Brannen, Douma-Hussar, Lopes - Burning up the Track

Friday, February 11, 2005

OTTAWA – It was a big weekend for Cambridge, Ontario natives Carmen Douma-Hussar and Nathan Brannen, as both athletes finished number one in their respective events this weekend.

At the famous Millrose Games, Douma-Hussar cruised to a victory in the women’s one-mile event, completing the course in 4:32.47. Douma-Hussar seems to be heating up at the right time. She is bound for France next month to participate in the World Cross-Country Championships in the short course event.

Brannen, who set a personal best time and national record (pending ratification) in the men’s mile event last weekend in Boston, captured gold in the men’s 800 metres on Saturday at the Meyo Invitational indoor meet in Notre Dame Indiana, crossing the line with a time of 1:49.07. Fellow Canadians Andrew Ellerton and Adam Currie finished in 7th and 11th place respectively in the same race.

The track at Notre Dame, which is an oversized track, played a role in the record books over the weekend. Two Canadians, Allyson Kohlmeier and Mike Woods, would have entered themselves in the record books by setting Canadian junior indoor records if the track was regulation size. Kohlmeier finished fourth in the women’s one-mile race with a time of 4:43.87, and Woods completed the men’s 3000 metres in a time of 8:02.01 and placed 7th. Due to the oversized track, regulations state that the times are not eligible for the official record books and so the current junior records stand. One note of particular interest is that the record Woods would have broken is currently held by his personal coach Ian Clarke, who set a record time of 8:04.30 in 1979, over two seconds slower than Woods’ time on Saturday.

The top Canadian in the 3000 metres heat was Mathew Kerr who finished 5th with a time of 7:56.34. Ryan McKenzie finished just behind Woods in 8th spot and NCAA and national cross-country champion Simon Bairu crossed the line in 10th position (8:04.95).

Other strong performances by Canadians at the Meyo Invitational include Kurt Benninger’s one-mile run of 3:58.75. That time marks a personal best for Benninger, who is coming off a dominant victory in the 3000 metres at last weekend’s Notre Dame Invitational.

On the women’s side, last year’s Big Ten female athlete of the year and freshman of the year Danette Doetzel finished 3rd in the 3000 metres (9:30.25). Winnipeg’s Nicole Edwards also finished 3rd in her event, running the 800 metres in a time of 2:07.48, just under a second slower than the first-place time of 2:06.54 (Ashley Patten of Missouri).

The best Canadian performance of the weekend may have come from Whitby, Ontario’s Priscilla Lopes. The sociology and criminal justice student at Nebraska dominated the competition at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational in Nebraska, winning both her events. The current NCAA 60 metre indoor hurdles champion cruised to her first victory of the weekend in that very event with a time of 8.12. She then proceeded to finish first in the 60 metre dash, crossing the line with a time of 7.34. All and all, a great start to the 2005 NCAA track season for Lopes, whose career really only got started in 2000 at the World Junior Championships in Chile.

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