Illinois junior Masheto breaks national 500 mark, McCoy breaks women's 500 meet record
By Christopher Hunt
Race Video Here
Barely two hours into the competition and history has been made at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational. Illinois junior Gakologelwang Masheto broke the national collegiate record in the 500 meters, winning the event in 1:00.82.
He topped a mark set by Michael Greene of Navy of 1:00.84 in 1987. He also crushed the meet record set by his former teammate, Abe Jones, 1:01.40 two years ago. It was the first time Masheto ever competed at the distance.
“It is an awkward distance,” he said. “But I felt good.”
Masheto blew past Tevan Everett of Texas and Steve Swern of Rutgers with 200 left, stormed down the straightaway and kept pulling away.
“I didn’t start that fast,” Masheto said. “Once we broke in (Everett) was in front of me. I wanted to pass him and just stay there – get to the 400 in 48-flat and then just hold it.”
He was a little off. Masheto, of Muan, Botswana, hit the 400 mark in 48.2 and finished with the fourth-fastest 500 ever run. He has already qualified for Botswana’s Olympic team in the 400 and 4x400 relay. He finished fifth in the 400 last year at the NCAA indoor championships and has an outdoor personal best of 45.51.
Seton Hall junior Alexandra McCoy won the women’s 500 meters in a meet record 1:13.00, besting a record of 1:13.22 set by Julianna Reed of Pittburgh in 2006. McCoy grew up in Central Islip but moved to Salem, Va., before her junior year of high school.
“My tactics today were just go out and hard and hold on,” she said.
Admittedly, McCoy says she’s not a “trackhead.” She didn’t set a goal for the race or break down her splits. She just ran as hard as she could until her legs gave way. Plus she wanted to make up for her performance at the Armory two weeks ago when she won the 500 at the Metropolitan Championships but finished in 1:14.10. In that race she didn’t’ know there would be a two-command start, so she wasn’t ready at the gun. Then she expected the cones signaling to cut to the inside in the wrong place.
“I was just all over the place in that race,” she said. “This was a lot better.”
Reach Christopher Hunt at chunt@armorytrack.com.
Sean Tully (Villanova) Meet Record - 2:23.42 1000m
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