(Randy Miyazaki/Track and Field Photo)

Lawi Lalang of Arizona defeated Stanford’s Chris Derrick for the second time in less than 24 hours in Saturday’s 3000 meters at the NCAA Indoor Championships.

The two traded off the lead several times in the final 800 meters but in the end it was Lalang who held off Derrick to win in 7:46.64. Derrick finished in 7:46.81.

Watch the full race on ESPN 3 here. The men’s 3k begins about 1:52:00 into the video.

Results here.

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The Washington women lived up to expectations to claim the women’s race in a time of 11:05.20. Husky anchor Katie Flood, the collegiate leader in the mile and 3000 meters, took the baton well back in eighth but benefited from a slow early pace to catch up with the main pack. The pace continued to doddle until Emily Infeld of Georgetown seized the lead with three laps remaining and pushed the pace but was unable to drop Flood, Anne Kesselring of Oregon and Abbey D’Agostino of Dartmouth. Flood made her move with 150 meters to go and shut the door on her competition. Kesselring and D’Agostino also moved past Infeld for second and third places, respectively.

Notre Dame upset pre-race favorite BYU to take the men’s DMR title in 9:35.48. The Fighting Irish got off to a strong start with Johnathan Shawel’s 1200 meter leg that put the team into the lead early on. Anchor Jeremy Rae got the stick in third place but in close contention. The early pace was slow and tactical, allowing collegiate record holder Miles Batty back into the mix. Rae went to the front with 200 meters remaining and was able to hold off challenges from Indiana’s Andy Bayer and Batty to bring the title home to South Bend.

The 5000 meter finals were also run on Friday evening.

Collegiate record holder Lawi Lalang of Arizona held off a stiff challenge from Stanford’s Chris Derrick to win in a meet record 13:25.11. Derrick made a move with four laps laps to go and another with a lap and a half remaining but in both instances could not drop Lalang.

Betsy Saina of Iowa State took the women’s title after battling with Deborah Maier of Cal on the last lap. Maier moved to the lead at the bell but did not make decisive enough of a move to drop Saina, who retook the lead with 100 to go and pulled away to claim the victory in 15:38.83.

Kimberlyn Duncan of LSU defended her indoor 200 meter title in a convincing margin over runner-up Allison Peter from Texas. Although run in different heats of the two-section final, Duncan’s 22.74 second effort was nearly two-tenths ahead of Peter’s run of 22.95 seconds.

At this first NCAA championships, Ameer Webb of Texas A&M took home the 200 meter title in 20.57 seconds. Akheem Gauntlett of Arkansas ran 20.62 seconds in the first section but his time was not enough and he ultimately had to settle for second.

For full results from day one of the NCAA Indoor Championships, click here.

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Kesselring a key ingredient to Oregon success (©Kirby Lee-US PRESSWIRE)

Click to read Sam Juliano’s preview of the men’s DMR.

Second to a cross country team national title, winning the distance medley relay at the NCAA Indoor Championships is among the most prestigious awards for a collegiate distance running team. The event exhibits a team’s middle distance prowess and outside of the Penn Relays is one of the few opportunities for distance runners to participate in relay events.

A select group of three teams have separated themselves as contenders for Friday night’s women’s DMR final – Washington, Oregon and Georgetown.

The Huskies are looking for some redemption after a runner-up finish at the NCAA cross country championships. Behind stellar sophomore Katie Flood, Washington ran the nation’s leading time of 10:55.01 at the MPSF Championships two weeks ago. Flood chose to skip the open mile – an event in which she is the national leader by more than three seconds – in favor of achieving team glory.

Just a few tenths behind in the MPSF race was Oregon. Choosing not to run Jordan Hasay on anchor, the Ducks instead went with outdoor 800 meter champion Anne Kesselring on the 1600 meter leg and ran 10:55.78. They enter the NCAA meet ranked second on the descending order list.

Georgetown has continued its success from fall’s cross country national title with a 10:55.95 DMR from back in late January at the Penn State National Invitational. The Hoyas are the defending Penn Relays DMR champions.

Taking a look at the opening 1200 meter legs, Oregon has a decided advantage over its opponents with 4:37 miler Becca Friday leading off.  Washington and Georgetown appear closely matched on paper with Chelsea Orr and Rachel Schneider, respectively. Orr has a mile best of 4:39.78 while Schneider set her mile PR of 4:40.56 last weekend at the Columbia Last Chance meet.

None of the teams have blazing fast 400 meter legs but Georgetown has the edge with Chelsea Cox running the 800 meter leg. Her seasonal best of 2:05.78 is significantly ahead of 2:09 runners Baylee Mires of Washington and Claudia Francis of Oregon. Depending on how her 800 meter prelim goes, the Ducks could call of 2:05.07 performer Laura Roesler.

The DMR so often comes down to the 1600 meter anchor leg. Both Washington and Georgetown have standout anchors in Flood and Emily Infeld.

The big question mark will be Oregon. Will the Ducks choose to put Hasay on the final leg or stick with the MPSF lineup of Kesselring on anchor and Friday on the 1200 meter leg?

Kesselring appears to be the better choice. She has proven the ability to stick very closely with Flood at the end of races while Hasay has struggled with her closing speed this indoor season, which is not surprising her long-term focus of peaking at the Olympic Trials in late June.

It is important that note that the Oregon trio of Kesselring, Hasay and Friday will all be running preliminaries of the mile about four hours before the DMR is set to begin. Flood and Infeld, on the other hand, will be starting fresh.

A few other teams could be in the mix.

Cal ran 10:56.29 to finish third at the MPSF meet but will make a few changes to its lineup, replacing NCAA 5k leader Deborah Maier with 9:00.86 3k runner Chelsea Reilly on anchor and 4:41.57 miler Sofia Oberg on the opening leg.

Nebraska shocked everyone with its 10:58.74 auto qualifier last weekend at the Alex Wilson Invite. We know that their anchor Ashley Miller has gone 4:39.11 for the mile this season but little else is known about the quality of the rest of the Cornhusker squad.

Florida is the biggest potential darkhorse. In addition to the known commodity of Cory McGee on anchor, the Gators also have a strong 1200 meter leg in Agata Strausa. The native of Latvia just joined the team in January but has already impressed with a 4:36.39 mark in the mile at the SEC Championships.

Dartmouth could also be a factor but their weaker opening legs often lead too much of a gap for anchor Abbey D’Agostino to make up.

The Bottom Line

Although the anchor leg is important, it is also critical to get the baton to the miler in a good position.

However coach Vin Lananna decides to arrange his lineup, Oregon should hand off first given its incredible middle distance depth.

At the MPSF race, Washington passed to Flood with a gap to make up, which she was able to do, but only narrowly edged past Kesselring on the final straightaway. Such a gap will be more difficult to overcome on a 200 meter banked track like in Boise where passes are harder to make versus the oversized oval at the Dempsey.

Even with this concern, Flood and Infeld are a step above whoever Oregon will anchor with.

In the end, Georgetown will talk away with the title. Infeld looks to be extremely race sharp and is an excellent tactician on indoor tracks while her teammates are still full of confidence coming of their cross country national title.

Flood has run exceptionally thus far in 2012 but at some point she has got to cool down. Although she will not walk home with the DMR title, she will win her first NCAA championships the next day in the 3k.

The women’s DMR is set to kick off at 9:25 PM Mountain Time. Tune in on ESPN3.com.

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