University of Oregon
U.S. Olympic Team Trials
Olympic E-Rupp-tion!
07/05/08 | Track and Field
Thrilling a record crowd of 20,936 at Historic Hayward Field, Rupp made his way to the lead pack and ran in the top three for most of the race.
“It's great; this has been a dream of mine since the day I started running,” said Rupp. “I'm speechless right now and to be able to do it here on the 4th of July means so much.
“Being able to run here in an
Josh Rohatinsky took the early lead before eventual winner Abdi Abdirahman jumped into the lead, moving through 1,000 meters at 2:48.5. Rupp climbed into second at 1,200 meters, but Fasil Bizuneh overtook him, as did American record-holder Meb Keflezighi at the mile.
Abdirahman continued to lead at 3,000 meters, clocking 8:18.0, with Bizuneh in second and Dathan Ritzenhein in third. After another 1,000 meters, Rupp had moved back into third as Abdirahman moved through 4,000 meters in 11:04.8. At 5,000 meters, Abdirahman, Jorge Torres and Rupp had separated into a lead pack, passing 5K at 13:49.53.
At 6,000 meters, Abdirahman continued to lead, clocking 16:37.9, with Torres and Rupp just off of his shoulder. They led pack at this point led by 20 meters. By 7,000 meters, the lead trio had a 40-meter advantage over the field and came through with a split of 19:25.4. The same three came through 8,000 meters in 22:14.0
Abdirahman went through 9,000 meters at 25:03.9, and Rupp moved into the lead briefly just after crossing the finish line. Abdirahman regained the lead with 600 meters to go. He and Rupp opened up a 15-meter lead over Torres with one left, securing the final finish order.
Abdirahman crossed the line in 27:41.89. Torres was the third place finisher in 27:46.33 to round out the
“This is what every runner aspires to do and the Olympics are your time to shine,” said Rupp. “This is something else. I knew Abdi was going to put up a fight with 300 to go, so I just went for it.
“I gave it everything I had, but Abdi is in another league right now and you can't deny that,” said Rupp.
Rupp is the second
Also on Friday, sophomore A.J. Acosta was eighth in his 1,500 meter semifinal, running a time of 3:44.96. He was just a half a second and two spots away from advancing to Sunday's final.
“It is rough when you miss the final by a half second,” said Acosta. “I gave it my all and that is all I can really ask for. I ran out of gas the last 50 meters. I gave it my all so I can't be too disappointed about that.
“It is just unfortunate it went out so slow,” he said. “I am in great shape right now. Unfortunately I just wasn't in the right spot with 400 to go. That is just the way the game goes sometimes.”
