Housemates share in success Meet good for landlord, tenant

BRUNSWICK – Two runners returned to the same apartment house in Salem, Mass., this weekend after Saturday evening’s Maine Distance Festival at Bowdoin College. One runner got a win and set a meet record, but she didn’t meet her ultimate goal. The other runner’s finish went unnoticed, but it was just the encouraging time he needed.

After years of disappointing finishes, encounters with Boston traffic, and a finish-line accident, Jen Toomey finally had a good race at the meet, which attracts some of the top distance runners from around the world. She won the 800 meters with a meet record, but was just off the pace for world championship qualifying.

Meanwhile, former Liberty resident Joe Moody, who ran for the University of Maine, felt like he finally got back on track after a disappointing season so far.

Toomey and Moody are teammates on the Reebok Boston squad, and Toomey is Moody’s landlord.

“My girlfriend and I dog-sat for her when she went to the worlds [indoor championships] and we were up at 1 a.m., the three of us, yelling at the TV, ‘Go Jen!’ ” he said with a laugh.

Moody wouldn’t mind doing that again for Toomey, but she still has to qualify for August’s outdoor world championships in Edmonton, Alberta. For that, Toomey needs a 2:00, and had a good shot at it with California’s Nicole Teter also in Saturday’s race. Like Toomey, Teter has made the “B” standard of 2:02, and with Olympian Regina Jacobs’ decision to not run the 800 at worlds, the spots for Toomey and Teter are open.

With the two pushing each other, Toomey set a meet record with a time of 2:01.95 – not a personal record, but her second-best time. Teter and third-place finisher Michelle Ballantine of Jamaica also went under the old record of 2:03.68.

“I was so determined,” said Toomey, who will have the opportunity to qualify for the World Championships at four upcoming meets in Europe. “I kept envisioning in my mind to go through the tape.”

Moody, who graduated from Mount View High of Thorndike, clocked a 1:50.02 to win the slow heat of the 800. It was a season-best time.

“I really needed this,” he said. “I haven’t been running well and today was big, just to be able to run like that.”

Worlds qualifier Otukile Lekote of Botswana and the University of South Carolina won the 800 in 1:46.58. Meet record holder Jess Strutzel did not run in the event.

Meanwhile, hopes were dashed for either state or national accomplishments in the men’s mile.

Erik Nedeau, a former Kennebunk High standout, has been trying to become the first Mainer to run a sub four-minute mile in Maine. Ryan Hall of Big Bear (Calif.) High was hoping to become the second prep runner this year to break the four-minute barrier.

Nedeau said he sees Hall going far in track, but not quite yet. Nedeau wasn’t surprised that Hall hasn’t yet cracked four minutes, unlike Virginia’s Alan Webb, who garnered national attention when he went 3:53.43 as a high school senior last month.

Hall finished 14th with a 4:07.44 Saturday.

“[Hall is] very, very talented, and he’s going to do a tremendous amount in this sport,” Nedeau said. “But he’s not really as physically mature as Alan Webb. When Webb steps to the line, you can see he’s a man.”

Nedeau, 29 and a now an Amherst, Mass., resident, was 12th with a time of 4:05.66. He was wasn’t pleased with his fourth appearance at this meet.

“Every year it seems like I come here in shape,” he said. “This year especially it’s a little disappointing. At some point I’ve got to pull one off.”

Nedeau had a top position in the tight pack in the first two laps, but fell back as the race continued.

“I got out a little quicker than I wanted to,” he said. “I definitely started to tire.”

Two men did go under four minutes for the mile: race winner Clay Schwabe, who attends the U.S. Military Academy (3:58.91) and Stanford graduate Jason Lunn (3:59.01).

Shadrack Kosgei of Kenya set a meet record in the men’s 5,000 meters with a finish of 13:42.48. He pulled ahead of 1999 winner Andre Williams of Virginia in the final 25 meters.

Indiana’s Collette Liss was named the top female performer of the meet thanks to her split-second win at the finish line of the 1,500. Liss blew past Mary Jane Harrellson at the finish line, knocking down the North Carolina woman, who had led the final lap. Liss finished in 4:09.10, Harrellson in 4:09.12

Japanese women swept the women’s 5,000. Akiko Kawashima led the entire way with Yuko Manabe at her shoulder, but lengthened her lead with 200 meters left and crossed the line in 15:27.93, the second-fastest time ever at the meet.

Three-time Olympian Mark Croghan of Ohio defended his 2000 title in the 3,000 steeplechase with a time of 8:26.14. He was named the meet’s top male performer.