PIERCE HAS GOOD CHANCE FOR AMERICAN RECORD TONIGHT IN BOSTON
By David Monti
(c) 2010 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved - used with permission
BOSTON
(06-Feb) -- Anna Pierce realizes that fast 1000m races don't come
around often, and the 25 year-old Olympian knows that tonight's 5-lap
contest at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games here presents a rare
opportunity to score a fast time, perhaps even a record.
"I've
had some really great workouts the last couple of weeks," Pierce said
in a news conference here yesterday. "My new training partner, Morgan
Uceny, she's kicking my butt. So, I feel pretty good about where I am
right now. It's really hard to tell until you get out there. Right
now, I feel like I'll try to race and see what happens."
But
Pierce played down her chances to break Jen Toomey's USA record of
2:34.19 set in Birmingham, England, in 2004. Although she had
originally looked at this meet as a record attempt with her agent and
meet director, Mark Wetmore, she and coach Terrence Mahon of the
Mammoth Track Club, want to keep their focus competing well, first.
"Yeah,
I think initially when I talked to Mark about having a "K" for the
meet, that was my initial thought," Pierce explained. "As you get
closer to the race, I talked to Terrence a lot. I think for me it's
important to focus on just racing. That's what I love to do. I love
to compete. If I think of it as a time trial and try to go for a
record I think I get lost a little bit. I need to focus on what I'm
good at and that's the key. If the time happens, then it happens."
The
arithmetic, however, is on Pierce's side to break Toomey's record. If
she passes through 800m in 2:03-flat and holds that pace for the final
lap, she'd run 2:33.75. That seems well within Pierce's comfort zone,
considering she has outdoor personal best times of 1:58.80 and
3:59.38. Those marks are much faster than Toomey's career bests of
1:59.64 and 4:06.24.
Also working in Pierce's favor is
reliable pacemaking from Karen Shinkins, still the Irish indoor record
holder for 400m, and the competition she'll be getting from both
training partner Uceny and Olympians Erin Donohue and Alice Schmidt.
At a minimum, the meet and facility record of 2:35.29 by Regina Jacobs
set in 2000 should fall.
Pierce is a New Englander, and grew up
in Greenwood, Me. It's an easy trip for her family to be here tonight
and see her run, and perhaps break a record.
"I feel really
comfortable at Boston," she concluded. "I've race here a few times
over the past years. I mean, my whole family gets to come and watch,
so it's really exciting for me in that way."
ENDS
