Rainey Runs Her Personal Best; Still Finishes Third at NCAAs

Imagine shaving off almost three seconds off your best time in a race, running faster than the old meet record and not winning.

That's what happened to Harvard senior Meredith Rainey, who finished third Friday night in the 800-meter race at the NCAA track and field championships in Durham, N.C. Rainey's time of 2:00.48 was over three seconds faster than her time last June--when she was the NCAA champion in the event--but was over one second-and-a-half behind Wisconsin phenom Suzy Favor. Tennessee's Jasmine Jones nipped Rainey for second place in a time of 2:00.24.

Harvard's Suzanne Jones also just missed out being crowned an NCAA champion, when she finished fourth in the 10,000-meter run Thursday night. Jones kept pace with the race leader and led from the 8-K to 9-K mark, but was passed by a group of three runners in the final 1000 meters.

No Final Kick

Favor, the favored runner in the 800-meter run, has beaten Rainey all four times that they have met, including last summer's U.S. Olympic Festival. Favor jumped out into the lead in the first 150 meters. with Rainey on her shoulder. The two ran together until the 600-meter mark, where Rainey started making her move.

"Meredith's race was incredible," Suzanne Jones said. "In the end, it was almost like they were one person, running stride-for-stride."

But Favor finished with a strong kick and sprinted across the line with the fastest 800 time so far this year. Jasmine Jones nipped Rainey at the line for second place.

"I was in position from the beginning," Rainey said. "[Favor] was the only one in front of me. I stayed close to her, but I started to get tired near the end."

"It was just amazing," Suzanne Jones said. "Hers was definitely the premier race of the meet."

Going it Alone

In the 10-K race, Nebraska's Sammie Gadowski jumped out to a huge lead by the 1700-meter mark. Jones was the only runner who ran out ahead of the pack to challenge Gadowski, running about nine laps alone between the leader and the rest of the pack.

"Suzanne ran a gusty race," Rainey said. "She was the only one who had the guts to go after the leader."

Around the 7-K mark, Jones started closing and finally caught Gadowski at the 7200-meter point. But, according to Jones, instead of running past the tiring Gadowski, she kept pace with the leader and let the rest of the pack back into the race.

"We all saw the pack of four closing on Jones just as she was making her move," Rainey said. "She didn't know that and, because the crowd was going crazy at that time, she couldn't hear us yelling."

Kansas State's Janet Haskins broke out from the throng that caught Jones at the 8800-meter mark and eventually finished 30 meters ahead of the pack in a time of 33:49.72. Lisa Stone of Baylor took second in 33:51.50, Christi Konstantin of Georgetown nabbed third in 33:55.57, and Jones crossed the line in 34:00.50.

"It was a tactical error on my part. When I was clear of the leader, the pack pulled out all the stops to catch us," Jones said. "By the time I responded, it was too late. I got out-kicked."

THE NOTEBOOK: The USA Today and Sports Illustrated were among the many major publications which interviewed Rainey about what was considered to be the meet's most exciting race... CBS held a camera on Rainey's family throughout the race.