor title last
year.
Charles Austin, the 1996 Olympic gold medalist in the men's high
jump, was among 11 jumpers who advanced to final Sunday by
clearing 7-2 1/.2.
Matt Hemingway, the U.S. indoor champion and world leader with
an indoor clearance of 7-9 3/4, also made the final.
A former gold medalist, triple jumper Kenny Harrison, also was
eliminated quickly. Harrison jumped 53-0 in the preliminaries,
failing to qualify for the final by 3 1/2 inches.
The running Clark family -- sisters Hazel, 22, and Joetta, 37,
along with sister-in-law, Jearl Miles-Clark, 33 -- all advanced to
the final of the women's 800. Hazel won the first semifinal heat at
2:01.58, with Miles-Clark and Joetta 1-3 in the other semifinal, at
2:02.80 and 2:03.03, respectively.
The first heat of the men's 800 semifinals produced the night's
closest finish, with only 0.09 seconds separating first and fifth
places, and only 0.01 second separating fourth-place finisher Jeff
Kuzma and fifth-place Derrick Peterson. Only the top four in each
heat made the final.
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ALSO SEE
U.S. Track & Field Trials results, Day 6
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