Drossin Runs All the Way to Sydney

Deena Drossin, known as a front-runner for most of her career, burst from the pack to win the women’s 10,000 meters in the U.S. Olympic track and field trials at Cal State Sacramento on Friday night.

Drossin, a five-time state champion at Agoura High, finished third in the 10,000 in the national championships last year after pushing the pace for much of the race. But she let others handle the pacing duties this time and it resulted in a career-best and trials record time of 31:51.05.

“The plan was to go with [3,200] or [1,600 meters] left,” Drossin said. “I just expended too much energy with the way I ran last year.”

Drossin, whose time broke the trials record of 31:57.27 set by Lynn Nelson in 1988 and moved her to ninth on the all-time U.S. performer list, was in 10th place at 5,000 meters and in sixth place at 7,000 before moving into second behind Jen Rhines at 8,000.

She took the lead with 1,600 meters left, briefly lost it to Sylvia Mosqueda, formerly of Cal State Los Angeles, and regained it for good with 1,400 meters remaining.

She ran her third-to-last lap in 67.7 seconds and her final 1,600 in 4:38.0 to better her previous best of 32:00.72.

Rhines finished second in 31:58.34 with defending national champion Libbie Hickman third in 31:58.68.

“This takes a lot of pressure off,” Drossin said about running the 5,000 later in the meet. “Now I know I’ll be running in Sydney one way or another.”

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Multitalented Regina Jacobs advanced to Sunday’s final in the women’s 1,500 with the top qualifying time of 4:06.16, but the 1981 graduate of what is now Campbell Hall High isn’t sure if she’ll run the 800 or the 5,000 after that.

“I had an incredible workout on Tuesday,” Jacobs said Friday. “It was good enough that [husband-coach Tom Craig] said I can run 1:57 in the 800 right now.

“I’m going to focus on running the 1,500 Sunday and then make a decision after that. I think I have real good chance in either race. I feel confident I can win either race.”

Jacobs, who is trying to win the trials 1,500 for the third consecutive time, looked superb in her heat, running a 60.4-second last lap and zooming away from the field in the final 150 meters.

Marla Runyan, a 1986 graduate of Camarillo High, finished second in 4:09.68, then revealed a strained tendon in her left leg prevented her from running from early June though early July.

“I wasn’t even sure if I was going to be able to run here,” Runyan said. “But the leg felt fine during the race.”

Runyan, a former heptathlete who made the switch to the 1,500 last year, has the second-fastest time in the 5,000 in the U.S. this year at 15:07.66 but is unsure if she’ll run in a qualifying heat of that race today.

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Michelle Perry of UCLA and Frances Santin of Cal State Northridge, who rank second and third on the all-time region list in the high school girls’ 300 low hurdles, will run in the first round of the 400 lows today.