June 15, 2008

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Danielle Domenichelli saved her best race for the final race of the year, running a personal-best 16:27.98 at the NCAA Championships to take eleventh place in the country.

The first two laps were run at breakneck pace, with defending champion Sally Kipyego immediately storming out to a lead. A few runners thought about going with her, but they ultimately decided to settle into their own pack. Domenichelli was up with that front pack for two laps, but they were also running an extremely fast pace that forced her to drop back to conserve energy.

From the third lap onward, Domenichelli worked together with two other runners, setting their own consistent tempo. The strategy worked well, as they started catching stragglers towards the end of the race. Many runners who tried to stick with the leaders fell out of contention after being unable to match the pace of the front pack for the whole 5000 meters.

Sally Kipyego won the race by more than thirty seconds, setting a new NCAA Meet record with a time of 15:15.08.

Domenichelli is still eligible to be named All-American. Stay tuned for an official announcement.

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