Stanford's Dobson Stanford's Dobson (May 04, 2005)takes U.S. lead in a fast 10,000

by Keith Peters

It was only last week that Stanford senior Ian Dobson was the fastest American in the 5,000 meters this season.

Today, Dobson is the fastest American at 10,000 meters this year. So, what he is, a 5K guy or a 10K guy?

"Maybe a steeplechaser," Dobson said.

Dobson likely can do whatever distance event he wants. He holds the school record in the steeplechase at 8:32.09 from 2004 and ranks third in the 5,000 in 13:27.45 from earlier this season.

Dobson grabbed the school record in the 10,000 on Sunday night by running 27:59.72 at the annual Cardinal Invitational at Cobb Track & Angell Field. That time erased Brad Hauser's school mark of 28:08.12 from 1999 and puts Dobson No. 5 on the all-time Pac-10 list.

"I am happy with the time," Dobson said after the grueling 25-lap race won by Japan's Takayuki Matsumiya in 27:50.20. "It (the pace) was slower than planned, but it left me with some guys to run with at the end."

Dobson was among the leaders throughout the race and only fell back on the final lap. He finished fifth overall, but was the first American - giving him the 2004 U.S. and collegiate leads in the race.

"I told myself I'd be happy with anything under 28:00," Dobson said. "If I had a really good day, I'd gone after the (IAAF) "A" standard. But, I was really hurting at the end."

The goal in the race was to achieve the "A" qualifying standard of 27:49.00 for the IAAF World Championships this summer in Helsinki, Finland. While everyone missed that, Dobson was under the "B" mark. That means if he wins the race at the U.S. Outdoor Championships this summer and no other American has a faster time, Dobson goes to Helsinki.

The women's 10,000 did produce six "A" standard times as Amy Rudolph led the assault with a world-leading time of 31:18.96, making her the No. 2 American in history.

Marie Davenport of Ireland won the women's 5,000 in 15:32.74 and American Abdi Abdirahman won the men's 5,000 with a 13:28.57. Stanford grad Jonathon Riley was second in 13:30.05.

Stanford senior Donald Sage produced a season best of 3:41.62 while winning the men's 1,500 and Stanford grad Lauren Fleshman clocked a personal record of 4:13.63 while taking third in the women's race.

Lisa Galaviz ran the fastest women's 3,000 steeplechase in the world this year with a 9:50.93.

Stanford's Michael Robertson won the men's discus at 198-0 and Cardinal grad Jill Camarena took the women's shot put at 54-4-3/4.

At the Penn Relays last weekend in Philadelphia, Stanford freshman Erica McLain set a school record, anticipated since her record setting indoor jump, in winning the triple jump with a leap of 43-9 1/4 on Friday. The previous record was 43-4 1/2 by Jackie Edwards in 1992.

McClain had a wind-aided jump of 44-4 at the Texas Relays on April 9. She went a career best 42-9 last week at the Big Meet.

During the indoor season, McLain set a school mark at 45-7 1/4. She finished second at the NCAA Indoor Championships, earning All-American honors.

The Stanford women's 6,000 relay team won their event in 17:38.16. The team consisted of Katy Trotter (4:25.1), Amanda Trotter (4:31.3), Sara Bei (4:22.4) and Arianna Lambie (4:19.2).

The Stanford women's 3,200 relay team (Laura Mottaz, Lambie, Chinny Offor and Ashley Freeman) raced to victory in a school record 8:32.02.

"We knew if we stayed close to the front, we were going to get it done," said Freeman, who ran the anchor in 2:05.5. "We were always there. It was a matter of our pulling it out at the finish."

"This is really a team of quartermilers," Stanford women's coach Edrick Floreal said. "There aren't any seniors on the team, so a lot of people had to accept new challenges and new roles to be successful here. We're trying to put together a complete package so we can develop a championship team."

On Thursday, the Stanford women's distance medley relay team of Katy Trotter (1,200 meters, 3:28.4), Christine Moschella (400 meters, 54.2), Mottaz (800 meters, 2:13.6) and Bei (1,500 meters, 4:48.0) ran a time of 11:24.17 to finish fifth.

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